Novices will find the Sony HDR-SR12 a user-friendly camcorder with its Easy mode and touch screen Home menu system. It also has a Cam Control dial that is ideal for users who like to shoot in manual mode. However, for those who are not yet ready to turn the dials for manual control, they can still use the HDR-SR12’s precise auto response and still produce excellent video quality.

The Sony DCR-SR100 runs on by a 1/3-inch Advanced HAD CCD sensor with an effective resolution of 2.05 megapixels when recording videos in normal mode (4:3 aspect ratio). The camcorder can also record in widescreen mode (16:9 aspect ratio) at about 2.05 megapixels. The DVD405 and the DCR-HC96, Sony’s top MiniDV camcorders, used the same imaging sensor.

Sony has opted for the hybrid approach; that’s why it didn’t choose to build any flash-memory-only standard definition camcorders. This gave birth to the SR65 and the SR85, except that the latter has a larger HDD capacity.

Given its touch screen design, the Sony DCR-SR300 suits the casual shooters, who will mostly stick with the camera’s Easy mode. If you’d prefer a hard-drive-based camcorder instead of a tape- or mini-DVD-based one, then this model is good for you.

The Sony DCR-SR65 came out in 2008 with Sony’s bid to produce camcorders that are more compact. The DCR-SR65 launched together with the other Sony hard disk based camcorders, the DCR-SR45, DCR-SR85 and the DCR-SR220. The DCR-SR65 measures 3in X 4.4in X 3in (HxDxW) and weighs about 14.1 oz.

The Sony DCR-SR42 is Sony’s entry level Hard Disk Drive (HDD) camcorder released last March of 2007. A 1/6 inch Advanced HAD CCD imaging sensor capable of recording videos in MPEG2 format powers this standard definition camcorder. Like many Sony camcorders, the DCR-SR42 has three video quality settings with its high quality setting (recording at 9Mbps), medium quality (recording at 6Mbps) and low quality (recording at 3Mbps).