My good old Sony FX1000 is giving up.
Looking for a reasonably priced replacement, I've been reading good reviews of Sony's relatively recent (1year) PXW-X70. It looks quite attractive.
Has Anyone here got experience with it? We shoot mainly theatre and dance events...
It's a nice little camera. I actually had an AX100 first but decided I wanted the pro audio features, better internal menus, more assignable buttons on the outside and picture profiles. The only bummer is the extra price for the 4k upgrade where the AX100 has it included as well as higher bitrates. The audio handle is removable but when attached feels like a permanent part of the camera. If you're looking for something portable run n gun with very good quality and shallower depth of field with the 1" chip it's a nice choice.
Keep in mind though that you will potentially have more focus challenges with the bigger chip. It's nothing like a super 35 but definitely more shallow than my EX1.
If you don't need the pro audio AX100 is a cheaper option and has 100mbps 4k included for $900 less if you compare AX70 with 4K upgrade.
Thank you. That's useful info.
For our shooting, the extra cost of the pxw-x70 is worth the extra, for the XLR inputs and also the full-size HDMI out, the SDI out and the other features you mentioned.
The more-critical depth of field (compared to the FX1000) is both a plus and a minus, depending on the shooting situation. We'll have to be mindful of focus... will probably go to manual, as opposed to the auto that we used in most (theatrical) situations with the FX1000.
I've read a bunch of complaints about the pxw-x70's 4K upgrade (especially its $500 cost!!), but we will be staying with AVCHD anyway.