The Sony Action Cam AS10/ AS15 review and users thread

[Deleted member 20519]

Does anyone know how to change the default settings on the camera? If I press the record button it starts up and takes pictures, how do I change it so it starts up and records videos instead? Thanks.

 

[paulw1969]

Turn on using the next button......press prev which will take you back to the movie setting......then press enter/start button.....you can go through and back through the main menu by using the next and prev buttons....whenever you press the enter button you have selected that function.

 

[Deleted member 20519]

I've been using this camera for about 3 weeks now, here are my initial impressions:

1080p footage looks great with the big wide angle lens
Image stabilization doesn't work with a handlebar mount (rolling shutter)
Night footage could be good but every light seems to have a massive lens flare which ruins it
It fogs up way too easily
The case seems to be rattly and the camera is loose inside it
I had to take the camera apart to tape down the LCD and the lens because they were loose and were shaking about (poor build quality?)
It's quite heavy when mounted on a helmet (I now use a RAM mount on the bars)

I also recieved two batteries + a wall charger from Hong Kong today, this should give me quite a few hours of recording time!

You can see the RAM mount there, it's very solid but it's the case that's letting it down. It won't stop shaking! I've tried rubber inserts in the case next to the camera but it won't stop rattling about!

So after under a month of use, I'm not terribly impressed. It's different from my Contour... in a bad way. The Contour used to be slide the on button and go, this has all sorts of problems from fogging to rattling and right now, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. I mainly bought this camera for the low light footage but the lens flare from street/car lights makes it almost unusable.

 

[paulw1969]

I have also tried inserting foam, adding tape to the battery also reduces rattle in its cradle, drilling holes to reduce fogging etc.....but only with limited success. Yes light flare is quite high but I think the way the camera deals with low light I.E. turns a dark morning into what looks like midday compensates for this. I will try and take some photos of how I have adapted the case when I get five at the weekend. I also have mine on a RAM mount. I truly think my main problem is the state of the dressed roads around here as properly tarmac'd roads don't produce the rattle.

 

[Deleted member 20519]

I have also tried inserting foam, adding tape to the battery also reduces rattle in its cradle, drilling holes to reduce fogging etc.....but only with limited success. Yes light flare is quite high but I think the way the camera deals with low light I.E. turns a dark morning into what looks like midday compensates for this. I will try and take some photos of how I have adapted the case when I get five at the weekend. I also have mine on a RAM mount. I truly think my main problem is the state of the dressed roads around here as properly tarmac'd roads don't produce the rattle.

I tested out the RAM mount on roads that were resurfaced less than a week ago, rattling was just the same and vibrations made the video unwatchable!

 

[paulw1969]

most of the roads on my commute are the same....I suspect Jazloc the camera gave much better footage from your lid? I have managed to reduce the rattling using some soft foam in the bottom of the case and also inside the cap.........the case has gaps on either side of the camera and I reckon that's where the rattle is created

 

[Deleted member 20519]

most of the roads on my commute are the same....I suspect Jazloc the camera gave much better footage from your lid? I have managed to reduce the rattling using some soft foam in the bottom of the case and also inside the cap.........the case has gaps on either side of the camera and I reckon that's where the rattle is created

Yeah, the helmet footage was nice and smooth with no rattling etc but on the bars it's pretty terrible. I'm also wondering where the best place to drill holes is so that water can't easily get in.

Example video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsZXEoZh4F4

 

[paulw1969]

I followed what was on a review by Techmoan on youtube and drilled three holes (going to increase the number) along the left side of the case low down in a row....I doubt very much if any water will get to the camera itself unless you drop the whole lot in a bucket The fogging happens to be in the top left of the front plate for some reason....work in progress to get rid. I also have my Ram set up differently so the camera is more level with the bars and in front of them out of the way....will try and take some pics at the weekend.

 

[Rezillo]

A lot of the daytime flare seems to be due to the case but don't know if this is the case for night shots. There's a new mount out that doesn't use the case and won't fog, either, but haven't got one myself
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/cac-other-accessories/aka-sf1
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/cac-other-accessories/aka-sf1
Rattles are a problem, although for me not from the camera rattling in the transparent case. I took mine apart and found it was the speaker rattling in its mount. I superglued it in, which fixed it, but it's not good for a consumer product - others have had battery rattles or rattles of unknown origin, which all sound very loud on recorded audio.

I would avoid clamped pivot bar mounts if possible - on surface-dressed roads, they all vibrate to some extent at the pivot point, even when firmly clamped, and make rolling shutter worse. This means making your own though. Again, not exactly consumer-friendly.

It's an interesting camera that is close to being very good, and I do like the video definition and the more natural-looking 120 degree fov setting. However, I think a Contour Roam 2 is a better buy unless Sony comes out with a firmware to address the colour and compression issues.

 

[paulw1969]

mmmmm the speaker....this would explain a lot....will investigate....got to agree Rezillo....the footage straight from the camera via the Sony app is very good apart from oversaturated colour and flare......however compress it or put it on youtube and its crap, although I have got to admit I have not played with this aspect much at all. Overall i'm happy with what I want it to do.

 

[Deleted member 20519]

I read in an Amazon review that one guy took the entire front door of of his camera and secured the camera in it's case using rubber bands. He said this eliminated lens flares and stopped the camera fogging up, he also said it gave him better audio. Thoughts?

 

[Rezillo]

mmmmm the speaker....this would explain a lot....will investigate....got to agree Rezillo....the footage straight from the camera via the Sony app is very good apart from oversaturated colour and flare......however compress it or put it on youtube and its crap, although I have got to admit I have not played with this aspect much at all. Overall i'm happy with what I want it to do.

There's a trade-off between image definition and bit rate. Good image definition needs a higher bit rate to reproduce it accurately but this shortens battery life and requires larger memory cards. If the bit rate is too low to reproduce all the detail, it results in compression artefacts.

If you tweak the firmware to provide a softer image, this requires a lower bit rate. It won't look as sharp as it could do but it won't have as many compression artefacts either.

So, take hypothetical cameras A and B with exactly the same hardware. Both have the same bit rate but one can be set up to have a soft but artefact-free image, the other a detailed but artefact-prone one. You could up the bit rate on the sharp one but then the battery life drops by 25% or whatever and you've lost out on a key benchmark with rivals.

There's more to it than this as how compression is implemented is a huge factor, along with sensor and lens quality etc. etc. I suspect, though, that Sony have gone for the initial wow factor - "look how sharp the image is" - rather than their rivals' approach of getting a better overall working balance.

The same bit rate/detail/artefacting issues apply to Youtube conversion.

 

[paulw1969]

I read in an Amazon review that one guy took the entire front door of of his camera and secured the camera in it's case using rubber bands. He said this eliminated lens flares and stopped the camera fogging up, he also said it gave him better audio. Thoughts?

I read this also a while back somewhere. I will give it a go I reckon...the only problem is if we get heavy rain...and I am wary of wind whistle.....but not a problem keeping the cover in the rucksack for if it does pour it down. Some pics of my set up as it is now. I wrapped the bar tape a little shorter to fit the clamp a little nearer the hoods at 120 degrees the camera just about pics up the brake hood to give a reference. The Ram U clamp also has an offcut of bar tape underneath the clamp, I have also put a small rubber washer in between the Ram camera mount and the case. In the third pic you might be able to see (crap photo) where I have drilled two small holes in the case which correspond to the mic ports on the camera, I have inserted some fine foam to help prevent wind whistle....I would not say sound is brilliant through these holes but better than being in the case without holes. 4th pic is the vent holes, 5th some further foam inserted on the back of the case to try and prevent rattle the same in the bottom of the case in the last pic.

 

[Deleted member 20519]

Thanks for the pics, very helpful! I've got the RAM mount mounted to my stem now as it seems to cut down on vibrations and I put little sticky foam pads over the microphone and drilled a few small holes on the case (and stupidly did it on the side the LCD screen is on), I haven't tried it out yet but hopefully it'll be a bit better.

 

[Deleted member 20519]

How long should the battery last for? I just did a test with a full charge in 1080p 30fps mode and it recorded two files before it ran out of battery, one was 35 minutes long and the other was 27 minutes long. Just over an hour doesn't seem right...