Sony Announces Smaller Less Expensive HDR-FX7 with 3 CMOS Chips

In a worldwide announcement, this morning Sony introduced the HDR-FX7, the latest addition to their consumer HDV line. While similar to their first HDV camcorder, the HDR-FX1, the HDR-FX7 is not a replacement.  The HDR-FX7 is a modified version of the FX1, transitioning to CMOS imaging sensors rather than CCD, adding a larger 20x optical zoom, and significantly shrinking size and weight by 25% and 40%, respectively. With this new introduction, Sony is making no apologies that this camcorder is a prosumer camcorder without indie film aspirations.

"It's for the advanced consumer user, if you're going to be interested in [the higher end] products, you are a professional film maker," said Sony USA spokesperson, Yolanda Hunt-Boes.

Chief among the developments, on the HDR-FX7, is that it is the first camcorder to use a three CMOS chip arrangement. Each chip is 1/4 in.  with 1.2 million gross pixels for video and 1.03 million effective pixels for video in high defintion (780K pixels for video in standard definition). The CMOS chips use Sony's ClearVID technology which tilts the pixels 45 degrees to increase resolution. However, the chips are smaller than the HDR-FX1.  The minimum low light lux rating has therefore been increased from 3 lux on the HDR-FX1 to 4 lux on the HDR-FX7.

"As for resolution, because you have the CMOS technology the FX7, resolution is much higher than the FX1 in decent light conditions. On the contrary, under low light conditions the FX1 is better than the FX7, since the FX1 has a larger CCD sensor," stated Harry Haruna, Manager of Camcorder Product Planning for Sony USA.

While the chips have been upgraded in resolution, they are still 4:3 native aspect ratio chips. The lens on the HDR-FX7 is also smaller than the HDR-FX1 at 62mm thread size (versus the HDR-FX1's 72mm) . The smaller lens also impacts low light performance. Although the camcorder ultimately produces 16:9 aspect ratio video, it does this by slightly stretching each pixel horiztonally. The Canon XL H1 and XL A1 do not have to do this because they have native 16:9 chips. Sony has also increased the optical zoom of the HDR-FX7 from 12x on the HDR-FX1 to 20x on the new model.

The other major upgrade on the HDR-FX7 is a smaller, modified body which closely resembles the Sony DCR-VX2100, DCR-VX2000, and DCR-VX1000. The LCD screen has been moved from the top of the camcorder to the traditional left hand side. Those camcorders, and their Sony Pro Line big brothers the DSR-PD150 and DSR-PD170, were particularly popular with news gatherers in war zones for their durability and portability combined with relatively high video quality. It appears that the HDR-FX7 is attempting to go for this very same market.

The HDR-FX7 loses the controversial CineFrame feature which mimicked 24 frames progressive recording, found on the HDR-FX1. This August, Canon came on strong in the prosumer market, introducing the XH A1, a less expensive version of their XL H1 which featured 24F recording (a close but not exact match for true 24P) priced at $3,999. CineFrame was introduced on the HDR-FX1, in 2004. At the time, Panasonic's AG-DVX100 was hugely popular with independent film makers because of its 24P feature. The biggest criticism was that the HDR-FX1 didn't have true 24P and that CineFrame was not a worthy substitute. Sony countered, stating that only a small portion of videographers used 24P. Sales numbers would seem to support that, as the HDR-FX1 was and still is a very popular camcorder despite not having true 24P. However, when the FX1 was introduced, the choice was 24P or HD. Canon now provides both for the same price point as the FX1 and the FX7.

Additionally, Canon's XH A1 features many advanced manual controls specifically targeting filmakers. While the FX7 is very close in price, only $500 less at $3,500, it makes no attempt to compete with Canon in the indie market. Rather, it appears that Sony is plainly attempting to compete on price and portability for the news and event videography crowd. The Canon XH A1 weighs just under 5 pounds compared to the HDR-FX7's 3.63 pounds. The $500 price difference may widen further when the product is put into the hands of retailers.

Sony seems to be banking primarily on the price, and secondarily on size, as their advantages. Indeed, they will have to stay ahead of Canon on price in order to remain competitive. The use of CMOS chips rather than CCDs could provide Sony with that edge. CMOS chips are much less expensive to produce, and can be manufactured on existing machines capable of producing more than one type of product. Sony will likely continue to find production efficiencies on the CMOS chips of the HDR-FX7, further pushing the price down, while most of the efficiencies in CCD production have likely already been discovered, as the technology is much older.

The HDR-FX7 adds an HDMI-out jack, simultaneous use of the LCD and Viewfinder, and still capture up to 1.2 Megapixels. The addition of still capability is new to the HDR-FX7. It does not, however, include any special photo features.

Sony has also modified the manual control. Whereas the HDR-FX1 had a dedicated switch for white balance and a dedicated switch button for gain, those controls are now adjusted through a button and a jog dial on the back of the camcorder. Sony has also added a combination control dial that controls either Aperture, Exposure (a combination of exposure and aperture) or AE shift. The button mode is adjusted using the camcorder's menu, though the control is listed first in the menu and promises to be fast. The HDR-FX7 still has a dedicated zoom ring and focus ring as well as dedicated buttons for shutter speed. Despite these manual control changes, it is still possible (with some adjustments) to configure the camcorder so it has dedicated buttons for the core manual control functions: zoom, focus, aperture, shutter speed and a shared dial for white balance and gain.
 

The HDR-FX7 continues the use of a dedicated zoom ring and a dedicated focus ring as well as a special zoom rocker on the right handle and a smaller zoom rocker on the top handle. The zoom ring is now a perpetual zoom ring (no fixed end points) and you do not need to use a switch to alternative between using the zoom rocker and the zoom ring - a design problem that caused some consternation on the HDR-FX1. Sony has continued the extended focus feature, which temporarily zooms the pictures in on the screen only (not to tape) to aid in the adjustment of focus. They have added a focus assist button which is allows for a quick "auto focus check" when the camcorder is in manual focus mode.

The gain control has been upgraded on the HDR-FX7. The camcorder now uses numeric readings for gain levels from 0dB to +18dB in 3dB increments. The HDR-FX1 had only low, medium, and high settings. However, now users must use the combination of the gain button and the jog dial to adjust gain. Sony has also increased the number of custom function buttons from three to six. The shot transition feature has been moved from dedicated buttons to the menu on the HDR-FX7. Sony has added control over red and yellow color peaking while the HDR-FX1 had only brightness peaking control.

A Digital Extender mode has been pulled from the HDR-Z1 pro model. This is a moderated digital zoom, which increases zoom by 50% limiting image degradation. Sony has also added a feature called Picture Profile which is seperate from shot transition. It allows the user to save all the picture control settings to a memory slot on the camcorder and give it a unique name. There are two unqiue slots in the camera's memory for the control settings, but they can not be saved to Memory Sticks.

While Sony has not officially announced a pro version of the HDR-FX7, there were pro versions of the HDR-FX1 (the HVR-Z1) and all the VX camcorders. It seems likely that they will continue this tradition. Because of this, Sony must "keep features off" of the HDR-FX7 to compel users to upgrade from the HDR-FX7 to the pro version. On the HDR-FX1, there were a number of small features that motivated users to upgrade to the HVR-Z1, primarily the XLR inputs. Not suprisingly, the audio options on the HDR-FX7 are limited. While the camcorder has a microphone-in jack and a headphone-out jack, both are 1/8th in. mini jacks. The microphone levels can only be controlled together and not independently as different channels. By comparison, Canon's XL A1 includes two dedicated XLR inputs with dedicated audio level dials and other advanced audio features.

Sony has also upgraded the LCD screen on the HDR-FX7 to their "Hybrid Clear Photo" LCD display which improves viewing in both direct sunlight and indoor conditions. The LCD screen has a resolution of 252K pixels and the viewfinder also has a resolution of 252K pixels. The HDR-FX7 will have also share the FX1’s Stamina Battery series. Batteries will be completely interchangeable. But due to the lower power consumption of the CMOS chips, the special long life battery (not included) will power the HDR-FX7 for 8 hours.

Most of the ports on the HDR-FX7 are located on the lower left and rear right sides.

Most consumers will be happy to see the HDMI output on the on the FX7, located on the left side under the LCD. HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) is an increasingly popular interface for consumer products. In fact, the Sony PlayStation 3 will come equipped with HDMI. Other signal outputs include component, AV, and i.Link (FireWire, also an input). There is no analog-in. Stills can be transferred via a USB 1.1 port, or you can simply pop out the MemoryStick Duo card. Both are also located under the LCD. A Control L jack is available for wired remote control. The AC power jack is located on the right.

The HDR-FX7 also includes optical image stabilization. This system is preferable to electronic image stabilization, which degrades image quality. Another feature on the camcorder is Smooth Slow Record. This feature, also found on the ClearVID CMOS-bearing HDR-HC3 and DCR-DVD505, has been improved. What was once a 3 second record maximum has been doubled to 6 seconds. Sony cited increased buffer memory in the HDR-FX7.

The HDR-FX7 will be available in the United States in late October for $3,500.