HC7 report

[paulpost]

Hi everybody , camcorderinfo.com website has tested the new Sony HC7 camcorder and the results are not as good as we were expecting in the low light area .
According to Sony website this camcorder should perform well down to 2 lux level but looks that this is not true. Camcorderinfo gives a 3.85 score for HC7 for low light and 7.25 for HC1 that is rated 7 lux for low light. I hope this will help.
Paul

 

[drbill]

That is NOT welcome news since I'm getting ready to order an HC-7. Will have to read the review to see how they tested it. Thanks for posting.

 

[diversteve]

While it appears to be worse than the HC3, keep in mind:

Once again, we remind everyone that our scoring rubric has been updated from last year, so the HC7 score of 3.85 is not directly comparable to the HC3's score of 7.5.

Also in the comments, the Editor notes that the low-light performance was better with auto-slow enabled which I believe is how Sony gets down to 2lux according to something I read elsewhere. Not that that's a particularly great option u/w...

Theoretically an HC5 should have better low-light performance since the CMOS sensor has less pixels.

Can't you still buy HC3's also...

 

[alo100]

A bit disappointed after reading the review....
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Sony-HDR-HC7-Camcorder-Review.htm

The review is suggesting that the new model is a bit lower than the expectation, isn't it?





.

 

[drbill]

In the user opinions under the review there is at least one user suggesting that in their experience, the HC-7 had better low light response than the HC-3 if the auto-slow is activated. There's still hope. However, I'm going to go over the HC-3, HC-5 and HC-7 reports with a fine toothed comb before making a decision.

 

[radinator]

I saw that comment. He mentioned that he could get the better low-light by using the auto-slow (since a slower shutter allows more light to accumulate on the pixels), but on the other hand, slowing the shutter will cause more motion blur, and motion is the reason we want to shoot video instead of still shots.

I'm with you Bill. I think I will await other reviews. I'm in no hurry right now anyway.

 

[alo100]

Please let us know when you are ready, gentlemen.

I also hope that I don't need to wait for HC9...

 

[drbill]

Well, I think I'm biting the bullet and going for the HC-7 today. I've put this off far longer than I should have. I've heard several reports suggesting that in real world use, even low light conditions, the HC-7 is comparable to or better than the HC-3. One of the issues that came up with the much revered HC-3 is that the colors are too red (hmmm, maybe a good thing underwater).

So my bank account should be $1,100 lower within the next (gulp) hour.

 

[H2O Photo Pros]

Good luck with your HC7. I have been getting pretty good feedback from our customers with their HC7.

Gates and Amphibico HC7 Housings are now shipping!!

 

[paulpost]

Did anybody noticed that all the HC7 links on camcorderinfo website has been removed? I wonder way, do they have second thoughts regarding this camcorder?