I have been looking at this camera for a little while now and only found out yesterday about the optical image stabilzer causing a flutter or shake effect in freefall.
I have read a few posts about this concern but dont have much time so if this has been answered i am sorry.
Is it possible to turn this OIS off or to maybe reduce it down to just steady shot? I know the CX100 is working great with the steady shot its just the 500 does what i want it to do for me.
In Reply To
Seems like every company is heading with the OIS now so surely there is a way around it for us skydivers.
Everyone is looking for the rainbow's end with the pot of gold. Nothing will take even the most remotely close images to an SLR or even a crappy point and shoot while shooting video and give you enough images in a skydive to satisfy a tandem student, IMO. Including the 500. Is your profile accurate?
We tried the CX500 and found that in the Active IS mode it does not do well. Especially sit flying. Head-down was almost as good as flat. But you have to keep you head super steady or the video will make you seasick. Though most of us don’t care, under canopy it was nearly perfect. We turned the IS off (yes you can turn it off) and again keep you head steady and you get a great picture. The CX500/520 has an additional setting for IS: “Standard Steady shot”. I ran out of time and was not able to test the camera with this setting. I expect it will do just as good as the CX12 but don’t know. Has anyone tested the CX500/520 in this mode? I would use the 100 but it does not have night shot so we have accepted the performance of the CX12 for what we do. However, with the introduction of the CX500/520 the CX12 got discontinued. The CX500/520 does fit in the same Cookie box as the CX12, just need to move the screw and some openings. The Hypeye will naturally work but it sticks straight up, instead of down, because of the way Sony put the plug in….. I have not ruled this camera out yet, as many others seam to have. It’s a cool little camera that produces a stunning video.
I was playing with a CX500 in Fry's Electronics a couple days ago, and I ruled out this cam for my skydiving. Besides the OIS issue, this camera has another shortcoming that its predecessors (CX7 and CX12) shared: The microphone points up. When you're trying to record audio of someone sitting in front of you on a plane... you want a mic that points forward. The mics my CX7 and CX12 would pick up every noise in the plane and you could barely hear the subject speaking.
CX100s have a mic that's in the correct orientation for our skydiving uses. When the CX100 is used as a handcam I can even clearly hear screaming.. makes for some great audio when you have a tandem student with a good pair of lungs. That isn't really possible with the CX7/12/500
