Sony's HD and 3D push

TX100V

SONY is all out to flex its HD and 3D muscles this year as is evident from looking through its 2011 product lineup.

At a recent Sony product convention held here, the consumer electronics company brought out camcorders capable of recording Full HD 3D videos and a compact camera that can capture 3D images using only one lens and imager.

Its latest Full HD 3D handycam lineup consists of the HDR-PJ10E, HDR PJ-30E and HDR PJ-50E.

Besides being able to record in 3D videos, these camcorders also come with a built-in projector tucked in the 3in LCD touchscreen panel so you can view your videos as soon as you've recorded them. Users can project the images up to 60in in size on any flat surface, Sony said.

HDR PJ-30E

All the camcorders are also equipped with Sony's Exmor R CMOS sensor, which is designed to help users take better quality images even in dim settings.

Additionally they also have a built-in zoom microphone so users don't have to stand too close to their subjects to record their speech.

The PJ10E can snap still images up to 3.3-megapixels while the PJ30E and PJ50E can capture stills that are up to 7.1-megapixels.

As for internal memory, the PJ10E has 16GB of Flash memory while the PJ30E has a 32GB Flash memory capacity.

The PJ50E has a 220GB hard disk drive and storage can be expanded using Sony's Memory Stick Pro Duo or an SD memory card.

All of the camcorders are equipped image stabilisation technology.

The PJ10E retails at RM2,299 while the PJ30E and PJ50E are priced at RM3,299 and RM3,499 respectively.

New Cyber-shot

Sony also introduced a new member to its Cyber-shot T-series family, the DSC-TX100V.

The company claimed that the 16.2-megapixel camera is the first compact digital camera that can take 3D images using one lens and imager.

This is done using either the 3D Sweep Panaroma mode or the 3D Still Image mode.

In the 3D Still Image mode, the camera takes two consecutive shots in different focus positions then calculates the depth.

It then creates a right-eye, left-eye image to produce a 3D effect. The images can then be viewed on a 3D TV.

The 3D Sweep Panaroma mode lets users capture a 3D version of a panaromic picture with one sweep. And if you only want a conventional 2D panaromic picture, you can use the Intelligent Sweep Panorama mode.

The camera also has Full HD video recording capabilities and sports a 3.5in OLED touch screen display.

It also has a dual recording mode where users can take still shots while shooting a video.

Like the camcorders mentioned above, it is equipped with an Exmor R CMOS sensor.

If you are the outdoorsy type, the TX100V is one tough cookie as it is waterproof up to 5m of water and shockproof from a height of up to 1.5m.

Sony has also designed the camera so that beginners are able to capture more artistic images - one of the featured shooting modes is "background defocus" that allows users to capture shallow depth of field images easily.

The TX100V will be available in April for RM1,499.