FS5: Sony PXW-FX6

andykwilkinson said:
Pity about those SWITs. I have a few and really like them (the ones I have are with the D-Tap and USB outlets, code S-8U63). They work well on my PMW-300 and my FS5. I have a few original Sony BP-U60s too - some of which are at least 10 years old and still mostly going strong. The secret I think is to try and store them part charged, never fully charged (difficult sometimes to get that right though when filming schedules suddenly change!). Since I'm planning on getting FX6 sometime this Spring/Summer I'm disappointed Sony took it upon themselves (not for the first time) to hinder 3rd party battery info...sigh!
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Mr. W.

I was talking to someone who was using the following batteries on a PXW-Z280. He had four of them and swore by them. Maybe worth dropping them a line to see if they work with the FX6/9. If they do it could be a suitable solution for a few of us using this style of battery. They state: "The HED-BP95D includes an external USB 5V/5W/1A power output, and a Dual D-Tap DC 14.4V power output, that can deliver 115W/8A for all professional external devices."

Chris Young

https://www.hedbox.com/products/pro-battery-packs/hed-bp95d/

HED-BP95D.jpg
 
cyvideo said:
Mr. W.

I was talking to someone who was using the following batteries on a PXW-Z280. He had four of them and swore by them. Maybe worth dropping them a line to see if they work with the FX6/9. If they do it could be a suitable solution for a few of us using this style of battery. They state: "The HED-BP95D includes an external USB 5V/5W/1A power output, and a Dual D-Tap DC 14.4V power output, that can deliver 115W/8A for all professional external devices."

Chris Young

https://www.hedbox.com/products/pro-battery-packs/hed-bp95d/

View attachment 142398
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Hey Chris,

They work on the FX9, I’ve ordered one as a backup and will test it on the FX6 as soon it arrives.
 
ahalpert said:
Zeiss and Sigma offer as good performance. But performance varies per lens based on motor design and firmware. Generally, more recent lenses perform better. For example, I use the sigma 24-70 and sony 28-135 with my A7SIII and the sigma is much faster. One of my clients has the Zeiss 18 and it's very fast. Tamron and Samyang also do good autofocus in E mount. I have the Tamron 70-180 and it is stellar. I get good results with samyang 18, 35, and 85, but supposedly their first lens for the system (the 50 f/1.4) is still crappy even after a million firmware updates, according to reviews.
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Really helpful. Thanks.
 
ahalpert said:
Zeiss and Sigma offer as good performance. But performance varies per lens based on motor design and firmware. Generally, more recent lenses perform better. For example, I use the sigma 24-70 and sony 28-135 with my A7SIII and the sigma is much faster. One of my clients has the Zeiss 18 and it's very fast. Tamron and Samyang also do good autofocus in E mount. I have the Tamron 70-180 and it is stellar. I get good results with samyang 18, 35, and 85, but supposedly their first lens for the system (the 50 f/1.4) is still crappy even after a million firmware updates, according to reviews.
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I got also some DG DN Sigma lenses for my A7R4 (cause they have the best optical performance currently in their category): 14-24, 24-70 and both 105's, the macro and the monster f/1.4. They work all very well in AFC/video on the A7R4, including eye tracking, so I took the risk to order an FX6 based on this, since the feedbacks with the sigma's are not easy to find.
I have also a Zonghyi 50/0.95 (manual focus), should be funny with the FX6
 
The 35 and 65 DG DN lenses work about as well as the native Sony lenses on the FX6 ... you should be good.
 
Yoak said:
My problem is that I'm handing over the footage to post after the shooting and its not that much time set aside for grading (and I'm not involved) Any tips?
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Hmmmm...i'm grading stuff in Flame so i have my own work flow. In a perfect world i shoot charts w both cameras...but sometimes that doesn't happen. I have a number of camera LUTs inherent within Flame, i usually use either an ARRI (LogC) or Sony (SGamut3.Cine) option and once applied to both clips they are very close and easily matched...then CC to taste. But obviously there are a lot of variables that can come into play on a set so its not a one size fits all...and also a lot depends on your work flow and if your editor is also your finish editor vs going to color session. So not sure if that really helps you...but bottom line, in my humble opinion...its not difficult to match those cameras...if shot in Log and i don't see why the Fx6 would be much different. Good luck!
 
Joshua Milligan said:
I’m wondering if the IDX batteries will register with the FX6. I have some SWITs and my FX6 doesn’t read the battery levels on them. It just says 100% all the time, even when I know the SWIT is about to die. I’m curious if the IDX’s do the same thing. I’d love to buy some IDX’s because they look great, but I want them to register with the camera.
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I just bought a bunch of IDX SB-U50s. Camera calculates remaining time from them fine.

They also sit flush with back of camera (maybe 1mm out)
 
Ben Scott said:
Quirks?
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I can't remember the exact minutes...but. The camera (Fx9} display will say that the battery has somewhere around 27 minutes left but yet start beeping with the low battery warning. The camera will then shut down with around 24 minutes left...but if you press the power button on the battery, it displays two of four lights...and yet the camera is dead.

So...i got burned a couple times not grabbing an extra battery for those "last couple shots" only to find the camera dead five minutes later.

But if i'm not mistaken, the Fx6 isn't as power hungry as the Fx9 so it might not experience the same issue.
 
Some updates on using the FX6 for a few days now (although not as much as I'd like):

SD Cards

I've been using the very reasonably priced Kingston Canvas React 128gb at all framerates and resolutions without a problem. Last night I recorded about 5 minutes straight of 4K120 without an issue, and only stopped when I got a warning about the card being nearly full (it had a few other clips on it).

Surprisingly, my old SanDisk Extreme Pro cards (only rated to v30) seemed to work just fine with footage up to 4K60 (although I didn't try more than a few minutes). They did 4K120 for about 20 seconds as well but ultimately failed.

In testing out SD cards I also discovered that two of my Sony M cards are affected by this recall. The camera wouldn't even let me use them: as soon as I put them in the slot I got an error message saying "Cannot use media. Remove the SD card from the slot and contact Sony's SD card inquiry counter." Luckily it sounds like Sony will send replacement cards once they receive the defective ones.


Rating the Camera

In testing the camera's base ISO I found that Sony's claims of 800/12800 were remarkably spot on, as I think others have noted. This is definitely different than what I found with the Fs5, which I seem to recall I rated at 1250 or 1600 (as opposed to the stated base of 2000), and which really needed to be rated at 800 for a clean image.

Buttons

Someone else complained about needing more buttons, but coming from the Fs5 all I can say is my god, what a wealth of customizable buttons :smile: While I'd never turn down more buttons I certainly feel like I have an adequate number. Especially given that a number of key functions I like to turn on/off quickly (e.g., Auto ND, Zebra, Peaking) already have dedicated buttons.
 
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