Sony HDR-HC7

Used by Andreas Voeltz of Top Dawg Germany, this supposedly popular HDV camcorder alas stores to soon-to-be-forgotten mini tapes. Worse, its low-light performance apparently ain't too bright. At 899€ I'd expect better from Sony's contender against Canon's HV20 in the last days of the MiniDV battle.


On the other hand, there're plenty of UW housings to choose from for this one: Amphibico, BS Kinetics, Ikelight, Light & Motion, Sealux, silverfish, Top Dawg, etc all have one or more models to suit almost any budget from 350 to 3000€. The cheap one's a no go though.

Shown here is a typical polycarbonate UW housing from Ikelite, #6039.07 for about 1000€. An hinged external mirror on the left side of the housing allows viewing of the camcorder's LCD.


→ Sony HDR-HC7 review by Camcorderinfo
→ Sony HDR-HC7 review by SimplyDV (4/5)
→ Sony HDR-HC7 test shots by Videoaktiv (71/100)

UPDATE: The HC9, Sony's new player in the HDV game, is on its way.