limeyx
Guest
chuck e:My wife recently bought the HC-3 with the L&M housing. I have been using a TRV-950 in a USVH housing for the past 4 years. It's great watching our last 2 dive trips in HD off the tape, but we've noticed that the 3 chip TRV-950 produces better color rendition when comparing each video shot on the same dives/conditions. Also under poor conditions, i.e. particulates, low light, the HC-3 loses autofocus more often than the TRV-950. I don't know what your professional end use will be, but there is little consumer market for HD DVD at the moment. If your goal is professional UW video, IMHO get the best camera you can. Topside the HC-3 produces nice video, but has limited external mic input if you need high quality sound.
One way to "fix" the autofocus issue is, assuming you have access to zoom and "momentary autofocus"
as far as I understand it, zoom all the way in. Momentary AF on a subject 3-5 feet away. Zoom all the way back out. Leave camera on manual focus.
Now you have decent focus over the whole range of zoom with no autofocus "seeking" -- seems to work OK for me