Sony FDR AX100 UHD 4K

Agreed on the tele shortfall. Even thinking a high quality screw-on extender might be useful sometimes.

I've had intel from another P5er with GH4 that behind the sensor dust is a killer. That's a real bummer for such a cool camera. I'm a slob, too, and would likely find myself with spotty footage sooner than later.

The AX100 apparently does not like -1 F. LCD started to freeze up, focus ring very hard to turn, slow to activate, goes into record slower, etc....good news is that the footage is fine.

Except for the stuff I overexposed, even slightly, with snow everywhere and hot clouds near the sun over mountains, the AX100 does not overexpose in a pretty way. That is its biggest drawback to me. Hoping that the HDMI output, which, according to reports, shuts off when in 4K record, will output clean 4K to my Odyssey 7Q+ which gets here on Friday. That "should" help a little with the overexposure issue. Not a lot, but some, as I think the real uglies are sensor overload rather than funky codec stuff.

I'll bet the GH4 handles highlights a lot better. There's always a tradeoff!

Hi Gene
I have not had a big problem with overexposure so far except for some small flowers against dark leaves. It probably depends on the subject matter. A screw-on extender might be a good idea.

I tend to point the thing at big blobby glowing clouds over dark mountains...that's when overexposure is necessary. Or even the sun hitting wind driven spray....I don't like the way the spray smears.

Hard not to overexpose snow when you're out there shooting in it due to brightness bias. Not bright enough to trigger zebras (mine are set at 100) but enough to start losing details the codec doesn't want to keep. Or something. I dunno, except that I don't like how it does it. Just gotta be careful.

But what I'm finding right now is that maybe the cold messed with the camera's ability to resolve detail. I'm not sure, but some of my clips today (particularly those with detail and motion) look, just, bad. Hard to tell for sure what it was. Could be focus too. Ice flowing by on the river looks soft. Weird.

I read that there is to be a firmware update for this camera "AX100 will also support XAVC S 4K 100Mbps high-bitrate recording through a firmware update scheduled for March 2015"

Statement about half way down the page just before the specs of some new 4k camcorders:

http://presscentre.sony.eu/pressreleases/capture-every-detail-of-your-life-in-4k-with-compact-new-handycam-r-from-sony-1103109

That would be a welcome update, to be sure. Thanks!

It would also be nice if they gave us the 4K output over HDMI, but I won't hold my breath.

WOW, smaller and lighter and fast bitrate. I'm entirely happy with the AX-100 so the firmware upgrade will probably be all that is needed. Puts the bitrate equal to GH4.

I had mine in Chicago 2 weeks ago when it was 3 degrees out, with windchill like -10 F.

The real issue I had with it was the little wheel that controls aperture, shutterspeed and gain *depending on what you have clicked*

It started to rotate REALLY hard. My camera was angry with me. My fingers were also very angry, because I couldn't keep on my glove and spin that wheel and press those tiny buttons.

I haven't looked at the footage yet, but there was some snow and bright sunny days...

See on page two of this thread how I mentioned "The dangly charge cord is likely to fail - the ONLY way to deal with this is use it sparingly, and get some Wasabi batteries and external charger. I do that anyway, but in this case only after I decide to keep the camera."?

Well mine finally started to go, just noticed it during my last trip. I really like having the USB charge, but the cable insulation was broken and shielding fraying just at the exit point of the lousy strain relief. So I used Sugru on it. Works a charm. Now it's protected, sealed, and properly strain relived with plenty of flex.