Sony FDR-AX100

[Mark Watson]

Low light testing against XF305, 7D, XL-H1A.

Sony FDR-AX100 LOW LIGHT TEST on Vimeo

Mark

[Noa Put]

Why did you not shoot wide open with the ax100? The test is at f3.4 while wide open the lens is at f2.8? Also what's the point of comparing a lens at f1.4 to a lens at f3.4? You should compare both at f2.8

[Mark Watson]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Why did you not shoot wide open with the ax100? The test is at f3.4 while wide open the lens is at f2.8? Also what's the point of comparing a lens at f1.4 to a lens at f3.4? You should compare both at f2.8

Maybe I should just move the AX100 much closer than all the other cams so as to help it get to f2.8. The test was to shoot from the same position and with the same framing. I put the f1.4 50mm lens on the 7D because I can. Should I have "crippled" it with a slow kit lens? If I had to shoot that scene with my 7D, that's the lens I'd use. That's sort of the point, cameras with interchangeable lenses have an advantage. I'm not testing sensors or lenses, I'm testing cameras, as a system, in a given situation.

Mark

[Noa Put]

Yeah but the test is pointless the way you did it, if you would have used f 3.4 on the 7d as well and then matched the iso with the ax100 then it would be easier to see how well the camera performs at the same f-stop and comparable iso's.

You also have the iris wide open on the xf305 but you close it down on the ax100 and call it a low light test? Also because you can? :) Sorry but I don't see how this test is going to help anyone wanting to know how the camera performs at it's best in low light.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Mark Watson

The test was to shoot from the same position and with the same framing.
Mark

But you did not do this for the AX100. If you look closely you are zoomed in closer than the others making it ramp more. You need to come back more not get closer so the bottles are the same size. A SLR should always do better because of choice of lens. You could have compared with an A7S and blown them all away!!! A better comparison would be with a Canon XA or XF series or Sony NX30. Similar price handycam. At 4K a comparison with the FDR-AX1 would also be useful. Again a camera that can open up to F1.6 compared to a larger sensor but limited to F2.8 for the AX100.

Ron Evans

[Bruce Dempsey]

Have a 1 hour 30 minute soccer game shot 4k with ax100 and need to get it on Blu-ray with the least amount of wasted time. Here's what I've tried on an i7 980 12gb ram:
Tmpgenc Authoring works 5. Dragged the 4K files into the tmpgenc project and hit go. The timer said 5 hours to go jeez. anyway it croaked 3 hrs into the procedure.
Next attempt, I pulled the 4k files into Edius 7 and made an 1920x1080 mpeg2 with a 25 bitrate that took 1 hour thirty minutes. Then dragged that file into tmpgenc and another hour and a half later I've got a 12gb blu-ray disc ready for duplication
Any other ways?

That was yesterday
Today I shot another match and this time engaged dual record to see what the 1280mp4 the camera will produce along side the 4k. Looks like.... dvd quality straight off the camso thats a no go

Encoding times for a couple of hours of 4k (xavc-s) to BluRay playable disc are crushing even on an i7 980 which is a beast really. We're talking 5 - 7 hours
Think I'll starting using avchd again and see what the ax100 produces in the way of improved video from my pre-ax100 era.

btw The battery lasts long enough to fill a 64gb card with 2 hrs of 4k with a bit of reserve

[Ron Evans]

Bruce,a 4K file from my FDR-AX1, 150Mbps 60P XAVC-S will encode to a Bluray preset,m2ts file from Edius Pro7.31 1920x1080 60i project using Quicksync on my i7 4790K in about realtime. Take file to DVDArchitect which will need to demux the audio and will create an iso file in about 25mins.Burn in IMGBurn to 4x disc in about 40mins. I use this worklow for all my projects whether just the FDR-AX1 or multicam with other HD cams.

Ron Evans

[Bruce Dempsey]

Thanks for the tip quicksync Ron quicksync is a new concept for me I have use a gtx760 2gb
Is that a bit like cuda encoding which seems usable for effects but i don't use effects much, mostly straight cuts
can you say more about "a Bluray preset,m2ts file from Edius Pro7.31" which I also use edius that is. Have you created that preset on timeline or do you export to file using a sony avchd preset?
Thanks
Bruce

[Ron Evans]

This is the link Intel® Quick Sync Video for quicksync. Only included in certain CPU's with integrated graphics and unfortunatley not yours. I do not use much other than cuts too and do not have a GPU installed on my PC just use the integrated one in the i7 4790K. The Bluray preset is a standard EDius preset for AVC output and then there is a check box in the output window to use hardware acceleration(ie quicksync). This produces a program stream hence the need for DVDArchitect to demux the audio for authoring.

Ron Evans

[Mark Watson]

Price dropped to 1,798 at B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1022653-REG/sony_fdrax100_b_hdr_ax100_full_hd_handycam.html

[Dennis Freeman]

I am interested in the workflow for taking 4K video and down sampling it to 1920X1080P. Is this something that can be done in camera? If so what would be the best workflow to accomplish this?
Thanks,
Denny

[Noa Put]

I just drop the 4k native file into a 1080p 25p project in Edius 7 and that's it.

[Ron Evans]

I do the same with 3840x2160 60P files from my FDR-AX1. Just place on a 60i timeline in Edius with the files from my NX5U and NX30U. Edius just downscales to the project settings.

Ron Evans

[Dennis Freeman]

Is it possible to downscale the 4K files within the camcorder?
Denny

[Bruce Dempsey]

You can output sd realtime via the mini usb but it is only composite SD quality
Other options via the HDMI port during playback or recording.