FS7: New Sony PXW-FX9 with venice features and 6k full frame

[stewhem]

Going back a few posts, I have to admit guys, you were right to have a go at my "swans are white" comment. Obviously in the "golden hour" they'll be more , well, golden. Pretty obvious really.

But I stand by my other comments about the footage because it seemed to be offered as an example of what the FX9 would produce and as such, as Liam said, it would make people want to "unbuy the camera".

The sales rep at a leading Japanese supplier who was helping me decide between the FX9 and the Canon 500 mk2 had the same reaction but even stronger than I did and I think that’s why I felt moved to make my post.

As an FS7 owner/fan, and satisfied owner of various Sony stills cameras (but not fanboy) I felt the need to defend the brand. If it was intended only to show a certain aspect of the camera, say the autofocus, then my view is that should be stated on the footage. It only takes a few seconds to stick a lower-thirds on.

But far more importantly, I confirm we have black swans in Japan and the UK.

 

[Martin.G]

Alister showed this footage yesterday at a Sony event, it made me want to but the Canon C500 mkII.

Its not too bad. Just, bland. Regular decent quality.

I remember when the FS7 launch video was shown, i immediately wrote off the soft, magenta camera. My only regret after 4 years of ownership is why i did not buy it a year sooner!

It really upped my speed and ability to work creatively compared to frankenrigged FS700 + Odyssey 7Q and shoulderrig.

But yeah, i have my eyes on C500 II as well.

 

[nutmegger]

It's all about putting the center of gravity over the shoulder and making it comfortable to shoot with. Smaller wouldn't be easier. Lighter wouldn't be easier. It's all about ergonomics and keeping the cable clutter and accessories to a minimum. The weight of that lens needs to be compensated for by pushing the brick battery as far back as possible. But with that said, I was always surprised at how light the Z750 felt whenever I picked it up out of the bag. I always keep my FS7 and FS55 100% built-up also for immediate use, but the Z750 was so much lighter. I wish I'd had a scale to weigh it. Another thing I like is being able to sling an ENG camera from a leather Portabrace strap over your shoulder without having a bunch of sharp edges and accessories drawing blood.

I was at the Photo Plus Expo in NY yesterday. There was a guy shooting video with a FS7/B4 lens rig. I wonder if Doug Jensen's FS7 build looks like this?

 

[dmitrizigany]

Heard from a reseller (in Europe) that the first batch of FX9s are shipping last week of November, which a second batch a couple of weeks after that. He also said that they still don’t know what price they actually will buy them for.

 

[Doug Jensen]

II wonder if Doug Jensen's FS7 build looks like this?

I'd quit the business and go sell shoes before you'd catch me shooting with a ridiculous rig like that. B4 lenses on a S35 camera are an abomination and should be outlawed.
This is my most typical FS7 setup. Comes right out of the case and onto my shoulder or tripod with no setup.

 

[dmitrizigany]

Here's a German test/review of the FX9:

 

[Publimix]

Deutsche Tests sind immer gut.

 

[theraptor56]

Here's a German test/review of the FX9:

The AF on that dancer spinning was kind of amazing. And the transition speed of the AF from the boy to the girl looked very natural and fluid.

 

[cyvideo]

Hmm! Suitably impressed so far. Working with that AF capability could be an interesting experience. Quite happy with the Cinetone look for a straight out of camera look.

Chris Young

 

[powervideo]

Hmm! Suitably impressed so far. Working with that AF capability could be an interesting experience. Quite happy with the Cinetone look for a straight out of camera look.

Chris Young

Hey Chris, how you going? Yes I'm happy enough to have gone ahead and order a FX9. My F5 has been the most awesome camera I've every owned, but time to move on. Need that autofocus with my eyes now!

 

[Donny 123]

Peter .. what lenses do you think you would use with the fx9.. I would think Sony lenses are going to work best for AF.. what ever they say about any E mount working.. clever marketing maybe by Sony that everyone will end up with the Sony cine zooms that are on the way..

 

[powervideo]

I'll start with the SELP28135G kit lens. I think it's a good run-around day-use lens with a lot of features that will work nicely with the FX9. If you want the auto-focus to work well, you'll have to go with Sony native lenses. I've got a Nikon Z6 which works beautifully with the Z lenses, particularly in AF, but my F-Nikon Sigma Art lenses are horrible in auto-focus mode for video. Alter the 28-135mm, my wish-list would be for the 70-200mm 2.8, 24-70 2.8, and the 12-24mm, and a couple of fast primes; 35mm and 50/55mm. The new 16-35mm t3.1 looks great but the price is going to be too much for me. It is a horribly expensive business swapping lens systems; the worst part of a platform change. At the moment I have a Sony F5 with Nikon mount.

 

[Donny 123]

I'll start with the SELP28135G kit lens. I think it's a good run-around day-use lens with a lot of features that will work nicely with the FX9. If you want the auto-focus to work well, you'll have to go with Sony native lenses. I've got a Nikon Z6 which works beautifully with the Z lenses, particularly in AF, but my F-Nikon Sigma Art lenses are horrible in auto-focus mode for video. Alter the 28-135mm, my wish-list would be for the 70-200mm 2.8, 24-70 2.8, and the 12-24mm, and a couple of fast primes; 35mm and 50/55mm. The new 16-35mm t3.1 looks great but the price is going to be too much for me. It is a horribly expensive business swapping lens systems; the worst part of a platform change. At the moment I have a Sony F5 with Nikon mount.

OK thanks .. hopefully the Sony's would be a little bit cheaper $4k ish rather than $5-6k ish.. the kit lens functional for sure.. but I guess its that fly by wire focus and zoom.. I cant really live with that .. unless its so cheap as a package you might as well buy it.. also have an f5 and 99% sure I'll get the Fx9.. I would need a PL adaptor to use my current Sigma Cine zooms that I dearly love.. but FF cine lenses would have to be the purchase sooner than later

 

[J.Brown]

With the Sony 28-135 it really feels like everything is a package in functions and how the lens and camera operates. Focus is fully manual if you like but zoom is only controlled by the focus motor. In real use to me it doesn't matter but for some it might feel awkward.

If the dual base ISO at ISO4000 looks clean I see no problems with the lens being F4. It has a nice out of focus blur but I would pair it with one or two faster lenses when you need to make prettier images. The range 28-135 on FF is almost all I need but it comes in a bit tight for S35.

 

[dmitrizigany]

OK thanks .. hopefully the Sony's would be a little bit cheaper $4k ish rather than $5-6k ish..

Yeah, me too. Was hoping they be slightly less than double the still versions so €3000-3500-ish. 5000+ is too steep for me.

the kit lens functional for sure.. but I guess its that fly by wire focus and zoom.. I cant really live with that .. unless its so cheap as a package you might as well buy it..

Well, you use it with AF so fly by wire is a none-issue

You can find it for under €2000 in many places, and it’s €2500 as a kit with the FX9. So actually more expensive to get as a kit. Unless this changes last minute, reseller seems to not have gotten the final prices of the FX9 yet.

I went ahead and bought a used one for €1200. Figuring that once the FX9 is released, the popularity of this lens will increase and finding used ones will be harder.

 

[Donny 123]

Yeah its a work horse lens I guess.. but 28 isnt really that wide.. but yes I guess its by the far the cheapest option of a FF sort of cine lens.. but thats very strange they are selling it in the package for more than buying it separately .. ??.. I would buy it in the bundle if it was quite a bit cheaper than by itself .. isnt that usually the logic behind the bundle thing.. they get to move a lens that isnt selling well .. ?

 

[dmitrizigany]

I’m a bit confused by the pricing as well.
But since it was bundled with the FS7, for which it wasn’t a perfect fit, there’s quite a lot of used ones to be found.

 

[Donny 123]

I’m a bit confused by the pricing as well.
But since it was bundled with the FS7, for which it wasn’t a perfect fit, there’s quite a lot of used ones to be found.

Yes I remember thinking it was sort of odd to suddenly release this FF zoom.. for a s35 camera.. unless they thought it would be used on A7,s.. Im sure it has but not by a ton of people.. if they released it with the fx9 in the first place would make sense .. but agreed if you just want to start shooting with workhorse sort of no frills actual cine zoom (well sort of anyway)..that will work with the AF for sure.. then its almost the only option on a budget besides stills lenses.. maybe it is worth getting ! the fx9 will make the zoom faster ..

 

[JCummings]

Any word about a proper (factory) viewfinder for this camera? Not talking about the silly clip-on loupe.

 

[cyvideo]

Hopefully but not known yet is whether the connection and communication protocol of the new FS7 ENG viewfinder will work with the FX9. Mind you it's a bit pricey.

Failing that I'm seriously considering one of the new Potakeys units. That I could use on a variety of cameras inc A7s. It will accept up to UHD 30p. In HD it will run up to 60p. So even if shooting 4k 60p you could still output HD 60p from SDI #2 with all the necessary VF info. Takes LUTs and has all the QC monitoring functions a good camera should be able to display. 7-24 volt operation which makes it very user friendly for a variety of power sources even a full 'V' Lock battery at 16 volt.

Chris Young

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod..._evf_oeye_3g_electronic_viewfinder.html/specs

Color/Monochrome Color
Panel Type OLED
Display Size 0.7" / 1.8 cm
Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Touchscreen No
Maximum Brightness 200 cd/m2
Bit Depth / Color Support 8-Bit (16.7 Million Colors)
Image Controls Check Field, Color Temperature Selection, False Color, Focus Peaking, H/V Delay, Histogram, Image Flip, OSD Flip, Pixel-to-Pixel Zoom, Scaling, Screen Markers, Underscan, Waveform
I/O
Video 1 x BNC (HD-SDI/3G-SDI/SDI) Input
1 x HDMI Type A (HDMI 1.4) Input
1 x BNC (HD-SDI/3G-SDI/SDI) Output
1 x HDMI Type A (HDMI 1.4) Output
Video Format HDMI (8-Bit)
DCI 4K: 24
UHD 4K: 30/29.97/25/24/23.98
1080p: 60/59.94/50/30/29.97/25/24/23.98
1080PsF: 30/29.97/25/24/23.98
1080i: 60/59.94/50
720p: 60/59.94/50
576p: 50
576i: 50
480p: 60/59.94
480i: 60/59.94
SDI (8-Bit)
1080p: 60/59.94/50
SDI (8-Bit 4:4:4/4:2:2 RGB)
1080p: 60/59.94/50/30/29.97/25/24/23.98
1080PsF: 30/29.97/25/24/23.98
1080i: 60/59.94/50
720p: 60/59.94/50
Power 1 x Hirose Input
Other I/O 1 x USB 2.0 (USB Type-A)
Optics
Diopter Correction -3.0 to +8.0
Power
DC Input Power 7 to 24 VDC
Power Consumption 6.5 W