@Craig -
"Normal" refresh cycle for "consumer" cameras has been about "every year"... BUT the "new economy" and Sony's financial struggles have stretched that significantly. CES used to mean a half a dozen or more "new" cameras announced in various "flavors"... now it means maybe a couple... They are even mostly "abandoning" certain market niches/segments (like consumer P&S cameras). Pro lines for video cameras have multi-year product cycles...

They have been updating the RX100 (now on M3) about once a year, but the RX10 has been out for quite some time, with only a firmware bump (and I still swear it can do 4K with firmware, which would extend the market viability for another year or two, IMO). The AX100 is another "long market cycle" cam. Both got so many things "right" that there isn't really a lot of competitive push to do something newer/better/different.

I'm all for "newer better faster", but honestly it's hard to find "better" that would replace the AX100 and RX10 for my needs - testing the AX33 for the BOSS system and as a backup, so far I don't see it as a replacement and I'm on the fence as a "backup/second cam". It's definitely not "bad", but on a 4K monitor you start to see "soft" in an entirely different way...

Dave, any further thoughts on the AX33 versus AX100? I am looking for a small camcorder mainly for my wife to do some travelogue & vacation shooting. I am attracted to the point & shoot simplicity of the AX33 especially with the BOSS for handheld. However being used to 'proper' camcorders I am wondering whether the limitations in manual control will be too limiting.

Is the BOSS on the AX33 that much better than OSS on the AX100? Is the AX100 image that much better? How does the AX33 image compare to other camcorders when down sampled to regular HD?

The AX100 is almost double the price of the AX33 but it might be worth paying the premium if it's significantly better as we will hopefully be using the camcorder for several years to come

I"m also interested how the ax33 performs compared to the cx730 type of handicams, stabilisation wise both should perform the same but I would be interested to see how it compares in lowlight and the IQ in general.

Hey Adrian

Depends on the head hours .. unlike card cameras DV tape camera head do wear and I doubt whether Panny would have spares now ... plus there is wear and tear on the capstan and the rubbers go hard after a while ... cards makes weddings a lot cheaper too .. I used to go thru 4 tapes at a wedding at $8.00 a pop ... in 6 months you have used up nearly 100 tapes and spent $800 ..probably more now!! I toss out 4 cards every 6 months only so it's a big saving on media. Then you can only transfer tape in real time so that also means more hours for editing to cost in ... a 60 minute tape takes 60 minutes to capture .. an hour of video on card takes only minutes to download.

Chris

Yeesh, I've gone through as much as 12 plus tapes at a wedding. Ofcourse now they occupy like 4 boxes in my house. lol.

I decided that the only way I could really decide between the AX33 & AX100 was to compare them for myself so I bought both from Amazon with the intention of returning the loser & keeping the winner.

Here in the UK Sony currently has a mail-in rebate promotion. From Amazon the AX33 is £719 (€1000 / $1100)after £80 rebate). The AX100 is £1239 (€1750 / $1900) after £150 rebate.

Despite the difference in price the choice was pretty easy to make as soon as I compared footage from the two cameras. The AX33 is nice enough & impressive if you haven't seen 4K images before but the AX100 footage is clearly better - it's more detailed, better in low light & has better dynamic range. As Dave mentioned earlier there is the 'looking through a window' quality. I guess that the obvious difference in quality is unsurprising given the difference in sensor size.

There are some plus points to the AX33. The BOSS is very good but the OSS in the AX100 is pretty good too. It's a while since I used a proper camcorder rather than a DSLR to shoot video but I had forgotten how much easier it is with the former. Some people might find the smaller size better but with my large hands I didn't. The weight is barely different despite the difference in length.

Controlling the AX100 manually is far easier than all the button presses & delving into menus on the AX33. The viewfinder & especially the screen are far better.

The AX100 may be 75% more expensive than the AX33 but for me the extra is worth paying especially as I will be keeping the camera for a few years.