Sony Unveils World's First Handycam with Smile Shutter and Face Detection

The HDR-CX12 Memory Stick Handycam

It would seem that the latest gimmick in consumer-level digital cameras is represented by smile-detection technology, but Sony won't settle with equipping its Cyber-shots with this feature. No, the Japanese giant has decided that it was about time that its handycams suffered a makeover as well and announced the release of the HDR-CX12 Memory Stick Handycam, a device that can shoot HD-grade videos and comes packed with both Smile Shutter and face detection technologies.

The camera can record full 1920 x 1080 HD video and 10-megapixel photos via the ClearVid CMOS sensor with Exmor-derived technology. It also sports an advanced Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 12x optical zoom lens and Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization for smooth video and clear photos. As for the storage, the HDR-CX12 comes bundled with a 4 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo (Mark2) media card, which means that users will be ready to start recording almost straight out of the box.

Furthermore, the camera has also been equipped with a 2.7-inch Clear Photo LCD Plus screen and supports Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound recording via the built-in zoom microphone. Additionally, for easier operation, it has an assignable dial that can be customized to manually control focus, brightness and white balance.

As mentioned earlier, another major selling point of the new camcorder from Sony is represented by the Smile Shutter technology, which allows users to capture smiling photos and record video at the same time. This is not exactly a big novelty, but for those who don't know exactly what the deal is with all these "smiles", let's just say that, when activated, this technology will detect and automatically take a photo when the subject smiles, without having to switch to photo mode or pressing the photo button.

The new Sony HDR-CX12 Memory Stick Handycam - front view
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Additionally, the camcorder also features child and adult prioritization, so users can capture photos when the intended subject group smiles, and is also capable of detecting and capturing a smile while in standby mode.

And the best thing is that this thing isn't even that expensive. According to Sony, the HDR-CX12 camcorder will arrive in stores early in August for about $900, which is a pretty OK price to pay for shooting your whole holiday in HD.

Sony VDR-MC10 stand-alone DVD recorder

If you’re one of the owners of a Sony HandyCam, chances are you find it a hassle to transfer your recorded videos from your HandyCam to your PC before you can burn them on DVDs. The best solution to avoid these hassles would be to use an autonomous DVD recorder which lets you connect your HandyCam directly to it an directly burn your videos onto a DVD, thus eliminating the transferring of files. This is exactly what the new Sony VDR-MC10 stand-alone DVD recorder aims to achieve.

If you own a 1080i Sony HandyCam you can directly store the videos you captured onto a DVD then play it later using your DVD player. The VDR-MC10 offers a standard HDMI output for high-definition video quality. It also has a 2.7-inch color display and supports various DVD formats including; 12cmDVD, DVD+R, DVD-R,DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW and DVD+R DL. In addition, you can also use the VDR-MC10 to record videos captured using other brands of camcorders.

The VDR-MC10 is set for a Japanese market release around October for an estimated price of around $408. No word yet if the VDR-MC10 will be available internationally.

Samsung’s MX20 SD camcorder

Although Samsung’s MX20 SD camcorder may fall a bit behind other camcorders available on the market for not having an HD video recording feature, it still is worthy of our attention and perhaps money because of one outstanding feature. And that is the facility to directly upload video into YouTube or iPod from the camcorder without needing to transcode the video files.

To some, that feature more than makes up for not being able to capture high-definition video but well for some, that would be a turn off. If you’re one of those who don’t mind the lack of HD quality, you’d be glad to know that the Samsung MX20 nonetheless kicks out some high-standard features that include H.264-enhanced video quality, 3D noise reduction technology, a Schneider lens with 34x optical zoom, Hyper Digital Image Stabilization, advanced face detection technology, a 680K CCD sensor, a swivel hand-grip, a 2.7-inch LCD screen, iCheck and iScene modes and a very important SD/SDHC memory card slot.

The Samsung MX20 SD camcorder will be available in the Japanese market sometime in September. And our Japanese pals will have a choice of either black, white, red or blue. Pricing details are not yet available but we expect this to come with a lower price than most of the cheap HD camcorders currently available. For us non-Japanese camcorder-loving geeks, we may have to wait for awhile before the MX20 gets an international release.