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General discussion

SD or HD... Comments tremendously appreciated.

Jan 6, 2011 10:13AM PST

Howdy folks.

Here's my dilemma:

I am an Alpine Ski Coach that shoots a bunch of outdoor video in very bright sunny conditions to cloudy days. Important to me are a decent optical zoom, image stabilization, easy to use and easy uploading and editing. I'm filming on the side of a ski hill...

End Goal - half of the time the video is watched by the athletes on the camera, the rest on a crappy old TV at lunch.
I plan to start uploading it online so they have constant access to it, and at the end of the year making a cool DVD for the whole group.

For $325 I can get a Sony DCR-SR68 - 60X Op Zoom, 80GB hard drive, ok image stabilization, decent camera and easy to use.

Is it worth upgrading to HD? I know I will lose my big memory and will have to download onto my external hard drive more often but that the picture will likely be better. I would like HD if I can make it work with my $500-550 budget (w/ memory), but don't know if it's worth the hastle...

Comments GREATLY appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Interesting dilemma.
Jan 6, 2011 11:10AM PST

I *think* there may be more - but you are in the environment. Specifically, the actual environmental conditions.

What altitude?
What temperature?

Link to the Operating Guide:
http://www.docs.sony.com/release/DCRSR68_EN_ES.pdf
Refer to page 63 for operating temperature and page 11 for altitude restriction (this should not be a big deal - but the operating temp could. This is common for consumer electronics). Warmers are available. Camera Duck and Portabrace make appropriate covers and inserts...

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SD or HD
Jan 7, 2011 10:20AM PST

The Sony DCR-SR68 is the wrong choice for what you're intent is. This Sony has electric stabilization and worst yet, a hard drive. In cold weather, you don't want moving parts.

Best choice is: Panasonic HDC-SD60K. NO moving parts! All you need is an SD card. Another plus is that it has optical stabilization. It has 25x zoom. I doubt you're going to use 60x zoom without a tripod. If you've tried to use zoom at 60x, then you'd be all over the place. Easier transfer of media through the SD card compared to connecting a cable because you're using the hard drive model.

Do some homework, check out sites like Amazon.com, type in: Panasonic HDC-SD60K Read what users are saying about it compared to your original idea (the Sony SR6Cool.

Sony's Movie Studio would be a good choice for editing. Lots of tutorials on YouTube as well as asking and getting questions personally answered from http://forums.creativecow.net/sonyvegas

Enjoy!
Bottom line: "Yes," it's well worth upgrading to HD