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ABOVE The FX9 has a dual native sensor, which means a step up in quality from the FS7
the two base ISOs incredibly quickly by assigning the function to one of the ten customisable buttons. This, partnered with the internal electronic ND, means that, for reactive filmmaking, you can very quickly and easily control your exposure. Image quality With the new sensor comes a step up in overall image quality. During our time with the FX9, we ran a range of tests to see how it performed against the FS7II as well as a few other cameras, including its big brother, the Venice. Putting these cameras head to head, we looked at how their ISO, colour and over- and underexposure performances compared. The FX9 didn’t perform quite as well as the Venice, but it did wipe the floor with the FS7II in every category. You can see the full results in our in-depth FX9 video review on our YouTube channel (details at the end)! Another big addition to the FX9 is S-Cinetone. This colour profile has been designed to mimic the Venice’s colour scienceas closelyaspossible,withthe focus being thequickacquisitionof great-looking imagery that strikes a visual balance between cinematic and video. Autofocus One other serious improvement that the FX9 has over the FS7 is the implementation of the same autofocus system as the latest Alpha series of cameras. This means that
“This level of autofocus in a Sony camera of this quality and design is a massive improvement”
hockey team in action during one of their league matches. You can watch this full short on the CVP YouTube channel. Usability The FX9 body does look very similar to the FS7, but there are a few changes that make it nicer to use. It has a new and improved button layout with some additional buttons and controls, such as the ability to control four channels of audio. On the right-hand side of the body, there is a range of inputs and outputs, the biggest change being the addition of both time code in and out, as well as genlock. One of my favourite features,however, is the introductionof the lights to the buttons that have automatic modes, like iris,white-balance, shutter etc. These lights turn green when any of those settings are set to auto. Thismeans you can quickly glance at the side of the camera and see if any of your settings are set to auto, which you could not do with the FS7. Is it worth investing in the FX9 over the FS7II? Well, that’s down to you, but if you asked me, I would say yes. Not only is the sensor fundamentally better than the FS7 in every way, but it’s also a better camera to use day in, day out. If you want to learn more about the FX9 and see some test footage,headoverto youtube.com/cvptv
the old, slow, contrast-based AF from the FS7 has gone and the new snappy phase- detection and contrast-based AF is here, and it’s absolutely fantastic. The autofocus has 561 points and covers 94% of the horizontal and 96% of the vertical frame – that’s a massive amount. You can customise the autofocus pretty heavily, with it also featuring a few different facedetectionmodesthatperform really well. It allows you to have up to eight different faces in the frame andevenswitch between each one. At some point, Sony will also be introducing its fantastic Eye AF, a feature that Alpha series users rave about, so that will be interesting to see. Honestly, this level of autofocus in a Sony camera of this quality and design is a massive improvement and is an absolute game changer for filmmakers who don’t often runwith a focus puller.We saw this in full effect on our short creative shoot, The Flames , where we filmed the Guildford ice
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