Sony HC-3 durable enough?

[drbill]

I've been considering the purchase of a Son y HC-3 high def camcorder since it will work with my existing housing (a big plus).

I've read a number of customer reviews which refer to the build quality of this camera as being somewhat lower than expected. Can those of you who have used it comment on its durability under work conditions (I do ~300 dives a year, all with camera)?

Fortunately one of my dive buddies bought one and I'm having dinner wikth him tonight so I can see his footage and ensure it does work with my housing.

TIA

 

[Gar]

I am considering the same camera and would be interested as well.

 

[mdmbike to scuba]

I've been considering the purchase of a Son y HC-3 high def camcorder since it will work with my existing housing (a big plus).

I've read a number of customer reviews which refer to the build quality of this camera as being somewhat lower than expected. Can those of you who have used it comment on its durability under work conditions (I do ~300 dives a year, all with camera)?

Fortunately one of my dive buddies bought one and I'm having dinner wikth him tonight so I can see his footage and ensure it does work with my housing.

TIA

I've heard good things about it so far. I too am looking to upgrade to the HC-3,at least your housing will work good call on that one. My housing will not work new housing needed."Not Good"

 

[Mafiaman]

As the HC-3 is the newest model in the Sony Hi Def cameras longevity and durability info may be limited.
I have been using the HC-1 for about 18 months with about 200 dives and 20k miles worth of bouncing around in my motor home.(and I'm not very organized or gentle)
And it's worked flawlessly for me, I've posted a video I did on the web, keep in mind a lot of quality is lost when compressed for the web.
If you view it, I'd be interested in you comments, It's the eagle wreck, 110' at night.

http://www.atlanta-smas.org/eagle.wmv

 

[paulpost]

IMHO, in your situation with so many dives HC3 is not a good choice, the only advantage over HC1 is top loading of the tape but the craftsmanship of HC1 is far superior of the HC3. As Mafia man said this camcorder (HC3) is too new to can say for sure if is reliable or not. You have also to consider the post-production part, do you have the wright computer and sofware to handle HD?
I got an HC1 just before to be discontinued for a good price, but now I cannot edit HD because my computer (2.8 GHz Intel, 1Gig of ram, 256Mbit video card and Sony Vegas trial version) cannot handle .
Good luck

 

[TheNitroxinator]

I have an HC1, which I think is nice in terms of capability, but I will give you one caution. With my HC1, the motherboard wound up getting a problem. While Sony was good about telling me I'd need to send the HC1 in for servicing, I was severely annoyed by the fact that it cost me $250, even though the HC1 was still under warranty! That was after only 5 dives with it. Since getting the HC1 back from servicing, it hasn't given me a problem, but I have been busy and have still only done 11 dives with it. It's been with me to Catalina and back 3 times on the express, and to the Channel Islands and back once, in addition to some surface usage. I'm not sure what the Canon or JVC policy is on warranty repairs. Somehow I doubt that the Sony policy is different for the HC3.

I got an HC1 just before to be discontinued for a good price, but now I cannot edit HD because my computer (2.8 GHz Intel, 1Gig of ram, 256Mbit video card and Sony Vegas trial version) cannot handle .

I have to admit this is pretty accurate, it could take forever and a day to load the raw m3t files into Vegas Platinum. I upgraded to 3G of RAM, that helped considerably (with a 3GHz Intel processor). That's a desktop, God help you if you only have a laptop with a POS 5400 RPM hard drive.

keep in mind a lot of quality is lost when compressed for the web.

Gotta agree with this, too. The full resolution stuff is humongous, even google video's liberal upload policies won't let you upload a decent length video at 1440x1080i. Oh, well, at least blu-ray drives are finally available, even if they cost way too much right now (I don't have one yet). You can still get great stuff at 720x480p on standard DVD, the people I've been diving with have loved what I've given to them (so did my non-diving Grandma, and apparently non-diving Grandparents of friends I dove with).

 

[jpfeltz]

See my ebay listing if you are still interested in buying. Can save you $500-$1000 on the set as I have two barely used ones for sale. Selling them because we are done with the project we were working on and need to upgrade some still photography equipment. I comment on the underwater performance on the listing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MESE:IT&viewitem=&item=300062857393&rd=1&rd=1

Cheers

 

[jpfeltz]

Oh, and I can also answer more specific questions to its performance you have as we were satisfied and completed an entire project (dive professionals in Roatan Honduras this past summer) using the setup. A Sony i-link cable and a fast processor on your computer allows fast transmission of data - I had no problems. Also we were able to use the cable to copy from camcorder to camcorder in HD however unless you are one of the High Definition pioneers with the VERY expensive editing software, you will have to wait the year out with the rest of us for HD software. But its coming...

 

[Mafiaman]

however unless you are one of the High Definition pioneers with the VERY expensive editing software, you will have to wait the year out with the rest of us for HD software. But its coming...

You're telling me Adobe Premiere Elements doesn't capture to file in high def?

 

[jpfeltz]

Unfortunately there is no consumer product for High Def EDITING right now. There are for professionals. The rest of us (for any high def camera on the market) have to wait until they settle on a format - you can also google it because it MAY be out already but very new and you may want to wait a few months for the software to work out its kinks. But it is still worth investing in HD cameras as you can easily record in either HD or standard and play in either if you have the high def cables and the products are coming soon and once they are here, everyone will expect HD.