I suppose it had to happen. Looks truly exciting.

C'mon Mr Canon, get it sorted out!

Grazie

Price is impressive as is the camera. However, for me, the bigger 1" sensor of the AX100 has to be the winner. Indoor shots without additional light have to be better with a bigger sensor. Depends how much cost you consider it worth..... this is clearly the dawn of consumer UHD. Just need all the peripherals to catch up now, faster PCs, cheaper TVs, media, distribution, playback devices - just the same as the start of regular HD

Yup, 1", better!

Grazie

The information on Sony's sight is poor at best. Cnet is a little bit better.

The best information is at B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1109387-REG/sony_hdr_ax33v_4k_ultra_hd.html


I wonder if this camera has an auto-focus that REALLY works. My CX900's auto focus is poor at best even after the firmware update. I do not think that the processor is powerful enough to auto focus properly.

As for me:

My credit is maxed out so no more new cameras for quite a while.

This camera has a useless 10x zoom. Will Sony ever learn that 10x is sub par?

I do not care about 4k yet, I am doing fine with 2k.

I personally like Sony AX100 better over all. The only feature I really like the new AX33 is their advance image stabilization and price. $1000 vs 2000. But you can buy the AX100 for arounf $1600 now. I think I will end up with any one of this camera at later date.

My CX900's auto focus is poor at best even after the firmware update. I do not think that the processor is powerful enough to auto focus properly.

How do you find out if there is a firmware upgrade available for your particular camera? I have the CX760 and the autofocus is brilliant. I use it underwater and there is seldom to never any hunting around like on my old HC3. However my gripe is the CX760 imparts way too much red underwater.

Regards,

Kimberly

I've been loyal to Canon, mainly because once you invest in a particular system (batteries, lenses, etc.) It's sometimes hard to jump mid-ship, unless there is a big demand for it and available funds. I like what I am seeing coming from Sony and Panasonic and the price points just make sense.

Pity about the auto ND. Canon appears to have really shot itself in the foot with its current marketing model. I'm thinking if Canon introduces a 4K model competitive to the Sony lineup it will severely cut demand for much of its current range. Brand loyalty can only go so far.

I went to:

https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=HDRCX900&template_id=1&region_id=1&tab=download#/downloadTab


I looked under Drivers & Software, indicated my operating system and then saw what is available.

I saw choices for Firmware and Play Memories. I then changed camera models to yours and there was Play Memories only.

Most Sony cameras, unfortunately, do not have the capabilities of a firmware update/upgrade. I think Sony would do well to offer this on this years and all future models of their cameras. One can start basic and move up a notch or two. It makes it easy for support to solve problems.

The ONLY way I will go 4k in the near future is if Sony offers a 4k upgrade for my CX900. The hardware is fully 4k, it is just the firmware that is 2k. Hmmm, maybe Sony can include a 4k sticker with an upgrade?

Anyway, with the current delivery of 1280x720 internet and 720x480 widescreen DVD's, 4k was not worth the investment at the time I bought with the then price of $2,000.00. No one in my area wants Blu-Ray. My box of Blu-Ray disks are collecting dust...

@Vidmus:

Thanks for the link on where to find updates. The AX-100 looks interesting, and, more importantly, Gates makes a housing for it! But I need to get another year outta my cx760v for now.

Regards,

Kimberly

I too am not interested in 4k..... at the moment. I just don't have a way to output without massive expense. Thats why the CX900 was my "want" camera.

But then I read that you can get better PQ by using the AX100 4k to shoot and downscale to 1080.

For me, the attraction of 4K is not 4K itself, but the flexibility available with creating an HD project.

As already pointed out earlier in this post, the larger 1 inch sensor with the AX100 is an advantage over the 1/2.3 inch sensor in the AX33 (as well as the upcoming Panasonic 4K models), but it is the ability to stabilise in 4K and to pan/crop into up to 25% of the 4K image and still retain HD 1920 x 1080 for the final project that is the selling point of 4K for me at the moment.

I use the 4K on my AX100 only for family videos; at 30p it is not suitable for sports at all. But, if there is ever an upgrade to a newer version that will support 4K@60p I am all for it. The 4K footage has so much more room for color correction and as has been already pointed out, it leaves a lot of room for repositioning the shot when your delivery format is Full HD or even SD.
So far I have not seen any other prosumer camera aside from the PXW-X70 that offers a better sensor aside from the high end Pro Cameras. I don't consider the FDR-AX33 a prosumer model but rather a consumer model.

Wow, didn't spot the AX100 only did 24/25/30p in 4K. I noticed a massive difference when moving to 50p in my regular HD - I couldn't go back from 50p now. Thankfully I won't be up for another camera for a year or two. 4K 50p on a reasonably priced camera has to be out then.

[I]4K 50p on a reasonably priced camera has to be out then.[/I]

I hope so too, although more for 60p. I also noticed that there are not many 4K UHDTV that can handle 50/60p.

Give it a little time and 4k will settle in. For most 4k now is just about the extra versatility. Unless my current camera packs up, I'm gonna hold fire till the rest of the gear needed to produce 4k in a fairly easy and sensibly priced manner catches up.

"... but it is the ability to stabilise in 4K and to pan/crop into up to 25% of the 4K image and still retain HD 1920 x 1080..."

As incredible as it may seem, I can pan/crop up to 25% using the CX900 and still have excellent quality. I cannot do this with my other 2k cameras including the PJ-710.

I am sure it can be done better with the AX100 but it is still much better with the CX900 than the other 2k cameras. Probably because of the 4k innards.

The sharpness and details are much greater on the CX900 than the other cameras I have. I wish the auto focus were a lot better though.

I may not have been as clear as I was hoping because what I was meaning to highlight was that with 4K, you can use round about 25% of the 4K image area and still have an HD 1920 x 1080 image to work with (i.e. 4K has roughly 4 times the pixel size of HD).

It's great that the CX900 gives terrific images after pan/cropping up to 25% of its 1920 x 1080 image, but what I was referring to was pan/cropping a 4K image up to 75% and still having a resulting image of at least 1920 x 1080.

@ Dexcon

I was not clear that I understood what you said.

That is what I get for typing when it is past time to go to bed.

The extra sharpness of the CX900 makes it shine above all the other 2k cameras. Well, at least the ones I have. Of course, if the auto-focus decides to do its thing and crawl out of focus then the extra sharpness does not mean a thing.

I keep the 'spot focus' thing there all of the time while doing Church videos. I tap where needed with the rounded non writing end of my ink pen (No finger prints) and I get the locked focus I need.

IF I can get the theater people to remember to bring up the lights before the plays, I can then lock the focus and get what I need. Getting them to remember to do that is the hard part.

I have found that the peaking is not reliable and the focus magnifier button is 100% in the WRONG PLACE!!!

The question now is, will Sony dum-b down future models or will they correct the errors and give us a better camera? They have a history of dum-bing down future models. Time will tell...

I think a lot of folks are not going 4K until more affordable 10-bit recording is available.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the Sony A7S with the Atomos Ninja appears to be as good as it gets right now.

This camera is interesting. I currently use the AX100 and have done over 100+ shoots with it, love that camera. But there are cases where a smaller version of it with that floating lens stabilization would be much more ideal, like when I let the talent film the action themselves. I may get this camera for that sort of use and/or as a backup camera. Just have to wait and see how it's lower light performance compares to it's bigger brother. I wish they had made it wider though, like closer to 26mm.

[I]Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the Sony A7S with the Atomos Ninja appears to be as good as it gets right now.[/I]

Are you sure you don't mean the Atomos Shogun? The Ninja series do not record 4K, which the A7S is capable of.