Oppinion on Sony HDR-HC3 HDV 1080I CAMCORDER

[jtoolman2000]

I am considering this camera to use in a controlled small studio environment where I produce intructional videos haveing to do with several hobbies.

I have not found much in the way of unbiased oppinion regarding quality of image and color fidelity. I presently own and use small JVC Min DV cam but find it somewhat lower in overall image quality than even my old sony 8mm. I don't mean it is not sharp. It is but the overall color redition seems sub par in my oppinion.

The other route is to go with a semi pro 3 chip DV cam.

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[bobkart]

Not to question what you percieve as your needs but is absolute accuracy in color rendition essential in an instructional video? Sorry, not trying to be rude.

I have the HDR-HC3, it "seems fine" but I have no quantitative way of measuring what you're asking about it.

It seems you will need to try one to be sure, unless sample clips will do.

[jtoolman2000]

I basically am wondering if this camera produces a pleasing clear, nicely saturated accurate colored image. Does it capture audio nicely. I don't need super professional audio but it needs to be fairly crisp and clear.

Beside shooting my work in the studio I will also use it for outdoor events under so called normal conditions. Not really asking anything too specific. Simply what any owners of this cam think about its performance so far.

Thanks

[MarioB]

Hi!

I bought one HDR-HC3 3 weeks ago and I can tell you that I am very impressed about its picture quality: superb picture quality for this segment of video cameras (nice audio too). And if you connect the camera with a HDMI cable directly to a HD TV (as I did with my also new LCD TV Philips 37PF9731D) well... simply astonishing!

I surely recomend it!

Just for your information, these two devices (camera and LCD TV) both won this year's EISA awards in their respective categories. For those living outside Europe, EISA means European Imaging and Sound Association (www.eisa-awards.org).

Regards,

Mário

[jtoolman2000]

Thanks for the imput. These can be had for just over a grand, and even less on Ebay.
Cheers