- New Sony FX5 is the successor to the FX3 compact cinema camera
- A raft of upgrades include a new sensor, processor, battery and open gate recording
- Pricing starts at £4,700 and availability is from August
The industry’s most popular compact cinema camera, the Sony FX3 from 2021, just got a huge upgrade. And having shot multiple productions with this very camera, I can tell you now that its successor, the new FX5, is going to be a big hit.
Last year I drafted in a pro filmmaker who I’ve worked with on many shoots to share the 5 upgrades he most wanted to see in a FX3 mark II, a camera that we now know is actually called the FX5, and almost every one of his wishes has been granted — and there are other improvements too.
Sony has finally included open gate video recording for the first time, meaning users can take advantage of the full height and width of the all-new 16.6MP stacked full-frame sensor’s 3:2 aspect ratio, rather than being restricted to 16:9 or narrower like before.
That new sensor brings a welcome resolution increase from the FX3’s 12MP, and open gate bumps up video resolution from 4K to 5K. Frame rates have been upped to 120fps in 5K and up to 240fps in 4K, too, so slow-motion recording is well catered for.
There’s now internal 16-bit RAW recording, meaning no external monitor is needed for this high-quality format, plus a triple-base ISO, and A7R VI-grade in-body image stabilization.
In fact, every major feature has been upgraded from the FX3. We also get the same Bionz XR2 twin processor and AI chip as the new Sony A7R VI, which delivers enhanced subject-tracking autofocus, and what Sony says is better low-light performance.
The FX5’s form factor is largely similar to the FX3, and at 750g it’s only 35g heavier. There are still multiple on-body mounting points and custom buttons, but there’s now a chunkier handgrip which houses Sony’s latest and higher-capacity NP-SA100 battery, which was introduced in the A7R VI and increases battery life by approximately 30% for approximately 170 minutes of 5K recording.
The FX5 also inherits the same video-only UI as Sony’s high-end cinema cameras, the Venice, Burano and FX6, and gets several design tweaks, including a multi-function dial as on the Venice, as well as a multi selector (joystick) and a tally lamp.
False color, waveform, vector and focus map video monitoring tools have all been added — which is a first for a Sony camera at this level — in addition to the existing histogram, zebra, and peaking tools.
Sounds amazing, so what’s the catch?
It’s not all good news, mind you. The FX5’s dual card slots are still designed to take SD and Sony’s exclusive CFexpress Type A cards, rather than Type B. A word of warning here: if you don’t already own some Type A cards, they cost a bomb.
And on the note of cost, prices for the video-only FX5 start at £4,700. That’s the body-only price, while the bundle with the new top handle costs £5,200 (available separately for £780). I’ll update this page with US and Australia pricing once I have it.
I expect most folks ready to splash the cash on the FX5 will opt for the handle bundle, withwhich they will gain 32-bit float audio recording.
There’s also a new 7.07m-dot tilt OLED viewfinder, which looks particularly neat, even if it costs £650 and can’t be used at the same time as the top handle, despite having its own port alongside the hotshoe.
The camera and accessories will be available from August, with the option to (irreversibly) disable in-body image stabilization ahead of purchase.
Not all of the aforementioned FX5 features will be ready to go, either. Sony says the following will only be available after a V2 firmware update: 4K240p, 5K120p, vertical UI, screen-grab function and Open Gate in XAVC codec. The timing of this firmware update is TBC.
Still, I expect the Sony FX5 to become a mainstay across low-budget productions. It delivers all of the upgrades that FX3 users wanted and more, and I can’t wait to test it out on set.
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