We have been doing a LOT with cameras lately–mostly because there are a great whopping lot of cameras out there in the first place–so I figured we’d switch things up a bit and check out some camcorders.  If you’re in the market for a new video device and don’t want to trust it to your digital camera, then you may like the Sony HDR-XR150.

The Sony HDR-XR150 is a high definition camcorder with a 25x optical zoom and a whopping 300x digital zoom.  It’s also got a 2.7″ Clear Photo color LCD monitor, x.v. Color (which I had previously only seen available in certain classes of television), a BIONZ image processor, SteadyShot image stabilization, intelligent auto exposure modes, two types of fader effects, a digital still photo mode that captures at three megapixel, a built-in zoom microphone, a one hundred twenty gig hard drive with support for Secure Digital and Memory Stick memory cards, a USB port, HDMI output and Sony PMB 5.0.

Special note of advance warning, folks–if you want to transfer your videos to your computer from the camcorder, you’ll need at LEAST Windows Vista to play.  And as a further downside, the cost of this thing is HUGE.  Best Buy is selling this one at five hundred fifty dollars.

But this is tempered significantly by easy to use controls, a spectacularly long range zoom (300x digital zoom is a number I’ve not heard lately), incredible storage space, and lots of sheer utility.  I may not be a professional videographer, but I’d call this professional grade equipment.  The Sony HDR-XR150 is a powerful tool with a powerful price, and if you can stand the one, the other shouldn’t be much harder.

Related posts:

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3. Sony HDR-CX100E Camcorder
4. SeaandSea VX-S1 Video Housing Supports Sony HDR-UX7 and HDR-UX5
5. Sony HDR-CX105 Camcorder