Alright y’all, here is my review of the Sony AX700 and my first impressions.
For starters, the camera itself is sturdy as hell. It feels good in the hand but if you have kinda larger hands it will be slightly awkward to use the zoom rocker. The LCD panel IS touchscreen, but it’s limited. If you have a vxmic you want to put on it, the hot shoe on the top has this cover you’ll probably want to remove and you can do so by pushing out the metal rod with a needle.
I didn’t know this till today and it’ll probably help someone but the video format is odd. It defaults to AVCHD which records interlaced and it’s super archaic and annoying to store clips. In the menu, you’re going to want to change the format to XAVCHD, and set it to 1080p 60fps, which will put the clips in a much neater format when you log them. The clip menu is pretty basic and there is a protect function that will allow you to mark clips as you go.
As for the handle, you’re going to want L Brackets that are 8 inches, and the type I got are the Crate & Pallet ones from Home Depot. The holes they pre screwed are perfectly set up to connect them, however for the mounting hole for the camera you’re going to need to widen it with a 1/4” bit. I decided to also put Locktite in between them for that extra sturdiness. These specific brackets are steel so they make the set up a bit heavy but I like it like that. They have this lip on them but you can just grind it off. You’re going to want to make sure whatever brackets you use are at least an inch and a half wide to make sure the camera has enough coverage on the bottom. Then simply put those puppies together and wrap the handle and the camera seat with tennis racket tape. For the screw to connect it to the bracket, I used one that comes with the Zeadio camera grip which is shitty to use as a handle but has the perfect size screw with a tightening head attached, which you’ll find attached to the cold shoe adapter. And it was only like $18. You’ll also want to pop in one washer as well.
Hope this helps!