Sony HDR-SR12 10MP 120GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom

No, it doesn't have the video quality of the cannon HF 10 but it's very close and it has much more features, better design and the still pictures are the best in its class, is also the most user friendly camera on the market.
very Recommended.

I've had this camera now for about 2 weeks. I love it. It's small, light and the battery it comes with lasts long enough for me. However I did buy a Sony case which came with a smaller battery. The other day I was at an outsite restaruant with a perosn singing and playing guitar. Since it was at night the light was very low. The video and audio came out awesome. This camera does very well in low light. The software it came with is okay for simple viewing and some small edits (can crop lenght only I think, can't murge files). I was able to find a plug for Adobe Premeier however I have not yet had a chance to test it. It's a great camera with a nice feel of quality. If you have an older Sony camera and purchaced the optional lenses, they should fit.
The only negative I have found so far is that you can not send video into this camera, such as another camera or VCR. I have an older Canon minidv camera which has inputs so you can back up old analog tapes to digital. For example, older 8mm tapes. I still have the Canon so this in not really an issue for me.
I'm heading to France next week with my wife and I'm looking forward to taking this every where I go.

Great little HD cam. Easy to learn and use. Crisp, clear HD shots and no more worrying about tapes. I only wish Sony would have kept the IEEE 1394/firewire port, instead of going with USB only.

I've now had this camera for about a month now and I couldn't be happier. The video quality is STUNNING as well as the recording sounds. It comes with a base and proprietary power and video cords (both component-HD and composite, which means that they are not interchangable with over the counter video cords), but thats ok. It also has the software for transferring the videos and photos to your CPU. Back to the picture and sound... amazing really. The sound records in 5.1 surround which is so cool, plus you have many options on the video such as night vision, black and white, sepia, old movie mold, etc and some of them you can combine (I did night vision with black and white to make a short zombie movie, it looks wicked). There are so many possibilities with this cam. The play back is all touch screen, which the screen can get smeared by fingerprints (easy to wipe out), but I suggest buying a stylus. Of course if you hook it to your television, it does come with a remote control, and you can do everything with that remote except for deleting images. But that is a positive because you don't want to accidentally delete your images. And it does ask for you to confirm deleting so it's hard to do that accidentally.

Plus, it's a great photography camera. With the flick of a thumb you can change from filming to photographer easy and it takes crystal clear pictures in 10.5 mega pixel. Although I do find it a bit awkward to reach the photo button. Now it takes better picture in photo mode, then it do in filming mode (While filming you can snap a picture also),

Another word on the night vision, I had all the lights off and it films in that greenish color sort of like the movie Cloverfield. But even filming at night without the night vision on, it picks up everything. I had a buddy drive at night, while I was shooting and the only lights were coming from headlights and streetlamps (when we passed them) and you saw everything on the camera that you could see with you naked eye and I even thought it was better than my eye.

Now when you film and take pictures, it organizes the images according to date and when you film several scenes it will play them one after another without a bit of a pause. The camera also has little doors on the back and the side so you can hook up your cords without the base, which is good. Also inside of one of the doors are an hdmi output, a headphones output and a mic input. I ran my iPod through the mic input to make a music video and it turned out great (although be sure not to have your iPod any louder than half).
The camera also has a one touch DVD burning button on the camera and the base, but I haven't used it yet.

The only real negative is that the battery only last 90 minutes, but I bought a bigger battery, which last 14 hours. That battery weighs as much or more than the camera (the camera is really light) and it sticks out the back some but that isn't really that big of a deal.

The software is pretty smart. You hook the camcorder with the use of the provided usb cable (after loading the software) and it finds the camcorder and asks if you want to transfer all the items to your computer. But the cool thing is that you can keep those images on your camcorder after transfer, film other stuff, hook you camera back up to the computer and it will only transfer items that haven't been transferred yet. This is good because you don't have to try to figure out what has or haven't been transfer and you don't get dup copies, or that annoying message about whether you want to overwrite a file. And it organizes by date and you can do a total calendar view and see what dates you filmed on. When it organized and transfer to your CPU, it organized by date filmed, not date transfer, which is extremely helpful, especially if you visit multiple locations during multiple dates.

This is really the last camcorder you will possibly buy for many many years. The only thing is that it has so many cool accessories you can buy, like wide-angle lenses, telescopic lenses, attachable lights, and underwater case etc that you may eventually end up with a $2500-3000 total purchase when you are done. The accessories are not a necessity but they do look like a lot of fun.
Auto focusing can be a pain at times, but it does have a manual focus, which you can set to infinity and if you zoom, set it up on a tripod.
Oh and one last thing, I actually filmed something for 5 minutes that was playing on my plasma in HD and it look as if its the movie itself.

I have finally become my father. I'm geezing. This is just a fabulous camcorder, but I'm way over my head trying to get my videos onto my PC and then burning the correct format DVDs to share with friends/family. Reading the "quick start" guide plus the PDF-format owner's manual on the included CD... almost made my head explode. And I've had a camcorder of various media and every type of film and digital cam in my hands since they were so big you needed a friend to help carry the components. I feel like I've traded my soul to the devil to get the latest/greatest technology, but now I'm getting the "I told you so!!" from my wife. I guess I should've accepted the one-back media of recording directly to mini-DVDs in the camcorder. Yikes!