I have nothing but praise for this little camera so far. Great video quality, good battery life, great price. It does everything I want, including 1080P video at 60FPS and 720P at 120FPS for smooth slow motion, a choice between vivid and neutral colors (I prefer neutral for more editing flexibility), and image stabilization. It also has a great intervalometer for time lapse shots. And it's about half the price of the equivalent GoPro Hero 4 Silver, which has very similar specs. Please note that it comes with a waterproof housing, but for underwater shooting, you'll want to purchase the additional underwater housing with the flat window, which allows for better focus underwater, which is currently quite affordable at 25 dollars. Due to its shape and orientation, it's not as handy for strapping onto your body as a GoPro, but for everything else, it seems to be better. I made a sample video utilizing the Sony camera, the underwater housing, intervalometer time lapses, and the StayblCam video stabilizer (See if you can google "Johnson Key Canoe trip" oFCUVTOHG8c to find the video). I had the camera set on neutral, 1080p @ 60fps for most of the video shots, and I did absolutely no color or light corrections--I just trimmed the shots, assembled the timelapse using the bundled software, played selected parts at 50% speed, and added some music. With more editing and effort put into your shots, you could really make some amazing videos!
One other note is that the camera's housing uses 1/4" tripod thread, and the camera itself has a smaller threading with an adapter for 1/4x20. The bare camera with adapter has its tripod attachment at the balance point, but in the housings, the regular housing and especially the underwater housings are front-weighted--something to consider if you're considering something like the new and compact StabylCam stabilizer. It works great out of the housing, but in the housing (since I was working around salt water), you might notice I was having a little trouble with it bobbing forward.
6 months later edit:
Still very happy with my little camera. I'm always so annoyed when people ask, "what kind of GoPro should I get?" and I try to explain that GoPro is not the only game in town. I'm still glad I got the Sony and not the GoPro. Here's the only caveat now: I noticed that the price of this camera has nearly DOUBLED since I bought it, and now it's the same price as an equivalent GoPro. Usually the price of electronics goes down after the initial release. I'm led to believe that Sony may have artificially lowered their price to break into the GoPro competition, and now their price is back where it should be. If that's the case, then I have to admit, the marketing move worked--here I am espousing their product as a really good deal compared to GoPro, but now the playing field is more equal. It's still weird that this version is now the same price as Sony's 4k version, something strange is going on with the price. Maybe they discontinued this model?
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Reviews with images
Great camera with a big issues
I've done a lot of research before deciding to buy the Sony AS200V. I'll share my findings and test results here.— Sound —The main issue I have with most other action cameras is sound. None of the GoPros have stereo sound. Kodak SP360 and SP1 have stereo sound, but image quality leaves a lot to be desired. Vixia Mini X has excellent sound, but the screen can't be turned off, and it's much larger and more delicate. Sony AS200V has amazing sound. Crisp, warm, richly detailed.If I listen with headphones on, there is a noticeable high-pitched hiss. This might just be spacial acoustics, and my Polaroid Cube has an equivalent albeit lower-frequency hiss. I'll share how I deal with it below in the Post-Production section.— Video Quality —Sony AS200V shoots in XAVC-S format at 50Mbps. In contrast, Polaroid Cube shoots at 8Mbps.The main difference with Sony's special format that I notice is lack of MP4 "artifacts". These are the squares that appear on scenes with gradual color variation like driving on a misty road through patches of fog or filming autumn leaves carpeting a large area. The footage looks much more professional from that feature alone. Another noticeable positive is the richness of color or the dynamic range. The footage is quite pleasurable to look at.— 60/30fps —Shooting at 60fps gives you more fluid motion. Shooting at 30fps gives less noise and more brightness in lower light. I haven't found 30fps to be particularly sharper. 60fps captures a lot more detail in motion and reduces the "rolling shutter" jello-like effect when panning the camera.— Fish-Eye —One major issue to consider is the MASSIVE fish-eye effect. If you're shooting without SteadyShot at 170°, it's disorienting to watch. With SteadyShot on you get 120°, but the straight elements still curve quite noticeably at the edges. I'll share more on how I deal with it in Post-Production section below.— Image Stabilization Issues —Unless you're using a fixed mount or do post-production, you'll probably want SteadyShot on, which limits your angle to 120° and presents another big challenge: if I shoot at 60fps, SteadyShot struggles to catch up. If your camera is stationary, it's probably less of an issue, but if you pan the camera by hand, the footage will slow down then "fast-forward" to catch up. It's highly disorienting, looks unprofessional and in my opinion, unusable. So if you're shooting with SteadyShot and XAVC-S at 50Mbps, you can only use 30fps.The last thing I want to say about SteadyShot is that while it's good at dealing with horizontal and vertical vibrations (e.g. when mounted on a bike), it isn't so good at dealing rotational vibrations that come from walking and carrying the camera. I film a lot while walking and I'll share below how I deal with this.— Post-Production —Why do post-production?* 60fps and image stabilization* Wider angle* Reducing rotational (walking) vibration* Fisheye correction* Rolling-shutter* Eliminating high-pitched hissI shoot without SteadyShot at 60fps. The first five issues are fixed with Lock & Load X for Final Cut Pro X. I get a wider angle (about 140-150°), much less fish-eye, better image stabilization (esp. while walking) and double the frame rate. I'll attach a picture of my L&L settings specific to AS200V. The high-pitched hiss is easily reduced with Acon Digital Restoration. Once set up, both of these can be "pasted" onto the footage and simply rendered without any fiddling with settings (it takes time and CPU, but that can be queued and left running).— Final Thoughts —If you're happy with 30fps and 120 degrees, SteadyShot works well in most cases and you will get great footage in XAVC-S with amazing crisp and rich sound.If you don't mind the extra work and investment, you'll get better results with FCPX+L&L+Acon.And to the action camera makers out there - sound does matter. For a lot of us.
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