Sony RX100 IV on the Beholder MS-1 Gimbal

[Mark Rosenzweig]

4K video.

Sony RX100 IV on the Beholder MS1 4K Video: Making Bubbles on Vimeo

[Mark Watson]

Mark,

Thanks for posting that. Looks like it could be a cure for my coffee jitters. Pity about the 1.9 pound payload limit. People doing weddings could probably use this for their walk around footage of receptions and dancing. Would work best with ultra wide I think.

I am on the lookout for a new point-and-shoot, possibly a refined A7R/S model for great low-light shots or something along the RX100 lines. There's one camera out there (don't recall the model) that I was interested in but apparently it overheats in no time in 4K mode, so pretty useless for me.

Mark

[Mark Rosenzweig]

There is a bigger model, same form factor - the Beholder DS-1, with a much bigger payload limit, but yet still compact.

The RX100 IV is perfect, but it is the one with the 4K 5-minute limit! No constraint for the way I shoot. But it is a real drawback for many situations.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Mark Watson

People doing weddings could probably use this for their walk around footage of receptions and dancing. Would work best with ultra wide I think.

Like I have been doing at my last wedding ending last year :) I use a gh4 and a 12mm f2.0 on it, perfect combo for this stabiliser. I also used a 9-18mm olympus lens which is also as light as the 12mm.

[Dave Blackhurst]

I tested the RX100M4 and posted my results here in that section of the forum - the 5 minute clip limit is somewhat artificial, and you can start and stop the camera several times without overheat issues.

Probably be pretty good for a small gimbal rig, as your arm will probably "overheat" before you hit the 5 minute clip limit <wink>. It's definitely not a good camera for long clips, but I've always found the RX100 series to be a heckuva handy little "pocket camera" to drag along everywhere, just in case aliens land or something, and you don't have a "big camera" handy to memorialize the moment!

[Mark Rosenzweig]

Originally Posted by Dave Blackhurst

I tested the RX100M4 and posted my results here in that section of the forum - the 5 minute clip limit is somewhat artificial, and you can start and stop the camera several times without overheat issues.

Probably be pretty good for a small gimbal rig, as your arm will probably "overheat" before you hit the 5 minute clip limit <wink>. It's definitely not a good camera for long clips, but I've always found the RX100 series to be a heckuva handy little "pocket camera" to drag along everywhere, just in case aliens land or something, and you don't have a "big camera" handy to memorialize the moment!

Just to be clear on the heat issue. I have shot 4K exclusively, in many sessions without ever turning the camera off until the battery ran out where I amassed about 20GB's of video, shooting short clips in pretty rapid sequence. I have never even had a heat warning. All the clips are short, less than 20 seconds, averaging 12 seconds.

There is no need to constantly turn the camera on and off, which will do nothing but exhaust the battery more quickly. I do not, however, shoot clips of minutes in length. That is my experience.

I think of the RX100 IV as a smaller-sensor version of the A7s ii, having Slog 2, HFR modes, and built-in ND. Its 4K and 1080120p are superb. and its low-light is surprisingly good, in part because it has an f1.8 lens (at 28mm in 4K). An optically stabilized f1.8 lens would be more than the cost of the camera if needed for the A7.

[Dave Blackhurst]

I should clarify, when I ran my tests, I didn't turn the camera on and off, just the "record" - and when stress testing, I let each clip run the full 5 minutes till it auto shut off, then immediately restarted - I'm sure under some hotter weather conditions, you'd run into heat issues, but I decided that in a pinch I could manage to use the camera for longer clips, and heat wasn't THAT huge a concern.

I believe that the cards one uses may influence the heat situation, ambient temp is definitely part of the equation, and of course YMMMV, but overall the RX100M4 is a nice little extension of a great camera series, with a lot of bang for the buck.

[Mark Rosenzweig]

Slow motion on the gimbal.

Sony RX100 IV HD Test Video: Slow Motion on a Gimbal on Vimeo

Shot 1080 120p, slowed to 1080 60p

[Matt Thomas]

How do you charge the batteries for the MS-1? I've tried plugging in the battery in it's pack into a USB wall socket but the red light doesn't come on, only time I get it to turn on is when I plug it directly into a Computer's USB, wondering if I'm going to have to buy an extra charging unit.

[Noa Put]

I have the same issue, only seems to load when connected to my pc.

[Mark Rosenzweig]

I only had an issue when I used the supplied orange usb cable. Using a regular usb cable I had hanging around and one of my many usb chargers I am able to charge the battery pack with no problems. I never tried a PC for charging, as PC ports are very low amp and take much monger to charge for most devices.

[Silas Barker]

Does it matter if you use a lens WITHOUT Image Stabilization? Just curious if the MS-1 and Canon SL1 with primes (no IS) would work well?

[Matt Thomas]

Originally Posted by Mark Rosenzweig

I only had an issue when I used the supplied orange usb cable. Using a regular usb cable I had hanging around and one of my many usb chargers I am able to charge the battery pack with no problems. I never tried a PC for charging, as PC ports are very low amp and take much monger to charge for most devices.

Mine seem to charge reasonably fast when connect to the PC. I tried other cables like my phone charger but still no joy. Thinking of buying a external charger.