I still like my old Sony AX100

[Phil Murray]

I have numerous cameras including a GoPro Hero 10 (great for travel) and a BMPCC 4K which produces some amazing stuff (as long as this amateur uses it right!), but I still like to go back to my old Sony AX100 for a lot of reasons. I shot this yesterday while walking in the rainforest below Machu Picchu here in Peru. I got home and did a quick 10-minute edit with some music added and was reminded how much I can do with this camera.

YouTube (Short URL)

[John McCully]

Very nice Phil, and more to view on your website, I note.

Several months ago due to a momentary lapse of reason on my part my AX100 got partially destroyed. Without a lot of thinking about it I replaced it with another AX100. If the subject matter does not contain a lot of motion where 30p is OK the AX100 is almost invariably my go-to cam.

Truly great image quality for what I do; landscapes, seascapes, wildlife and suchlike.

Thanks for your post.

[Noa Put]

Yes, very nice shots, I also still have my ax100 but it's not being used anymore as it has been replaced with my panasonic camera's, during the time I have been using it at weddings I always found it had great detail and color, it only was too noisy to be used in darker venues or even some churches, manually setting focus was sometimes difficult to judge and the autofocus was not the best (looks like the ax700 has improved much in that area) but under the right circumstances the images out of this easy to use camera can be great as shown in Phil's video.

Not sure if these little handycams have any future though, I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually will be replaced by phones and little rx100 type of camera's.

[Phil Murray]

Originally Posted by John McCully

Very nice Phil, and more to view on your website, I note.

Several months ago due to a momentary lapse of reason on my part my AX100 got partially destroyed. Without a lot of thinking about it I replaced it with another AX100. If the subject matter does not contain a lot of motion where 30p is OK the AX100 is almost invariably my go-to cam.

Truly great image quality for what I do; landscapes, seascapes, wildlife and suchlike.

Thanks for your post.

Thanks, John.

Yes, I really love this little camera. I thought about upgrading to the AX700 a few times as it has a few features I could use (Clear Image Zoom, full size HDMI port) but as long as it doesn't shoot in 4K 60p I'm fine with my AX100.

I haven't been able to beat the image quality and the colors are great for what I use it for.

[John McCully]

The Covid-19 situation has encouraged me to keep my head down - I'm totally retired, not venture forth, groceries delivered and so on - so partly out of boredom I have been shooting a mature forest located about 2 plus kilometers away on a hillside across the valley from my location. Under a wide range of atmospheric conditions and invariably lots of light the variation in the quality of the clips is considerable the most in your face differences are due to heat induced distortion and time of day. For comparison I have been directly comparing the clips obtained using the AX100 with clips obtained using the Lumix G9 Panasonic 100-400 lens; a not too shabby combo.

The cameras are tripod mounted with full manual settings in place.

The results of this little ongoing fun experiment have helped me fine tune my work methodology with both pieces of kit (and thus far I remain Covid-19 free, touch wood). I generally do prefer the results I get from the AX100.

I use the Clear Image Zoom settings on the AX100 and continue to be amazed and delighted by just how good this setting is. I did consider purchasing the AX700 but after much Internet browsing decided to stay with the AX100.

Of course horses for courses is still valid and no piece of gear is all things to all situations. But the AX100 still does what I want it to do and does it remarkably well.

Sorry Sony; there is no FF kit in my future.

[Phil Murray]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Yes, very nice shots, I also still have my ax100 but it's not being used anymore as it has been replaced with my panasonic camera's, during the time I have been using it at weddings I always found it had great detail and color, it only was too noisy to be used in darker venues or even some churches, manually setting focus was sometimes difficult to judge and the autofocus was not the best (looks like the ax700 has improved much in that area) but under the right circumstances the images out of this easy to use camera can be great as shown in Phil's video.

Not sure if these little handycams have any future though, I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually will be replaced by phones and little rx100 type of camera's.

Thanks, Noa.

What Panasonic camera do you use? I thought about getting a GH5 several years ago, but eventually went with the BMPCC 4K mostly because I wanted something a little more cinema-oriented. (I had the AX100 for most video and a good Canon DSLR for photos.)

I agree that it's not a very good low-light camera which is surprising considering it has a 1" sensor.

I think you're right that thiese might not have much of a future. People seem to be into so many other types now -- especially mirrorless cameras. I was hoping that a 4K 60p version would have been released by now but there's nothing.

[Noa Put]

I have the GH5, GH5s, S5 and S1, I used to use the AX100 as a unmanned safety camera for wedding ceremonies only and for this job it was perfect, I only found it difficult to match it with my panasonics, colors just look too different and I"m not a good colorist, I prefer to get it right in camera.

Concerning noise at higher Iso's, it performs pretty well considering it's smaller sensor but in darker churches you clearly could see the grain dancing in the darker parts when I had to bump up the iso. On the panasonics only my gh5 has limitations in that area but still is visibly better then the Sony, the gh5s and especially the full frame camera's can almost see in the dark, even candle lit only venues don't worry me and I never use extra light.