Digital Home Thoughts: Sony's HC1 HDV Camcorder Reviewed

The Right
There isn't much left by the time you get around to this part of the camcorder :). There is the slot for the Memory Stick Duo – yes, another MS format. As I've already said, though, I don't think that photos would be a primary reason for picking this camcorder and so this slot could be largely ignored.


Figure 9: The last bits & pieces.

Beyond the slot, you've got sockets for an external microphone and headphones – thank you, Sony, for keeping both of those in. Above them, you've got flash control and NightShot control.

Hidden Features
There are a bunch of things that are turned on or off through the panel's menu interface that I wanted to quickly touch on.

• Program AE: the usual bunch of suspects are here – spotlight, soft portrait, beach & ski, sunset & moon and landscape.
  
• Spot meter: used for fixing the exposure on the subject, for when there is strong contrast between the subject and the background.
  
• Spot focus: for focusing on a subject that isn't at the centre of the screen.
  
• Manual control over shutter speed, from 1/10000 second to 1/3 second.
  
• Zebra: displays stripes on the panel or viewfinder (not on the recording) where the image is over a given brightness threshold.
  
• Histogram: displays a graph that can be an aid to correct exposure.
  
• Shot transition: this is, I think, a fantastic feature to appear on prosumer camcorders. It allows you to set the focus & zoom and store them. You can then adjust either/or, and store the new settings. Finally, you can then get the camcorder to transition to each of those settings. It takes about 4 seconds to achieve the transition and can be used to powerful effect like a pull-focus shot.

Conclusions
If you have any intention to do high definition recordings in the future, I think this model is a no-brainer of a choice. For some, the price point might be a bit high, but it is coming down all the time and it is currently unmatched for features in this price range.

Sony has done a great job of putting HDV into such a small package. The use of CMOS instead of CCD for the imaging has caused some concerns but the image quality is there, and the battery life is extended. The ability of the HC1 to downscale HDV footage to DV footage means that it is an excellent transitionary camcorder.

Given Sony's history over first generation devices, the HC1 is likely to have features that may well be dropped in future models as the price comes down. Ultimately, the decision will be yours.

Philip Colmer is an I.T. Manager for a global electronic publishing company. In his spare time, he enjoys researching his family history, developing his videography skills and going shopping with his wife.