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REVIEW Sony HC-14E video Camera REVIEW

SONY DCRHC14E REVIEW

AN INTERACTIVE QUICKTIME OBJECT MOVIE

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Sony HC-14E with SENNHEISER MKE 300 Gun Mic - Manfrotto Tripod

Object Movie needs QuickTime and you can then rotate the image by clicking and dragging on it with your Left Mouse Button :)

  • MiniDV recording
  • Carl Zeiss lens
  • 1/6" 800k pixel CCD
  • 2.5" LCD monitor with touch panel control
  • NightShot
  • SteadyShot
  • M-Battery series
  • i.LINK (DV OUT)
  • USB connectivity
  • 10 x optical zoom (640 x Digital)

Click images to enlarge

Tape loading is from the bottom with Long play option

Click images to enlarge

Reviewed

Often Reviews are third party or simply a copy and paste from another site or by magazine editors who - for whatever reason - who fear telling the truth.

As an owner of this camera this is the 'real picture'.

Cost

Without a doubt pound for pound this camera is one of the best buys in the world at this time - to get the Sony label and a Carl Zeiss Lens for under 300 pounds (£GBP) is quite frankly amazing, and some real bargains can be had if you shop around - delivered for free for under £250 is a reality!!!

I bought mine from Empire Direct for under £250!!! Superb service!!!! (SEE BANNER ->>>) and many others often offer great deals so take a week searching before you may make a purchase from a company you may later regret!

Handling

Its small! Not as small as the much higher priced 'super-tiny cameras' in the range but then you could buy 3 of these for that price! There is a hand grip, I added a good neck strap see quick time rotational movie. As I feel a little more secure with that extra insurance plus it is less likely to be stolen from around your neck as you so easily could leave it on a table somewhere! Or drop it getting out of your pocket or camera gadget bag!!!

Features

The main thing is it's lens - a Carl Zeiss Lens is and has always been a very sought after piece of equipment (ask hasselblad camera owners!) and the basis of any good system. This applies to the Sony HC 14E too! It is a regular 10 times optical which can zoom to 640 digital - but I think that it is too pixelated at that end to be of any real benefit unless it is capturing some action that is of """EARTH SHAKING!!!!!!!!!!!""" consequence like a space satellite crashing into the sea or something!!!

on screen touch display

A flip out screen is where most of the main functions are managed by touching the screen - Even Focusing! It has AE modes, Sport, landscape, portrait and so on and colour balance/ light correction. It also has tucked away 16 bit CD quality sound recording setting for any music videos and the regular 8 bit for voice. The Onboard stereo Mic suffers from some motor noise unless you are capturing direct to a PC with no tape in it. I overcame this by buying (with all the money I saved!!!) a superb Gun Mic see above. It plugs in to the camera and the sound is then excellent - you will need some form of Hot shoe extension though! I used an old flash trigger and taped over the sensor as the tip of a long gun mic will creep into the wider end settings.

It's low light capabilities are excellent and it has a infra red setting - for those Zombie movies ;)

Steady Shot is superb and the zooming 'switch' is not the regular 'rocker type' so takes some getting used to, but is variable motorised type for those gentle zooms or Impact 'bang out there' types!

Don't ruin all this by buying crap filters - buy the Sony polarizer - and multi coated (MC) protection filter set for the lens - don't spoil the ship for an ha'peth of tar!!!

And It does have a tripod socket! Two in fact!

Battery lasts an hour get a bigger one too (NP-QM91D around £60 later) - the battery must be charged on the camera unless you buy an optional charger. The internal battery can be charged every 3 months simply remove the main battery and plug in the camera for a few hours!

Takes photos on tape - a bit fiddly but it does work. Its better to buy a cheap Sony DSC stills camera (what I took the stills with above!) and forget the 'video photos'.

Back light compensation

Mini DV tapes - this would certainly make a great sister camera for remote camera work say in the corner of a building site on time lapse or bolted inside a car.

DC charger/Mains cable

AV cable

USB cable

Image Quality

Most 'cheaper cameras' are let down on this. The single CCD capture is very good - it is not a 3CCD!!! But if you take care you can get better results than a person who is an idiot with a 3CCD!!!

The first and most important thing is to as suggested use good filters and a good tripod so as to not degrade the image. Have a good steady stance when using it cupped in two hands at the waist rather than to the eye in one hand is certainly preferred. Steady shot on! And transfer to your PC or Video with S-VIDEO (gold plated cable) optional is a must for getting the optimum from your Sony and use a good mic

If you have a PC with a good capture card. I use an ATI 9800 SE series set to S-Vdeo on TV and when edited with a good video editor - optional - I use Sony Vegas 5 - the results are quite frankly superb!

(A tip for ATI users is to open the library and right click the capture .VCR movie and convert to Mpeg 2 so you can edit it in any regular video editing program).

Software

It comes bundled with some software and cables - it has a USB and fire wire option. The USB and software bundle is not as good as having a PC with a good capture card! But it does work and it will create 'family movies'

This is the only weakness for the Sony so budget for a Sony 'Vegas-type' editing program! There is a misconception that the USB will not capture sound - it will!!! If it is not used in conjunction with a capture card the problem is the bundled software (Picture Package) has an automatic 'add music' setup that is a little annoying! If you plug the leads straight into your Video and record then I shouldn't worry about all this too much!

Extras

It has a Mic socket, Audio/Video out, S-Video (at the front) DV out and USB. A Lanc socket is also provided for remote control zooming etc (optional) - when using a steadycam or a tripod for example. It has a speaker (volume controlled via the on screen display - read the rather large instructions book!!!) However, there is no Headphones socket, but there is a way around this by pushing a mini headphones/earphones jack part the way into the Audio Video Out - a die hard could buy an identical DV 3x jack used by the video out and wire the headphones to the audio section only???!

Conclusion

This camera is not a prosumer level camera and all the addons in the world will not make it one!!! But it will delver astounding results if carefully used and it makes a fantastic entry level video camera to cut your teeth on - before you decided if you are a Spielberg or not yet. It really does need an external Mic - either on the hotshoe - Sony does a Cold shoe one (as this is a cold shoe!!!) avoid the auto zooming mics as they won't work!!! But as this camera is so cheap go buy an Analogue (not digital) SENNHEISER MKE 300 Gun Mic and a grip to get the mic away from the camera for serious work, and a 5 metre Mic extension for boom mic work. But lets face it the buyer of this camera will simply want to charge the battery put a tape into it and record straight out of the box and for this alone you will WON'T be disappointed - I doubt you will ever consider anything else. You will certainly be less worried about it than one 5 times the price - go on Buy the kids one of their own as well ;)

 

Technical Data

CCD 1/4" 800,000 Pixels
System: PAL
Format: Mini DV (6mm Digital)
Effective Pixels 400,000
Advanced HAD CCD
Audio PCM Digital Stereo, 12-bit/32kHz/4ch, 16-bit/48kHz/2ch
Zoom 10x Optical, 640x Digital
Lens Carl Zeiss Lens, 3.3-33mm f/1.7-2.2 (for 35mm Conversion 42-420mm)
Filter Size 30mm
0 lux Night Shot Mode
Viewfinder Black/White
LCD Monitor 2.5" Touch Panel LCD with 123,000 Pixels
Image Stabilizer - Super Steady Shot
Lux 5 lux
Manual Controls Focus (Touch Panel), Exposure (Touch Panel - 24 Steps), White Balance (Touch Panel - Indoor, Outdoor, Hold), Shutter Speed 1/4-1/4000 (Program AE Mode)
Date & Time
Time Code
Edit Protocol Control-L (Lanc)
A/V Dubbing: Audio Dub in 12-bit Mode
Outputs 1x IEEE-1394 (4-pin), 1x S-Video, 1x A/V (Mini-RCA), USB Port - mini B
Special Effects 6 Mode
Fader
Titler
Built-In Mic
External Mic. Input - Mini Stereo
Built-In Speaker
Accessory Shoe - Cold Shoe
Tape Loading: Bottom Loading
Power Consumption 3.3w/100-240v, 50/60Hz
Dimensions (WHD) 2-7/8 x 3-5/8 x 4-1/2"
71 x 90 x 112mm
Weight 1 lb. 5 oz. - 610 g without Tape and Battery.

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The Sony VCLHG0730X GO WIDE BOY

By far the biggest problem with video cameras is wide angle lenses.

Even a mediocre video camera will zoom out to what is a perfect optical length of 400mm (35 mm equivalent).

400mm is a nice length for surf and beach shots but get a tripod or even a monopod. if you dont want to be too loaded down then get a neat little METAL mini tripod will close to 6 inches long and weighs next to nothing yet you could press it against you chest or hold it whilst standing to support the camera more or rest it on the roof of your car and zoom out easy and light to move about with.

So as telephoto lenses are not a problem - avoid using digital zooms as they lose quality - this camera does have an optional 2x telephoto converter but i have never needed it thats for sure.

Now as with most cameras without interchangeable professional lenses its always the wide angle end that suffers most be it in the bar or at your windsurfing club or flying along on your skateboard with a low angle shot your footage will simply just doesnt look the same with out a wide angle. The trouble is wide angles are crap mostly - there is only one option and thats to invest part of what you have saved into a hi quality or 'hi-grade as sony calls it wide angle lens addon.

the beast of a lens the mini tripods come with an accessory clamp and this made a useful grip to keep the mic out of camera shot.

This will change everything, firstly this is perfect to the edges of the lens - sure its a big lens - also looks cool too :)

But for beach shots or use with an ewa marine bag it cannot be faulted its equivalent to a 24mm and thats the prized length of almost every windsurfing photographer for in water shots or for wandering about the beach - so obviously this is too - however because it is so good the camera can zoom with it in place without any noticeable loss in quality. You may not even need to take it off the lens if your subjects are not to far away say 25 meters out in the water leaving it on also means you don't need to risk getting sand or wind blown grit in between the lens and wide angle adapter - one thing is though this does come with a mammoth lens cap and soft bag replace the lens cap when not in use as its a pretty vulnerable end element of the lens so also knot the soft bag over it too to protect against knocking or dropping. Sony also a make a dedicated polarizer and this will fit between the lens and the adapter so you can get those rich hues of blue :) Remember imagine standing at the waters edge and being able to get a close up jump of a kite surfer and get his kite in shot too - this cannot happen with a telephoto without either compressing the perspective from the cool looking dynamic type to a telephoto and getting loads of beach in the shot. Remember this lens is cool on boats too and jetskis too - just a thought ;)

get the sony made polariser and UV kit 30mm - this will fit between the wideanle and camera lens body - as a polariser for the other end would cost a fortune =) :)

mic it up with a sunpak flashgun grip makes for a cool hand held interview mic - get away from the camera motor noise

a pretty compact and very versatile - the addition of a few mic cables and two monos in one cable means you can even have a two mic option for interviewing two people. One channel for one person and one channel for the other - you can mix it later in post production on a sound editing program :) or simply do away with the mic and dub music onto the whole track however a little talking or a few interviews does make for a better video ;) take a look at the chilli video people to see what i mean too much action can get laborious unless its BIG waves in Hawaii.

get the mic away from the big lens a mini tripod accessory clip is useful for this but a piece of 3/4 in threaded bar would do the same thing screw one end under the camera and the other to the mics tripod mount.

be careful to get the mic away from your hands and add a a rycote softie wind fluffy cover if you spend a lot of time in the wind- not pictured

Remember this has a mic socket most cameras around do not at this price range

Lastly people say you cannot run headphones though - oh yes you can if needed

Simply buy another 4-pole audio video transfer cable cut the cable and place a standard female 3.5mm jack on the other end wired just two the two stereo audio channels. and plug your headphones or 'cans' into that and voila a jury rig fix that will transfer the audio to your ears. you can sorta stick a regular audio jack into the socket but it is wobbly better to do it the other way - check out ebay for these cables they are dirt cheap.

Remember although cool if you are videoing with friends chances are you will be to frightened to leave this in your car lest it be stolen so the only option is to carry it around with you - a big camera may at first seem cool and cameras such as the Panasonic GS400/500 are exceptional camcorders but would you want to hump them around all day - no way - remember if you only use music on your videos this baby can be stripped down to the bare minimum and simply just popped into your pocket with the wide angle in its bag in the other :) - but if you really want to make a statement and get that quality and few choice accessories -that can be used on other cameras too later - means this can deliver you the results as and when you need them and remember this camera is cheap too under £200 so what are you waiting for go buy it or something like it :)

now check out our cheap video lights guide :)

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