Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
Yeah, nice stuff! The Z90 does a really nice job and he's good with it. He's shooting better than some people I've worked with who have been in the business for decades. Good job. I wish I had been there to shoot it too.
FS7: New Sony PXW-FX9 with venice features and 6k full frame
- Thread starter J.Brown
- Start date
Yeah, nice stuff! The Z90 does a really nice job and he's good with it. He's shooting better than some people I've worked with who have been in the business for decades. Good job. I wish I had been there to shoot it too.
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
Its a good point. Coming (like Paul) from stills to video Im used to shooting 6k raw in a small package with fast lenses a decade or two ago. It was a bit of a shock to meet 35mbs EX1 files, deep DOF, and lack of wide in the lens (my standard wide is 20mmFF)
I like my FS7 in the studio, doing drama or a corporate, but hate it for running around a pop festival or army excersies because built up to work its just too heavy and cumbersome. I tried stripping it down for my NGO in zambia but missed focus loads and was wobbly shooting 'gut cam' (not shoulder).
My expection from the stills days is to run around long events without compromising the image or my physical state.
One should remember I bought the FS7 (no. 221) before many things were known about it and it is certainly a practical upgrade to the F3 I had at the time.
The FX9 would be a good upgrade and solve some of those problems presented by the FS7.
Something like a 1dx or nikon D4 (that I use for stills) give one a sense of tools that are ones friend, DSLRs right back to film just worked. I have no interest im upgrading ever.
Its just a shame that the FX9 seems once again not to present that sense of being 'my friend', rather something that needs an upgrade in a few years time, with a few more problems fixed.
Times are changing though and the z90 and the like present new options for multiple camera ownership and picking the right tool for the job. Z90 for the mobile jobs, something else for the others?
Right now Im not sure the camera that 'fulfills my needs' there probably isnt one - the 9 could be a touch cloeser if a few things were sorted.
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Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
Good post. I hear where you're coming from and I can agree with a lot of your comments. Here's my advice, from someone who has used the FX9 for a few days (just shipped it back an hour ago): whatever your feelings are about the FS7, you will probably feel the same way about the FX9. If someone loves or hates the FS7 their gonna love or hate the FX9 too. The cameras are basically the same thing. If someone else hasn't said it already, I will say it . . . the FX9 simply a FS7M2 with a bigger sensor. That about sums it up.
morgan_moore
Major Contributor
A bigger sensor and AF. Once you have af.. if it works.. and is rationally controllable (???) you become a lot less sensitive about having excellence in the EVF department.
It could make all the difference
I look forward to your feedback!
It could make all the difference
I look forward to your feedback!
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
AF only if you want to use a certain type of lens. :-(
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theraptor56
Active member
I'm still not buying the only Sony lenses will have usable AF on the FX9 thinking. I say this because I own the A7iii and purchased the new Sigma 70-200 2.8 Sport a few months ago. I put the Sigma onto the MC-11 adapter, and on to the camera. The AF wasn't even halfway functional. I thought I'd received a lemon of a lens. As soon as I updated the firmware in my lens and the MC-11 adapter I was using the AF was lightning fast. Incredible difference.
I think we're going to experience the same thing with Sigma's lenses once they're able to get their hands on the FX9 and release a firmware update to make them compatible.
Of course this may not happen, but I think history will repeat itself. Sigma isn't jacking around these days.
I think we're going to experience the same thing with Sigma's lenses once they're able to get their hands on the FX9 and release a firmware update to make them compatible.
Of course this may not happen, but I think history will repeat itself. Sigma isn't jacking around these days.
dmitrizigany
Veteran
What if that camera doesn’t exist?
For me the FX9 seems to be as close as I get.
I have one on pre-order. What gives me doubts is that you need that damn expansion module to get raw out. I think the camera is already a little bit too big, wish it was closer to FS5 size. I can’t see myself ever wanting a huge shoulder mount camera. Which is what you have to turn it into if you want raw out in the future.
The rumoured FX6 could be my dream camera. But that is probably at least 9 months away and it probably will have the same codec limitations as the FS5 anyway... so I’m probably going through with my FX9 order...
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
It doesn't matter to me what brand name is on the lens. I have a rule of thumb that says "if a lens has any AF capability then it will provide a crappy experience for manual focus even when the AF is turned off". I have yet to see any lens that proves that wrong. Sure, an AF lens may do a great job when you've got faces looking right into the camera with a lot of back and forth movement. But the rest of the time I want a nice, fast, manual focusing lens with great bokeh. Someone else may be perfectly happy with an SLR lens, but I would suggest that maybe that is THE reason people think they need AF in the first place. If I used SLR lenses I'd probably want AF too, but I don't. I'll take a nice PL cine lens or something like the Fujinon MK zooms any day. Don't get me wrong, I am not against AF in general, it's just that I am not willing to give up very much in exchange for getting it.
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
Then you come as close as you can and accept the shortcomings. Every thing I own has shortcomings so why should a camera be any different? And the things I don't like are probably different than the things you don't like, so there can never be a perfect camera or anything else. Accept the shortcomings and work around them. It does no good to constantly bash something to an audience who has no power to change it.
BTW, what makes you so sure RAW is going to be worth the expense and hassle? I think you'd be hard pressed to see any difference between RAW and XAVC-I after grading. I can speak from experience with 16-bit RAW from my F55. I shoot RAW because it allows me to go to 120 fps in 4K. Other than that, I wouldn't bother with it. XAVC-I is 98% just as good. My advice is to enjoy the FX9 for what it is and don't bugger it up with a bunch of unneeded accessories. If I get the XDCA it will be for the slot-in microphone dock. I miss that so much.
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Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
One more thought. That is one of the best reasons for coming to NAB, Cine Gear, etc. so you can tell the engineers what you want done differently. Many manufacturers really do listen and a lot of my suggestions and complaints have gotten results at Sony and a couple of other companies. This also the reason I brought a two-page written proposal for my "Dream Camera" to NAB 2018 and gave it to the right people at Sony. I know they took it seriously because I got a bunch of follow-up questions from Tokyo a few days later. Do I have my dream camera? Not yet, but one year is too soon, and I'll be happy to see some of my suggestions make it onto other cameras. And some of those changes are on the FX9, plus other things I suggested during one-on-one focus group sessions with a engineer/product designer. They do listen. But you can't please everyone. And the people you need to reach who can make changes aren't reading DVXuser.
Doug .. what adaptor were you using on the fx9 for PL mount lenses.. thanks
Cristian Mihai
Well-known member
A speedbooster one ?
cyvideo
Veteran
As Doug says well done. Those who haven't used a Z90 don't realize just what a competent package that little camera is. Shooting for the Navy on ships, down below in ships and submarines especially the Z90 allows me to get shots in tight narrow spaces the likes of which I cannot get with any other camera. With a 0.6 Tinsley WA adapter giving the Z90 a 17mm (in FF terms) width it works extremely well. For 709 type shoots like that I find the camera invaluable. Its 10-bit 422 files stand up well in post which is an added bonus.
Chris Young
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
I have two, but neither one is a speedbooster. No glass, just metal. One is a Metabones adapter and the other came from Hot Rod Cameras clear back when I had my FS100. The Metabones adapter is far better quality than the other one. The nice surprise is that more of my PL lenses cover the FF sensor than I expected, so the investment in new glass won't cost as much as I had anticipated. Almost all my lenses over 50mm are fine and even some of the wider lenses are good enough. A couple of them add just a stop or so of soft vignetting around the edges but it looks quite nice and I actually like it. The 50mm and 85mm Sony prime lenses that came with my F3 years ago (my favorite lenses to use with my FS7) look really nice on the FX9. The 35mm vignettes too much in the corners. My RED 50-150 doesn't work but my RED 300 Prime is perfect. My Zeiss 15.5-45 doesn't work, which was expected but the biggest disappointment. The 50, 75, 95 Cine-Xenars are great. The 25 and 35 have too much vignetting. My Duclos 11-16 works if I keep it zoomed at 16mm. And 16mm on FF is pretty damn wide.
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
The FX9 with my Canon 200-400 (w/ built-in 1.4x converter) at a SpaceX rocket launch yesterday. This is the only SLR lens I use for video just because I can't afford anything that big in a true cine lens.
Run&Gun
Veteran
My Canon 100-400 L vII is pretty much the only still lens of mine that I use for video on my F55 or C300. Center punched on my 55 and it's a ridiculous amount of reach for dirt cheap. I picked mine up a few years ago when there was a big rebate on it AND I had a big discount certificate(maybe 15%-20%) from Canon for participating in a survey.
david dominguez
Well-known member
What are your initial thoughts on the camera so far?
Doug Jensen
Carbonite Member
It's basically an FS7M2 on steroids. Very nice. I'll have more specific comments at some later point.
david dominguez
Well-known member
thanks, very much looking forward to it.