Good "set and forget" recital / opera camera

[Dave Blackhurst]

It may be a little late, but if you want to shoot the high bitrate XAVCS 4K or 1080/60p, that 128G card MUST be a class U3 (should be a SDXC by default at 128G size). A U1 will "work", but will not let you set the highest settings.

The U3 requirement hit with one of the firmware updates that allowed the higher bitrate recording capability... right after I'd just bought a couple U1 cards, of course! I didn't pay much attention to card speeds and ratings, but with these new 4K cameras, you have a need for SPEEED!!

I think you'll find the AX100 to be an excellent solution for your scenario, it is one of the nicer cams I've ever shot with, and once I got the shutter speed figured out so my footage didn't have a lot of stutter/shimmer, I've been thrilled with what the camera turns out. Between it and the RX10II, I've got a lot of capture capability in a small "kit", far more than I could have imagined 3-5 years ago.

[Peter Rush]

I am thinking of getting the AX100 to replace one of my CX730 cams that I leave with my other half when she films the last half an hour or so of bridal prep as I shoot off to the church - I do notice however that it has Sony's proprietary shoe mount which has caused me headaches in the past both on my CX730/PJ780 cams - I bought a Sony adapter (so I could mount 'normal' accessories) for my PJ780 which cost nearly £50 and was the biggest pile of junk - plastic and worked it's way loose after 5 minutes - It's sort of putting my off as I do like to leave her with a light on the camera and that shoe mount/adapter is not up to it IMO

[Dave Blackhurst]

@Peter -

I may have to try once again to upload pix of the shoe adapter(s) I cobbled up for next to nothing from ebay/HK supplied parts... they aren't "special", and should be just as cheap for you to get into the UK!

The Sony shoe is of course somewhat proprietary, and designed for Sony accessories, with both "keying" and a row of contacts for the Sony interfaces, BUT it really is not much off from a "regular" hot/cold shoe.

I picked up a "foot" that was made of metal, was about $3 or so, so I picked up a few - it had two lock wheels, one to lock to the camera shoe, and one that spun up onto a standard 1/4" post, to which I've mounted in one case a single shoe/clamp, and in the other case a 3 shoe contraption I believe was originally for mounting multiple flash heads in an umbrella... it's stout, you can carry the camera by it, and will hold a light and a mic + ?... if you so desire.

The foot needs to be notched to fit into the AX100 shoe - two bits taken off the "front" corners, and a couple notches part way along each side - then the front edge needs to be thinned out a bit to clear the contacts area at the front of the AX shoe - once that's taken care of, the thing will fit into the shoe, tighten down VERY securely, and you've got a solid mount for quite cheap in parts and a little time with a Dremel tool or equivalent!

Certainly not a reason to not upgrade <wink>! There may even be a ready made version (I know there was a ready made one, but it was pricey, and I'm cheap! Plus I wanted both a single and at least a double shoe...), there just wasn't when I put mine together, but I've seen a few China/HK accessories sporting the needed shoe configuration, so maybe look around, and if you want the details on how to build your own (it's not like it's rocket surgery 'er anything), I'll try yet again to get uploading to work!

[Peter Rush]

Thanks dave - i hope to buy before next season and this will be most helpful