Premature Sony HDR-HC3 Review
Published by Digital Video Camera / Camcorder Review Staff January 27th, 2006 in Sony, Camcorder Reviews
First spotted in SonyHDVInfo Forum, now CamcorderInfo have picked up the story and report - “A manual for the European version of the HDR-HC3 camcorder, a lower-end follow-up to the popular high definition (HD) HCR-HC1 (review), has been released on the Internet. The existence of the camcorder has been confirmed by a source close to Sony. That source stated that the camcorder will be announced in the next few months. Sony has refused to offer any official confirmation of the new product or indicate whether or not the release manual is accurate. Among the HC3’s features are the ability to record 1080i HD quality video, a 1/3�? CMOS sensor, a 2,103,000 gross pixel count, and a 10x optical zoom.
It is unclear if the HDR-HC3 is a replacement for the HDR-HC1 or meant to complement it in the line. It is lighter and has many features taken away including the mic jack and zoom ring, according to the released manual. The HDR-HC3, the manual states, will use a Carl Zeiss-Sonnar T* lens, with a 30mm filter diameter with 10x optical and 80x digital zoom, a focal length of 5.1 – 51mm, with a 35mm equivalent of 41.3mm – 485mm in 16:9 aspect ratio, and 50.5 – 594mm in 4:3 aspect ratio.”
Just got the camcorder and was skeptical about how it would perform. Mainly because it’s a sony and I’ve become skeptical about all their products, along with anger about their use of proprietary memory cards, connections, batteries, and accessories.
Happy to say I’m really enjoying this camcorder. I’m amazed at the picture. I’m not a scientist so I’m going to keep this simple. I shoot video in good light and play it on my plasma or my LCD and I am blown away by how nice it looks. It’s like watching High Def. Discovery channel for the first time, except my family is in the picture. I don’t find the menu hard to deal with and the size is not bad. The steady shot is much better then previous sony and JVC’s that I’ve owned. My hands shake like a junkie going through withdrawals, but the sony can handle it. In low light it’s not bad. I read reviews where there were complaints about the low light video, but I think it’s okay. I also have an upconversion dvd player that’s crap. The Sony does seem to up convert the regular DV tape to a better picture. I’m very happy with the camcorder and would recommend it to someone who just wants to record thier memories in high def. It would be nice to have 5.1 surround, but I can live without it. The camcorder did start showing green horizontal bars across the screen during playback until I disconnected the battery and hit the reset button. After that it played fine.I’ll have to see if it happens again. Other then that… go and get one!!!