FX6: The Sony ILME-FX6V Owners Club

Ah, so you still have to use the AtomX SDI thing. At that price no thanks. Even if the SDI *were* integrated it'd be a hard sell...
 
Hey all. I had a question for the “cinema line” guys. Currently I own an FX9. I bought it because I had used it at my staff job when it first launched, and when I went freelance it was still the only one available. Normally I have it paired with the Fuji 20-120. It’s a beast in this configuration, but I do some broadcast work for sports and news, so I needed the fast zoom. I’m now selling that lens because I have an 18-55 that’s far lighter and as I get older and cams get smaller I want to save my back. I was able to get a hold of an FX6, but now I don’t know where to go with my kit. I now have all 3 (A7siii for gimbal). I don’t know if to sell the 9, and keep the 6 and 3. Or sell the 3, and keep the 6 and 9. On one hand, keeping the 2 smaller cams makes more sense to me, but on the other, I fear only being able to use S35 in HD with the MK lens. For run and gun stuff I feel like having the 9 is redundant and it may gather dust, and I’d only break it out in rare S35 4K scenarios. Keeping all 3 just wouldn’t make sense because some of my work still involves travel and I can’t take them all.
 
If you already own all three I'd say sell the 9, get an easyrig minimax and some lenses that will have you covered for the look/range you might need to approximate S35 on the FX6.
 
You never need to shoot interlaced? Lack of interlaced is sometimes a problem for me with the FX6.
 
It can. I've tested it with the Shogun Inferno and it works fine so I assume the Ninja V will do the same.

What I haven't tested is how European news channels (mostly) will react to DNxHD in a .mov wrapper.
 
I do have a shogun inferno, which I had read would solve the 1080i issue, but lately my broadcast clients aren’t bothering too much about interlaced. Even on the Live U in 30p they’re accepting live hits.
 
Has anyone tried the FX9 handle on the FX6 multi connector port? I read that it wasn’t working before the camera had launched, but not sure if that was added since then.
 
stewhem said:
Dawdling between the FX9 and 6. Finally ordered the 6 yesterday. Will update any info as I get it in case it helps anyone else who is waiting.
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My dealer told me to expect to wait 6 weeks at best but it could be between 8 to 12. Have gigs booked so will have to rent till it arrives. At the rate Sony is releasing cameras we'll be on to the FX6 mk2 by then!
 
stewhem said:
My dealer told me to expect to wait 6 weeks at best but it could be between 8 to 12. Have gigs booked so will have to rent till it arrives. At the rate Sony is releasing cameras we'll be on to the FX6 mk2 by then!
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I finally got mine had to wait about six weeks - had to also bug my sales guy as well to get it in that time frame- so yes 8 - 12 could be very realistic -
 
I received the CVP-kit for the FX6 monitor today and it took maybe half an hour to do the modification. What it does is actually to make the FX6 monitor to an FX9 monitor with the included FX9 loupe. To me that's great as it is just like on my FS7. Sturdy and simple to use. The monitor will never sag, I know after six years with the FS7 with the same configuration.

The included SmallRig parts are of good quality but not the best implementation. I prefer to just use the original FS7 clamp with one level to lock both rods instead of the two level solution on the SmallRig similar bracket.

Anyway I don't have to do much more as the weak monitor mount now is solved. Some pictures:

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Teddy_Dem said:
This is an informative video from CVP showing their attempts at trying to match the FX3, FX6, FX9, & VENICE:
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To be honest, I was expecting to disagree with a lot of what this video might have to say about S-Cinetone but it actually confirms most of the things I talk about in my FX6 master class. If you listen to what they say, what they show, and what they do NOT say, it is not exactly a ringing endorsement for S-Cinetone.

-- S-LOG3 always beats S-Cinetone.
-- Although it is supposed to be WYSIWYG, S-Cinetone often needs to be graded anyway to get the most from it. Why not shoot S-LOG3 then?
-- Exposure for S-Cinetone is a pain in the ass because of the way the reproduction of skin tones and other parts of the image change dramatically at different exposures, thus making it more challenging than it needs to be to get a consistent look from shot to shot.
-- S-Cinetone looks like garbage outdoors in bright light or scenes with high contrast.
-- S-Cinetone is designed primarily for shooting human beings indoors, low contrast, night, a little under-exposed, darkish scenes. Period.

It's interesting they give no real exposure advice for shooting with S-Cinetone unless you're shooting a human face, and then they tell you to make a judgement call as to whether the person is dark or light skinned. Look at those percentages on their chart. That is a huge exposure range and open to all kinds of interpretation (aka, "guessing"). I completely disagree that exposure is supposed as subjective as they make it sound. It's not supposed to be guessing game, especially when shooting b-roll or a run & gun documentary where conditions are constantly in flux. Also, it seems very convenient for the producers of this video to totally skip over how to expose for all the other things we shoot that are not human faces. But then again, human faces are really what S-Cinetone is designed for, so if you're not shooting a human face, good luck to you anyway.

I think the biggest shortcoming of the FX6 is the total lack of paint menus and gamma options that will allow us to actually create a nice all-around WYSIWYG image onboard the camera that will look great in many shooting scenarios besides faces. If you don't like S-Cinetone, too bad, you have no other options for a WYSIWYG image. On my FX6 I now shoot S-LOG3 100% of the time for that very reason. If the footage is going to have to be graded anyway, then why not capture the the most flexible images in the first place?
 
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J.Brown said:
I received the CVP-kit for the FX6 monitor today and it took maybe half an hour to do the modification. What it does is actually to make the FX6 monitor to an FX9 monitor with the included FX9 loupe. To me that's great as it is just like on my FS7. Sturdy and simple to use. The monitor will never sag, I know after six years with the FS7 with the same configuration.

The included SmallRig parts are of good quality but not the best implementation. I prefer to just use the original FS7 clamp with one level to lock both rods instead of the two level solution on the SmallRig similar bracket.

Anyway I don't have to do much more as the weak monitor mount now is solved. Some pictures:
Click to expand...

Does it come with the longer rod for positioning it for on the shoulder work?
 
Doug Jensen said:
To be honest, I was expecting to disagree with a lot of what this video might have to say about S-Cinetone but it actually confirms most of the things I talk about in my FX6 master class. If you listen to what they say, what they show, and what they do NOT say, it is not exactly a ringing endorsement for S-Cinetone.

-- S-LOG3 always beats S-Cinetone.
-- Although it is supposed to be WYSIWYG, S-Cinetone often needs to be graded anyway to get the most from it. Why not shoot S-LOG3 then?
-- Exposure for S-Cinetone is a pain in the ass because of the way the reproduction of skin tones and other parts of the image change dramatically at different exposures, thus making it more challenging than it needs to be to get a consistent look from shot to shot.
-- S-Cinetone looks like garbage outdoors in bright light or scenes with high contrast.
-- S-Cinetone is designed primarily for shooting human beings indoors, low contrast, night, a little under-exposed, darkish scenes. Period.

It's interesting they give no real exposure advice for shooting with S-Cinetone unless you're shooting a human face, and then they tell you to make a judgement call as to whether the person is dark or light skinned. Look at those percentages on their chart. That is a huge exposure range and open to all kinds of interpretation (aka, "guessing"). I completely disagree that exposure is supposed as subjective as they make it sound. It's not supposed to be guessing game, especially when shooting b-roll or a run & gun documentary where conditions are constantly in flux. Also, it seems very convenient for the producers of this video to totally skip over how to expose for all the other things we shoot that are not human faces. But then again, human faces are really what S-Cinetone is designed for, so if you're not shooting a human face, good luck to you anyway.

I think the biggest shortcoming of the FX6 is the total lack of paint menus and gamma options that will allow us to actually create a nice all-around WYSIWYG image onboard the camera that will look great in many shooting scenarios besides faces. If you don't like S-Cinetone, too bad, you have no other options for a WYSIWYG image. On my FX6 I now shoot S-LOG3 100% of the time for that very reason. If the footage is going to have to be graded anyway, then why not capture the the most flexible images in the first place?
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Isn't Cinetone supposed to be for matching colour science (as well as can be done with a different camera and sensor) to a Venice so you can use it as a B or C-cam?

It seems it's mostly youtube trying to push it as something other than that.

Not disputing your findings at all. I've not used it once. S709 looks nice.
 
Ben Scott said:
Isn't Cinetone supposed to be for matching colour science (as well as can be done with a different camera and sensor) to a Venice so you can use it as a B or C-cam?
It seems it's mostly youtube trying to push it as something other than that.
Not disputing your findings at all. I've not used it once. S709 looks nice.
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If you want to match cameras, S-LOG3 will provide far more leeway in post than S-Cinetone could ever dream of. Matching cameras is not really what it is about. The Youtubers really are pushing S-Cinteone exactly as Sony intended them to push it -- as a shortcut to get "cinematic" images when no time for effort will be put into grading. Think of S-Cinetone as being kind of an "auto" mode for getting WYSIWYG images that are sometimes going to be good enough that certain clients and viewers will accept them. But the problem is that S-Cinetone is only going to look good enough for a discerning viewer under a very narrow set of conditions. Sony's previous cameras, such as the FS7, F55, FX9, etc. provide far more tools for getting a decent WYSIWG look out of the camera. All of that is thrown out the window on the FX6 because today's camera operators don't want to be bothered with menu settings. That is pretty much what Sony has told me directly, but obviously they aren't going to say that in public. So Sony now gives us S-Cinetone and a handful of even worse REC709 gamma modes. If you don't like them, then shoot S-LOG3. Those are your only choices on the FX6.
 
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All I ever use is SLog3 so I'm not best placed to go into detail with all the other stuff. Will take your word for it.


If I had a vlogging youtube channel it would be the shortest videos ever. 'The best shortcut to cinematic images is to learn how to light'. The end.
 
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