- New Sony FX5 is the successor to the FX3 compact cinema camera
- A number of upgrades include a new sensor, processor, battery and open port recording
- Pricing starts at £4,700 and availability is from August
The industry’s most popular compact cinema camera, the 2021 Sony FX3, just got a huge upgrade. And having shot several 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 called on a professional filmmaker who I’ve worked with on many shoots to share the 5 upgrades he’d most like to see in an FX3 mark II, a camera we now know is actually called the FX5, and almost every one of his wishes has been met – 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 limited to 16:9 or narrower as before.
The new sensor brings a welcome increase in resolution from the FX3’s 12MP, and open port increases video resolution from 4K to 5K. Frame rates have also been increased to 120 fps in 5K and up to 240 fps in 4K, so slow-motion shooting is well catered for.
There’s now internal 16-bit RAW recording, meaning no external monitor is required for this high-quality format, plus a triple-base ISO and A7R VI-grade in-body image stabilization.
In fact, all major features have been upgraded from the FX3. We also get the same Bionz XR2 twin processor and AI chip as the new Sony A7R VI, delivering improved 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 more mounting points on the body and custom buttons, but there’s now a thicker hand grip which houses Sony’s latest and higher capacity NP-SA100 battery, which was introduced in the A7R VI and increases battery life by around 30% for around 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 like on the Venice, as well as a multi-selector (joystick) and a tally lamp.
False colour, waveform, vector and focus map video monitoring tools have all been added – a first for a Sony camera at this level – in addition to the existing histogram, zebra and peaking tools.
That sounds great, 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 caution here: if you don’t already own some Type A cards, they cost a bomb.
And in terms 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 will update this page with US and Australian pricing when I have it.
I expect most people ready to splash the cash on the FX5 will choose the handle they want to get 32-bit float audio recording with.
There’s also a new 7.07m-dot tilt OLED viewfinder, which looks particularly nice, although it costs £650 and can’t be used at the same time as the top handle, despite having its own port next to the hotshoe.
The camera and accessories will be available from August with the option to (irreversibly) disable in-body image stabilization before purchase.
Not all of the aforementioned FX5 features are ready to use 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 the upgrades FX3 users wanted and more, and I can’t wait to test it out on set.
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