Got my new Sony HC7

Tried posting this earlier, but it seemed to disappear, so apologies if it's appeared somewhere else as well.

Well my shiny new Sony HC7 arrived a couple of days ago

Good news is that it looks like it will fit in the USVH housing I had for my old TRV950, with only minor modifications. One issue is that the AV socket (for the monitor) is now on the left side of the cam, not on the back, as I think it was on the HC3. This means that when the AV plug is in it sticks out about 2cm & prevents the camera from sliding into the housing. To get round this I had to hack off about 1cm of the plastic from the AV lead plug. You can also cut off 2 of the 3 leads coming out of the AV plug, which helps getting it in. It's a tight fit, even after hacking it down, but it goes in OK. This lead (I just cannabalized the one that came with the camera) you then just wire into the monitor, replacing the old-style AV plug.

The only other modifications involve drilling a new hole in the tray (right at the front) and possibly putting a shim of metal or wood between camera and tray to raise to the camera 4mm or so, to centralise the lens in the port. From what I can work out you can arrange it so you get no vignetting with a 0.5x wide angle converter in place.

Now I'm just waiting for the reprogrammed circuit board to come back from US, so all the functions work. Will try to post a link to some UW footage when I have some decent stuff to show.

As for the camera, footage shot in good light looks spectacular to my eye on an HDTV. Very sharp & great colours. Certainly a step up from the TRV950. As I feared one touch WB is via the touch screen only, so I won't be accessing that in the housing. But hoping that as most of my filming is in well-lit shallowish water, the URPRO filter plus possibly a bit of WB tweaking via the housing controls should give some pleasing results.

Can't wait to get it in the water!

Fergus

Fergus,

Really looking forward to hearing how the HC7 does UW. I also have a 950, so I would be interested in your comparison between the two in lower light / deeper situations shooting with ambient light and / or red filter. I am making another trip to Cocos Island, CR, this summer and much of the shooting is of the big guys in open water.

I spoke with Warren at USVH yesterday. He said he would be getting a HC7 soon, so they can work on setting up their MiniDV housing to work with it.

Was there plenty of length for the camera? Warren told me they actually make a shorter version of the MiniDV housing for the HC3. It is about 1" shorter. I would guess they will use that for the the HC7.

Yup, there plenty of space length-wise. I think it's about the same length as the HC3. Hopefully Warren will get that circuitboard back to me soon & I can report on all the controls.

Now I'm just trying to decide on WA lenses. The Sony lens looks like it's good quality, but only 0.7x, so not that wide. Raynox do an HD5050 which is 0.5x, and even a 3031, which is 0.3x (that one looks like it would be a really tight fit in the port & would probably vignette).

Now I'm just trying to decide on WA lenses. The Sony lens looks like it's good quality, but only 0.7x, so not that wide. Raynox do an HD5050 which is 0.5x, and even a 3031, which is 0.3x (that one looks like it would be a really tight fit in the port & would probably vignette).

I am wondering if the Sony lens maintains focus through the entire zoom range? The Raynox HD5050 says it does. The 3031 stays in focus for up to 6x zoom.

I wouldn't mind having both a 0.5x and 0.3x. The 0.3x would be great for that wonderful shot from 110' at Bajo Alcyone, Cocos, of the school of hammerheads swimming overhead with the sun behind them.

I am wondering if the Sony lens maintains focus through the entire zoom range? The Raynox HD5050 says it does. The 3031 stays in focus for up to 6x zoom.

 

I wouldn't mind having both a 0.5x and 0.3x. The 0.3x would be great for that wonderful shot from 110' at Bajo Alcyone, Cocos, of the school of hammerheads swimming overhead with the sun behind them.

I have a Canon HV10 and the Raynox 5050. It does full zoom through and wide angle looks pretty good. Softness on the edges, but not too bad. Overall a great lens for $90.