Sony PXW-X70 Pro's and Con's Review

You can look at any X70 sample and even direct files from the camera and it has as little detail as the RX100 line. To be fair I think this will change when 4k record becomes an option. Then it will be just as detailed as the AX100.
 
When there's fine organic details it does become mushy. Once you've seen this in certain cameras you see it easily on new cameras. When the X70 came I got a bunch of original files and they all have a muddy or mushy thing to them. It's the same on the AX100 and 1080p but it will probably look much better when you can record 4k from the X70.
 
Osslund said:
... it's a real lack of detail overall in the image.
Click to expand...

That's still rather vague. Could you maybe give a specific example?

Also, what cameras are you comparing to? I would expect an F55 or FS7 to be better, but I just checked out the X70 against some of my old FS700 footage, and the X70 seems to be holding up well... if not better. (Difficult to be sure, since they are different subjects, but it looks decent to me.) Considering the difference in price, including lenses for the FS700, I think that's pretty good.

I do think that there are some imperfectly focused X70 clips going around. Perhaps some folks took time to adjust to the focusing needs of the X70, compared to other small-form-factor cameras. I certainly found you need to be precise. Also, it seems to me the best infinity focus is just a little back from the infinity stop -- at least on my camera.
 
I second that. Watched the original clip. (the sea/cliffs) . .looks very sharp to me. . .what are you NOT seeing that you would want to see, as far as detail?
 
I third that. The footage of the sea/cliffs is amazing, especially for a camera of this price and form factor. Everything is relative. I have seen great footage coming out of this camera from those who know what they are doing, and not so great from those who don't. Same can be said for any camera. Thanks to Atticus and those elsewhere who have posted footage, comments, settings and info about this camera.
 
Do you think this is well resolved and better/worse than the X70?

View attachment 95950

I had high hopes for the X70 but until 4k is here I think the image quality is dull and riddled with loss of fine detail, clipping and generally just boring. On the other hand I like what I see from the AX100 in 4k.
 
We still don't know what you mean, I think. Clipping I understand, detail thing I don't, "boring" comes down to content more than anything else. Best cam in the world isn't going to make images of a fruit bowl make you sweat.
 
Clipping - that can be dealt with and is usually due to a user who hasn't learned the idiosyncrasies/characteristics of the camera, especially with the Knee and Slope controls available.

Lack of detail - well I'm coming from a Canon XF100, and the X70 is sharper than that, with better noise, gain, shallower DOF, etc. so I'm very pleased. Does it resolve as much detail as a 4K image downsized to HD in post? How could it?

Boring - if you mean the image, the strength of this camera is in the excellent codec for post work and the extensive picture controls. If someone is not getting the desired look out of this camera, do more study and testing - it has the controls to get whatever you want. Instead of boring, I find most of the factory Picture Profile settings have blacks that are very crushed and punchy, so most settings I've seen discussed online start by raising the shadow levels.

A lot of this is subjective anyway. In the still posted above - ignoring the fact that it's a 82k .jpg and so probably not really a good example of whatever camera it came from - I find that very boring. No it doesn't have great detail in the foliage. But I don't really even notice that, because for my taste it's undersaturated and has very few true blacks anywhere in it. It looks like a (semi) flat image that has not yet been graded. But that can all be adjusted to taste in about 45 seconds in any NLE. And, some may love it like it is. That's fine and doesn't offend me :-)
 
Looks good to me, STILL don't see the lack of detail issue and have been given no real explanation or good examples of it. Are we sure we're not confusing "lack of detail" with a lack of oversharpening we're used to from camcorder circuits (edge enhancement)? Anyway, having asked about this cam and its various issues on DVinfo as well as here, it might be my next cam. Price point, features, my projected amount of use for it, plus the rates I can actually command make it a pretty good choice to me.
 
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