Sony HDR-HC7 6.1MP MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom by Sony
|
Our Price: $1,260.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $749.95 (click here) Category: Digital Camera See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Sony HDR-HC7 6.1MP MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom
Digital camera Review: Pretty good but not great
Summary: 4 Stars
Pros:
1. Great video quality in good to great light. Colors are "punchy".
2. Doubles as a still camera. Even though the still quality is not great, it could still come in handy.
3. Down-conversion to standard definition seems pretty good. Can easily record hi-def to DVD using a down-converted digital connection from the camera to a DVD recorder.
4. Handling seems good. The size of the camera is fairly small. It's amazing what they can pack into things of this size.
5. Uses HDV format on MiniDV tapes.
Cons:
1. USB interface is not USB 2.0! This is 2007! Downloading still photos takes much longer than it should. I don't intend to buy a proprietary memory card reader.
2. Uses Sony proprietary memory.
3. Still camera functions are mediocre. Probably equivalent to today's $200 and less digital still cameras. I have a Canon 20D digital SLR and the difference is quite clear! The Sony still photos are noisier and just not as good looking. The flash photos in low light are poor to fair.
4. Don't like the menu system. Seems harder to use than it should be.
Neutrals:
1. Fair battery life with the included battery.
2. Video quality in low-light could be better, but it's not poor. I'd say it is fair.
3. Audio is good but it picks up the camera's motor noise and that can be a bit annoying. It does have a MIC jack though.
Digital camera Review: An excellent camcorder
Summary: 5 Stars
What a great camcorder! The resolution is excellent and the 6MP pictures are sharp and clear. This is one camcorder that really does an excellent job as a combination camera/ camcorder. Motion artifacts are minimal and the colors are bright even in dim light. All in all, an excellent buy.Digital camera Review: Wow!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
I got an HC7 a couple of weeks ago and am really impressed with the image quality. I originally tried the Sony HDR-SR1 but was put off by its dismal low-light performance. The HC7 is much better on that front. Color tends to wash out a bit, but noise is not overly prounounced. However, in bright outdoor lighting, the picture quality is absolutely stunning.
In regards to photos taken by the HC7, I haven't printed any out yet, but I've viewed some on my 1080p and they look very good.
Overall, I am a happy camper. Perhaps unfairly, I gave this a 4 star only because it lacks 3 CCDs.
Digital camera Review: Excellent for amateur like me -much like an upgraded HC90
Summary: 5 Stars
This just arrived Thursday so these comments come with minimal time on camera so far. I am also absolutely an amateur user of camcorders so I won't be able to comment on the quality of the manual controls, etc.
I agree closely with the other two reviews so I won't repeat their details. I'll try to hit a few other topics and also compare the HC7 to the Sony HC90, an earlier model that took 16:9 standard definition video with 3 MP stills.
I have taken about one hour of HD video so far, and have viewed it through an HDMI cable on a Sony 46" XBR LCD TV (1080p). I captured a few indoor scenes, a few neighborhood outdoor scenes, and some footage at Harper's Ferry in West Virginia - river, mountain, and two trains passing by at close range while I was at the railroad station there. I can say comfortably that you won't confuse the video from this camcorder with Standard Definition camcorder video - when they say High Definition, they aren't kidding. If your TV can show the video off to advantage and you've grown fond of HD, I think you'd be pleased with this camcorder. In my case, the overwhelming reason I upgraded camcorders was to get the HD video, so this has made it worth the steep expense. My second requirement is to have a camcorder that took decent stills so I only have to carry one piece of equipment around. I already had this in the Sony HC90 at 3MP, so going up to 6MP was desirable but not enough to make me buy something this expensive in itself.
My only output criticisms so far are that the West Virginia footage looks a little brighter and the water a little greener than I remember. I didn't play with any settings so take that with a grain of salt. These camcorders have a lot of manual adjustments you can make which I have not explored. One or more of them undoubtedly would have given me improved footage, and I'm not unhappy with what I think I noticed in the slightest.
The stills look very good to me so far, but I've only taken about 20 and viewed them on the TV. I normally view stills on a PC.
I don't have a telephoto lens yet so I can't report on the quality of the stabilization. I used a tripod today and that was readily apparent in the stability of the video. I was very pleased, by the way, with how well the camera did with the moving trains. Very crisp where I expected a fair bit of motion blur.
LCD size and controls have been mentioned in First Looks. I'm perfectly happy with a 2.7" LCD instead of the larger one in the UX7. So this wasn't a negative for me personally. The controls (menus) are highly similar to those of the Sony HC90 I already have. If you haven't seen them before, there's a learning curve. If you have the HC90 or another camcorder with those menus, you'll be right at home with the HC7. One note: you can configure P[ersonal]-Menus to include the things you use the most in your own order, in addition to the camcorder's menus. One thing I forgot is that each mode (video, camera, play/edit) has its own configurable personal menu. So I was looking for things to add to the Play/Edit personal menu that I was sure should be configurable, but couldn't find them. That was because they belonged only to the filming side, not to the playback side. So you've got three personal menus you can create, not one.
Battery: check the sizes on the batteries. The HC90 batteries were very thin. I think three of the batteries for the HC7 fit entirely within its case. The fourth and largest battery looked to be much bigger in one dimension such that I thought it would extend past the end of the camera 1/2" or so. The other three will fit flush into the back of the camera, though they're not behind a door or anything.
Battery life: my impression so far is that the battery life statements are accurate, but the batteries drain faster than that of the HC90. This is almost certainly a function of increased power load instead of the older batteries being better than the newer ones. The CCDs and the stills and everything are all "more" than in the HC90. So I think I'm fine with the battery life, but you'll need to watch it and definitely have more than one battery.
Size compared to the HC90: this struck me as being about 10-15% bigger overall than the HC90. It's maybe 1/2" longer front to back, and wider as well. I think the HC7 is one notch up in size from the average camcorder I see in Best Buy. But it's noticeably smaller than last year's SR1 Sony hard disk camcorder, say. I don't see dropping this one in a coat pocket like I did with the HC90, but it's pretty light and still fits in the case I used for the HC90 if I don't load other stuff in there.
Fit in the hand: I found a Best Buy with an HC5 and UX5 on hand and played with both at the same time. These have the same footprint as the HC7 and UX7 as far as I can tell. The HC5's tape case is maybe 3/8" wider than the UX5's DVD case. The UX5's DVD case is maybe 1/4" higher. So I found that my right-hand fingers curled nicely around the smaller but taller UX5 and it felt slightly more comfortable. However, I found that the HC5's extra width made me curl my palm slightly such that the base of the camcorder fit solidly on top of the ball of my thumb. As I played with this in the store, I realized it seemed like the HC5 actually was easier to hold stable because of this. Absolutely try these two out on your own instead of assuming this will be true for you. Just wanted to say that the two cases do differ a bit and will probably feel different to you at some level.
Tape vs DVD (really HDV vs AVCHD): I spent a lot of time wondering if the noise reported in last year's AVCHD UX camcorders would still be present, and if I would care in any case. The detailed reviews still aren't out, so I don't know whether there will be a noise problem there. But I can say I noticed nothing in the footage so far that I'd call noise, so my decision to go with the tape and HDV format looks very good to me right now. I have never had the problems people report with Mini-DV tapes, so that whole transport discussion (tape vs DVD) didn't weigh on me much. The noise discussion did have an effect on my decision, though.
Getting the video to your TV: "how much money do we have?", apparently. I played the tape back to the TV directly, but that's not a long-term solution. I have heard that you can capture the HDV video and then will be able to transform it on a PC to formats suitable for Blu-Ray or HDV burners, if you have the money. Then you need a Blu-Ray or HDV player attached to your TV. For now, it sounds like many people are archiving the HDV video to DVDs as data files. Then they burn playable DVDs where the HD is down-converted to standard definition video. So they get to see decent versions of the video now and can produce HD versions for playback in the future as technology changes and prices drop. One other HC7 reviewer also implied that HD files captured by Ulead software could be moved to a PS3 hard drive and played back to an HD TV from there. So far, the easy and cheap path we have for SD video to DVDs to TVs is not quite there for HD based on what I've read.
The one extra feature I wish the camcorder had was a built-in 20X optical zoom. I'm sure this would affect both the cost and the size of the barrel negatively, so I "understand". But that would be #1 on my wish list.
Overall, I am amazed at what camcorder manufacturers can pack into these shells now. I know we're talking computers that are way more powerful at image processing than anything that existed ten years ago. But it is still almost like magic to drag a camcorder of this size around, take some video, and then have play it back on a high-quality HD TV looking to me like it was taken with broadcast-level equipment. I know better intellectually, but it's really great to have a camcorder like this that marries up with the new TVs so beautifully.
Digital camera Review: Buy it!
Summary: 5 Stars
This product, so far as I know, has not been available from Amazon since Jan. 8 as a comment claimed. It wasn't available on Feb. 19 when I ordered it from an Amazon competitor. It's now available (about March 1) at a very competitive price.
It is a fabulous video camera. Colors are accurate, low-light performance is amazing, video noise is non-existent, resolution will blow you away. The 2-hr battery provides a full 2 hours of recording. The camera is light, flexible, and intuitive to use.
The Sony miniDV tapes cost a reasonable $10 ea., and there are zero dropouts. Loading couldn't be easier. It'd be nice if Sony would stick to optical zoom specs (10X), since digital zoom can be anything (why stop at 20X? - go for broke, 1000X! Idiots.) Steadycam - optical stablization - seems to work very well. You can shut it off if you're using a tripod.
Audio is okay, but it could be much better. They provide a jack for an external mike and a powered shoe for a lamp. Video output is flexible - USB, iLink, component, S-video. Speaking of flexible, the user guide runs over 100 pages! There is useful content on every page - it'd take months to try all the options available!
Image quality is stunning, esp. considering the reasonable price. I've not tried the included software, but HDMI playback to my Panasonic 50" plasma is just like network HD! Fantastic! You won't be disappointed. (Okay, there is one little glitch. The zoom speed (rate) is not menu adjustable. There's variable zoom speed provided via a little lever, but you'd better be r e a l l y steady.)
Great camera overall.