Sony FX6 Firmware 2.0: Best Settings for Touch-Tracking Auto-Focus

Lenny, I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I haven't used an FX9 for a couple of years and I have never used an FX9 with an AF lens.
BTW, here's another video about my personal FX6 focus settings and techniques. The camera is amazing. Do you think the FX9 is capable of the same things?

 
thirdyearff said:
Yup...but luckily for me i have both so i got options!
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BTW, if you have both cameras, why don't you set them up side-by-side and do a shoot out so people can see how they compare? Everyone's been asking me to do some testing but I don't have an FX9. Seems to me that you are in the perfect position to run some tests and show the results. Why not?
 
Doug Jensen said:
That's good to know.
But too bad the FX9 can't match the FX6 on 120 fps 4K and the simultaneous use of S&Q Motion + Picture Cache.
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You know, I really don't understand Sony and the FX9. I mean, it's a solid camera with a good form factor for shoulder work and a fantastic image thanks to its 6K sensor. It also has a Super35 4K mode, anamorphic options, a locking E-mount, four audio dials (as opposed to the FX6 which makes you use alternative methods to changing the levels on channels 3 & 4), and arguably slightly better skin tones than the FX6. But, the FX6 has the 4K 120p, the HD 240p, better cache recording options, much better rolling shutter performance, much better lowlight performance, raw out straight to a recorder so you don't need that stupid extension unit to do raw (which is crazy these days), and it handles LUTs and S&Q mode better.

When I bought the FX6, it had nothing to do with price. I was coming from the FS7II and already had all the parts, memory cards and accessories I needed for the FX9. I had to rebuy all of that for the FX6, so I didn't really save any money. What sold me on the FX6 was everything I mentioned above, plus the small size which I like (personal preference). The FX9 was just missing so much of what the FX6 had and I couldn't get over that.

To me, this doesn't make any sense. Sony should have given the FX9 more to compete with the FX6. At $5K more, it needs to be able to do most of what the FX6 can do and then some. Instead, it's more of a choice of which modes you can live without. Do you need lowlight, 4K 120p, great rolling shutter performance and raw out? Save $5K and go with the FX6. Do you need Super35 4K, the best image quality possible and anamorphic options? Pony up an extra $5K and get the FX9. Just know before you do that you're going to not have a lot of what the FX6 has. It really shouldn't be that way.

Really what Sony should do is come out with an FX9II that has the features the FX6 has, but also the A1's sensor which is fantastic in lowlight and has an incredible amount of detail and dynamic range, not to mention great rolling shutter performance. That sensor would give you a 4K crop mode just like the FX9 has and Sony could unlock 8K recording like they do in the A1, but with the option to have it in All-Intra which you can't do on the A1. They could also give that camera raw directly to a recorder so we don't need the extension unit anymore.

That camera could be priced at $15-16K to compete with the Canon C500II and it would do very well. I myself have an A1 and am looking to replace my A7SIII with a second one because it's just that good. I would love to have that in a cinema body.
 
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Good post. Your suggestions make a lot of sense and I agree with just about all of it.
In addition, they should have given us the option to purchase a FX9-style viewfinder for the FX6. The lack of a viewfinder, and no option from Sony to add one, is a truly dumb move.

Also, the FX6 should have been given more paint menus, even if they were hidden somehow so the people who are disturbed by such menus wouln't even have to see them.
 
"You know, I really don't understand Sony and the FX9".

I'm pretty sure that Sony didn't plan things to turn out how they did but I've no idea what happened. I remember speculation that they over-cooked the a7Siii (possibly through fear of Canon beating them to 8K) and then they had to either make the FX6 inferior to the a7Siii or have the FX6 step all over the FX9.

Whatever the reason, I hope the next generation is not a return to price / spec being directly proportional to size. I love the form factor of the FX6 and certainly don't want anything bigger. I'd also consider paying 15-16K for some fantastic future camera in that smaller form. I'm pretty invested in Sony now, I'll be gutted if the successor to the FX6 has silly market-segmentation limitations like the FS5 (no waveform monitor!).

"In addition, they should have given us the option to purchase a FX9-style viewfinder for the FX6. The lack of a viewfinder, and no option from Sony to add one, is a truly dumb move."

Amen. Canon left the viewfinder off the C70 but at least the HDMI out is fully configurable. You can send focus mag and peaking to an external monitor or EVF from the C70.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Good post. Your suggestions make a lot of sense and I agree with just about all of it.
In addition, they should have given us the option to purchase a FX9-style viewfinder for the FX6. The lack of a viewfinder, and no option from Sony to add one, is a truly dumb move.

Also, the FX6 should have been given more paint menus, even if they were hidden somehow so the people who are disturbed by such menus wouln't even have to see them.
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Yeah I agree with both of those points. I didn't use pain menus a lot of my FS7/FS7II, but when you need them, you need them. I also would like to have seen a viewfinder option for the FX6.

I use a Z-Finder on mine, but I had to get a Bright Tangerine top plate and monitor bracket in order to use it because the build quality of the FX6's screen hinge was so weak. That was truly an awful design to make the hinge so floppy. Makes no sense. But, I do really, really like the Bright Tangerine solution, so fortunately that's not an issue anymore, for me at least.
 
Andy9 said:
I'm pretty sure that Sony didn't plan things to turn out how they did but I've no idea what happened. I remember speculation that they over-cooked the a7Siii (possibly through fear of Canon beating them to 8K) and then they had to either make the FX6 inferior to the a7Siii or have the FX6 step all over the FX9.
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Yeah I subscribed to that speculation back before the FX6 came out. I was definitely of the thought process that it was going to either be inferior to the A7SIII or encroach on the FX9. The latter made the most sense and that's obviously what ended up happening.

That being said, it didn't need to be that way. Sony could have given the FX9 an update to unlock higher frame rates somehow in 4K (unless that wasn't possible) and they also could have given it 6K recording since the sensor is a 6K sensor. That would have gone a long way in helping the FX9 feel like a superior product worth the extra money.

Also, even if Sony didn't plan on things turning out like they did, that still doesn't explain the head scratching decisions to not include frame rates higher than 60p in 4K or the ability to output raw directly to a recorder. Those were design choices from 2014 with the FS7. Six years had passed since the then. Let's get higher frame rates and raw to a recorder like all of your other cameras. There's no reason to make that choice other than they were using old tech or hardware.

Andy9 said:
Amen. Canon left the viewfinder off the C70 but at least the HDMI out is fully configurable. You can send focus mag and peaking to an external monitor or EVF from the C70.
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One thing I really wish the FX6 had was the ability to send Focus Mag to an external monitor like you just mentioned. I've got my FX6 setup with a SmallHD Focus Pro and I really like the combo, but it does drive me a little nuts that I can't tap the Focus Mag button on the FX6 grip and have it work on the monitor. That would be incredibly useful as I don't want to take a hand off the camera to pinch in on my SmallHD with my fingers in order magnify the image. That's not a good way to work.
 
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Joshua Milligan said:
I use a Z-Finder on mine, but I had to get a Bright Tangerine top plate and monitor bracket in order to use it because the build quality of the FX6's screen hinge was so weak. That was truly an awful design to make the hinge so floppy. Makes no sense.But, I do really, really like the Bright Tangerine solution, so fortunately that's not an issue anymore, for me at least.
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I went with a Zacuto Gratical EVF on my FX6 instead of the Z-Finder, and it turned out to be a great move. Even better than if Sony had included an FX9-style diopter in the first place because I wouldn't be able to use the diopter and the touch-screen at the same time. After firmware 2.0, I now use the Gratical with it's diopter for proper shooting, but I also keep the FX6's LCD mounted so I can use the touch-tracking focus at the same time. I gotta have both and EVF and touch-screen LCD because AF on the FX6 has spoiled me.
 
Doug Jensen said:
I went with a Zacuto Gratical EVF on my FX6 instead of the Z-Finder, and it turned out to be a great move. Even better than if Sony had included an FX9-style diopter in the first place because I wouldn't be able to use the diopter and the touch-screen at the same time. After firmware 2.0, I now use the Gratical with it's diopter for proper shooting, but I also keep the FX6's LCD mounted so I can use the touch-tracking focus at the same time. I gotta have both and EVF and touch-screen LCD because AF on the FX6 has spoiled me.
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Yeah I definitely get that. I only use the Z-Finder when shooting in really bright conditions when I can't see the LCD screen or when shooting from the shoulder. The rest of the time I'm using a SmallHD Focus Pro for framing, pulling focus or exposure and the stock screen for touch tracking. Touch tracking is honestly a game changer for guys like us that often shoot without a 1st AC pulling focus for us.

I was shooting a project recently for a horse trailer company and was filming cowboys driving cattle through a pasture. I had my FX6 paired with a 100-400 GM zoomed in real tight on a specific cowboy with cows blurred out in the foreground. The depth of field was pretty thin and the cowboy couldn't be scripted as his movements were completely reactionary to the cows meaning my focus and camera movements had to be completely reactionary to him. Being able to tap his face and have the camera lock him in focus the entire time made all the difference in the world. It turned what could have been a really frustrating shot into one that was pretty simple and fun.

Anybody who says AF doesn't have a place in professional video production clearly hasn't tried the latest tech.
 
Joshua Milligan said:
Touch tracking is honestly a game changer for guys like us that often shoot without a 1st AC pulling focus for us..
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". . . that "often" shoot with out a 1st AC pulling focus."
How about never once in my 40-year career! :) Simply not a '"thing" in broadcast television production.
 
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Doug Jensen said:
BTW, if you have both cameras, why don't you set them up side-by-side and do a shoot out so people can see how they compare? Everyone's been asking me to do some testing but I don't have an FX9. Seems to me that you are in the perfect position to run some tests and show the results. Why not?
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I can do it...but i may not be able to get to it until mid June. I have the 9 & 6 and a bunch of different lenses but i do have (2) 28-135...so if that lens is agreed upon we're in business. My only requirement is that i want those that are interested in this to put their collective heads together and tell me what you want to see, what kind perimeters, subjects, charts, environments etc etc.

I don't want to have to defend how i approached it, why did you do this, why didn't you do that...you guys tell me and i'll do the best i can given the time frame that i'll have.
 
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