New models: Sony HDR-SR12 or Cannon HV30… which is best?—db

Sony and Cannon are coming out with new cameras this winter; which camera do you think would grab better stills from the video footage, the Sony HDR-SR12, or the Cannon HV30 based on their description ?

Sony HDR-SR12 – - “pull 2.1 Megapixel photos from video footage while in playback mode, and 3 Megapixel photos from footage using the bundled Picture Motion Browser software on a compatible PC.”

Cannon HV30 - 30P progressive frame shooting mode. “When shot at 30P progressive frames, you have the ability to frame-grab great photo stills right from their video.”

Well HD video is 1920×1080 (and actually HDV is only 1440×1080), so taking stills from video will be limited to 2MP (but really only about 1.5MP at best), from either camera.

As Canon says, if you shoot 30P then you won’t have to worry about interlacing, which helps with vertical detail. Based on the earlier Sonys I’m guessing the SR12 is 60i only, which means it has to deinterlace the video to store a still frame, and that means losing quality.

Otherwise, I think the two cameras will be quite similar in still pic capability, that is to say, equally bad (much worse than a $150 digital camera). In still frame mode they will both be ok, but due to the technical requirements of how video sensors are made, they will never approach the quality of a cheaper digicam.
—jettobla…

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