New Sony AX-53 Testing

[Dave Blackhurst]

Jim -

The trick is to keep your shutter speed down, so that there is a natural motion blur - when I got the AX100, my first tests looked very stuttery/shimmery due to the VERY sharp 30 "stills"/sec. the camera took when i let it run the shutter speed in auto... ever since, I've tried to run the shutter in manual all the time, and keep it at 60, 90 or 120... looks just fine to me, though I'm sure 60p would be "better".

There is of course a tradeoff in "sharpness", as things moving through the frame exhibit motion blur, but that's actually what you need to make it look "non-stuttery"....

A note on the mini-HDMI - when it's connected, you have to have the LCD open - I thought it would still feed external in 4K, but I'll need to double check that, as Ron indicates it doesn't - I've got an 53 hooked up right now to my 4K monitor, so I'll test it again... I got one of the AX53's a while back, and ultimately returned it, but one came up so cheap on ebay that I decided to grab one again... I still prefer the 1" class sensor sharpness, but for a "handycam", the A53 isn't bad!....

[Ron Evans]

Yes I run all my cameras in manual shutter all the time. Usually 1/60 as most of the time I am in low light indoors. So motion blur is at this level and even with this shutter speed I can see the difference between 30P and 60P. No getting around the fact there is half the information at 30P. For talking heads or slow moving scenery or if you want that film look then fine. But for my projects I want to create the feeling of "being there" live for theatre or dance. 1/90 will give a sharper picture and fine for 60P and sometimes use if I know there will be good light.

Agree, the AX100 has a lovely image however it is twice the cost of the AX53 and a little bigger. It is due for replacement I am sure and with the newer Panasonics I think Sony will have to introduce something to compete with the AG-UX180, HC-X1 and the DVX200 as they have nothing at the moment. Though Panasonic do not have a competitor for the AX100. The FDR-AX1 that I have will not compete with the UX180 or the HC-X1 for instance. Neither will the PXW-Z150 for that matter other than very specific requirement for native streaming etc.

Ron Evans

[Paul Newman]

Hi all,

Just my two cents: I think the AX53 is better by far at HD than the AX100 - although the 100 appears to be about a stop faster, the quality of the 53 at HD is stunningly good, almost as good as placing a 4K image from the same camera on the HD timeline.

If you need 50P or 60P then the tiny Sony is King - it may not have all the manual stuff, but in real shooting situations it is faster to use, has timecode, the time-lapse is amazing! it's smaller, and I'm sorry to say the picture looks cleaner and certainly better in HD - I'm being simply subjective here - on paper the 100 has less correction as it has a larger chip, the encoding has slightly less in the way of artefacts - but the 53 just looks "Hotter"

I imagine Sony will release the next upgrade for the 100 sometime soon, personally, I can't keep waiting, but I am thinking of letting my 100 go and adding another 53 to the camera bag, actually two for price of the 100!!

My only wish is that Sony used a better codec, GoPro bought Cineform which out- performs XAVC S by a mile, even at much lower data rates, a 2.7K image from a 3+ at 45mbs is as clean as a whistle.

Paul :-)

[Wacharapong Chiowanich]

That's interesting. I have done a side by side comparison between the two cameras, AX100 abd AX55 (It's AX53 with a projector), a few times but all in 4K at which the AX100 is sharper, and has better resolution. In very low light both cameras perform well with the AX100 still having more detail but also higher noise levels. The AX55 is as clean as it gets right up to the max gain of +27dB or perhaps +30dB, not sure, while the image doesn't turn to mush from the noise reduction. Both had IMO low light 4K images that are among the best I had seen from any camcorder at any price.

I never tried 1080p on the AX55 which was a trial unit from my gear dealer. However, I have shot a few times in 1080/50p XAVC-S with my own AX100 and the result is, or maybe better described as "meh". It's not bad but it certainly is no better, if not worse, than the 1080/50p I get from my older, smaller Handycams such as the CX700E and PJ760VE that use only AVCHD 2.0 at almost half the bit rate! The footage often looks clean with minimal artifacts, except for aliasing and moire that show up a little too often, in 50Mbps XAVC-S mode. But the detail, or more specifically micro contrast detail, is lacking compared to its older cousins. Noise level again is lower than those smaller sensor camcorders but the resolution in bright daylight is lower. I suspect on the AX100, the IP and everything from the scanning of the sensor to the encoding of the footage is optimized, as it should be, at 4K. The rest is just more like fill-ins. The 1080p sure looks like line skipping or pixel binning is used to get the image from the same 14M pixel crop of the 20.1M pixel sensor. On the smaller Handycams all they have to read out is roughly about 4M pixel crop from the 6M pixel 2.88" sensor to get the same 2M pixel 1080p image, a much easier work compared to 14M to 2M pixel downsampling the AX100 would have to do properly to get down to the HD image.

The AX53/55 on the other hand seems to have all the recipe needed for excellent footage at both 4K or HD levels. Lower pixel count, 8M+ pixel in a non-cropped, true 16:9 aspect ratio to maximize the size of the photosites. A sensor design that doesn't have to be bothered with still picture capability. A newer image processing and perhaps better noise reduction algorithms.

[Ron Evans]

I shoot with a NX5, in 60i, of course and when compared to either of the AX53 or the AX100 shooting 60P XAVC-S the NX5U is the weak link !!! For some shows it is those three plus the FDR-AX1 shooting UHD60P and cropped to 1080 all in a 60i project to match the NX5U main camera and to go to DVD and Bluray. Again the NX5U is the weak link. Interesting how technology has changed because when I got the NX5U I thought it was wonderful !!! Not long ago really.

Ron Evans

[Wacharapong Chiowanich]

One thing I didn't try on the AX55 but should have is the 100fps (or 120fps for you) mode. Does the footage overall look the same as it does at 50/60p? I used to shoot at 1080/100p on the pocketable RX100IV and it did look virtually indistinguishable in terms of sharpness, lack of moire or aliasing etc. from the footage at lower framerates.

[Paul Newman]

The 100fps is poor, aliasing and noise everywhere, despite the fact that the codec is still recording at 60mbs, the camera kind of reverts to some horrible auto mode.

Much lower resolution over all.

Pity really

Paul :-)

[Wacharapong Chiowanich]

Thanks, Paul. Too bad it's just a gimmick but now we are aware it's not meant to be a slow-mo camera.

[Jim Stamos]

Lou the studio 1 XLR adaptor is great.mounts on the bottom of the camera on the tripod screw
Quality is excellant,2 channels,around 200.00

[Bill Watson]

I'm looking for a new video camera for outside distance work. I shoot at 20 x zoom and pan, following boats crossing a river mouth bar. Shooting in 4k I hope to be able to crop in for better close ups. Is AX-53 a suitable candidate?

[Ron Evans]

4K on the AX53 is really UHD not DCI 4K and also only at 30P so panning will give you some judder if you are not really stable. Personally panning at full zoom at 30P will not look good. You could keep the camera fixed and pan a 1920x1080 crop image in editing though.

[Rob Cantwell]

Just ordered a new Sony FDR-AX53, price has come down somewhat (€764)

anyway does anyone know if it can be used with a lanc?

[Mark Watson]

It doesn't work with any of my regular LANC remotes, nor with some Sony remotes that work with my AX100.

I have two Sony remotes that work with this camera; the GP-VPT1 Shooting Grip and the RM-VPR1 Remote Control.

The RM-VPR1 can turn the camera off/on, zoom, record. Zoom has two speeds, I think it is 4 seconds and 21 seconds full tele to full wide.
The GP-VPT1 has zoom, record and photo functions. There are two zoom speeds.



Mark

[Ron Evans]

I have the VCT-VPR100 https://www.sony.com/electronics/int...tes/vct-vpr100 that has full variable control as well as cables for all the Sony connectors for 1/8" LANC. A/V connector as well as Mini USB. Works very well.

[Rob Cantwell]

thanks guys for the suggestions.

i was looking at something like this
VariZoom VZROCK | Sony / Canon LANC Zoom control | lens control

with the proper cables I guess it would work across the different cams I have.

sorry for going off thread somewhat.