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Nowadays, anyone from newbies to kids to technically challenged can hit record and capture some sort of fairly decent video, but it takes a true artist to hit record and capture well-composed beautiful images. Our Exclusive Feature "Don't be Square about Framing" this month is on tips to getting the most out of those 4 corners of your image with creative framing.

Plus.. Sony's little HDR-SR12 Handycam is just the camcorder to have for those quick don't-worry-about-it days when you want to point, shoot, and enjoy. With resolution up to 1920 x1080i, and a data rate of up to 16Mbps, this camera packs a 120GB internal hard drive that stores a lot, and we mean A LOT of video.

Exclusive Feature: Don't be Square about Framing

By Michael Reff

Art - to many people this word conjures up visions of long dimly-lit hallways, filled with soft murmuring whispers, echoing between some very square, very frumpy patrons, shuffling the catacombs of a dusty old museum.

Small groups of stiffs standing and staring at a boring, motionless, flat-framed piece of work for hours, discussing how exciting the art is and how much movement it has. Why doesn't this happen when I show my video, you might ask? What could possibly be so exciting about a static image, anyway? It just sits there. For an image to be exciting, it has to move! Right? Things need to be constantly changing and adjusting. Pictures flying in and out, angles adjusting and tilting, edits happening left and right. There is nothing still about our art. Or is there?

Squaresville
How many times have you used a well-framed image in one of your projects, or just held a pretty angle for longer than usual in an edit, and you could actually feel the motion and excitement? Maybe it was a feeling of curiosity that came over you, which made you look deeper into the video again and again, until the image felt like it had a 3D quality. Even though it wasn't panning or zooming, did the image feel like it was moving? How can a still image move someone to look further into the frame, when it has no zoom or edit in for detail? Well, the answer is all about the framing...Continue

Exclusive Review: Sony HDR-SR12 Camcorder

By Greg Robinson

Sony Hits the Mark

The latest and best consumer HD offering by Sony, the SR12 Handycam, will please buyers with good images and high usability. This well-designed camera packs some nice features into its sleek frame. Perhaps it isn't the cheapest camera, but the good news is that it isn't a cheap camera.

For the advanced weekend shooter, the feature set should prove challenging and rewarding. And the image quality will surely satisfy. The resolution of the SR12 goes up to a full 1920 x1080i, with a data rate of up to 16Mbps

What It Is
The SR12 aims at the upper end of the consumer market. You will want to investigate this camera if you are a serious hobbyist itching to abandon your standard-definition tape-based camcorder.

The almost silent 120GB internal hard drive can store nearly 15 hours of the highest-resolution video - nearly 84 hours of highly-compressed HD. And about a gazillion stills. If you do run out of space, go to the nearest camera shop and pick up a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo and start recording to that. The ability to record to either the hard drive or the memory card adds valuable flexibility.

For those who like the camera but want to save a couple hundred bucks, the SR11 is identical except for a smaller 60GB hard drive. It's all in the value you place on the extra storage. Since the street price of the SR12 is many hundreds less than the MSRP, most folks will consider doubling the capacity to be well worth the price.

The slim camera body fits into the right hand, held by a Velcro strap. The left hand operates the menu options on the touchscreen LCD display - and adds necessary stability, since the compact profile tends to allow the camera to roll on the palm of the right hand. (I hate to admit that, in this one regard, those cute pistol grip cameras have an advantage).

Your right index finger easily triggers the Photo button, either in standby mode or while recording video. So as you take video of your subjects and you see the perfect still... snap! You've got it waiting for you on the hard drive

If you want to keep operations extremely simple, just press the Easy button on the left side of the camera. Most of those pesky technical settings disappear from the menu options, and you have a true point-and-shoot camera ready for your Funniest Home Videos masterpiece...Continue

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