4K Chat

At this point it's more a race to get your 4K real time footage online before the other producers bury you. The Sony looks good, has a rolling shutter but what DSLR doesn't. If you shoot this camera and upload 4K and also on P5 (shouldn't it be P4), down sample to HD 1080p, the 1080p from this camera by all accounts is stunning. Low light at 4K isn't great but in lowlight you can fall back to 1080p and get good clean footage up to 24db. The 120fps at 720p is pretty good and still usable for stock, think of the Canon 7D a couple years ago offering 60fps at 720p with people buying the camera for that feature. I'm thinking of selling my Panasonic X920 for this Sony as it is still a tourist amateur form factor. Frame rate is still in broadcast range too,

Thanks for all the comments on that camera guys. And you are a Sony fanboy Gene! It does seem like a decent camera, aimed at consumers for the most part, but usable for stock footage. The HD will probably compete with that of a lot of pro cameras, but it's the 4K that I'm a bit hesitant about. The low bitrate and the codec may not make for great 4K footage, at least not what buyers might be looking for.

Its ease of use is appealing on the other hand, even though I watched a few videos that showed the autofocus isn't as rapid as you'd normally expect from a camcorder. The GH4 apparently has improved on its autofocus over the GH3, so that's something to compare as well. A lot of shots taken 'in the field' require quick decision making, and having proper autofocus on board then becomes a big deal. At the same time, it's also nice to have more manual options available when you are in more static situations.

So what is the 4K bitrate of the AX100 ,,,, I can't find it.

I read somewhere it was 60 Mbs, peaking around 70, off the top of my head that is.

4K max is 150mbs, choices are are 50, 100 & 150 and it can record on lower quality SD cards

@nomstock - so you are telling me that the AX100 records higher bitrates for 4k than the GH4? 150 mbs?

Spot on Stef, 60 Mbs AVERAGE, peaking at 70. Effectively, it will approximate the bit rate action probably somewhere between that of HDV (25) and AVCHD (24-28). In case I haven't been heard, bit rate is NOT a 1:1 indicator of quality. Depends on the codec. This is long GOP, so the bit rate can be considerably lower than that of an all-I codec. If you are happy with 17-28 Mb/s AVCHD for 1080, then you'd likely be happy with 60Mbs AVC-S for 4K.

I'll admit that I run into bitrate/codec issues fairly frequently - just not enough to worry overmuch. I keep selling HDV-based clips for $99 so why should I stress? Yes, I am committed to quality, but I'm learning not to freak out with all the hype. I'd probably run into problems with a 30 thousand dollar rig too - no camera is perfect, and then my stress level would be up, my overhead would be up, and it would defeat the purpose, at least in this case, for having a convenient small camera with me in moments (like on a boat or when bicycling or long hikes) when I didn't want to or could not carry the FS700.

This guy says it is 16 mbs using a new codec for the AX100 unlike the AX1 which is 60-100-150 mbs.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5e-GphXgkk&feature=youtu.be&t=3m00s

The bit rate for the AX100 is fixed (at the XAVC-S or whatever that highest is) at a vbr 50-70, averaging 60. The clip I was playing with has a bit rate of 55393kbps.

I think I'm wrong, I have read so many early reviews where the info is confusing or written in a confusing style, here is the article I was reading, go to the fifth paragraph, http://philipbloom.net/forum/threads/sony-ax100-better-than-it-should-be.23172/

At this stage I'm believing bit rate to be around 50 to 60