Sony HVR-A1U HDV Camcorder

Product Review: Page (2) of 3 - 08/05/05

Sony HVR-A1U HDV Camcorder Spot takes a first look at a pre-production model Beneath the focus/zoom switch are three buttons; Tele-Macro, Expanded Focus, and Backlight. These are very useful, and in an easily accessible location for fast shooting. Expanded focus is extremely important, especially with the lack of a black/white viewfinder for assuring solid focus on any subject. A petty personal preference would be that the Expanded Focus button be put to the front or rear of the button lineup, rather than dead center, as this is a button I want to be able to find quickly. However, this is quite minor.

The Telemacro focus feature works very well, and doesn't blow out detail or create rimmed distortion/barrel distortion like many lower cost camcorders do. In this shot, the camera is approximately 10" away from the bee. Click the image to download a full-frame example.

Exposure can be managed a couple different ways with this camcorder. First and foremost is the auto-exposure setting. This allows the camera to completely automate the exposure settings. This can be modified on the fly using the Exposure lever, found just below the three lens-related buttons on the left side of the camcorder. The exposure lever may also be programmed to be an auto-exposure shift lever, depending on user preference. One thing that lacks here, is the ability to see feedback on the actual aperture setting. On a side note, the ability to send the menu to an external monitor vs being seen on the pull out LCD panel is a nice feature.
While the camera doesn't provide aperture settings, or even gain indicators measured in dB, it's quite easy to see the level that the gain is set to in the display window, and using the Exposure lever, you can see how much gain you've added in relationship to the zero gain point.
One small improvement would be to provide standard aperture information.
See image below for an example of low-light capability.

Above the lens is a dead shoe. This shoe is in place to mount the audio module, but can also be used for other purposes if you'll not be using the audio module. Keep in mind, this camera not only has the balanced audio inputs via the audio module, it also offers additional unbalanced audio inputs for use without the audio module.

Beneath the shoe on the right side of the lens are a button and a switch. The button may have several various features assigned to it, one at a time. The switch enables/disables the "nightshot" mode, which closely emulates the HyperGain function of this camcorder's bigger brother, the HVR-Z1U.

Built into the lens housing are two microphones, one for right, one for left, to be used in the event of the external audio module not being used. They actually do a reasonable job of audio, as good as any camera audio mic setup is going to be.

Let There Be Light!

Since low-light performance seems to be one of the oft-asked questions about this camcorder and the HDV format, here is an image shot long after sunset, lighted by a 150 watt halogen on a 7' lamp post. You can see the lamp post base in the right side of the screen. It just happened that this snake decided to make his presence known while I was shooting a waterfall near the lamp post. Click the image for a full-frame view. As expected, the greens are overbearing due to the enormous amount of gain increase.

The Backside
On the back of the A1U, you'll find the battery compartment, this camcorder uses standard Sony M series batteries, available in a variety of lengths. The standard battery that comes with the camera offers approximately 2 hours of record time, depending on whether the viewfinder is enabled or not, and how bright the LCD display is set. With the larger QM91D, the battery lasted well over five hours. The battery is released from the bottom of the camcorder, next to the eject switch for the tape mechanism.
Additionally, you'll find a LANC control on the back of the unit. I tested this with the Roland R4 device, and it was a terrific pairing, particularly for those that would prefer to use non-compressed audio in their recordings. You'll also find a charge light indicator, letting users know that the charger is doing its job.

Menus:
The A1U camcorder is virtually entirely driven by touchscreen menus. Setting up the camcorder is something you'll want and need to spend some time doing. The LCD screen and viewfinder may both be independently calibrated, and you'll want to calibrate these screens just as you'd calibrate any field monitor. This is easy, and relatively fast, but necessary from my perspective. You can take an uncompressed output from the camera and feed it to an HD production monitor, but even in that event, to be sure of color and exposure, take time to set this up.
One thing you might find of use in using the touchscreen is a PDA pen with the nylon or ballistic tip. This helps keep the touch screen clean of fingerprints. Fingerprints on the touchscreen can make video look dull and slightly washed out, so you'll likely want to keep a package of wipes around.

Adjust ViewFinder and LCD displays in a menu, controlled by the touch screen

Choose various types of exposure from the menu and it's several submenus. Exposure also may be controlled via the Exposure level in the front lower left of the A1U.

You can choose between a broad general menu, or touching the Menu option provides for several submenus with more specific functionality.

Menu options also provide for assigning necessary functions to the Assign button. For instance, I found that I liked the idea of being able to white balance using a single button, rather than assigning the white balance by way of the menu options. Because the camcorder is menu driven, there are few physical buttons on the camcorder itself. Thank heaven that Sony decided to make the buttons actual words, rather than icons like so many other manufacturers have used. With other camcorders, it seems like you need the manual around to decipher what the icons mean.
The buttons/levers found on the device are:

Exposure up/down
Tele/Macro button
Expanded focus button (very necessary with HD)
Backlight button
Focus (Manual or auto, and may also be switched to Zoom, thus converting the focus ring to a Zoom ring)
Nightshot (gain on/off)
Assign Button
Still Photo snap
Power on/off/VCR/Still Photo/Camera rotate
Start Stop Record
Zoom lever

Additionally found in the menus are tools found in the bigger brother to this camcorder. (Sony HVR-Z1U) For example, Black Stretch, which is simply amazing in low-light situations, peaking, CineGamma?, CineFrame 24 and CineFrame 30 can be found, along with real-time histogram read-outs, programmable P-Menu, and SteadyShot. All Scan mode is quite useful as well. The camcorder can display 4:3 markers to let users know what their framing will be like in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio. Timecode offsets may also be entered in this camera, which is quite a surprise for the price.

The Eject button and battery release button are found on the bottom of the HVR-A1U camcorder.

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