On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

HDR-AX2000 / HXR-NX5 (2010).
Arkady Bolotin
Posts: 60
Joined: 24 May 2010 16:46
Location: Beersheba, Israel

On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by Arkady Bolotin »

It’s official now: I’ve made my mind and put an order for a new HDR-AX2000E with B&H online shop. This costs me more than 4 thousands US dollars but … remorse and regret will come later.

The last straw, which broke my internal voice of wisdom, was my FX7E died on me. Actually, I found a tiny piece of debris beyond the central lens element. I don’t know what it is, maybe a dust particle: but how it can get into the cam’s completely sealed lens? Of course, it is not the end of the world, but it is like a splinter in my mind…

Right now my new AX2000E is somewhere in Louisville, KY, then it will go overseas to Colon, Germany, after that to Turkey, and in 3-5 days to Tel-Aviv.

I hope that AX2000E will be better than FX7E: theoretically AVCH is superior to HDV, and three 1/3" Exmor™ CMOS sensors are definitely better than 3 1/4” ones.
rickmotionpic
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Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by rickmotionpic »

Don't worry I had a fx7 and v1 a while ago and comparing the two the ax2000 image is much cleaner with less noise plus the G lens resolves more detail and contrast with the same wide focal lengh as the new wide sonys which can give a nice feel of depth to the image.
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Doughie
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Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by Doughie »

Great news for you Arkady!

Please do give us your impressions when you get your AX2000. We'd really like to hear what you have to say about it in comparison to your previous models.
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Stephan
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Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by Stephan »

Excellent! I would have thought about taking the same route, if only the AX2000 wasn't too bulky for me.

Share the feedback!
Arkady Bolotin
Posts: 60
Joined: 24 May 2010 16:46
Location: Beersheba, Israel

Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by Arkady Bolotin »

Thank you rickmotionpic, Doughie, and Stephan.

I’ve just got a phone call from the local UPS headquarter: the parcel already arrived to Istanbul, Turkey.

And I have to make ready 2,800 shekels (roughly $ 740) for tomorrow to pay custom duties and VAT… Ouch… Okay, it’s better to not think about such trifles…
Arkady Bolotin
Posts: 60
Joined: 24 May 2010 16:46
Location: Beersheba, Israel

Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by Arkady Bolotin »

It turned out I have to pay some more 300 shekels for the package, otherwise it would be delivered only after holly Shabbat…

What I can say, rather repeat after Marx, “Religion is opium for masses”…
halfpipe
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Joined: 24 May 2010 18:51
Location: Canada

Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by halfpipe »

Fun times ahead for Arkady, unpacking that box. I envy you for sure.
AVCHD is still a bear to wrestle with though. I made a 28gb .ts file of a 2.5 hour university convocation and it is too big to fit on a single layer bd-r so I decided last night to encode it to avchd so it could fit on said disc ..well 13 hours later, it's still at it with another two hours to go and the machine that's doing the encoding is no slouch being an i7 920 with 8gbRam
I'm surprised to hear you say that avchd is superior to hdv, I thought the opposite was true?
Arkady Bolotin
Posts: 60
Joined: 24 May 2010 16:46
Location: Beersheba, Israel

Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by Arkady Bolotin »

Hi halfpipe, how have you been?

I’m still stuck in the university not home (where the package is waiting for me, at least my landlady told me so). I’ve caught a minute between lectures to write this…

As to AVCHD vs HDV format war, I do not have personal opinion yet. I just repeated what I heard and read. Quite possible you are right.

Then again, I have a monster machine to put on test with AVCHD: I bought (on grant money) Dell XPS 730x PC with Core i7-960, which is insanely overclocked to 4 GHz but icily cooled with H2C ceramic cooling system. This rig (weighted over 30 kg) has 3 (three) nVidia GeFX 295 video boards (all SLI-ed) and 12 Gb of triple 1600 Kingstome memory… So as you can see I have prepared.
Arkady Bolotin
Posts: 60
Joined: 24 May 2010 16:46
Location: Beersheba, Israel

Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by Arkady Bolotin »

Hi everybody,

I finally got the chance to put my hands on the new AX2000E. I was buried with work checking my students’ test papers until midnight, so I had only a few hours at night and in the morning to play with the camera.

Therefore, I can offer you now only my preliminary account (rather first impressions than thorough review).

Here we go (starting from the most intense impression that struck me testing the cam):

1. Quality of the camera’s build: It’s just amazing. You have to see it to believe, this is a completely different league. Comparing with the new cam, my FX7E looks like a cheap Chinese plastic toy. Even the lens hood is different: it opens and closes with sleek soft sound.

2. Low light capability: Unbelievable! I uploaded couples pictures (taken with iPhone, do not judge the quality), so you can see it for yourself.

3. The 3rd ND filter: Incredible! It’s first time that I could film something with the shutter speed below 100 and it is happening under the insane Middle east sun frying in full steam.

4. You will be laughing at me but resolution wise, under the good light two cams – FX7E and AX2000E -- have similar resolution, maybe the AX2000E has a little advantage.

5. Recording in the progressive mode is absolutely different experience. Now I understand rickmotionpic when he told he hated-loved progressive. Weird thing, you have to keep the cam still when recording no fast panning at all!

That’s all for now, got to run to the next auditorium to teach.
Attachments
FX7 LCD screen (the same light)
FX7 LCD screen (the same light)
Pic5.jpg (28.94 KiB) Viewed 20103 times
AX2000W LCD screen
AX2000W LCD screen
Pic4.jpg (30.25 KiB) Viewed 20103 times
Pic1.jpg
Pic1.jpg (36.73 KiB) Viewed 20103 times
Last edited by Stephan on 28 May 2010 17:41, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed the board's style sheet when displaying attached images
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Doughie
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Re: On the way from FX7 to AX2000E

Post by Doughie »

Arkady Bolotin wrote: Therefore, I can offer you now only my preliminary account (rather first impressions than thorough review).

Here we go (starting from the most intense impression that struck me testing the cam):

1. Quality of the camera’s build: It’s just amazing. You have to see it to believe, this is a completely different league. Comparing with the new cam, my FX7E looks like a cheap Chinese plastic toy. Even the lens hood is different: it opens and closes with sleek soft sound.
Excellent - i had heard from a few owners that the FX7 bodyshell can sometimes creak and squeak a bit. Great build quality certainly does give an impression of longevity and hopefully inherent reliability.
Arkady Bolotin wrote: 2. Low light capability: Unbelievable! I uploaded couples pictures (taken with iPhone, do not judge the quality), so you can see it for yourself.
Thanks for posting those pics. I think this type of feedback - comparing an older cam to a newer one is often the most helpful to others who are consideing making an upgrade. The LCD screens are interesting - nice detail. I note that the FX7 was running +6dB in that shot and the AX2000 was running +0Db, at same iris of f1.6 and both at 1/50th sec ! AND the on-screen image from AX2000E was brighter. Also i think it's immediately striking the advancement in LCD screen itself - size/ res etc.
Arkady Bolotin wrote: 3. The 3rd ND filter: Incredible! It’s first time that I could film something with the shutter speed below 100 and it is happening under the insane Middle east sun frying in full steam.
Generally the advice is to keep (if possible!) the shutter speed as close as possible to 'double' the frame rate. So if you're shooting 25fps (note that Arkady has the AX2000E which shoots 25fps progressive, not 24fps progressive), try to retain 1/50sec shutter. Clearly in harsh sunlight you'll be running max ND to try to get this shutter, particularly if you want to use a big aperture. You may even find you need to purchase an additional ND filter ?? (not sure on that - only you can say).
Arkady Bolotin wrote: 4. You will be laughing at me but resolution wise, under the good light two cams – FX7E and AX2000E -- have similar resolution, maybe the AX2000E has a little advantage.
well they're both specced to output same res. Even really the first HDV models from Sony, (such as the HC1 i noticed in your picture with what looks like the VCL-HG0737Y WA lens attached) are very comparable in GOOD light to later machines. But it's a very different story in low-light. I would be interested if you shot some low-light images, with your HC1, FX7, AX2000 to demo the fairly dramatic differences, particularly in image noise when it's low light.
Arkady Bolotin wrote: 5. Recording in the progressive mode is absolutely different experience. Now I understand rickmotionpic when he told he hated-loved progressive. Weird thing, you have to keep the cam still when recording no fast panning at all!
Indeed it helps teach users to keep it all slow and smooth. Shooting 24fps or 25fps progressive is much more demanding on good and very-aware camera technique than the very forgiving 50i or 60i.

Looking forward to further feedback ARkady. Please do include more good photos and i would love to see an HC1 vs FX7 vs AX2000 little comparison if you have the chance to do something. We will make you camera-tester of the month! (yes i know it's the 28th already...)
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