2 LUX Sony HC5 and HC7 HDV cams

[Mike Hollingshead]

I just saw these in the new bh catalog last night, but don't see them on bh's site yet. I can't believe these are already out replacing the HC3. I bought the HC1 last spring as the HC3 was just coming out. Now the HC5 and HC7 are out. Doh. I wish I had spent $400 on the HC96 and waited a year and spent the rest on the new HC5....by the looks of it. The HC5 claims 2 lux. So evidently this will produce much nicer stuff in lower light. My HC1 is 7 lux and is the worst camera I've ever had in low light. I think I paid $1500 on it last year(but maybe not....seems like that was what I paid). Now this HC5 is out for $1099. It is has a CMOS sensor, which might still suck during lightning. I see they have a new bigger HDV 3 chipper out too, and it is now CMOS as well.

They can be found at sony's site: www.sonystyle.com

Anyone want an HC1 for cheap? lol It's excellent for anything but low light. I guess as good as the FX1 from many sources. I should pawn mine off on ebay today.

I hate this hobby. Here I was, just the other day, thinking hey, this will be a rare year I don't feel like I have to buy anything for chasing. Now all the sudden I think I need this new camera as well as a good 70-200mm L lens and maybe the XTi.

 

[B Ozanne]

Thanks Mike. The B&H catalog was in the garbage, now I'm on page 87 and I'm probably going to buy something I don't need.

 

[David Schuttler]

I took mine to work today!!

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I should pawn mine off on ebay today.

Probably not really all that bad of an idea, I was watching this one about a week ago it was used and went for over $1300 granite it had some accessories but nothing that spectacular. You could sell your HC1 buy the HC5 and make money

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=270084457816&rd=1&rd=1

Here they have the HC5 for $888 almost wish I would have upgraded my camera instead of buying the XTi.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-HDR-HC5-HC...ryZ20333QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Bill Hark]

Mike, thanks for the heads-up. Those two new Sony's look interesting and supposedly better low light. I have heard such bad things about CMOS and it seems like Sony is shifting away from CCD's. I'll probably wait a while especially since I am still hurting after purchasing a VX-2100 last year and only used it during the awful 2006 season.

Besides CMOS lightning problems, I wonder how HDV handles low light even in those better rated cameras. There is already a lot of compression in HDV and low light noise may be emphasized.

I am hoping for the HDV equivalent of the old TRV-900 which was the best minDV camera for chasing (price/quality and size).

Bill Hark

 

[Brandon Lawson]

I am wanting to purchase a new camera for this year's chase season, and just spent all day yesterday and today trying to read up on the new models that are either already out or coming out soon.

Now my brain is fried and I still can't make a decision. I was more tempted to save some money and try and find a Panasonic GS500, but Canon's new HV20 has me thinking of waiting instead. I dont know what to do.

 

[John Wetter]

I too see them in the B&H catalog, but not on the web site. Sony just announced them at CES and said they'd ship in February. So, my guess is that no one has them in stock yet. It looks interesting that they are lower lux, but I really have to wonder if it's the same old CMOS sensor and they are just doing enhancement or some other post-processing to get the rating down. I'll likely keep my DCR-HC96 for another year. I also need to finish dubbing over some of my old Hi-8 stuff to MiniDV, as it seems many of the newer cameras are dropping the Analog pass-through support.

-John