Sony"s New Handycam Puts the 4K in $4.5K

Image: Courtesy Sony

I wouldn’t exactly call it a “consumer” camcorder, but the Sony Handycam FDR-AX1 is the most-accessible 4K video camera yet. It’s a high-priced, highly complex camcorder that’s geared toward independent filmmakers and other “prosumers.” And if you need something to watch on your early-adopted 4K set, it’ll scratch that itch too.

The FDR-AX1 bears a striking resemblance to another Sony camcorder: the HDR-AX2000. Indeed, save the the “4K” painted on the backside of the AX1?s 3.5-inch LCD screen, the two are virtually impossible to tell apart. They even share some similar features, including two XLR audio inputs, manual controls, relay recording, and a 20X-optical-zoom/29.5mm wide-angle/F1.6-aperture lens. The only real differences have to do with video-capture resolution and storage format.

While this is a “4K” camcorder, its video resolution actually measures in at 3840 x 2160 pixels — exactly four times the resolution of 1080p video. It can also shoot that ridiculously high-definition video at 60fps, which means you’re going to need a lot of storage.

The AX1 has 24p and 30p modes, too, but at the camcorder’s highest frame and bit rate (60p at 150Mbps), it can jam about an hour of footage on a 64GB card. 4K footage is compressed using the XAVC S codec, which uses MP4 as the container format.

Photo: Tim Moynihan/WIRED

While the AX1?s real muscle resides in its image processor and lens, its sensor is still surprisingly small: The 1/2.3-inch type Exmor R CMOS imager, which is the same size as the sensors found in long-zoom point-and-shoot cameras. Your average DSLR’s APS-C sensor is more than 12 times the size of the AX1?s. And a full-frame sensor such as the one found in Sony’s RX1 camera and NEX-VG9000 camcorder is about 30 times bigger.

None of those cameras shoots 4K movies though, and continuously capturing 60 eight-megapixel images per second takes some serious processing and storage horsepower. The AX1?s image processor uses a newly developed chip to help out.

Additionally, offloading 3840 x 2160 video to a storage card at a high frame rate requires faster write and transfer speeds than the highest-class SD/SDHC/SDXC cards can handle. So there’s another card format to throw in the mix too. The AX1 uses XQD cards, which are bigger than SD cards and smaller than CompactFlash cards. There are two XQD slots built into the camera as well as one SD slot if you want to shoot quaint old 1080p video.

Photo: Tim Moynihan/WIRED

For the time being, the Handycam AX1 will need to function as a video player if you want to watch anything on a 4K TV, too. It’ll run full-resolution 60fps video from the camcorder to a 4K TV over an HDMI 1.4 cable, which is included.

The Sony Handycam FDR-AX1 also comes with a 32GB XQD card, because who owns those? The camcorder, the card, the cable, and a bundled version of Vegas Pro 12 — which can handle and edit 4K XAVC S video — can all be yours for $4,500 in October.

Sony"s New Handycam Puts the 4K in $4.5K