A couple months ago, Sony teased that the FX6 cinema camera was coming before the end of the year. Today, most of the product details including price have now been revealed.
The Sony FX6 takes over where the FS5 II left off after its release in 2018, and even much of that camera was unchanged from 2015’s original FS5. So in the last five years, what has Sony developed for their latest “grab and shoot” cinema camera? A ton, basically.
Now sporting a full-frame 10.2-megapixel BSI CMOS Exmor R sensor, the FX6 can shoot up to ISO 409,600 and has a dual base ISO of 800 and 12,800 in S-Log3. Using S-Log3 at ISO 800 in Cine-EI mode, the camera is reportedly capable of capturing over 15 stops of dynamic range. As with the video-centric a7S III recently released, the FX6 also features the new BIONZ XR for up to four times more processing power that affects all areas of the camera’s operation.
The FX6 can record XAVC-I 4:2:2 10-bit up to QFHD 4K 120p in camera, or DCI 4K up to 60p and Full HD up to 240p. Because of the wide range of recording options to report, it’s probably best viewed and understood in the table below. It should be noted that Slow & Quick (S&Q) mode does not record audio, so the highest frame rate with audio recording will be 59.94p. Proxy files can be created in camera that will record as XAVC-L 1080p at 9 Mbps in an MP4 wrapper.
Sony promises the FX6 will be easy to match footage with the two other Cinema Line cameras, the FX9 and Venice. Available for use in the FX6 is the S-Cinetone look, scene files for in-camera image color and quality adjustments, and importing LUTs.
The revamped hybrid autofocusing system has 627 phase-detect points covering 89 percent of the image area. There’s Sony’s proven Face Detect AF and Real-time Eye AF in the FX6, even during high frame rate shooting. For fine tuning, users can choose between seven autofocus transition speeds and five subject shift sensitivity adjustments.
Sizing up the Sony FX6 body without Smart Grip or Smart Handle, the camera measures 4.57 inches (116 millimeters) tall, 6.02 inches (153 millimeters) long, and 4.48 (114 millimeters) inches wide and weighs 1.96 pounds (0.89 kilograms). Sony has stepped up the construction with its magnesium alloy chassis and much improved dust and moisture resistant sealing. One of the coveted features of the FX6 cinema camera include its 2 to 7 stop variable ND filter that can be manually or automatically adjusted to correct exposure.
Connectivity includes 12/6/3-G SDI output, TC in/out, full-sized HDMI output, remote input, USB-C 3.2, and 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi. First seen on the a7S III, the FX6 has two dual slots that accept CFexpress Type A memory cards or SD cards. The BP-U battery slot remains unchanged, and the camera ships with a BP-U35 included.
The Sony FX6 will begin shipping on December 15, 2020 and be priced at $5,998. There will be a kit option that comes bundled with the FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS lens for $7,198. Because of the holiday timing, if you buy the FE 24-105mm today on sale for $1,098 and order the FX6 as the camera only, you’re saving $100. When the lens goes back to normal pricing, the FX6 kit option will save you $200.
Complete with spec sheet your average forum troll expects from a compact mirrorless camera body.
Actually I am kinda bummed about the raw output here. My FS5 outputs 4K raw 120p for 4 second bursts, and I can shoot raw 2K 240p nonstop with it to the Atomos Shogun Inferno.
It's gonna support Prores Raw. Although as a Davinci Resolve user, that doesn't mean much to me. But I'm happy enough with a solid 10-bit codec.
To be fair, 16-bit Raw in the A7Siii is kinda just marketing speak since it's referring to 16-bit linear raw that is indistinguishable in useful data from 12-bit log, which is what every other Prores Raw shooting camera shoots as well. But again, there will be Prores Raw out of this camera.
Was expecting 6K/5.7K with it...