Ok got that Ron you change the my button in the menu sorted it white balance, exposure and steady shot all on left side then assign the ring for focus. I noticed say indoors when switch cam on there is a yellow tinge? then with the quick menu on left side of lcd i quickly can use a different white balance setting and back to a good white. .

You figured it out before I got on the site again !!! Good. Yes I have My Buttons set to steady shot,focus ( to set the touch focus), peaking ( nice to check but often gets in the way when you are concentrating ). I have the ring set to AE shift as all my focusing is done with touch focus on the LCD. When on a theatre shoot I set the WB to indoor preset and shutter to 1/60 from the menus and shoot 1920x1080 60P. Mostly AE shift is at about -0.5 for most shoots. When I shoot the family events I let the camera operate in auto focus ( with face detection as its mainly shoots of the grandkids etc ) and auto WB ( as its often in and out of the house at the end of the day etc) but still have the others set as I would normally. I find it better in auto focus if one is zooming as I do not find the lens holds focus through zooms. It may well hold its focus but the scene is better refocused between max and min zoom in my experience.

Cheers Ron, these are very good auto cameras there was not much difference to my c100 ii last night in my room apart from dynamic range from c100ii. Great stuff thanks for everyones help.

Hi guys after seeing footage today, am i doing something wrong as it looks awful on the computer screen, last night looked great on lcd but unusable for me indoors looking at computer, any thoughts. My little old hfg25 smoke them out in hd quality ?

What iso did you use and did you shoot hd or 4k?

H Noa Test 1. 4k 25p 60 mbps, test 2, same but 100 mbps. both terrible even with some light. Outside colours looked grainy. Then same test with hd 25p and 50p, hd looked better

Something is really wrong. My AX-53 is crystal clear and does fine in lower light. Maybe your camera is a dud? Place on intelligent auto just to test clarity,

same on ai, bought two cannot be duds

Here is screen grab just awful at 4k in daylight plenty coming through window

and what was the iso and shutter set at?

Shutter was 50 unsure on iso as you cant tell when in shutter mode?
Here are two more pics just weird does not seem right for the reviews?

This is only 50 % zoom on screen shot

They look underexposed and out of focus. Exact how did you set up the camera. I would have set gain limit to 18db, shutter to 50, zebra to 85% and AE shift to ring and turn until got zebra on something white. White should be 85 or above or will look under exposed. Focus with touch or in auto. Try that and see what you think of the output then.
Like others I find the AX53 really sharp in HD compared to my AX100. Actually have not used either of them in UHD.

cheers ron will try that

OK so same settings Ron HD only no 4k shutter speed 50 zebras on ae shift sorted lifted exposure slightly to start of zebras. all a little better but this no good to me the canon hfg25 leave this ax53 behind for detail and clarity, going to sell them on.

Still looks under exposed and out of focus.

Well this is from 4k iPhone 7 footage million times better ron.

You are the judge. Not my experience with mine that is very sharp but as I said those shots still look under exposed and out of focus. You can see the exposure difference to the iphone. Did you try just running in full auto as an experiment. Have you put on a protection lens or something

nope the auto setting on AI the same the light is slighty dim but still daylight, the iPhone just touched the screen and easy footage better than ax53.

Hello everybody,

I am considering an AX53 myself as an entrance to 4K, and a possible addition of an Atomos Ninja or similar later.
Is it possible to get clean 4K video over HDMI? If I understand correctly, operating the LCD screen together with the HDMI isn't possible.

Cheers,
N.F.

HI,
I have a AX53 and interested in doing this too. Will be interesting to see what people think. Nick, not sure if you are aware that the AX53 restricts the number of menu items that can be in manual mode at the same time. At present I have manual exposure and focus. I can't have manual shutter or iris at the same time. Depends on what you want to film, if this camera is right for you.

That said its a great camera and this year I'm about to make a full on VFX film; to test my skills and knowledge, using a very basic kit to prove it can be done.

See what other people think -

Yes, I know that Sony doesn't leave much room for manual control, but I haven't found anything similar at this price range (and the 20x zoom is very nice for air shows)

I am also a bit confused by the code FDR-AX53B, it seems to sell for about 1000 EUR when the plain AX53 sells at around 750 EUR (including 24% VAT). Or are the one and same (I read in another post about the AX60, and I cannot discern any difference from the AX53)

Cheers,
N.F.

...I am also a bit confused by the code FDR-AX53B, it seems to sell for about 1000 EUR when the plain AX53 sells at around 750 EUR (including 24% VAT). Or are the one and same (I read in another post about the AX60, and I cannot discern any difference from the AX53)

Cheers,
N.F.

According to Sony USA, the B is for the camera color: black.

I wouldn't try to buy camera model numbers that are only available in Japan. They have some domestic model numbers that are identical to an export model number but will typically have a different set of menu languages (no English for example) and the plug will be for Japan's electrical system and the manual will be only in Japanese, not multilingual. I've bought some domestic versions that came with software applications on CD and of course the programs were in Japanese language only. The AX53 is nice for when you can't use a tripod. If you don't need the image stabilization, then the AX100 or Z90 would be a step up in image quality.

If you don't need the image stabilization, then the AX100 or Z90 would be a step up in image quality.

What's wrong with image stabilization on the Z90?

Mark Watson probably refers to the Balanced Optical Stradyshot (BOSS), which the AX-53 has but the Z90 not. However, I use both the Z90 and the NX30, only the latter has BOSS, but I do not see any difference in steadyshot behavior of the two.

The BOSS on the AX53 is incredible. The Z90 is no better than the AX100 for image stabilization, exactly the same mediocre level of IS.

Thanks for the info. I've never touched an AX53 so I had no idea it had better IS.

It's amazing, actually.
It's got the lens block mounted on a gimbal that tracks the shot.
It not only covers the handheld shaking, it will smooth out walking shots, etc.