My SD miniDV camcorder has died. I was hoping to wait a year or so before jumping to HD, but maybe the time has come.

As I now have an archive of miniDV tapes (SP and LP) and nothing to play them back with, I'm looking at DV or HDV. Also, Hard Drives and Memory cards are fine, but produce another archiving task that I don't have time for!

I'm confused by the reviews on the net regarding the low light performance of HD cameras. Specifically, I've found contrasting reviews of the HC7 vs HC3, no useful reviews of the HC5, and glowing reviews of the HV20. However, all the HV20 fans like the quality in 24p. I'm not going to use 24p for home movies of my children growing up. I don't like the filmic effect, and the kids move too fast for it anyway!

I've even read that SD cameras are better in low light. (Same size sensor+lower pixel count = bigger pixels = more light hitting each pixel = lower noise).

I shoot a lot of footage indoors. So, do I get the Sony HC3, HC5, HC7, Canon HV20, or stick with SD and get the Sony HC96?


Other factors are image stabilisation (important), ease of use and little need for manual fiddling to get good results (important), and reliable. Excellent image quality in bright light is a given, I hope.


I jumped into miniDV a decade ago, before I had a PC to edit it. I'm glad that I made this leap at the time, since I now have some nice quality digital recordings from back then which I wouldn't have if I'd stuck with S-VHS.

I don't have an HDTV yet, but will get one eventually so think I should make the same leap with HD now.

However, if it's going to mean lousy low light performance and higher price, I don't want to.

I'm annoyed that I have to buy a new camcorder right now (kids birthdays coming up!) and need some help making a choice.

Thanks in advance for any good advice!

Cheers,
David.

There is a caveat on the sensor response... The sensor must be optimized for video... Standard definition is <0.5Mpixel, HDV is ~2Mpixel. If the camera you are looking at is advertising 4+Mpixel still images, it will likely have poor low-light performance. An SD camera with 1Mpixel sensor has enough pixels to allow reasonable color (the bayer matrix is almost smaller than individual video pixels, so the color averaging fits single pixels better -- and I'm not phrasing that clearly, I know)


The other matter is that most people state they want "low-light" performance, and never quantify what they consider "low-light". "Low light" BEGINS at a fairly bright light level... It is not "five birthday candles and a night-light"...

I ran a test yesterday morning... Ambient diffuse indirect daylight coming through plastic blinds, and a 300W (!) Quartz Halogen torchiere reflecting off an off-white ceiling. I had the camera (XH A1 -- 3 1/3" HDV optimized sensor) in manual mode: 0dB gain, 24F mode (so I could use 1/24s shutter), and lens at wide-angle f1.6 aperture (telephoto end closes down to a round f3).

My plan was to turn down the torchiere, via its variable dimmer, until the camera recommended exposure and my shutter/aperture combination matched. Then use an incident light meter to determine the illumination.

It didn't work out that way -- the 300W bounced off the ceiling to a subject about 6-8 feet away was, according to the camera, already one f-stop underexposed... Using 60i mode, with shutter of 1/60s, indicated a three f-stop underexposure. The good point -- at three to four stops underexposure, the viewfinder image was a closer match to the naked eye impression of the room. However, if one were to run in AGC mode, the camera would have been adding 6 to 9dB of gain (3dB is one f-stop) trying to make the room look bright.

How much illumination did the light meter record? EV5.3... The conversion chart shows EV5 as 110 lux, EV6 as 220 lux. So EV5.3 is around 140-150 lux. The camera "recommended" minimum is 100 lux.

So... for a $3000 camera, illumination from a hot reading/room light and some ambient daylight is almost "low-light"


As neither lux, nor EV values may mean much... The light meter specifications for EV->lux conversion is to have the meter set to ASA100 (old meter).. EV doesn't depend on shutter speed, but I set the shutter speed on the meter to 1/60s (lowest regular speed for normal interlaced video). EV5 @ 1/60s & 100ASA is... unreachable in a still camera -- the aperture would need to be f1.0 or larger (Canon used to have an F1.0 lens in the 90s for the EOS film cameras). EV6 (220lux) is about f1.4. This is one reason many may praise the 24frame mode of the HV20 -- one can lower the shutter speed from 1/60s to 1/24s, which gains 1.5 stops of light.

Hi! Since you said you plan to get an HDTV, i suggest to take the leap and get an HDV camcorder. Preferably get the HC7 because it's low light is still pretty good! It's low light performance is almost like the SD HC96, so the HC7 is kinda like the HC96 but in HD and with more features. So if you want HD, go with the HC7 or if you want SD, go with the HC96....whatever choise you get, you won't be dissapointed because both are amazing camcorders with awesome video performance!

Can someone please comment on the low light performance of the HC5 and HC7 versus the HC3 or HC1. I have had a chance to look at the HC3

In its review, camcorderinfo.com commented that the low light of the HC5/7 is not as good as the HC3 given the increase in resolution of the CMOS chip. But I have read some contrasting comments from other users on this and other message boards.
I am primarily concerned about how the newer cams, HC5 and HC7, perform when it comes to shooting videos indoors.
I currently have a HC90 (CCD based SD camcorder). I understand that the newer CMOS HD cams may not perform as well as the HC90 when it comes to low light. But I am hoping that the dip in pic quality is not that big

There are not many HC3s available out there. Trying to figure out if I should grab one while its available or go with the newer replacements

Thanks

Did you ever get an answer? I'm in the same boat -- have a HC90 and looking for a HD version. There are still HC3s out there, but cost nearly the same as newer HC7s. I don't need the newest with the most features, but want the best IQ in bright and low light.

If the HC3 and HC7 are the same price, I'd go with the 7.