Sony FDRAX700/B 4K HDR Camcorder, Black

People complain about 60fps for 4K but I never have needed that.
I am ABSOLUTELY blown away by the video quality of this camera. I own a Sony AX/33 which is also great, but the quality of clarity and light / color reproduction is outstanding. It has much better color representation than my Panasonic UX90. I love this camera! The manual controls are fantastic. My only wish is that the it had an auto lens cap or way to attach the lens cap via a string so as not to lose it.

So other than not being 60fps I love this camera. I’ve used it now to record about 2 hours’ worth of videos. The quality of the picture is great, and the files were very easy to work with in iMovie. I also bought the bluetooth wireless mic and that is a good compliment.

I’m still learning a bit but the one thing I miss from my old camera is that it gave me the running time of the current clip, instead it gives me the total record time. Not a big deal, I’m not going to dock it a star for that petty thing.

This is pricey but I figured it’s worth it because it’s a relatively new model and is loaded with features (many I won’t use). I can’t remember what it’s called now but the stabilization feature works better than the old Canon camcorder this replaced.

I am very pleased with what i have seen so far.

 In this review of the Sony AX700, I am making physical/function comparisons with the Sony AX100 which I have used for many years.
The Sony AX700 and AX100 are both rock-solid pro-sumer grade 4k Video Cameras that will serve the advanced amateur and professional alike.
I use them on many of my professional video projects and the sequences from the AX100 or AX700 are virtually the same with a tiny visual cinematic edge going to the AX700, so, here are my observations;

What I like about the FDR-AX700 (As compared with the AX100)

Faster Focus in low-light, low-contrast situations more focus points.
Hot-Swappable SD Cards which allows for extended video recording while replacing cards. Never run out of memory.
Menu navigation while looking through the viewfinder (not possible with the AX100), work without your glasses.
Rear mounted HDMI connection… facilitates running the HDMI cable from the camera to monitor in stabilizing rig. (AX100 had that on the side)
Excellent high resolution fold out screen and high-resolution EVF
High Frame Rate Slow – Super Slow motion capabilities

What I Don’t Like about the AX700

The remote control is the exact same as the AX100, in fact, you can start all of your AX100 & AX700 cameras with one remote and it requires line-of-sight to function. I was hoping for a radio signal remote.

I don’t like the complex menu lineup. Takes forever to do very simple things like formatting media cards, finding and setting frame rates,

You cannot start and stop recording with the touch screen, you must use the remote or back button.

Tripod mount is NOT located at the “balanced” point but is located well forward of the center of gravity.
(end of things I don’t like)

When you consider that either the AX100 or the AX700 are less expensive than a pro-DSLR Lens, they are a bargain and perform better than any camera in their class. Some may gripe about the 4k 30fps, but I am still not working in 4k, so I use the cameras for their ready-to-go form factor and truly exceptional cinematic image qualities.

The AX100 is very easy to learn and work through the settings, but the AX700 is unnecessarily loaded with extra steps and button pushes (getting the camera into the super slow motion mode for instance) and that makes it a tad tedious. You will be spending plenty of time in the owner’s manual, which is ok.

Do I recommend the AX700? Yes, I absolutely do… If you already have the AX100, the decision is not so clear as they are producing very similar video quality. For me, the AX700 is a must have, and I am very pleased. Dual Card Slots and Super Slow Motion sold me.

Like other reviews, I spent a fair amount of time researching this product. It’s not cheap so it would require a sizeable investment on my behalf but I was looking for the best camera I could possible afford (even if it was slightly outside of my price range) that wouldn’t compromise on video or sound quality. I purchased this mainly for shooting home videos thinking that as kids and all are growing up, you’ll have only one shot to get it right with the video camera. Overall I’ve tried this at home, at theme parks, and at other kids events and it does not disappoint. It’s what you would expect from a top of the line video camera in terms of quality. To echo some of the other reviews here, some of the advanced features with regards to some of the more technical aspects of tinkering with the picture quality I didn’t play with too much — those require diving into a bunch of menus to get the right settings. But I didn’t care — I’m not shooting commercials for TV here. I just wanted something I could pick up, turn on, and start shooting and to that extent, this was easy. You don’t need to be technical nor spend a lot of time with it figuring it out — it can be as simple as point and shoot if that’s all you want or more functionally complex if that’s your thing. All in all, I’m glad I got it!

Good product but touch screen is not good