Sony FDR-AX100

[Troy Lamont]

The power of HEVC!

As a test, I converted the 4K French cat video from it's non-popular .qt format to HEVC using the free DIVX converter and wow! Side by side on a native 4K display from normal viewing distance and you can't tell a difference! The output file was only 178 Mb vs the 1.78 Gb original file, holy hand grenade Batman! I have seen the future and it is HEVC! :-)

You could easily get a great quality 4K movie on a 50 Gb Blu-ray disc encoded with HEVC! Come on content manufacturers and studios, work it out please!

[Wolfgang Schmid]

Originally Posted by Ken Ross

As an example, on another forum, we've got one guy who absolutely goes catatonic when he sees 'superwhites' on the AX100. He pointed to the original Sony demo, which most thought was really excellent (so excellent that some continue to say it was faked or manipulated), but zoned in on a couple of clouds on the horizon that were overexposed in one or two scenes. Were these clouds the subject of the video? No. Was the subject of the video properly exposed? Yes. If you watch videos produced by his equipment, you can easily find the same superwhites in some scenes. But those don't count. The 4K version of his camera has also displayed these superwhites in some posted clips. However in his mind, the camera can do no wrong and if it does, it's simply OE. And so it goes. This is the internet. :)

We find superwhite in ALL consumer cameras that I have seen in the last 20 years. Not really superblack, but the luminance range starts about 16 typically and tends to go beyond 235 for our 8bit systems.

Why should it be different for the AX100?

[Wolfgang Schmid]

Originally Posted by Mark Rosenzweig

1. Sony Vegas Pro 12 edits XAVC S clips. I have done this.

Originally Posted by Joey Atilano

Sweet ! Thanks Mark. I'll download it when I get home and see if my old Vegas 11 will let me edit it.

It is not only that Vegas Pro 12 (but now also the much cheaper Vegas Moviestudio HD Platinum 13) offers support for the XAVC and XAVC-S import. That is relativ simple since both XAVC and XAVC-s are H.264 structures.

But with Vegas Pro 12 (not 11) and VMS 13 you will also find the first XAVC/XAVC-S encoder that allow the rendering of 4K to XAVC/-S. That works fine here - and I have tested that both with Z100 but also AX1 footage.

Maybe also important: both XAVC and XAVC-S (even with the long GOP structure) can be edited with Vegas and adjusted project settings with a framerate near to the full frame rate - for example, for 24p I see the full 24p with my older i7 2600K 16 GB ram overclocked to 4.2 Ghz. So editing is possible now, even if you have not a 4K monitor up to now.

In Vegas Pro 11 this encoder is not included - but one could use the Mainconcept AVC encoder that allows manual settings for 4K too. Up to now the Sony AVC encoder is limited to 2K - but here Vegas has the XAVC encoder - so that is fine.

[Mark Rosenzweig]

"But with Vegas Pro 12 (not 11) and VMS 13 you will also find the first XAVC/XAVC-S encoder that allow the rendering of 4K to XAVC/-S."

Yes, and the clip I made and uploaded to Vimeo *encoded* the AX1 originals *to* XAVC-S 4K using Vegas Pro 12.

[Ken Ross]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang Schmid

We find superwhite in ALL consumer cameras that I have seen in the last 20 years. Not really superblack, but the luminance range starts about 16 typically and tends to go beyond 235 for our 8bit systems.

Why should it be different for the AX100?

Correct! The bottom line is that in most cases, the superwhites don't destroy the scene since they're generally not the subject of the scene. Unless you're anal about that cloud on the horizon, not many really care.

Of course if your intent is to knock the video of a given camera, that's not hard to do and you wouldn't be limited to just a discussion on 'superwhites'. ;)

[Ken Ross]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang Schmid

But with Vegas Pro 12 (not 11) and VMS 13 you will also find the first XAVC/XAVC-S encoder that allow the rendering of 4K to XAVC/-S. That works fine here - and I have tested that both with Z100 but also AX1 footage.

Edius Pro 7 also offers support for XAVC/-S. More and more editing platforms will offer this support over time.

[Jan Vanhoecke]

Here we go...it's started: unboxing and some videotests.

SONY FDR-AX100 review - YouTube

[Monday Isa]

Thanks Jan for sharing the link. Looks like Rolling shutter is bad only in 4K mode. I guess it's not scanning the chip fast enough. In 1080P mode it looks great just like any new camcorder released. The auto-focus did seem to work slow, hopefully that's a setting in the menu and just not the standard speed. The DSLR was lightning fast in comparison. I wish I spoke Japanese to understand him but I'm happy about my pre-order. Can't wait to utilize the cam on paid jobs. 4K when the cam is on a tripod or lightstand or for personal projects. I like what I see here.

[Lawrence Bansbach]

Originally Posted by Monday Isa

Looks like Rolling shutter is bad only in 4K mode. I guess it's not scanning the chip fast enough.

That's strange, because it's the same sensor that's in the RX10, which scans at up to 4Kp60. I would think that if it could do 60p, the read/reset time must be fairly good.

[Ken Ross]

I've never seen anyone shake a camera so much during its first test run. Very weird. I think during the 'shake & bake', you're also seeing some interaction with the OIS. I still don't think this is a realistic test for real world use...at least not how I shoot.

The focus speed seems about what it is on my RX10. It's not lightning fast, but it doesn't tend to hunt. I think I'd rather have a slightly slower lock on rather than one that hunts. With that said, I've always found my Canon camcorders were the fastest and most accurate focusers.

Excuse me how, I've got take some Dramamine after watching that.

[Monday Isa]

Originally Posted by Lawrence Bansbach

That's strange, because it's the same sensor that's in the RX10, which scans at up to 4Kp60. I would think that if it could do 60p, the read/reset time must be fairly good.

The RX10 scans upto 4kp60? I thought that was a 1080p camera.

Ken the shakes were very extreme but when he tried it in 4k 30p there was a weird wobble going up nd down which i only seen in Canon and Nikon dslrs that had bad rolling shutter. Easily one can work around it but it seems to be pretty prevalent in 4k mode. I noticed it a little bit in the cat video but wrote it off. Now I see it clearly. Still a good buy nonetheless.

[Ken Ross]

Yeah Monday, I'm not overly concerned, but yes it was more prevalent in 4K. But I still don't know why someone would shake the camera to that extent. Would he really shoot video that way? I'd like to see how it behaves with normal pans.

As I've said before, my biggest concern remains the OIS and how effective it is. I'm hoping it's better than what exists in my RX10. The 10 is a great camera, but the OIS could be better.

Regarding the RX10 scanning 4Kp60, I'm not sure what Larry is referring to.

[Lawrence Bansbach]

Originally Posted by Ken Ross

Regarding the RX10 scanning 4Kp60, I'm not sure what Larry is referring to.

Actually, I misspoke. The RX10 supposedly scans the entire sensor (no line-skipping or binning) at up to 60p, then down-samples to 1080p via the Bionz X.

[Vaughan Wood]

It's very frustrating here in Aus.

Someone in Japan has theirs already, while Sony Australia don't even have it listed as SOON, let alone order it anywhere!

(Grumpy!)

Vaughan

[John McCully]

Originally Posted by Vaughan Wood

It's very frustrating here in Aus.

Someone in Japan has theirs already, while Sony Australia don't even have it listed as SOON, let alone order it anywhere!

(Grumpy!)

Vaughan

Nor Sony New Zealand. Not a word on their website. I believe Sony New Zealand and Sony Australia are one and same and they ain't Sony, or should I say they are Sony in name only. I've more or less given up on those people and order elsewhere. Yes, I know I might miss out on a warranty related situation but thus far that has never happened, and the nature of the warranty is getting meaner and meaner so as not to be a big deal anyway.

Whoever, whatever they are down in this neck of the woods Sony isn't what it was, and if things keep heading in this direction you can forget the so-called Sony Consumer Division down here.