An Amazing Piece of Tech That Is Disappearing

/ Richard R. Barron

If you have been reading my pieces about photography and journalism for any amount of time, you know that I write a lot about how technology flourishes, then flounders, then, sometimes, disappears.

The Sony FDR-AX43 4K camcorder sits next to some car keys to show a sense of scale.
The Sony FDR-AX43 4K camcorder sits next to some car keys to show a sense of scale.

It’s interesting to observe the organic, often non-linear, way technologies can evolve. A couple of examples of this are film photography, which looked mostly dead for a while, but now is surging back, and vinyl phonograph records, which seemed destined to be replaced by digital media, but which are also clawing their way back.

Recently I had the chance to use an actual camcorder, the Sony FDR-AX43. This camera is very capable, with full-resolution 4K recording, a 4.4-88 mm superzoom lens with rock-solid stabilization, and nearly perfect stereo sound from microphones on the top of the camera.

The Sony is actually a pretty decent "vlogging" camera, since the screen flips all the way around, though only to the left side of the camera. You can see me and my camera in the display.
The Sony is actually a pretty decent “vlogging” camera, since the screen flips all the way around, though only to the left side of the camera. You can see me and my camera in the display.

Some reviewers have called it, “the last vlogging camcorder,”

Of course, I don’t need to remind my readers of the old maxim, “garbage in = garbage out,” so 4K garbage in = 4K garbage out.

I have said on many occasions that the best thing you can buy in photography and videography (or any other occupation or hobby) is training. My time with this camcorder was a great example of that: my 4K videos for my newspaper’s website are exactly the same as my HD videos before that, and my standard-resolution videos before that. They got the point across, showing the viewer what was happening, but having a zillion more pixels didn’t change the message.

The image-stabilized superzoom lens and excellent stereo sound are two of the Sony's strengths.
The image-stabilized superzoom lens and excellent stereo sound are two of the Sony’s strengths.

And if you are trying to picture me using this camera, you might not recall seeing me with it because it was so difficult to fold into my workflow. You’ve seen me in the field with two or sometimes even three cameras, plus my smart phone, and when I am loaded out like that, adding a separate camcorder really requires having a third hand.

Of course, seeing these very capable cameras in general is getting rarer because of the impressively capable, and convenient, smart phones. But if you have one, and feel like getting it out, charging the battery, and making the next great cinematic masterpiece, don’t let me stand in your way.

I posed the Sony with two of my long-dead (both mechanically and technologically) DV camcorders, the Canon GL-1, which I bought in the spring of 2001, and the Canon Optura 200 MC, purchased in 2003, just prior to my first vacation with Abby, who I would marry a year later.
I posed the Sony with two of my long-dead (both mechanically and technologically) DV camcorders, the Canon GL-1, which I bought in the spring of 2001, and the Canon Optura 200 MC, purchased in 2003, just prior to my first vacation with Abby, who I would marry a year later.