Sony PXW-FX6

[andykwilkinson]

Thanks for the pics and your thoughts. Just seen this kit, see video review by Alister Chapman posted below and on his blog, which I think will be on my buy list once I eventually get a FX6.

https://youtu.be/EUhclRch2kc

[Grug]

Thanks for the pics and your thoughts. Just seen this kit, see video review by Alister Chapman posted below and on his blog, which I think will be on my buy list once I eventually get a FX6.

https://youtu.be/EUhclRch2kc

The Chrosziel kit looks nice, just be aware of the lens support issues if you think you might use any lenses other than native e-mount ones - supporting lens adapters is a bit tricky (due to that little lip at the front of the camera), so a top-mounted support (like Wooden Camera's one) might be the safer bet if you'll need to brace lens adapters.

[docmoore]

I use this WC support.

https://woodencamera.com/products/un...10d3ab78&_ss=r

[matt.pignataro]

PSA on the FX6's included charger. It's a new design and it doesn't appear to charge most aftermarket batteries, only Sony's proprietary BP-U batteries.

[ahalpert]

PSA on the FX6's included charger. It's a new design and it doesn't appear to charge most aftermarket batteries, only Sony's proprietary BP-U batteries.

But do the aftermarket batteries work on the FX6? I assume that they do if you charge them with a separate charger?

[alaskacameradude]

But do the aftermarket batteries work on the FX6? I assume that they do if you charge them with a separate charger?

Yup, they work just fine, you just have to make sure you purchase a charger when you buy one
so you can charge it. I have a Kastar BPU68 and it runs my FX6 for over 300 minutes.

[alaskacameradude]

ETA for the FX6 appears to be in the future. I'm on order but so far nothing in sight.

They are out there, it's just that there is a large demand for them and there happens to be a worldwide
plague which probably isn't helping the manufacturing or the delivery chain. Workers in factories tend
to be close to other workers and so on, which isn't great when there is a contagious virus out there.
I preordered mine before it was available on the website at Omega Broadcast, but I ordered body only.
A couple people who ordered 'kits' got theirs before me and upon seeing this, I contacted my sales rep.
He said it was because Sony was shipping kits before body only orders, so that's also in the mix if your order
is delayed. Then he said it might be until March until I could get mine. Luckily, that was just him being cautious
and I just got mine at the start of this week. They are trickling out there, I'm a member of several FX6
Facebook groups and there are probably close to 200 of the FX6's out in the wild now (you can actually
tell this by looking at your serial number.)

It's really a little beast. This fall, I shot a comedy series (Humour Resources....which just started
airing on CBC on January 5th) on a FX9. This camera has almost all of the features of the
FX9 in a little body. You can now set white balance in Cine EI mode. You can put LUTs on
the viewfinder and different LUTS on the HDMI AND the SDI outs. You can load 16 LUTS on
the camera. S-Cinetone looks really nice. ECS (Extended Clear Scan) to get rid of this pesky
'rolling bars' on monitors in your shot. You can map gain/ISO to one of the 3 dials on the camera
body and scroll through them setting by setting instead of only having a 'low', 'medium' and 'high'
setting like broadcast cameras do.....although it also has those. Even 3 stages of 'negative gain' if
you don't mind losing dynamic range and want to go there. It has a nice timelapse function
called 'interval record' where you can even use slow shutter speeds to create that 'light streak'
effect on moving cars. Clear image zoom works, even in 4k and it actually looks surprisingly good
even at the max zoom. It has so many customizable buttons that several of them are set to
the same setting so go in and change those because you don't need doubles! You can
customize the menus somewhat as well. The main downside will be if you want a shoulder
mount type camera cause it's definitely not that. It's a FS5 type of camera only with
10 bit recording, great autofocus, better color science, high frame rates, a much
better LCD screen (but no EVF), and a full frame sensor. For me and the type of work
I do, it's just about perfect.

[Afterglow]

Great rig shots, Grug. All the more impressive that they were taken in a gym (deep cleaned?). I've been shooting tests with my FX6 since December's delivery. Yes, it's tiny, and yes, you have to sweat a little over how to fit everything together and how strong the lens mount is (mine's carrying the 1kg Sony F4 28-135 zoom with lens support on rails). I can't find a clear answer to this on any Sony sites. Anyone know this?

For shooting off the sticks I threw an old hoodman loupe on the LCD, set it as far forward as possible and with the biggest battery I have managed to settle the camera with a pad on my shoulder reasonably comfortably. I'm hoping there'll be a telescopic extension for the detachable grip soon.

Still working through shooting modes and settings, including the user-set buttons and menus. No really satisfactory LUTs for it as yet except for Joel Famularo's Phantom LUTs for A7sIII (same sensor) and the pics look good. Soon he'll be releasing a set for FX6. Any other LUT recommendations welcome.

[Tim Sewell]

I know this is an FX6 thread, but all the talk of lens supports makes me wonder. Does anyone know if there's anything on the market to stabilise the FS5's E-mount? I've got the locking Metabones smart EF adapter on mine, but I'd like to stabilise the native mount too.

[Vik Kamenicky]

Well my little gal just arrived this afternoon, so I set to, trying to figure out a temporary rig (while I wait for a few FX6-specific parts to arrive).

Supporting the PL-mount properly was the most important task, and I realised the unfortunate fact that the little lip at the base of the camera, prevents a regular 15mm LWS lens support from reaching the support foot on the lens adapter.

This was a problem. So I tried about half a dozen so-so options before realising that I could pull a dusty old Manfrotto 501 plate/clamp out of the cupboard (I don't think it's being touched in 7-8 years), and use that brace the lens adapter, with the two top-holes on the camera body. The underside of the 501 clamp then became a base I could use to mount my top handle to. It's kludgy, but the PL-mount is rock-solid, so it should suffice until my Wooden Camera bracketry arrives.

Another thing to keep an eye on is the media card door, which is quite painfully positioned if you're intending to mount a v-mount plate or other accessories out the back of the camera. I had to build myself a little offset plate (out of various parts), to mount the Teradek and battery plate far enough over to the righthand side of the camera, that the media could be easily accessed.

Ultimately, I'd say my biggest concern (with the tiny size of the camera) has been born out - there's very little space to rig things cleanly, and things get cramped quickly. So it's going to take some pretty thoughtful rigging to get builds that don't slow shoot days down (due to fiddliness when trying to adjust things). 



On the upside though, a fully kitted build out (EVF, Shogun 7, Teradek, Mattebox, and Follow Focus) is coming in at just a hair under 9kg. And I suspect a fully-wireless setup (Teradek, CForce Mini RF, and only one monitor or evf for the operator) might just crack under the 8kg mark all up. And it's pretty damned exciting to have a fully-featured rig that sits under double-digits for weight.



Looking forward to seeing how inventive people get with their rigging - I suspect this one's going to require a little more thought than most.

Thanks for the sum up, quick question... because I cannot find it anywhere... is the FX6 handgrip the same as the FX9? Or you dont own a FX9 and cannot compare?