Sony 4K HD FDR-AX33 Handycam Camcorder Review - FDRAX33

Buy it on Amazon - (affiliate link) - For one of the first 4k entries into the consumer market this camera feels very complete with few compromises.
See sample footage here:
VIDEO INDEX:
00:02 - Hardware and camera overview
06:21 - UltraHD / 4K explainer
06:37 - Video and bit rate settings overview
08:57 - Slow motion sample footage
09:05 - 4k sample footage daylight and low light
10:40 - Editing 4k Footage in Final Cut Pro
11:19 - Microphone sensitivty
11:51- Conclusion and final thoughts
Image quality is excellent even in low light, the stabilizer works remarkably well even when zoomed in all the way, and it is completely compatible with older 1080p and earlier televisions (although non-HMDI sets will need an optional cable).
There are three basic shooting modes, including Sony's 4k format, Sony's higher bit rate HD 1080 format, and standard 1080p AVCHD for better compatibility. My suggestion is that if you're buying a 4k camera, shoot in the 100 megabit per second 4k mode to "future proof" recordings for the 4k television you might own in the future vs. shooting in HD.
My only complaint with the camera over all is its microphone sensitivity. The mic will pick up a hand handling the camera (not unique to this camera) as well as picking up the optical stabilizer's noise. The latter will only be apparent in quiet scenes, but it will make capturing dialog in a quiet room challenging without an external microphone. The camera does support external audio sources through its mic port.
Another thing to keep in mind is that this camera records video at 4 times the standard HD resolution. A 4k television will be needed to enjoy the footage at the maximum resolution but is not required.
But editing 4k footage will require a computer that's more up-to-date. The footage can be a challenge for older computers or more current ones with weak processors. My 2012 Macbook Pro Retina with a 2.6 ghz i7 that easily works with 1080 footage gets bogged down working with 4k footage. It's no unusable but very noticeably slower to process the video. I would recommend more modern i5 or i7 machines with good discrete GPUs for the best results. It will be editable with less, sure, but a lot slower to work with.
All that said this is an excellent camera for the price. I am very pleased with its performance.
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DISCLOSURE: I am a member of the Amazon Vine program and received this product to review on Amazon's site.