Sony FDR-AX100/B 4K Video Camera with 3.5 inch LCD Screen (Black)

This is a semi-professional 4K video camera. In good lighting conditions, the camera performs extremely well if set up correctly. AT A GLANCE: I have mixed feelings about this as the optical quality of the recorded video is amazing when properly tuned, but it can be a bit cumbersome to use and suffers from a bit of image stabilization, slow focusing speed and rolling shutter artifacts that are unfortunately outperformed by some smartphones these days. In short: in a tripod (or stabilized in a similar way), the camera is excellent and performs best in scenarios that don't change quickly. Takes great shots of landscapes, skylines, interviews, close-ups, sunsets, theatre, and more. (that doesn't mean it will be bad for other situations, it just won't be as good). Definitely not good for photographing fast moving objects at close range or close subjects such as a moving car, boat, etc. Panning should be done rather slowly, otherwise rolling shutter artifacts will appear. It may disappoint the average person holding it in their hand to record their kids playing in the yard during sunset, or the vacationer recording the ride of a lifetime in that speedboat and logically expecting to get 4K video. sharp, correctly exposed and focused. . Manuals can be set to fully automatic, but recording quality is better when operated manually, and it takes precious minutes to configure recording settings (LCD menu navigation, button pressing, moving dials), you may miss the shot while searching for all the fine-tuning controls. THE CAMERA: This camera's most important feature is its ability to record 4K video at 30 fps, and the most important feature of 4K video is its unrivaled ultra-high resolution, which results in optimal focus of the camera. . The AX100 has a built-in autofocus system that works by contrast so it works best when lighting conditions introduce contrast into the scene, such as immediately after rain, sunsets, shows lights/fireworks at dusk, etc. The lower the contrast, the better its ability to achieve precise autofocus, shots with the AX100 at dusk, for example, will usually require manual focus. Same goes with its autofocus tracking, it tracks better objects with better contrast. Likewise, at night, autofocus will apply to lights or illuminated areas that provide the best contrast. Although useful, the AX100's autofocus is slow and can be a pain in low light (in a museum, for example). Manual focus is best, but the LCD may be too small to tell if the object is actually in critical focus or not. targeted areas in a given color). There is a function to focus by simply touching the LCD screen, and another, to automatically adjust the exposure and focus on the object selected in the LCD screen. Accessing these functions is not entirely straightforward, the focus magnifier button is on the right side, next to the focus ring (if the camera is hand held). hand, it becomes cumbersome because the left hand has to reach the button in an unnatural position). The camera can be used in fully automatic, semi-automatic (iris, iso, gain, sutter speed, focus can be operated manually while leaving the rest in automatic mode) and manual mode. Video recording in low light produces acceptable results. The camera is designed for low-light recording and does a very good job, but as expected, it also introduces noise into the shot. There's a dedicated physical button that will automatically allow the camera to increase the light gain to maximum if needed, and there's a built-in infrared lamp and the camera shoots some really good (albeit a bit noisy) video in blackened environments. The camera also incorporates a neutral density filter for bright environments with 3 settings that can be operated automatically or manually. Setting up the camera can sometimes be tedious, especially to fine-tune the shot. Many adjustment tools are hidden behind different menu layers. The manual buttons, while very useful, require turning a small dial which gives a lot of precision, but is very slow. So getting that great, properly exposed and focused 4K shot of that exotic lizard running 20ft ahead of you in the jungle will be more down to luck, because getting the settings right would take too long. Sometimes when I'm a little bug, I have to move my eyes to navigate the menus, only to find that when I find the setting I need, the bug is gone. To partially mitigate this, it is possible to set three controls directly accessible with a single key from the LCD screen, and an additional function can be associated with the physical control ring which also controls aperture, gain and shutter speed. shutter.Optical zoom is very good. The clear digital zoom is also good and can extend the magnification to 160x. The camera lens is Zeiss and sports a 62mm thread that accepts a wide variety of filters, threaded converters, telephoto and macro lenses. The main lens is not interchangeable. The camera has WiFi and NFC and can be controlled with a smartphone. Output to TV, computer or smartphone is very easy. If connected to a non-4K TV, it will automatically output video in upsampled 1080p, making it look rich and extra-sharp. There is no support for external 4K recording, and when recording in 4K the camera will only provide an image on its own LCD screen and viewfinder. The LCD screen is bright enough to be seen in sunny weather, but not bright enough to display much contrast and detail. However, viewing with the viewfinder and controlling with the LCD screen makes it easier to work in very bright conditions. The position of the viewfinder is adjustable and once activated it will only light up if something (your face/your eye but can also accidentally be something else) comes very close to it. It has a focus ring to keep it sharp, so it can be viewed without wearing glasses. video in 4K at 60 or 100 Mbps, or dual video recording (records 4K as it normally would, but it will simultaneously record video in MP4 format, so videos can be played directly in many video players without converting them) . The maximum photo size is 20 megapixels, it can focus and track a subject and operates in full-auto/semi-auto/ and manual modes similar to any DSLR. Shutter speed for stills, however, cannot be set lower than 1/8th of a second, so if you are looking for great night shots, long exposures, stars etc...this is the not the camera for you. It also lacks the ability to do time-lapse photography. The camera has a delayed timer function for taking selfies etc, but it has to be activated every time, the time is always 10 seconds and the function is somewhere under different menu layers. Also, the photographs captured aren't as sharp and have more noise than a still image taken in post-production directly from 4K video (of course, they're much larger than 4K still images). In my opinion, photo mode does not match 4K quality. IN MY EXPERIENCE: The camera performs best when set up on a tripod to record a set scenario with good contrast lighting: horizon, landscape, sunset, close-ups, interviews, theater, etc. It offers slightly lower quality when recording those scenarios in low light conditions. There are many tools to control recording in almost every aspect, but accessing many of these controls is a bit cumbersome and time-consuming. It is easy to control the camera with the supplied remote control, zoom in/out, focus, start shooting, etc. However, menu navigation with this command is an up/down/left/right arrow click nightmare. Controlling the camera with a smartphone is also limited to basic functions, but from what I've tried, doesn't allow full access to the menu structure. Videos and images can be transferred directly to a smartphone or computer via WiFi and LAN. Low-light recording is very good, but introduces noise (which also happens with many other cameras), in a practical setting there's a lot more to see in low-light mode than with other cameras, but the noise is still there. The camera is light enough to carry in the hand, and it has a nice strap to better secure it to the right hand, but it's heavy enough to feel in the arm after two or three hours. Half a day of visiting the zoo and it will tire your arm. Battery life is reasonable, but not impressive. With the bundled NP FV-70, I get between 1.5 and 2 hours of 4K recording (on and off) using the LCD screen. with the FV-100 (sold separately) I get close to 3 hours. Continuous recording exhausts the FV-70 in an hour and the FV-100 in 1.5-2 hours, using the LCD screen. Two spare FV-100s and the FV-70 that came with the camera let me shoot on and off all day. I've read that others have claimed 6 hours, that's true for the camera I have if I just leave it on, running from the viewfinder and only recording occasionally. Although the manufacturer recommends using SD cards with a maximum capacity of 64 GB (as they tested in 2014), I have used a 128 GB card with no problem. SUMMARY: The AX100 is a very good camera that performs best while recording well-lit scenes fixed in a tripod. Image stabilization is good, but not as good as other cameras on the market or even some smartphones. Low-light capability is good, but there's still room for improvement. I love the image quality and the optics. I don't like the menu structure and the location of the commands.