Re: Sony FDR-AX1
 

The NX5U is not the quietest camera out there, but this surprises me. Maybe I was too quick in writing the AX1 off.

I don't suppose it would be possible for you to shoot a few seconds of an indoor lighted scene (good enough light to read by) that has some shadow areas with both cameras and upload the original files somewhere?

If required, I could send you ftp upload details to a folder on my web site, which I could make available for others.

Re: Sony FDR-AX1
 

I will try and find something this weekend that is suitable.

Ron Evans

Re: Sony FDR-AX1
 

Thanks. Do you want me to send you ftp details?

Re: Sony FDR-AX1
 

Well finally received my AX-1. This is my first Sony and I am coming from a Canon XH-a1 and 5DMk11 &111s. I am primarily a stills photographer so not at all any sort of expert on video camera operation.

On getting the Ax-1 out of the box, I must say I was very impressed. The build quality seems to be very good. It does have a few open vents for the fan operation, so will have to be careful with condensation when coming out of cold offices/hotel rooms etc. The lens operation is nice and smooth, a better action I think then the Canon XH-A1. The overall size is similar to the XH-A1, it is a little shorter when the lens hood is off, but also a little wider. The lens hood works very well, but if you remove it to travel there is no lens cap included. Additionally there is no shoulder strap.

For testing I shot 4K @ 50P. Getting it into Vegas is easy using a Sony XQD USB3 card reader and the Vegas 'Device Explorer' function, 19 min of video, about 18 gig of files, took about 7 minutes to capture to local drive. I then dropped all 18 gigs onto Vegas Pro 12 time-line and let it conform to the media. It will not play back much faster then two or three frames per second, so I can't see myself editing in its native 4K without a proxy. As a test I rendered the whole 18 gigs out to a Sony Vegas native mxf file at 1080 25P, this resulted in about a 7 gig file from the original 18gig. This 1080 25P file will then easily play and edit in Vegas or play in VLC media player.

The resulting down scaled image was far better then I expected and much better then the native image from the Canon XH-A1, which I always found soft and suffering from chromatic aberration. This render was with no applied sharpness for the downscale. I have attached a screen grab referenced below.

In general the camera has a good deal of control available, particularly in relation to audio control. The picture set-up is not as' tweekable' as the Canon XH-A1, however there is a good level of control with a variety of gammas and hue, saturation, contrast controls.

Physically the lay-out is very good and I found it easy to pick-up, however the 'hot shoe' is not really available to some add ons, as it will get in the way of the flip up LCD. I think the QXD cards are a winner, with low pricing already at B&H etc. The supplied manual is very light on for detail and I can't really see how Sony considers the camera as primarily as a consumer product. The only real consumer aspect of the package is the addition of "PlayMemories home edition", not that I have installed it!

As a first time Sony Cam user, could some one help me with the zebra function of the AX-1? I am only used to one setting with the Canon and this has the option for two at once. Zebra1 at 50 to 107%, Zebra1 Aperture Level at 1 to 20%, and Zebra2 Level at 52 to 109% (that probably makes three) ?? What does this mean, different levels within the scene I guess?

I think we may need a new Sony FDR sub-forum:)

Cheers,
Rob

Re: Sony FDR-AX1
 

I always use the Sony software to transfer to PC for all my cameras ( FDR-AX1, NX5U, NX30U, CX700, XR500 ) The PlayMemories is a little disappointing compared to the software for the others as it does not rename the files by date and time like they do for AVCHD but just places the files in directories by date taken so file names are not unique, bummer. Calendar view works the same though. It also does not join files that span cards either not good for me as my projects are always larger than a single 64G card. The separate files seem to butt together OK though even though there are some indication that they may not sync together correctly according to PXW-Z100 information though that may refer to XAVC files rather than XAVC-S files.

I have the same playback experience with Vegas 12 but Edius Pro 7 will playback at close to realtime. Vegas plays back OK too if preview is set to draft auto. Image is good enough on a PC monitor to edit with and can always be switched to best full for color correction etc.

FDR-AX1 is between 1 and 2 stops slower than the NX5U or the other Sony's but image is clean and downscale from Edius using Lanczos3 is nice. I miss a few things from the NX5U. There is the paint function for parameter changing but poor compared to the 6 Picture Profiles of the NX5U that are switchable and have more parameters. Data code button does not work yet so cannot go back and find settings for a clip. Battery indication is silly icons rather than time which I do not understand having a Infolithium battery set up for this function !!! Maybe the next firmware update !! It is what I expected though and look forward to the firmware upgrades next year that I feel will really be the product.

Ron Evans

Re: Sony FDR-AX1
 

yes install playmemories home. It is far more useful than the silly name implies