Sony HC3 for under water and back up

[Andrew F6]

Hi guys
I'm looking at getting a second HDV camera mainly for under water stuff, but also as a back up. Our main camera is an FX-1 and I really wanted this second camera to be smaller. I hear that one of the problems with the HC3 is the audio and lack of audio imputs for external mics. You can put the after market Sony one on it (that goes in the hot shoe mount and is) but I'd prefer either a directional or lapel mic set up.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to address this issue with the external mic, ie. how to mount a decent one on the HC3? Any thoughts on what may be a another alternative small HDV camera that does have audio imputs on it that may be an option rather than the HC3?
Thanks
Andrew

[tom hardwick]

You're right, the flip-open little cover on the HC's top plate exposes Sony's proprietry intelligent shoe (Active Interface Shoe) that accepts a little movie light, a flash gun or a little mic, and supplies power and auto switching. What would be a nice accessory (though isn't made) would be a foot that fits this shoe and has a stereo mic socket and a headphone socket built in.

So no, lovely little camera that the HC3 is, it really is lacking in the audio department. Which is a shame as the menu runs to a total of 68 items yet you can't plug in your mic of choice and monitor its sound. Crazy.

tom.

[Alan Roberts]

Not really crazy, Tom. Menu items are free; the HC1's a pruned software variant of the A1, and the HC3's a pruned variant of the HC1 so the dsp is either the same or a cut-down version. Hardware costs real money, maybe only a few pennies, but every little counts. What Sony are busily doing is creating a hierarchy of products; the more you pay, the more you get.

[tom hardwick]

Oh I'm right with you there Alan - Sony's product placement is very well thought out and their habit of subdividing the niche is well known.

All I wanted them to do was sell a forth accessory to fit that special shoe (sounds like something poor kids had on their feet in the 1955 playground) that would simply have two stereo mini sockets built into it. They could charge a lot for it, I don't mind.

tom.

[Alan Roberts]

Has anybody tried fitting the XLR box that comes with the A1 onto an HC3's top connector? I'd guess that the connections are the same, it might be the right way to do it.

[infocus]

Has anybody tried fitting the XLR box that comes with the A1 onto an HC3's top connector?
Can that be bought as a separate accessory?

And it seems that the HC3 can do limited slow motion (in standard def) whilst the A1 can't, is that true? And is anybody aware of any other ADVANTAGES of the HC3 over the A1?

[tom hardwick]

Yes, the HC3 can do 3 secs of slo-mo, which replay as 12 secs. I'm just about to test it out.

[infocus]

But am I right in thinking the A1 CAN'T do that?

[steve]

I think that the HC3 is the first HDV camera to do the high-speed frames for slo-mo using the internal ram buffer. It can also take up to three stills using the buffer whilst recording HDV footage. These frames have jpeg compression rather than being reconstituted mpeg frames. You can of course also transfer frames from tape to memory stick during playback, but they are obvoiusly limited by the original mpeg compression.

It also is top loading whereas the HC1/A1 is bottom loading.

It has a HDMI output, which should look better than the component implementation.

There are people actively trying to hack the AIS issue using a sacrificial Sony AIS mic., here's on example:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=de_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fxsupport.de%2F08.html

The babelfish translation makes for entertaining reading, but the general message is that it can be done.

Steve

[Alan Roberts]

Dunno about availability of the sound pod; it has no part number, it's just referred to as "XLR adaptor".

The A1 does not do slo-mo, it has no cache memory.

[tom hardwick]

The HC3's slo-mo (also on the new V1) is fun to play with, though it needs lots of light to look good. Cleverly the HC3 can record the 3 seconds (replayed as 12 seconds) *before* you hit the record button, so if you're quick you might capture the confetti throwing after it's been thrown.

I still feel such distortions (time, colours, sharpening etc) are best left to post processing where you can click the 'undo' button or play about with the settings. But I'm sure my timeline slo-mo isn't as good as Sony's new Smooth Slow record feature.

tom.

[Alan Roberts]

All the top-end HD cameras have this, the Sony750 has had it for about 4 years, the Panasonic HDX900 has it, around 8-10 seconds of cache. The video goes into the cache continuously, so if you start recording the cache output you first get the 8-10 seconds of life before you pressed the button. Both cameras also use the cache to get "slow shutter" by adding frames together. It's really only with cmos sensors that you can run them fast enough to get decent over-cranking, and then you use the cache to store the frames before putting them to mtape at normal speed.