Sony HDR-HC1 HDV Camcorder Review

Like every other Sony camcorder with a touch screen, the HDR-HC1 includes Spot Metering and Spot Focus. These allow you to touch an area of the screen and the camcorder will automatically adjust either the focus or the exposure respectively to what is shown on that area of the screen. I really like this feature; I think it's a nice compromise between full auto control and full manual control. Lastly, the HDR-HC1 includes an AE shift feature which allows you to shift the automatic exposure of the camcorder up or down by 4 levels each way while keeping the automatic exposure setting. You can put the camcorder in any of the Program AE modes like beach, snow, sport, etc.

Overall Manual Control (6.5)
The manual control on the Sony HDR-HC1 is okay; it's certainly better than other Sony models but it still isn't where a $2,000 camcorder should be at. The camcorder has a combo focus / zoom ring which is a great feature, but the zoom rocker is really poor. The HDR-HC1 does give you manual shutter speed control, but not gain and not aperture control. Sony has made a smart move however by giving the user dedicated control buttons on the HDR-HC1 and not pushing all manual control into the touch screen.

The control over shutter speed, focus, zoom, and white balance will certainly fulfill the needs of most users. Those are the key areas that are most often adjusted, and most easily understood, so I see why Sony put only those on this camcorder. That being said, the most technical and advanced users will likely be disappointed with the manual control options on the HDR-HC1. The manual control on the HDR-HC1 doesn't come close to what's offered on the Sony HDR-FX1, on the Canon GL2, the Panasonic AG-DVC30 or even Panasonic's PV-GS400. It's just so easy to add additional manual control that I wish Sony would just do it and forget about creating unnecessary product differentiation between their models. Just give the users control!

Zoom (8.0)
There are two ways to control zoom on the HDR-HC1. The first is through the traditional zoom toggle, and the second is through the zoom ring. The zoom toggle is pretty bad on the HDR-HC1. It's small and its range of motion is very small, meaning it's tough to get a variety of variable speed zooms and hold them. It's nearly impossible to get a super slow zoom. In fact, with the zoom toggle I don't think the camcorder is even capable of it.  I really wish Sony had put a larger zoom rocker on the HDR-HC1 like Canon did with their GL2. It would drastically improve the zoom rocker situation. There are secondary zoom buttons on the LCD margin and on the included remote control.

The zoom ring is great and gives you zoom control right around the nerve center of the camcorder, on the left side of the lens. The one weakness of the zoom control on the HDR-HC1 is when it comes to slow variable speed zooms. A slow zoom is always the best to use, it's what you'll see most often on television because it's easiest on the eyes. I wish that the zoom toggle did a better job of controlling slow zooms (which zoom rockers and toggles are best at) with the ring concentrating on medium and high speed zooms. If you're serious about slow zooms you're going to have to get an external zoom controller and attach it via the HDR-HC1's LANC port.

Zoom Power/Ratio (10.0)
The HDR-HC1 includes a 10x optical zoom, which is pretty small considering we’re seeing low-end camcorders with 20x and 30x optical zooms. That being said, I don’t think that for higher-end products an obscenely large zoom is even that important, and once you break 14x or 16x, it gets kind of useless unless you have a great tripod or hands-of-steel stability.

Focus (9.0)
With high definition, achieving sharp focus is critical. With standard definition, if your focus was slightly off viewers would not notice it, but with high definition because of the increased sharpness a slight focus error will be very visible. Sony has designed a great focus system on the HDR-HC1 to appease consumers. When you slide the ring control switch to its far right position the zoom / focus ring switches to full manual focus mode. The focus ring works very well on the HDR-HC1. It is not too sensitive, so it is easy to make minor focus adjustments. Additionally, Sony provides a focus distance reading.

Sony does two more things to assist you in getting ultra sharp focuses. First they put a very sharp 252,000 pixel viewfinder on the camcorder which makes focusing manually much easier. The second feature which was originally included on the HDR-FX1 is the expanded focus button which digitally zooms in on the image 4 times closer, but just on the viewfinder and LCD so you can really check your focus, similar to a feature on some digital cameras. This does NOT apply any "digital zoom" to the video so no degradation occurs. It's a great innovation on Sony's part and it makes focusing HD on a consumer camcorder much more practical. The touchscreen LCD is not as high-res as the viewfinder so you should always consult the viewfinder for critical focusing.

I am very happy with the focus options on the HDR-HC1, and I think that this is the manual control feature which Sony has improved most on the camcorder. 

Exposure (Aperture) (7.0)
Exposure on the HDR-HC1 is controlled through a dedicated button on the camcorder's left side. Pressing the exposure / volume button makes a level indicator appear onscreen. You can then increase or decrease the exposure manually using the exposure toggle. You can adjust the exposure in 24 steps - standard on Sony camcorders. Sony doesn't give you any F-stop readings or shutter values based on your adjustments.

I really like the exposure control on the HDR-HC1. The toggle works well and the dedicated buttons are a plus. That said, Sony does not give you any control over the aperture on the camcorder. While you can control shutter speed manually, you have no way to adjust the aperture. Aperture control should be a given on a $2,000 camcorder.

Shutter Speed (5.0)
Only Sony's highest -end consumer camcorders give consumers control over shutter speed. Thankfully, they have determined that owners of the HDR-HC1 are deserving. Manual shutter speed control is accessed through the touch screen. While I do wish that the shutter speed control had a real button, it's an important but rarely accessed "on the go" manual control feature. Therefore, it's not a huge concern.

Because the exposure is really a combination of aperture and shutter speed, you can't set the shutter speed and then set the exposure. If you're setting the shutter speed the camcorder will go full auto on the aperture. It's really too bad Sony can't just bite the bullet and put on manual aperture control. It would really make controlling for different light conditions much easier.

White Balance (7.5)
White balance on the HDR-HC1 is identical to every other Sony touch screen. Through the touch screen menu system you can set the white balance to full auto, indoor / outdoor, or full manual. I wish that they'd put the one push button to set/lock-in white balance on the side of the camcorder's lens; there certainly is room for it. They should have also included a preset for florescent light.

Gain (0.0)
The HDR-HC1 has no manual gain control, which is certainly one of its biggest weaknesses.

Other Manual Control (5.0)
The HDR-HC1 also has color shift and sharpness adjustments for fine-tuning the look of your video. Sony has also added white balance shift.  While these manual control features are nice, it would have been nicer if they had included manual gain control. Lastly the HDR-HC1 offers zebra patterns (at 70% and 100%) which will show your overexposed areas with diagonal lines that only show on the LCD and viewfinder.