Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony HDR-FX7 3-CMOS Sensor HDV High-Definition Handycam Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom

This is an amazing piece of equipment. Get the large battery for better balance and OVER EIGHT hours of taping. Broadcast quality. You will rarely NEED to go off "auto" unless you have special needs or are in a totally controlled studio situation where you can control lighting and movement. Pricey but worth every penny. The HD is as good as Discovery HD Theater's, and the std. DV recording (due to the new chips) is better then other 3-chip cameras I have owned.

I have had this camcorder for two months now and I could not be happier. The camera is great indoors and out, including low light conditions. The high definition quality is incredible, the best I have seen. I also like the small size and light weight, a definite improvement over the fx-1.

I purchased the Sony HDR-FX7 to replace my eight year old Sony DCR-TRV900 Camcorder. The image colors are excellant and the picture quality is even better because this camera can record in HD or mini DV. The microphone is also better and you can see the stereo levels in the view finder. You can set Zebra Lines to manually control exposere. You can even take still pictures on a memory card while shooting video. You can press a button and see the last few seconds of your last shot. I am a retired professional video cameraman and this camcorder meets all my needs.

I bought this item for a Church looking to do it's own production. We tape both services and do more produced and edited media for use in services. The camera is in use alot. If you are buying it for indoors filming, invest in a good set of lights. This camera gets grainy on high zoom in low light. I don't know any camera in this price range that does not. Other than that, I have not found any problems that will jump out and surprise you. But the quality will.

You can complain about what this camera does not offer (XLR ins, and it is menu driven), but those are advertised. Don't buy this camera if those are deal breakers for you. What it does do it does well. And the battery life with the cmos chips is worth some of the trade offs with ccd cameras. I easily shoot two and a half hours without plugging in (on the OEM battery that comes with it). That is amazing to me. I can position for best shot of the event, instead of hanging with the others by the plugs.

I have been happy that I made the technology jump to this camera instead of playing it safe with a more industry standard camera. I would recomend this to anyone who is looking for an entry level production camera. It is a bargain at its price.

We needed another camcorder didn't really want a HD because of the problems of no software out there to create HDDVDs. We bought this because our other sony is 10yrs old and didn't want to buy what we had. We are very glad we did. Even regular tapes look stellar in the 1080i format. The 20x zoom is to drool over. It is wonderful we use it for birding only now they are moving. All the techie stuff should come from my husband, but I am writing this so you won't hear it from me. I do not hear him swear or crank about difficult maneuvers. He likes the programable buttons. I found the change to Final Cut HD easy. You edit in HD and made the non HD DVD (we use a MAC) record it back to HD tape and wait till the software is written. Broadcast wants tape anyway. Ease of handling cam great, additional sound source easy to deal with. Mike on cam improved over our other camcorder. Easy to carry with handle. Need to use manual focus at times. Lots of buttons if you want a point and record not a good choice.