Name: Sony HDR-AS300 Action Camera, with Balanced Optical SteadyShot, Wi-Fi and GPS
Brand: Sony
SKU: SOFDRAS300
Price: 298.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 3.8 (48 reviews)

Sony HDR-AS300 Action Camera, with Balanced Optical SteadyShot, Wi-Fi and GPS

Sony HDR-AS300

Sony

New Leaf PLUS 5yr General Warranty

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Video Cameras

Action Cameras

Sony Action Cameras

Sony HDR-AS300 

Buy: Sony HDR-AS300 Action Camera, with Balanced Optical SteadyShot, Wi-Fi and GPS Color: White, Memory Card: microSD, Resolution: 1080, Special Features: NFC, Uncompressed Audio, Waterproof, Wifi, Type: Action Cameras

I bought this to use as a helmet cam for my motorbike. Really great quality but I find the inbuilt microphone poor on the bike so have gone for an extra one which works great. I think the image quality is exceptional but wish the batter lasted longer

Really compact and a high quality item.

I bought my X3000 about 5 years ago, and it's been a fantastic little action camera. I still use it, but because it's getting a bit dated, not as much as I used to. 
A couple of years later I bought a Sony ZV-1, but although it's a better camera than the X3000 in some ways - in other ways I find it a lot worse.
I keep hoping we'll get a Sony X4000, but in the meantime DJI will have to fill the void.

Brilliant little action camera

I own both HDR15 and As 30 so the choice was easy and as a pensioner not smart enough for a smart phone / small screen on the pack and small controls purchase FDR-X3000 and the head band

best action cam

2020 Good product but reply back from sony is very poor about a problem app

GOOD CAM AND GOOD VISION QUALITY

After a lot of review reading I plumped for this camera to fit 2 requirements. 1) action cam, 2) small business videos. It was the Live View feature that made the difference. 
I have been using for a week and for most of that time I have been in and out of the manual in order to do what I want to do. Its packed with features and therefore deserves an investment of time and effort to gain the full benefits. 
Issues for me so far the links to Image Edit Mobile and to Live View sometimes takes multiple retries to establish. Possibly due to a clash with my Garmin Edge. Still in progress experimenting. 
Buying was a struggle due to supply shortage presumably Covid related, and trying to work out the various bundles available which varied from the Sony website. This made comparing price/value a fun exercise. 
You need to consider a budget for things like SD card(s), mini HDMI cable, spare battery and charger, and any other accessories that you may need.

So far so good

I bought this unit(FDR-X300R) more than a year ago, used it extensively and being a Sony fan ...I was very disappointed in the product and Sony's bad response to the design problems on the unit.Three design problems:
1) Goes out of focus in sunny outdoors(25 degr/C)-totally useless as 4k.Image is soft and blurry.Sony says its the Glue they use on the internal lenses, gets soft in the heat and lens moves inside, causing out of focus image.
2)overheats and shuts down after 10 minutes in sunny outdoors-again useless.Processor overheats inside the camera
3)Sony gives no response to problems on these units.Many owners complain about the same issues, and Sony ignores us all.These are design problems and not related to just a single unit.No reply from Sony!!!...so sad.

Great on paper but very disappointing

This is a great camera, the stabilization is fantastic and the imagem quality is very high.
I bouth the canera because they offer a live streaming option "Ustream". A couple of months after the purchase Ustream was not avaliable anymore and IBM is charging a lot to use it. 
So if you ever consider to go live with this camera - FORGET IT

Great camera without LIVE streaming

I have just had the opportunity to unbox and do a test usage on this action camera. I do VLOG's outdoors and on motorcycles. I was attracted to this camera because of its ability to work with a direct plug in external microphone. I have not had the chance to test this feature just yet.
Preliminary impressions are good. The very short test video's I did in low light and artificial light turned out to be clear and of good quality.
My concern at this time is mounting and operating this camera on and around my person in action scenarios. I have used the competitor "GoPro" for some time and have built up a large accessory bundle for their form factor. So, I will need to experiment with the Sony to have a full opinion.
But, preliminary impressions are quite good.

First usage report

Impulse buy in Changi. Great video with wide dynamic range. Video is simple to use either on handset or camera. Majority of function intuitive, but switching between video and stills is PAINFULLY slow; a separate button for stills would increase the useability tremendously. Addition of a 'sighting' viewfinder for use underwater in the package would be extremely useful.

Good video

I brought this action cam after reviewing all the other action cams on the market, and deciding this was the right one for me. 
However after 14 months the camera now refuses to turn on, and beeps every 15 seconds, so is now totally unusable.

Great action cam

The GPS functions stopped working and will be nonfunctional indefinitely. Would not buy this or any other products Sony makes that depend on GPS.

GPS DOES NOT WORK

In a world where action camera stabilization is all the rage, the Sony AS-300 meets the challenge. I've had the camera for about a month and a half with zero complaints. The stabilization is fantastic. The battery life shreds my GoPro battery life. Color looks great in full daylight or as the sun is setting. Haven't used it much in dark settings, so I can't speak to the quality there. Sound is a little tinny, but still usable. Great camera!!

stabilization is great, so is battery

Excellent picture quality, ease of use, great design, love the finger accessory and the remote screen.

Thrilled with the features.

Great video and stabilization. OK battery life (80 minutes @ 1080p60 50mbs). 

I motovlog (motorcycle Vlogging) along with hundreds of thousands of others and need (in future models):
1. Wireless audio input. It would be great if the audio could come from the PlayMemories control app where the smartphone could combine/mix audio sources. Bluetooth audio input would also be a great option. You'll steal GP market share with this.
2. Better mounting options. GoPro-compatible mounts dominate, so compaitble mounting or a simple adaptor is important.
3. More battery life (2+ hours). Also, consider an (optional) small separate snap-in pack that connects via the USB.

Great cam - needs wireless audio

I"m stuck with a $399 camera that OVERHEATS. You can smell the heat when you enter the room.
I purchased this action cam on Oct. 19th. 2018 from Amazon's C**** Camera Seller. It started overheating/shutting down by itself while filming on 720, 1080, and 4k only after 1 month and 2 days of my purchase. I tried to get a refund but because it was over by two days on a 30 days return so "C****** Camera" (seller) refused to accept my request. So after reporting them to the Better Business Bureau they still refused. The overheating has progressively gotten worst. Now I'm stuck sending this camera for repairs to Precision Camera whom are chosen by Sony. I've sent this camera 3 times for repairs without success. Precision Camera don't listen. They keep telling me there is nothing wrong with the camera. The only i can do is continue to send the camera. They don't see the pictures and videos I've sent them. Anyway, Now I"m stuck with a $399 the overheats, without any options. Neither Sony nor Precision Camera don't want to listen. All I've been doing is send this camera for repair and no filming. See pictures and video attached.

Overheats

Had the camera less than two years...Took it to Moab, Yellowstone and Nova Scotia...Gear videos...but today I can't even use it as paper weight...about a month ago the camera lost the ability to focus...except near focus ...no more than 4-5 inches...everything else in frame is blurry and unusable...Don't buy the camera if you want it to last a while...

Great Action camera...until it stops focusing..

This model has a great support for older a-mount lenses and in-body image stabilization. These two features triggered my decision to buy a6500.
Aside from that, image quality, instant autofocus, bright and colour-accurate display, possibilities of customization and rather compact size make it one of the best mirrorless cameras money can buy.

Absolutely amazing camera in every respect

Have this camera for more than a year now. Really love it. Extremely light and high quality. Use it for scuba diving, traveling and vlogging. Wherever I go, I won't leve home without this in combination with a gimbal.

Can't wait to see the next generation or firmware updates to see other features.

Great action camera

Following with previous 10/8 post, as I just received a repair $702 cost to address this issue on a $370 camera, included new LCD which work just fine. this in not right, as this poor focus with motion issue is well documented.

Poor focus with motion from start and no warranty

Poor motion focus, sent back to sony for warranty repair.

Poor motion focus

Straight to the point.
Video quality is fantastic. Day scenes at 4K will blow your mind. Stabilizer does excellent job and after a couple of days you will realize that that the use of a viewfinder is not necessary since the wide angle gets it all. Night scenes are OK and nothing special.
Now the sound.... As long it is out of the protective case, audio is great, but when it is inside that case, you hardly record anything.
Menu is not difficult to master, and the battery will keep up nicely.

My everyday companion on my trip to Greece

I BOUGHT IT BEFORE A TRIP TO MAKE SOME VIDEO CLIPS.
IT WAS AMAZING ,SIMPLE,VERY LIGHT AND FAST. I THINK THIS IS THE BEST CAMERA AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW ON THE MARKET AND IT'S VERY CHEAP. 4K VIDEOS ARE AMAZING AND IT HAS GOT LOT OF DETAILS IN IT. WHAT MAKE IT SPECIAL IS HOW SIMPLE IT IS AND THE QUALITY IN EVERYWAY. IT'S JUST AMAZING.

GREAT IN EVERYTHING

I am overwhelmed with the features of this camera. The manual which I downloaded does not tell me how to delete the video on my memory card.

overwhelmed

A one and only Major Concern! The Cam dose not come with a Hard Print Owner's / Operators Manual. This proved so Important, that I would not have bought it had I known Sony was going to be Cheep on that Critical Issue!!

Important Consideration

i bought this for a road trip and to record water sports. the picture quality is excellent and it has a good wide angle lens to pick up all the action. The only downside is the external controller. This allows you to see what you're shooting and control the camera, the downside is the fact it looses connection quite frequently.

great quality sports cam

Bought to update from an older GoPro, very nicely made, simple to use, footage quality is fantastic, stabilisation seems very good with no loss in resolution. lens protector is an expensive extra though.

Nicely made camera, stabilisation is excellent

I bought it in April used under water to check on the fish in my garden pond for damage to them great video f
of them great video on my bike no vibration

great camera

I already have a Sony HDR-AS100V, which I use for cycling and skiing as a helmet camera and for snorkelling, using the standard waterproof case. For the first two, it has been perfect, giving excellent footage, which I use to produce candid videos for my cycle club and skiing friends. I also liked the idea of attaching it to the side of my helmet, rather than having to look like Tinky-Winky all the time. For the snorkelling, the images were not very good. I decided a second, backward-facing camera would be very useful when cycling and so upgraded this time to the FDR-X3000 4K. Being supplied with the waterproof case with flat window, this should give excellent under-water footage when snorkelling, but I have not had the opportunity to try that yet. I have used it when cycling and the images are first-class. The additional features available on this camera should be really useful, but again, I have not yet used them. The design of this camera has many improved features and I found it simple to set up and use. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an action camera.

Upgrade from HDR-AS100V

The feature set on the Sony FDR-X3000 is absolutely AMAZING for the money, the menu is actually fairly easy to understand once one uses it for a short while, and the B.O.S.S. system is absolutely tremendous in both execution and final results. Blown away by it, actually. But the 4K video quality become aggravating in short time! 
The INITIAL video quality on all three of my FDR-X3000's (my other two I've had to return, HOPING I'd get a "good one.") would be amazing out of the box, but the honeymoon ends soon thereafter. Once the action cam gets warm with use, the camera's lens become unable to focus correctly (focus to infinity like all action cams do), thus the video, which was initially amazingly brilliant throughout, will become very blurry. You're left with unusable blurry videos once the camera gets warm, and the focus becomes temperamental and eventually terrible. 
There's a obvious glaring design flaw as the primary reason for the blurry video that eventually happens, as MANY people have experienced the same thing with this particular action cam. As you research the 'net, many have taken their Sony FDR-X3000 apart to try to figure out why the focus was becoming progressively blurry, and found the issue. It comes to find out that Sony "engineers" decided it was a good idea to use some sort of GLUE to secure their awesome lens in the B.O.S.S. Housing to secure it in place. As with all glues, heat it up as the battery will do with Action Cam use, and the glue becomes soft and will eventually MELT. Sony absolutely knows about the flaw in their design, as it is in their own forums regarding this blaring design flaw and focusing issue. The FDR-X1000 hasn't had this issue as far as I know. Simply look for focusing issues on the Forums and YouTube videos regarding the FDR-X3000, and you will find many examples of the design flaw, as well as pictures of where the flaw is located! 
I can only hope that the Sony engineers will redesign this action cam and better secure their amazing lens within the BOSS housing so blurred focusing issues will no longer occur as the action cam warms up. I really WANT to like my third Sony FDR-X3000, but like the other two I've sent back, it now only focuses 4 feet in front of itself, so I'm limited to making a video was at that distance. Talk about frustrating!

If ONLY it would stay in FOCUS!

My YouTube movies have really improved. However, back-up from Sony Philippines is terrible, getting parts is a real fight and nobody is willing to help. Bad service!

Sony HDR-AS300 Action Camera, with Balanced Optical SteadyShot, Wi-Fi and GPS

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