Couple of weeks ago I got a very nice and amazingly small HD Camcorder. I wanted to shoot video in HD for quite some time now but many things prevented me from it: 1) the price, since most of them were and are around $1500, 2) the quality: or the lack of it to be more precise.

Many camcorders out there say they are Full HD when in fact they are not! I wanted a camera that looked good, performed exceptionally, and was a full 1080 HD - so I set on the search around the net. To make a really long story short, I narrowed it down to 3 models.

1. Panasonic HDC-SD5 - 3CCD Camcorder, AVCHD, records to SD cards (~)
2. JVC Everio GZ-HD7 - 3CCD, Mpeg2, 60GB Hard Drive (~)
3. Sony HDR-CX7 - CMOS Sensor, AVCHD, Memory Stick Pro Duos (~)

These 3 were the top contenders and I liked them in the exact order noted above. At the time, HDC-SD5 was not yet available in retail, but after reading all reviews, especially those from CamCorderInfo.com - I decided to pass since they said there are some issues with ghosting and AVCHD in this case. Also, I was a bit tired of every single tech guy around talking non-stop about this camera. Mostly Leo Laprote, my favorite one

JVC Everio was amazing! I simply loved how the camera looked: very professional and movie like. After reading the reviews I decided I do not want a Hard Drive based camera. First - they are bigger, hard drives are bound to die, and I wanted to use memory sticks anyway.

Right there next to JVC’s Everio at Best Buy I noticed this amazingly compact and beautiful little Sony CX7. I noted the number, went home and read the reviews. Even though this is a CMOS sensor based camcorder - therefore only one chip is recording the video unlike these other 3CCD camcorders out there, I decided that this was the winner! At Camcorder info they compared it with the best Mini-DV based HD camcorders even despite the fact it recorded in AVCHD and I was sold.

One downside of it is that it record to Sony’s proprietary Memory Stick Pro Duo cards - which are more expensive than the SD. This did not matter to me, I have one of those 1000-in-one memory card readers and eBay sells them quite cheap so I was covered.

I must say, Sony put a very deceptive little sticker on the camera: "Full HD 1080". Full HD is really 1920×1080 resolution but most HD cameras record in 1440×1080 and then convert the pixel ratio for HD. I assumed that this one was 1920 and not 1440… I was wrong but I must say - now that I know - IT REALLY makes NO difference and therefore I am not mad at Sony.

I assure you, if you get this little camera you will Love it! It is smaller than anything out there. Its battery lasts for about 2 hours recording time or more if you just use it for playback! The videos recorded with it are comparable to Discovery HD when watched side by side; it really is HIGH DEFINITION!

The big problem with cameras is of course shooting in low light conditions. This little one performed exceptionally. Even though there was some grain added to the picture, it really did not interfere with it too much. Sony also offers a NightShot mode which can be found on all of their models which can come really handy if you are recording in total darkness. Sure your picture will be greenish, since it looks like you are looking through the night vision goggles, but at least it’s still High Def green

I also like that there are a lot of extra add-ons you can get for it: Wide angle lense, underwater enclosure, etc.

On the down side: even though it has it’s own little dock where you put it in order to transfer images via USB, it would be nice if it had a USB port on the camera itself too. A FireWire port would be great as well - since then I could use it as a High Definition Web Cam (boy would that be nice!), and a lack of Full Size HDMI port makes things complicated since I had to go and get a Mini HDMI cable to plug it in directly to TV. It does come with component cables in the box - but nothing like watching having your video and sound trav el through one HDMI cable to TV

Lastly - Sony has always been really good about Steady Shot mode. With this camera - they screwed up a bit so even though image stabilization is On - you will have to keep the camera steady yourself too. While it will remove the hand shaking and those little one movements - anything bigger is your responsibility. This of course comes apparent when you are zoomed in a bit onto a subject - otherwise it’s fine. I’m just mentioning it so you know - but it’s definitely not a Deal Breaker! Maybe they should’ve use digital image stabilization instead of the optical.

So, without further ado, I hope this helps someone decide on which HD camera you should get. I love this one and even with it’s shortcomings I would not trade it for anything!

Below you may check out the video optimized for web in Apple’s iMovie ‘08; it’s in h.264 codec. If you can imagine both colors and the resolution about 4-10 times better than the video below, then you can imagine how the raw footage looks like! It’s mind-blowing! This video is ONLY 14.2MB - but look at the quality

http://gallery.mac.com/peconi#100052

- Visit my .Mac video gallery for a better look: gallery.mac.com/peconi.