Sony FDR AX100 UHD 4K

Didn't get to launch the boat today, too much still needed done. Tomorrow. Got to take a break though. Shot a raft of Surf Skoters, and when zoomed all the way in, there is so much motion, it's easy to see the codec struggling. Back off a bit and it's OK. Same with the XAVC-s HD as well, sadly. Truth be told, it will be very interesting to see how the FS700 shooting AVCHD did with this - I mean ALL the frame is in flapping, splashing, waves bird motion. I'm uploading two clips to Vimeo now. One is edited, to show the various states of the birds, close/mid/medium wide, but is rendered (smart render) into the same codec it was shot in, so there should be no discernable difference.

I'll post the links when they are up, and also report on how the FS700 compared. IN the meantime, I took ill, wracked with body aches, fever, etc, but that won't stop me from getting up early again and going out to get that boat launch done, but it will stop me from doing much more video tonight.

Haven't tried the "other" modes yet, as I know they are probably "ok".

Other things - hate to have to open the LCD to get the card out, as I use a reader (it turns the camera on).

Some of the controls are in funny places, not as well laid out as the FS700, but will get used to it.

Fires up and gets recording pretty darn fast. Also changing from HD to 4K mode pretty fast (about 10 seconds)

Hate the touch screen LCD. HArd to see when glare augmented by fingerprints. Peaking and zebras are very handy - glad to see these here.

Wish it had a level indicator like the RX100 ... that's super cool function, but alas, no...

Before I forget - did I mention the onboard ND filters? Simply can't imagine a camera without them, although dialing in a vari-nd would be cool, especially for fine adjustments, at least until my clumsy fingers poke the camera in the eye, leaving a smudge, especially when using lens hoods. I do this with polarizers when I use them - almost every time.

So the files are showing up on Vimeo. They look like crap. Apparently Vimeo doesn't do 4K yet? Whatever. Making sure the files are able to be downloaded. Hope you get something from them. Not great camera work or anything, so give me a break. Sony Vegas 13 plays them well (download the demo so you can at least try it if you have issues). Heard Adobe stuff plays nice with XAVC-S too, but haven't tested that yet.



Chilkat River Scene-static UHD


Chilkoot Lake Melting Icy Pan UHD


A whole lot of skoters - various framing (still converting as of 10:07 Alaska time))

This camera interests me. Has anyone found a way to reduce the image sharpening?

sharpvid, you of all people want less sharpness??? :-)

built in ND filters is amazing. I hate using vari-nd, and at 4k you don't want to put a crap vari ND in front of the glass.

Not seeing the same noise or grain in shadows or blue sky like the Z-100. Amazing that a camera at almost 1/3 the cost of the Z-100 produces better video. Great travel camera that won't attract much attention. Very happy so far.

Biggest draw back is the 2 hour ftp upload time instead of 30 minutes. 4K should not be for every clip.

Lot of positive comments, need to get one ordered

From my systems view, the footage is better as far as color, contrast, sharpness than I get with my 5D MK III.

I'm really liking this camera. Color is superb. Gradability is far better than I expected. Detail is awesome, and I think maybe the "overt" sharpness is partially from viewing it on HD-sized monitors. What I see now is what I expected HD to be, and even if I only rendered HD footage from this I'd still keep the camera. Just got back from a couple hours shooting on the Chilkat as the birds freak out over the hooligan run, and shot two cams: FS700 and AX100. Used the FS700 for extreme telephoto (960mm equivalent) and slowmo, and the AX100 has a darn good range too. Now looking at a shot of a sundog, full zoom, that I let go while I played with the FS700, hoping to catch a bird flying across the sundog. Well, now that it's on a 22" monitor, I can see I got 10 birds! Yeah, they are just specks, but they are clear specks, and I didn't even know they were there with the naked eye. And I've got good naked eyes.

Cool camera. Might be too, that with all the new tech, even if this camera is the bottom of the heap, we're looking at good times. Too bad about the upload sizes, and that brings to mind another thing: High bit rates are all well and good unless you want to shoot unperturbed for hours. Using my new PNY 128 gig card, holds a total of 4 hours plus, used about 16 gigs, didn't even run out of juice, either.

Handles light nicely. Gradations are smooth, except for the sun, but so far the sun shots I've had are with hazy clouds, and a slight rolloff with color curves in high frequency helps this a lot. I wish there were more programmable buttons. Haven't had time to do mush real testing, but I'm liking what I see, for it is, after all, pretty much what I see. Smooth pans and tilts seem to be fine - rolling shutter warbly wobble jello shows up extremely, but only when moving unprofessionally, or accidental jarring, etc.

Wish they put the damn REC button higher up.

Thanks, Gene for the review.
Can someone find a way to compare low light photography of GH4, AX100 etc?
Could someone find the low light spec in LUX for these cameras?
How dark can you go without noise?

I'd say the noise level is very good. Did a quick test last night at Gain +9db, Shutter 60, ND off, f2.8, basically in the dark room with light from the kitchen, and I could see what I could see with naked eye. Just looked at it and brightened it up, there is noise, sure, but very easily cleaned with Neat. Detail still quite nice. Also did a "sasquatch/UFO" settings test, and while it's crazy noisy at 33db Gain, it's still quite usable.

Some people complain about noise reduction taking longer. Way I figure it is that I'm glad to take the time when I need to use it. Rather than to take the time, increase production/gear/transfer time costs for larger system that might not have such noise. Yep, there are image flaws with this camera, but it does not disappoint as long as I/you/we remember the WHY of this camera.