HC3 now or wait for HC5/7 L&M housing

Hi all,

I was wondering, for UW use, what would I gain/lose by waiting for the HC5/7 L&M housing instead of getting a HC3 with its L&M housing now.

I would not use this camera top side, this is only for UW filming.

I have a nice dive planned to the Oriskani in early April and I don't think the case for the new Sonys will be ready.

Also, L&M is running a special currently that includes a SWA lens with every HC3 housing purchase.

I kind of don't want to buy the previous generation camera but I am not sure how important the new HC5/7 features are UW.

Ideas, comments ?

Hiya Frenchguy

Well, I think the HC7 will be a better cam, but then there are always 'better' cams coming out in the future so you could just end up hanging on forever like I've been doing!!

Amphibico have a housing out for the HC5/HC7 already (no white balance controls though) and rumour has it that L&M will be releasing theirs fairly soon now too (not sure if it would meet your April deadline though).

If it was a choice between the HC5 and the HC3 then I'd say take advantage of the L&M offer with the WA lends. It looks a pretty good deal.

Hope this helps in some way and maybe one day I'll follow my own advice!! LOL

Cheers, Simon

Hi all,

 

I was wondering, for UW use, what would I gain/lose by waiting for the HC5/7 L&M housing instead of getting a HC3 with its L&M housing now.

 

I would not use this camera top side, this is only for UW filming.

 

I have a nice dive planned to the Oriskani in early April and I don't think the case for the new Sonys will be ready.

 

Also, L&M is running a special currently that includes a SWA lens with every HC3 housing purchase.

 

I kind of don't want to buy the previous generation camera but I am not sure how important the new HC5/7 features are UW.

 

Ideas, comments ?

I just went through the same thought process and ended up buying the HC3 and L&M housing now. Same primary reason: big dive trip planned in April and didn't see the benefits of the HC7 worth waiting for, compared with the advantage of a good HDV UW video for my April trip...

The big difference between HC3 and HC7 is the slightly larger CMOS chip which helps in low-light situations and gives more resolution to still photos. Under normal UW situations, I doubt if anyone could tell the difference between the quality of the video written to the tape.

The big difference between the L&M HC3 housing and the L&M HC7 housing I suspect will the return of the underwater microphone (not possible with HC3 because no external mic socket). An underwater mic is a "nice to have" but most people end up making a "bubble track" and using that instead.

I don't think that the HC5 has any advantages over the HC3. It is targeted at the consumer market.

And, given the almost identical form-factor of the HC3 and HC7, there is a high probability that, in the future, L&M will be able to update your housing to handle the HC7 (albeit without the UW mic and the HC3's easy button).

Regards

Peter

I think picture quality aside (where you should go to the store to see which picture you like more), the biggest factor is shutter speed control, which the HC3 doesn't have and the HC7 does. Having shutter control allows you flexibility between going for faster shutter speeds for slo-mo sequences or maximizing light.

I have to admit I don't like the image of the HC3. It lacks the detail and resolution of the A/HC1 but is a little less noisy in lower light. Which is why I like the HV10. Nice picture quality (esp detail and resolution) and compact too.

I ended up going with an HC7 and an Ocean Image case. I had a few reasons for that, beyond the technical differences between the HC7 and HC3 illustrated in the prior post.

I hesitated for a while and will let you know within a month if I made the right decision but essentially:

* I wanted a recent camcorder. The HC3 is not that old and the HC7 not a necessary upgrade but I didn't want to buy a camera which had already been retired. I understand that 6-10 months from now the HC7 will be retired as well but at least it's not retired yet. In 6 months or so, prices will have gone down and I'll buy a second HC7 as a backup.

* I had been hesitating between buying a UW enclosure for my Canon 5D and buying a video camera setup. I realize that the image quality from the HC7 will be an order of magnitude below the 5D but it'll be comparable to the Canon S50 I took these with. Should be decent for a still here and there while shooting moving images.

* The price difference for the L&M case and lights was around $4k and that was for an HC3. The HC7 case from Ocean Imaging seems to have most of the features found in the more expensive case but is more affordable.

* While L&M is not a large company, I liked the idea of a small company like Ocean Image build a case for me. Sure they're kind of ugly but as my dive buddy pointed out, if it ever drops down to the bottom, the yellow box will be easy to see. Also, Keith at Ocean Image was very responsive over the phone and by email during my search.

* The Ocean Image case gives more control to the diver than similarly priced or more expensive cases from Seatools or Gates. It seems like a really good solution, truth be told.

Keep in mind I might have made a huge mistake but these were the factors to my decision. I'll get the forums know in a little over a month how everything panned out. I'll be testing the rig in the pool in a week or so, in a cold water dive in early April and on the Oriskani on April 12th. Hope for the best !

Erik

I think picture quality aside (where you should go to the store to see which picture you like more), the biggest factor is shutter speed control, which the HC3 doesn't have and the HC7 does. Having shutter control allows you flexibility between going for faster shutter speeds for slo-mo sequences or maximizing light.

I have to admit I don't like the image of the HC3. It lacks the detail and resolution of the A/HC1 but is a little less noisy in lower light. Which is why I like the HV10. Nice picture quality (esp detail and resolution) and compact too.