Sony Announces 4K Handycam for High Resolution Home Movies

Sony 4k handycam

Sony Announces 4K Handycam for High Resolution Home Movies

At this year’s CES, the Ultra-HD Sony FDR-AX100 Handycam has been announced, and not only is it smaller and lighter than its bigger brothers, it’s also cheaper, coming in at $2,000, or “4K for $2K” as stated at the CES show.

Las Vegas: As part of their CES 2014 product announcements, Sony just launched a new 4K camcorder (it’s actually UltraHD at 3840 x 2160 pixels, but it seems that manufacturers have decided that simply “4K” sounds sexier).

The AX100 uses a 1-inch 14.2-megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor – larger than the 1/2.3-inch sensor in the AX1 and those normally used in camcorders. The camcorder won’t capture cinema-quality 4K, but Sony says the quality is designed for 4K TVs and the sensor allow “beautiful bokeh background defocusing effects, even in low light conditions.” Sony says the AX100 is 74-percent smaller and 66-percent lighter than the AX1.

The 29mm wide-angle lens is an optically stabilized 12x Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T. The seven-blade aperture is what helps the camcorder achieve that aforementioned bokeh. The AX100 records 4K in the XAVC S format, a “consumer friendly” version of the XAVC codec used in the pro cams. XAVC S compresses the video and audio using MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and linear PCM. For non-4K, the AX100 supports AVCHD and MP4 HD for Web-friendly uploads. A feature called My Voice Cancelling helps eliminate noise from behind the mic. More advanced users have the option adjusting shutter speed and aperture, zooming or focusing using a lens ring, and adjust gain and brightness via a side-mounted dial.

Since this is a consumer-oriented product, there’s Wi-Fi built in. With the PlayMemories Mobile app for iOS and Android, you can use your smartphone to control the camcorder remotely. Users of NFC-enabled Android devices can easily pair it with the camcorder. Wi-Fi can also be used to stream content from the camcorder to a networked TV. If you have a 4K TV (and why wouldn’t you if you’re planning to buy this 4K camcorder), content can be played back via regular HDMI; the camcorder can also down-convert 4K to 2K for playback on a non-4K display.

The AX100 certainly brings pro-like 4K-creation to more people, but $2,000 is still a bit high for most consumers, making this more of a prosumer product. Expect the Ax100 to hit shelves in March.