Sony HDR-FX7 Camcorder Reviewby David KenderPublished on Dec 27, 2006 7:00 AM
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Picture & Manual Control
Automatic Control (8.25)
The question of where consumer camcorders end and prosumer camcorders begin has always been open to debate. Sony takes a stand by placing the HDR-FX7 (Review, Specs, Recent News, $2599) and HDR-FX1 at the top end of their consumer line, and the HVR-A1 and HVR-V1 at the bottom end of their professional lines. We at Camcorderinfo.com consider both a camcorder’s price and feature set in determining how to label a given camcorder, and on both of these bases, we place the HDR-FX7 squarely in the prosumer realm. This is not a camcorder built with casual video enthusiasts in mind, but rather lower budget professionals who have the skills and experience needed to take advantage of a robust feature set and a level of programmability that makes the FX7 arguably the most customizable camcorder available for under $10,000.
In Auto mode, the FX7 performed on par with other Sony camcorders. The FX7 was especially strong in its ability to snap into sharp focus, and it appears Sony has optimized auto focus for HD in this model. It’s important to keep in mind that while this camcorder is a solid performer in Auto mode, the usual limitations of automatic image controls apply. In low contrast or low light, the FX7’s ability to make focus accurately deteriorates, and in these situations, focusing manually is a must. Likewise, auto focus shouldn’t be relied upon for shooting while tripod-mounted, interviews, or as Sony put it shooting a subject through a window covered with raindrops.
Other automatic controls for settings including exposure, gain, and white balance work well in balanced bright lighting, but fall apart when the going gets tough. In high-contrast situations, subjects may end up under or over-exposed; in mixed lighting, the auto white balance may favor the one lighting source too heavily over another; and if gain or shutter speed controls are set to auto, your picture may end up too grainy, stuttery, or both. In other words, Auto mode on the HDR-FX7 works as well as it should in a prosumer camcorder, but with its robust suite of manual control adjustments, you’ll probably pass over Auto unless you find yourself on a true run and gun shoot.
Overall Manual Control (8.5) Handling the HDR-FX7 is going to please some people and really aggravate others. It comes down a core design choice that Sony made early on, and the choice was this: menu-driven operation. While Canon chose to put as many controls as possible on the body of the XH A1 (Specs, Recent News, $3279.99) in order to emulate the ultra-open design of the XL H1 (Specs, Recent News, $7947.89), Sony requires a good deal more interaction with the menu. Some users love this, especially younger shooters who won’t miss the old school feel of film cameras. Much to Sony’s credit, the menu is clear and easy to navigate. The main navigation tool, however, needs work. The primary for making manual control settings is a jog dial located on the lower rear of the body. In short, it’s too small for the amount of use it gets. This dial is used to adjust shutter speed, gain, white balance, as well as the primary menu and every submenu. Scroll up, scroll down, and push inwards to make your selection. Operation is clean and simple, but we just wish it were bigger. Pros accustomed to larger controls will find this a particular frustration.
Inside the LCD cavity
While we prefer Canon’s button layout and overall design, the HDR-FX7 definitely has some advantages. The focus and zoom dials (both servo-mechanical, like the XH A1) are tighter, allowing for finer control. We complained that the XH A1 tended to jump focus at the slightest touch. There is no straight-up manual mode. Each manual control is switched between manual and automatic individually. You must, however, not be in Auto Lock mode in order to access most controls. The exposure/shutter/gain controls have an unusual relationship, and learning how best to make adjustments might take a little time. It’s best to practice on the camcorder ahead of time if you have a big shoot coming up. Full descriptions of each control are below.
The Status Check feature gives you a summation on camcorder settings.
We love the Status Check button, located below the LCD cavity. This 4-page, scrollable, onscreen display gives you an overview of how all the critical controls are set: audio on page 1, output settings on page 2, assignable button designations on page 3, and manual control/other button designations on page 4. It appears overlaid on top of your shot (the image above is with the lens cap on). Of course, you can onlysee your set-up here. If you want to actually change anything, you must exit the Status Check and go into the menu. Sony might have implemented a time-saver right there by letting you jump into the settings directly.
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Right, the top level of the menu. Left, the lengthy Camera Set submenu. |
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Menu The main menu is broken up into six submenus: Camera Set, Audio Set, Display, In/Out Record, Memory Set, and Others. They move in a vertical scroll. Some of the submenus, particularly Camera Set are too long and should have been broken up. The lengthy list coupled with the small jog dial required me to roll the dial 9 times to get to the bottom. Here you can see the each of the submenus and the options contained within.
The Display Set submenu
There are a lot of options on the HDR-FX7. This means that not only are the submenus long, but many of the items in each menu have their own little menus. For instance, Exposure/Iris, the first item of the first submenu, has its own 4-item sub-submenu (for dial assignment, dial sensitivity, dial rotation direction, and an “OK” you hit to confirm your changes. We love all the options, but the eyes and thumb tire quickly hunched over the LCD screen scrolling and selecting. Chances are, you’ll set a lot of this up before the shoot, taking advantage of the 6 assignable button and 6 Picture Profiles (see Other Manual Control below).
Zoom (9.75) The Sony HDR-FX1 offers a 20 optical zoom which can be controlled from three locations (four if you count the included remote control). The most accurate control is the zoom ring, the second ring from the front on the lens barrel. A ring offers complete control of zoom speed, but because it’s a servo rather than mechanical design, there can be some lag time if you attempt avery fast zoom (i.e. 1x to 20x takes about 3 seconds, and it will never go any faster than that). Be careful of the noise your dragging finger makes on the surrounding plastic. The on-board mic is located directly over the zoom ring and will pick up the sound. If you operate the zoom from one of the rockers, however, the mic was not able to pick up any mechanical noises from within the lens barrel. The second control is the zoom rocker, located on the right side grip. This large, plastic control is well placed for the shooter’s index and middle fingers. While not as sensitive as the ring control, the zoom rocker can achieve about three zooms speeds depending on finger pressure. Unlike the Canon XH A1, the FX7 has an even balance to its body, so you won’t need to grip the right side quite so tightly. This frees up your fingers for better zooming.
The third control is a small rocker located on top of the handle, and would most likely only be used for getting low-to-the-ground shots. This rocker, about 1/3 the size of the larger rocker, is not pressure sensitive. You can alter the zoom speed, though, via a small switch located on the right side of the handle, which gives you H (high), L (low), and Off choices. The exact speeds of the H and L settings can be dictated in the “Handle Zoom” option in the Camera Set submenu. Zooms speeds run on an arbitrarily-numbered scale of 1 – 8, with 1 being the slowest and 8 being the fastest. It’s nice that you have this flexibility to control zoom speeds on this, the weakest of all three zoom devices. One would hope, however, that for precise controls, you don’t have to rely on the handle zoom at all.
Zoom Power/Ratio (20.0)
Focus (11.5) Focus is crucial on HD footage, because like every other part of the picture, your mistakes become much sharper than in standard definition. Most manufacturers have addressed this by adding in a few features to help you achieve the correct focus. Those on the HDR-FX7 are quite good, but button placement is weak.
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A nice, wide focus ring with a good feel |
The manual focus is engaged by pressing a button on the lower left side of the body, directly underneath the back end of the lens barrel. It’s right next to the Expanded Focus button (more on that below). Both are out of sight, and can be difficult to differentiate with touch. The manual focus on/off button has a small bump on it, but we still got them mixed up frequently. When manual focus is engaged, a small hand with the letter “F” appears in the lower left corner of the screen. When making adjustments, the numeric value of the focal setting appears, then disappears after a few seconds.
Additional tools are included to help in the battle for focus, with more tweaks than you might expect. The Expanded Focus button is pretty standard on most HD Sonys. This button jumps to a digital zoom of about 3x to help you better see the object on which you’re focusing. This zoom boost cannot be accessed while you’re recording. As an upgrade from their lower-end models, the Expanded Focus has two types. Type 1 is in color and looks like a simple zoom. Type 2 shifts to back and white, which generally makes it easier to gauge focus. Expanded Focus will display on an external monitor, but it cannot be recorded to tape. The photo shutter button, located behind the primary zoom rocker, can be set to instead act as a second Expanded Focus on/off button.
The second focusing tool is also upgraded from the baseline edition. Peaking, engaged from within the menu, creates little flecks of white pixels along high contrast areas, which help you find the focal point. The FX7’s peaking tools are better than most, however. Peaking sensitivity can be altered between Low, Middle, and High. The color of the pattern can also be changed from white to red to yellow. We found the yellow to work best in most shooting, as it stood out best. Peaking will not be recorded to tape, but unlike Expanded Focus, it will not show up on an external monitor.
If you think you have the correct manual focus, but want a second opinion from the camcorder, or if you want to leap into focus without dialing, there is a Push Auto Focus button located on the left side of the lens barrel under the Exposure/Iris dial. Using the feature is useful, but don’t expect it to find the focus any better or faster than if you were in straight auto mode.
Exposure (Aperture) (8.0) The HDR-FX7 exposure controls are not as simple as they could be. If you’re new to Sony, handling has something of a learning curve before you’ll be totally comfortable. The primary exposure control is a small dial located on the left side of the lens barrel. The dial can be set, in the menu, to act as either the iris, exposure, or AE shift control. The iris is the simplest to explain.
When controls are in auto mode, a little icon with the letter “A” appears next to the setting on the bottom of the screen. When engaged in manual mode, the icon disappears. To engage manual exposure/iris/AE shift, press the button above the exposure/iris dial. The dial can be adjusted for rotation orientation (normal or opposite) and sensitivity (low, medium, and high). Low sensitivity requires a lot of twiddling dial to make any impact, so you may want to leave it in medium or high.
When in Iris mode, the dial simply dictates the available f-stops: F/1.6, F/1.7, F/1.8, F/2.0, F/2.2, F/2.4, F/2.6, F/2.8, F/3.1, F/3.4, F/3.7, F/4.0, F/4.4, F/4.8, F/5.2, F/5.6, F/6.2, F/6.8, F/7.3, F/8.0, F/8.7, F/9.6, F/10, F/11, and closed. Unless the shutter speed and gain are individually set to manual mode, they will automatically correct for changes. There is an option within the Camera Set submenu (labeled AT IRIS LIMIT) that allows you to cap the highest iris setting at F/11, F/5.6, or F/4.
When the dial is in Exposure mode, the iris and gain are locked together and the shutter speed is frozen at 1/60th. You cannot adjust each of these controls independently, and there is no unique, fixed numerical value to this control, like EV steps. Exposure mode is good for run-and-gun shooting, but for studio shoots, you’ll want the tighter control that Iris mode offers.
In AE shift mode, a small “AS” icon appears onscreen to the left of the iris value. Here you regain independent control of shutter speed and gain, but you have no iris control. Instead, the exposure/iris dial runs the “AS” scale from -7 to +7 in whole number increments. Unlike the other two modes, if you make an adjustment here (i.e. AS=+4), then go back into the menu and reassign the dial to a different mode, the AE shift setting will remain in place, overriding all your iris settings with your previous AE shift command (says the FX7, “whatever you say, captain, but I have to boost the exposure by +4, like you told me to). The AE shift can also be set directly from the Camera Set submenu without having to set it as the dial mode.
Like we said, there’s definitely a learning curve here, and the only way to learn is play around with it. Shutter Speed (8.0) The shutter speed controls on the Sony HDR-FX7 are easy to access and change. First, make sure you’re not in Auto Lock mode. When the shutter speed is in auto mode, a small “A” icon appears to the left of the shutter speed display (located along the bottom of the screen). To engage the manual shutter speed, press the Shutter button located on the rear of the camcorder body. The jog dial, also on the rear, is used to make adjustments. Shutter speed cannot be activated if the Exposure/Iris dial is set to Exposure mode or AE shift mode.
The shutter speed settings include: 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/90, 1/100, 1/125, 1/180, 1/250, 1/350, 1/500, 1/725, 1/1000, 1/1500, 1/2000, 1/3000, 1/4000, 1/6000, and 1/10000.
White Balance (7.75) The white balance options on the Sony HDR-FX7 are fairly limited. If the camcorder is in auto white balance mode, no icon appears onscreen. To engage white balance controls, push the White Balance button on the rear of the camcorder’s body, then use the main jog dial to browse options.
The FX7 offers two custom white balances, A and B. Each is set by selecting either setting A or B, then pushing in and holding the jog dial until the icon stops blinking. Manual adjustments appeared accurate in their balance. There are also two white balance presets, Indoor and Outdoor.
Also included are some tweaks for the auto white balance response. In the Camera Set submenu, the AWB SENS allows four options to nudge the auto response in a certain direction. The Intelligent setting, it seems, is the “purely automatic” setting, meaning that you defer completely to the camcorder’s decisions. High, Middle, and Low settings address actual color temperatures. High decreases the color temperature strength, whether it be reddish or bluish. Low pushes it further towards its inclination; if it’s a reddish light, the red will increase. Middle is… well… somewhere in the middle. This is a strange tool with questionable use. You’re far better off setting the white balance manually and playing with the colors from the Picture Profile menu.
Gain (5.75) The Sony HDR-FX7’s manual gain is engaged just like the shutter speed and white balance. The gain level appears at the bottom of the LCD screen. When in automatic, a small “A” icon is located to its left. There is a rear-mounted button labeled Gain to activate manual adjustments. The jog dial is used to browse through settings. Gain settings include: 0dB, 3dBdB, 6dB, 9dB, 12dB, 15dB, and 18dB. The Canon XH A1 has a slightly different gain range, with a -3dB option, but no 15dB.
Manual gain cannot be engaged when the camcorder is in Exposure mode. Other Manual Control (8.0) Neutral Density Filter – There are two neutral density filter settings, controlled by an external switch on the left side of the lens barrel. Neutral density filters decrease incoming light equally all around the image, allowing you to open up the iris for shorter depth of field without overexposing the image. ND1 reduces the light to about 1/4 and ND2 reduces it to about 1/16.
Zebra Patterns – Zebra stripes can be set at 70 IRE and 100 IRE, with a +/-5 IRE margin. There is no in between here. The switch, oddly enough, is external and located in the LCD cavity (odd because so many other controls are located in the menu).
Picture Profile – The HDR-FX7 offers a set of six “Picture Profiles,” presets that group together a series of color settings. These profiles are designed to dial in quickly when you need to shift to a different look on the run. Each profile is composed of six elements:
- Color Level – This controls the color strength. It can be set from -7 to +7, with an additional -8 setting for black and white shooting.
- Color Phase – This controls the color tone, shifting from a greenish (-7) to a reddish (+7).
- Sharpness – This setting adds or decreases sharpness along edges. The scale on the FX7 ranges from 0 to 15, with a default position of 7. For a “film” look, it may be recommended that you decrease the sharpness.
- Skin Tone Detail – Skin correction techniques function by seeking out certain colors that resemble flesh tones and either softening focus or decreasing contrast is those areas. On the HDR-FX7, you can choose Type 1, which narrows the detection range, Type 2, somewhere in the middle, and Type 3, which widens the detection range to its fullest.
- White Balance Shift – Similar to the color phase, but less drastic, the -7 to +7 white balance shift can be used to correct for various lighting temperatures. _7 moves it to a blue tone, and +7 to a red tone.
- Cinematone Gamma – This is an on/off control shifts the color space from standard video into more film-like tones which the manual describes as “the natural gradation sequence.” We found this to mean that saturation was boosted and blacks were a little pressed. You can even out the saturation boosts by playing with the Color Levels. The next model up, the HVR-V1, offers 2 Cinematone gamma curves, as does the XH A1.
The Picture Profile Menu
While these are definitely great controls, they simply pale in comparison to the Canon XH A1’s Color Preset Menu, which allows you a much finer level of control for color balance, tone, dynamic range, and noise reduction. So much so, in fact, that beginners may appreciate the relative simplicity of the FX7. CamcorderInfo.com’s credo, however, is that more control is better. You can always ignore options until you learn how to use them, but you can never add manual controls to a camcorder that doesn’t have them.
Assignable Buttons - There are six assignable buttons on the HDR-FX7, three located on the left side of the lens barrel and three located in the LCD cavity. That second trio or buttons double as VCR controls when in playback mode, therefore the functions you assigned them will not work in that mode. All the buttons can be assigned a great many tasks, but notevery task. Their functions are limited to guide markers, digital zoom extender, focus infinity, record review, end search, index mark, peaking, SteadyShot, color bars, spotlight, back light, fader, LCD/EVF display, Picture Profile, and Shot Transition.
Shot Transition – This allows you to save focus, zoom, iris, gain, shutter speed, and/or white balance, then save them to a single setting. You’ll need to requisition two assignable buttons as Shot A and Shot B. One the best things about the Shot Transition tool is that you can adjust the transition time from 3.5 seconds to 15 seconds, as well as the transition curve, which can be set to linear, soft stop (standard ramp up and a gradual ending), and soft transition (gradual start and gradual end, with a standard ramp up in the middle). While this is a very cool tool for some applications, there are a number of things to be aware of. If you turn the camcorder’s power off, the saved shot settings are lost.
Spotlight – A simple on/off feature, this is to be used to as a quick correction tool if a subject is over-exposed. If two or more of the iris, gain, and shutter speed controls are manually adjusted, the Spotlight feature cannot be used.
The histogram function, with a solid line to denote IRE value
Histogram – A histogram can appear onscreen to help you gauge exposure levels. If you have the zebra patterns turned on, a thin vertical line will appear on thex axis at the corresponding IRE level. Contrast Enhancer – This setting, defaulted on, seems to press or “crush” the shadows, decreasing the dynamic range in the lower end. While this may be useful for some shooting, we generally kept it off in order to see the full range of performance.