Sony HDR-HC1/HVR-A1 and housings

My review of the Amphibico EVO HD housing is here if anyone is interested - with pictures...

http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.p...;threadid=19569

Hi Guys

I've read all the posts over the last year and think I've got things just about sussed. I have the A1 and I'm on the verge of going for the Gates housing because 1) I have one for my PD170, it's rugged and Gates have fantastic customer support. 2) The Gates (along with others) access the assignable button allowing MWB.

What I'm still not sure about, is it's performance compared to the Z1. I know the A1 suffers in low light but are we talking low ambient light in clear waters? My passion is deep wreck video, will I notice the low light performance when using my 23w Kowalski HID's?

Will the results be up to broadcast standards?

I've run a couple of tapes through the A1 on the surface and the colour looks a little flat compared to my PD170, anyone else notice this?

Any help with the above will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Kevin

www.shipwreckfilms.co.uk

Kevin, first of, welcome to wetpixel.

The A1 likes a lot of light. It dials in gain sooner than older DV cameras. It does not do well in lower light conditions. It really boils down to visibility around the wreck and how powerful your lights are. I don't think anyone here can tell you definitively how the A1 will do because they haven't tested it in the conditions you want to use it in. I've tested quite extensively for macro and limited wideangle stuff. With lights, the macro was top notch. Wideangle depended on the viz and available sunlight. it worked fine when I had 300W halogens on a subject 2 feet away in dim water.

As for broadcast standards, which tier are you referring to? DV is stll accepted as a broadcast standard. HDV is a bit of a quandry, whereby they want to uprez to HDCAM or more before beaming it at 1080i again.

Hopefully this helps.

Hi Kevin,

Having had a quick browse over your website I'd stick with the PD170 for now and wait to see what comes up on the next line of HDV cams.

As you seem to do a lot of 50+metre dives you would need a monster light bank to get anything decent with hdv cams at the moment. Unless the viz is outstanding with sunlight piercing all the way in.

Keep your money in the bank for now. More cams are on their way.

Dive safe

DeanB

Nice review Steve!

Cheers Scubadru and Dean.

It looks like I'll have to wait to see if the low light performance of the next generation of HD cams has improved.

These days the TV companies insist on HD but they don't realise that I can get them better footage with a PD170!

I was recently fiming on an 80m wreck off Falmouth, England. I managed to capture some decent images, but some of the best shots were using ambient light, with my dive partner (Teresa) highlighting objects with her wide angle HID.

On the same dive was a diver with an A1E. When back on shore and checking out the footage the A1E was virtually a black screen except for close up shots. At first I thought this was user error/camera setup, but now realise it was due to lack of low light performance of the HVR A1E. This is a shame as the A1 is a great little camera.

Does the Z1 perform better under low light conditions? Not that I can afford the 7000 UK pounds for a Z1 and Gates.

Cheers

Kevin

www.shipwreckfilms.co.uk

Hi Kevin,

At 80metres I can imaging the A1 was crapping itself

The Z1 has a lux rating of 3 (USA rating) where the A1 is 7lux.. I think your PD170 is 1lux ??? So the Z1 is better.

With your niche deep dives you will need to hold out for a while. I think I made the right decision with the a1 for what I needed it for. As I can upgrade in the future when the better cams come out.

Hopefully...

Dive safe

Dean(80 f king metres)B

YEEHAA

That was my 500th post..

I'm now a fully fledged Tiger shark

Oh well, back to business.

Dive safe

DeanB

Cheers Scubadru and Dean.

 

It looks like I'll have to wait to see if the low light performance of the next generation of HD cams has improved.

 

These days the TV companies insist on HD but they don't realise that I can get them better footage with a PD170!

 

I was recently fiming on an 80m wreck off Falmouth, England. I managed to capture some decent images, but some of the best shots were using ambient light, with my dive partner (Teresa) highlighting objects with her wide angle HID.

 

On the same dive was a diver with an A1E. When back on shore and checking out the footage the A1E was virtually a black screen except for close up shots. At first I thought this was user error/camera setup, but now realise it was due to lack of low light performance of the HVR A1E. This is a shame as the A1 is a great little camera.

 

Does the Z1 perform better under low light conditions? Not that I can afford the 7000 UK pounds for a Z1 and Gates.

 

Cheers

 

Kevin

www.shipwreckfilms.co.uk

This is a very interesting, and relevant, comment for me. The dives I do and the footage I like to collect is of wrecks in poor visibility conditions. Some are below 200 fsw so your post is right about where I would be interested. I've been contemplating the HC3, which is supposed be slightly better than the A1/HC1 in low light conditions, but it seems that all roads (in these discussions of low-light performance) leads to the FX1/Z1 for HDV. I'd love it if Sony came out with an alternative, but since they seem keen on going with CMOS, the FX1 seems like the best (but expensive) choice out there.

I'd be curious to know about HC3 and how well IT compares against the PD170 - anyone up to the challenge?

PnL

You should check out the Canon XHA1 or G1 for lowlight.