FEATURE | NEW CAMERAS
Atomos has announced on-board Raw recording in conjunction with Sony’s XDCA- FX9 extension unit
SONY FX9 Anyone with a less understanding bank manager might think about Sony’s FX9, which appeared at IBC and seems cast as a full-frame version of the FS7. As such it’s lighter than even Alexa LF; at 2kg body only, it consumes a positively miserly 35.2W while offering 60fps in 4K and 180 in HD; the full sensor is 6008 x 3168. On-board recording is in Sony’s H.264 variant, XAVC, in a variety of intra-frame or long-gop bitrates up to a healthy 600Mbps. There is no on-board Raw recording, but Atomos has announced that capability in conjunction with Sony’s XDCA-FX9 extension unit. The XDCA-FX9 also provides V-lock battery compatibility (no bad thing, even at 35 watts) and a DWX-compatible audio slot. There is no mention of ProRes recording, which the equivalent XDCA-FS7 extension unit offered for the FS7. Sony showed the FX9 at IBC with the upcoming 16-35mm lens, a semi-manual design similar in concept to the existing 18-135mm options that have been widely deployed on the FS7. Covering the FX9’s full-frame sensor, these lenses suit the camera’s E-mount and might help blunt the sticker shock that goes with fast, high-ratio, full-frame zooms. One signal advantage of the E-mount is that it is probably the shallowest in the industry and is therefore adaptable, at least mechanically, to suit more or less any piece of glass ever made. The camera lists for £10,000 plus tax.
THE WORLD OF BROADCAST
improve. Satellite providers might well feel nervous, not necessarily of JVC’s many developments in the field of mobile phone video links, but because of what they hint at in future. While the communications technology is great, Sony reminds us that there’s still somewhere for sensor tech to improve. The 4K PXW-Z750 is, again, of the tried-and-tested ENG layout, but crucially has a global shutter sensor. Whether we’re stuck in a press pack full of flickering camera flashes or shooting the whirling blades of a helicopter, the ability to avoid distracting rolling shutter artefacts is one that most people would like to see migrate up to the much larger sensors of production cameras, too.
Going by the sheer number of hours shot, high-end production cameras for narrative drama are positively rare compared to the thousands of ENG cameras that are rolling at any given moment. That’s reflected in the continued development of traditional, shoulder- mounted broadcast cameras such as JVC’s GY-HC900. Promoted as the ‘connected cam’, the HC900 is of standard physical layout, but offers huge on-board networking and communication facilities. With 5G networks on the cusp of rollout, there’s probably never been a better time to nix the satellite truck and send the material back to base via a couple of mobile phone links teamed up, and things are only likely to
IMAGES The FX9 boasts an E-mount, one of the shallowest in the industry
52 DEF I N I T ION | NOVEMBER 20 1 9
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