hxr-nx30 or ax100 sony camcorder

[deleuze3]

Hi, i had a deal of having a hxr-nx30 (with xlr capability, balanced stabilization) for 1500$

But i thought also to have instead a ax100 camcorder (2000$) with a xlr adaptor from sony (700$)


The advantage of the ax100 is having a 1'' sensor to have more shallow depht of field.
I was wondering if the depht of field will be that much shallower than on the hxr-nx30?
would it be similar to the shallow depht of field i can have on a canon 60d for example?

I guess not having shallow depht of field is no big deal.

what do you guys think ?

 

[Duke M.]

Both are highly portable "back pack" cameras that could see similar uses. Where it's important depends on what you're shooting. It depends on what you want your images to look like in the end.

If, for example, you are shooting wild life action or soccer matches a shallow DOF may make it difficult to chase focus when there is lots of movement. People expect the 'live' look of video in such circumstances. There you may want the hxr-nx30.

OTOH, if you want to make narrative movies (feature films) or other productions where focus subtly directs the audience to look at something, or you want it to look artsy rather than video-ish, then you want the shallow DOF control.

There is also a resolution factor. The hxr-nx30 is HD, and AX100 is UHD or four times the resolution. Using UHD gives you more options for reframing, image stabilization in post, etc.

If you are going to shoot green screen then the AX100 has 4.2.2 color in HD. This will give you clean edges when you are in post. I believe hxr-nx30 is 4.2.0 or half the color data and therefore harder to get clean edges. (Not impossible.)

If you want to submit footage to the BBC, Discovery Channel, etc. their old minimum requirements were 50mbps and 4.2.2 in HD. The AX100 does this. The hxr-nx30 does not. I believe they are currently switching their standard to 4k, which again the hxr-nx30 does not so. The AX100 is 4.2.0 in 4k so I'd check with the distributor if you plan on selling to Discovery Channel, etc before buying the AX100 for that use.

The aperture in the hxr-nx30 is wider at F1.8 versus F2.8 in the AX100.

On the wide end of the zoom they are similar (26mm vs 29mm) but on the telephoto side the AX100 is a lot longer (260 vs 348).

The XAVC codec of the AX100 is a superior codec. The AVCHD was designed as a delivery codec that was picked up by consumer cams due to the amount of compression possible, which occasionally causes editing issues (less of those now than there used to be.)

Pick the right camera for the right job.

Hi, i had a deal of having a hxr-nx30 (with xlr capability, balanced stabilization) for 1500$
But i thought also to have instead a ax100 camcorder (2000$) with a xlr adaptor from sony (700$)
The advantage of the ax100 is having a 1'' sensor to have more shallow depht of field.
I was wondering if the depht of field will be that much shallower than on the hxr-nx30?
would it be similar to the shallow depht of field i can have on a canon 60d for example?

I guess not having shallow depht of field is no big deal.
what do you guys think ?