Bassman2003
Veteran
Thanks for the info but I am confused. How does the battery pack work good if you can not record with it?
Seems odd you can power and operate the camera but it will not record with an external battery. Why would it matter?
Sony FDR-X3000 4K action cam with Balanced Optical SteadyShot in 4K
- Thread starter joe1946
- Start date
Thanks for the info but I am confused. How does the battery pack work good if you can not record with it?
Seems odd you can power and operate the camera but it will not record with an external battery. Why would it matter?
Mark Watson
Well-known member
In post 17 the question of whether the camera could record on external power without a battery installed was raised. With a battery in the camera and an external power pack attached, you can record ('works good'). No internal battery and an external pack hooked up, you cannot record. No doubt it's Sony's way of crippling this camera so it can't compete with their pro models.
Bassman2003
Veteran
Thanks for the clarification. I did not see the 'battery in' part. It still might work for unlimited time recording as my RX10 II has the same setup. If I film with a full internal battery and an external battery, the external battery gets used and the internal battery seems to just keep its charge. So my guess is the internal battery is needed for some power that is not supplied by the USB port.
marvinhello
Well-known member
It's very nice of Sony to keep their signature magenta tint across all their cameras, including this action cam ;-)
Wonder if they plan to add Slog to it with zero sharpening.
Wonder if they plan to add Slog to it with zero sharpening.
I find this obsession with battery life for continuous video overblown. First, the Sony RX100 IV can only shoot 4K for 5 minutes - hard wired. The Panasonic LX100 is hard coded to shoot 4K for only 15 minutes. The X3000 can shoot longer than either of those. The GoPro Hero 4 is much, much worse in terms of overheating in 4K, with bad deterioration of the video before it shuts down. Second, this is an action cam, what 30-minute takes will anyone be interested in?
What is amazing is you have a miniature camcorder you can shoot 4K video handheld, and even shoot clips as long as 20 minutes or more.
Here are two 4K test videos I made, in very hot weather, based on short clips:
I used the Sony finger holder and the lvr3 Liveview monitor kit, shooting with one hand. Vivid color setting.
What is amazing is you have a miniature camcorder you can shoot 4K video handheld, and even shoot clips as long as 20 minutes or more.
Here are two 4K test videos I made, in very hot weather, based on short clips:
I used the Sony finger holder and the lvr3 Liveview monitor kit, shooting with one hand. Vivid color setting.
Thank you. Does that mean that using an external external power pack (battery installed) it will run off the external power pack allowing longer record times than if running off battery (unless it overheats, of course)?
Bassman2003
Veteran
Thanks for posting. I think it boils down to how you intend to use these little cameras. If you are mounting this to a bike or underwater, then action cam is the way to go. If you are going to be shooting "normal" stuff then I think a small point and shoot style like a GX85 or RX100 makes more sense without the fisheye. If the action cams were $300 it would be a tough decision but since the Sony costs $600 it is right up there with other camera options.
Yes. Yes. Yes - you can shoot 4K video using external power connected by usb as long as the internal battery is in place. This works with an external battery or ac adaptor connected by usb.
You can download the X3000 manual, and find out everything you need to know, including run times on battery only with and without wifi on, and how to set usb power in the menu. It is very detailed.
http://helpguide.sony.net/cam/1640/v1/en/print.pdf
The X3000 is $399, $549 with liveview (or just buy the older model liveview for $79 - it works fine with the new model). The X3000 is much smaller and lighter than the GX85 and any lens. It really goes in a pocket, with liveview. The X3000 has substantially better stabilization than any camera. The RX100 is almost $1,000; the GX85 is around $750. Of course those cameras give many more creative possibilities.
But I agree that the X3000 is a supplement, not an A camera! It gives a 17mm FOV (35mm eq.), which is very useful - impossible with the RX100 and expensive to get with the GX85.
Bassman2003
Veteran
Sorry, I guess I was referring to the X3000R which is the new model at $600.
DPStewart
Veteran
Does Sony have a standardized "De-Fish" for this camera like GoPro does?
You mean a dedicated de-fish in software? Not that I know of yet. Note that the X3000 has much less fisheye distortion than the X1000 and the GoPro in 4K out of the camera.
Prodrenalin has presets for de-fishing a number of cameras including the Sony action cams and GoPros. I use it with my Sonys when I think the distortion is too much
The lens on the X3000 is very different from that of the former Sony action cams - with much less fisheye distortion, as you can see in the (WIDE) 4K videos posted above. The existing Sony action cam presets would not apply. proDAD Mercalli also has presets for Sony Action cams, but not (yet) the different X3000.
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But I expect they will soon. They update their camera list as new ones come out
marvinhello
Well-known member
Is there any way to turn off in-camera sharpening? the edge halo seems way to strong.
GoPro has low sharpness mode which looks quite natural.
There is a 'Natural' mode in the Sony, which has less contrast and less sharpening.
4K Time-Lapse Test
One big improvement of the X3000 over the X1000 is now you can shoot 4K time-lapses. In the X1000 the jpegs for time-lapse mode were at most 1920x1080. Now they can be 3840x2160 (UHD).
The surprise is, and this may be true for all time-lapse pics in all cameras, the time-lapse jpegs are 4:2:2. Now, all consumer cameras produce video that is 4:2:0 (as does the X3000). So we get better chroma subsampling for the time-lapse videos (yes, still 8-bit)!
To take advantage of this I rendered the 4K time-lapse video using a codec that was also 4:2:2 (almost all are 4:2:0) and uploaded the 4:2:2 video to Vimeo. In Sony Vegas Pro that is XAVC intra, which renders at 280 Mbps in 10 bit and 4:2:2. It has a suffix of mfx. Won't play in Windows Media Player (you have to download codec packs). But Vimeo will and did take it.
For time-lapse, there are also two useful features: you can lock WB and you can lock exposure (new in the X3000)! This is very useful to insure no flickering.
So, here is the X3000 test 4K time-lapse:
One big improvement of the X3000 over the X1000 is now you can shoot 4K time-lapses. In the X1000 the jpegs for time-lapse mode were at most 1920x1080. Now they can be 3840x2160 (UHD).
The surprise is, and this may be true for all time-lapse pics in all cameras, the time-lapse jpegs are 4:2:2. Now, all consumer cameras produce video that is 4:2:0 (as does the X3000). So we get better chroma subsampling for the time-lapse videos (yes, still 8-bit)!
To take advantage of this I rendered the 4K time-lapse video using a codec that was also 4:2:2 (almost all are 4:2:0) and uploaded the 4:2:2 video to Vimeo. In Sony Vegas Pro that is XAVC intra, which renders at 280 Mbps in 10 bit and 4:2:2. It has a suffix of mfx. Won't play in Windows Media Player (you have to download codec packs). But Vimeo will and did take it.
For time-lapse, there are also two useful features: you can lock WB and you can lock exposure (new in the X3000)! This is very useful to insure no flickering.
So, here is the X3000 test 4K time-lapse:
DPStewart
Veteran
Does anyone know if this "Natural" mode offers a slower shutter angle? Like 180-degrees?
Because the motion on every one of these Sony videos here is crushingly jerky from the fast shutter angle.
I get that they do that for a reason - because it catches fast motion with much less blur. But it makes regular motion look like crap and cutting that in with other cameras is very difficult...if not impossible.
Thanks.