AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

I played with an AX33 in a BestBuy, knowing nothing about it- when I noticed the lens moving around like an eyeball- I was quite surprised.

Supposedly it'll take out some of the shake and motion. But just how well does it do this? Is it as good as using a high end stabilizer? It's supposed to be better than software stabilizing built into most cameras.

In my rank amateur video work- I've used a tripod when I want stability- but I often would like to walk along wooded trails but that never comes out right with my ancient Canon HV20. I did buy an inexpensive Flycam 3000 stabilizer for the Canon- but it's not easy to control- so if the lens on the AX33 is very good at stabilizing the image of a moving camera, I might spring for it.

I haven't yet heard of any other camcorders with a lens like this.

Any comments on this lens would be appreciated.

Joe

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

There is a newer model the AX53 with a much better sensor and 20x zoom. There were several more models before these in the Sony lineup. An example is the Sony CX760 and the NX30U. I have the NX30U and the AX53 both work very well.

Ron Evans

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

The BOSS (Sony term) or "magic eyeball" (commonly used by users) means that the entire lens/sensor block is effectively on a gimbal system INSIDE the camera. Yes, it is effective. Sony has been using it for a while, most recently in the AX53 (a better camera than the year older AX33), and there's a new "micro" BOSS in the new action cam.

It is a Sony "exclusive" design, they've used it for a number of years and overall it's pretty good at smoothing out the handheld wobbles. Definitely an upgrade from your old HV20.

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

I have a sony cx730 that has the same stabilization and while it doesn't replace a gimbal the stabilization is as good as it gets.

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

Oh, I didn't realize the AX53 also has the "magic eyeball". Like I said, it freaked me out. Kinda funny actually. I'll now review the AX53.

The main reason I want to upgrade from my old Canon HV20 is that I'm tired of video tape. I now have a very fast PC that can deal with the greater demands of 4K video.

Joe

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

Is the AX53's USB output USB 3 or USB 2?

If it's USB 2, then why? It's so much slower.

If it's USB 2, I presume I could pull the memory chip and plug it directly into my Dell XPS 8700 which has a bunch of slots for memory chips. Not sure I like that idea- handling the chip.

Joe

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

My cx730 also has a usb 2 connection so it might be that sony has not switched to usb 3 yet, I just take out the card, put it into a usb 3 cardreader and use playmemories to import and stitch long recordings together.

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

If you use a fast memory card (actually pretty much a mandatory requirement to shoot the higher bitrate options), it should download fairly rapidly, certainly faster than the old "real time" of tape.... it's really not that big a deal in terms of download time.

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

So, more than a year later, I still haven't bought a new camera but still thinking about the AX53. Is there a newer but similar model?

Also, my main objective, as I've mentioned, is to be able to walk along without the bouncing and without using any other stabilizer. I'd like to see some video with the user walking- to see just how smooth it will be. Anyone have a link to a video I can see with walking?

Re: AX33- lens- like a stabilizer?
 

Look on the Sony site:
https://www.sony.com/electronics/han...rders/fdr-ax53
There are videos demonstrating the BOSS