GEAR SONY FX30
MINI CINE
The affordable FX30 is the latest hybrid cinema cam – and marks a return for the evergreen APS-C crop sensor SONY’S SUPER 35 SAVIOUR
J ust when it seemed like Sony was abandoning introduced the new entry-level Cinema Line camera: the FX30. It’s based on the full-frame FX3 – which itself uses the sensor and main technology of the A7S III mirrorless. The FX30 and FX3 have almost identical bodies, except instead of using an existing sensor, this latest camera has an all-new, 26-megapixel APS-C CMOS. It’s also priced very aggressively – Super 35 sensors for serious filmmaking, it went and around half the price of the FX3. At £2100/$1800 for just the body or £2500/$2200 with the intelligent XLR-compatible top handle, it’s a clear warning shot to the newest collection of crop-sensor cameras like the Fujifilm X-H2S or Panasonic GH6. Sony is telling the world that it’s serious about hybrids. While those rivals are more traditional mirrorless cameras with filmmaking spec built in, the FX30 is something different. This is a camera made specifically for shooting movies, so its stills modes are essentially byproducts – and therefore severely limited. The FX30 is first and foremost made to shoot 20.1-megapixel video in a 17:9 crop of the sensor, with a full-fat, 26-megapixel 3:2 stills capability bolted on, allowing you WORDS AND PHOTOS ADAM DUCKWORTH
to shoot some thumbnails for your YouTube videos. For stills, there’s no AF tracking or continuous burst shooting, no electronic viewfinder or compatibility with external flash, no uncompressed Raw files and no AF illuminator. But there are page after page of menu items to let you set all the stills parameters of a conventional Sony mirrorless. Even when you turn the camera on and hit the mode button, there are five different stills modes to choose from – but only one video mode. Frankly, this is a bit silly in a camera primarily used as a filming tool. To set video modes, you have to select video, then dig into menus to set whether you want all-manual, shutter priority and the like. There’s also an S&Q mode for fast and slow shutter speeds – and, of course, you need to get elbow deep in menus to choose the actual speeds. It’s not a major issue, but the myriad of stills modes over video does leave you scratching your head when everything else about the camera is aimed at moviemaking. For example, there are dedicated buttons for white-balance, ISO, zebra, focus peaking and shutter speed. And, the body has five quarter-inch sockets on it so you can affix accessories without using a cage. Plus, the Multi Interface Shoe is for audio equipment to
POCKET ROCKET The FX30 has fantastic filmmaking specs, housed in a tiny body. Perfect for lightweight location shooting
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PRO MOVIEMAKER
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