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- So just when you thought it wasn't possible for more cameras to come out in 2020,

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Sony has unsurprisingly, released another camera.

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This is the FX6, the third and final,

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I think, camera, that's in their cinema lineup of cameras

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that includes the FX9, and the Sony Venice.

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And there is a lot of stuff in this box. So let's just take a look at the camera really quickly

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before we look at everything else.

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Feels really lightweight.

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Wow.

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This thing is super light. And like, it fits in the palm of my hand.

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Like, I mean, not quite the palm of my hand, but it fits in one hand.

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It feels kind of like a football, like if a camera was a football,

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this camera. (chuckles) So in this first layer, we have,

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so this is Sony's 24 to 105 F/4,

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which is just a pretty versatile lens. This is the kit lens that comes with the body of the camera.

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If you choose to buy it with the lens, you could also just buy the body by itself.

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Sony has graciously included a CFexpress type A reader.

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So unfortunately this camera, just like the A7S3 requires you to buy a new kind of media.

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The nice thing is, you can still use SD cards.

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You just won't be able to get the highest data rates in the camera if you don't use CFexpress type A.

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The other thing that's weird, this whole CFexpress memory card situation,

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this is a type A card, there's also a type B card that's faster.

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Sony has opted for type A cards.

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Does that mean type B cards don't work? - [Andy] They don't work right now. - You're sure?

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- [Andy] Type B is bigger than Type A. - Oh my God. - [Andy] Yeah.

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- In typical Sony fashion, they've gone with, essentially proprietary media

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because nothing else is currently using CFexpress type A.

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So we'll see in the future how that goes, but it is unfortunate that Sony is still

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going down this road of memory, because so much about their cameras is so great,

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but they stick with essentially proprietary media.

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Okay.

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We have Sony's standard control grip, which they've had with the FS cameras,

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now the FX cameras. I really like this thing, it's really nice to hold.

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We have a type C cable.

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Ah, the card in question, the CFexpress.

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This one's a tough 80 gig, which is sort of a weird capacity as well

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because these days, even 64 gigs is not really a card size you'd want to use

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in a cinema camera because it's just not big enough. At 80 gigs, you're gonna have to buy a lot of these

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to get yourself through a full day of shooting, which again is going to get expensive

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and makes a camera like this, and the A7S3 a more expensive barrier to entry.

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But the really cool thing is, this card is really small.

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So we just ran and quickly grabbed an SD card, and wow, this CFexpress card

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is actually smaller than an SD card.

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Now let's get into the second layer of this box 'cause there's so much stuff in here.

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We have a BPU 35 battery, which is standard on

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FS and FX cameras, they've been using this battery forever. The nice thing about it is that it's actually,

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it lasts quite a long time in the larger sizes, this is a small one.

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But it is a great battery to use in place of something like a V Mount

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if you don't want to go on the heavier end of your setup.

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We also have the monitor.

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So this feels like a very similar setup to

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the FS5 Mark 2, and the FS7's monitors.

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This one's also touch screen, which is nice.

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Oh. A cute little sun hood.

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Look at that, that's kind of fun. It's a nice design.

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And the final piece, I believe, is the ever important, top handle.

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Anyway, let's put this guy together. Look at these two sensors next to each other.

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Are they the same? Sony would not confirm this.

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The FX6 with the battery on the grip

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and the top handle, it weighs four pounds. So the A7S with the battery weighs 1.46 pounds.

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Once you add everything on, the body of this thing

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does end up weighing quite a bit more than A7S.

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But, it has quite a bit more in it.

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Okay, let's do the physical tour. On the left of the camera, you have the audio dials,

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slow and quick display. I am a little disappointed that when you

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hold the camera like this, you can't see the ISO white balance

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and shutter buttons at all. 'Cause it would've been nice if it was within

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like, the easiest things you touch the most.

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The other thing that we have here is the variable ND,

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which lets you have complete control of the depth of field

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going into your camera. You don't have to change your shutter speed, ISO,

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or your F-stop, and you can still affect your exposure.

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You have up to one fourth ND, up to one over 128,

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which is awesome, and a feature that I think every camera should have.

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Sony has done a really good job implementing it in both this camera and the FX9.

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On the bottom here, you have the slow, medium, high for ISO,

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and white balance, AB, and preset, which is pretty standard.

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On the right of the camera, you just have the grip and all the controls on the grip,

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which are really nice: record, zoom rocker, that kind of thing.

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And then you have a little slider has, that lets you change your time coding from an in to an out,

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which is really cool. So on the back you have HTMI, STI, time code, remote,

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and then a DC port for wall power.

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And then on the left of the back, you have the dual CFexpress, and SD card slots.

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So again, just like the A7S3, this camera can use CFexpress and SD cards in either slot,

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or at the same time. Okay, why don't we turn it on.

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via live chat and email. Check it out at squarespace.com/shortcircuit,

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and get a 10% discount in the link in the video description. Okay, now let's turn this guy on and see how long it takes.

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Wow. What was that like, one second, Andy?

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That's honestly impressive. Our reds take like over a minute to turn on sometimes.

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And the Black Magic took maybe about eight seconds. So let's take a gander through the menu here.

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It feels like this menu is inspired by the way that the Venice and the ARRI Alexa is laid out,

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but I'm not a hundred percent sure

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that I'm all for it, because everything on here,

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while it displays everything nicely, you can see your ISO, your shutter, your frame rate,

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and like what image size you're using and what Kodak you're using,

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you can't access everything at all times.

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Sony, please allow access to all settings

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in all of your menus. Like, I understand that certain things

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might not be available in certain modes, but if you're in that mode just don't display it,

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don't gray it out. The most frustrating thing with most Sony cameras that I've ever experienced

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is trying to touch a setting that just says, cannot proceed.

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And then I have to figure out while potentially on set how to change something about it in a specific mode.

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At least give like a help menu, or a tutorial of some kind.

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With enough time, anyone can get through learning how to use the Sony menu.

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They're not rocket science, but they're very annoying and not that intuitive.

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And this one, even though I think it's trying to be intuitive, it is not doing the best job.

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You do have dedicated pages to everything, which is nice.

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So if you long press the menu button on the side of the camera, you actually get the text full menu.

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This kind of reads to me more like the A7S3 does.

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It's not quite the same, but I do like the way that this is

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laid out quite a bit more. Things like shutter angle are really easy to change.

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Everyone gives Sony crap for their menus. If you take enough time, they're easy enough to learn.

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But they are not intuitively laid out. I will still say that

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if you have never used a Sony camera, you will take some time to get used to this.

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In terms of frame rates, this camera can do up to 120 FPS in 4K, and up to 240 FPS in 10 ADP,

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which sounds pretty similar to the A7S3.

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It probably is the same sensor. But I don't know for sure.

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You could also do raw out of the SDI, but unfortunately you can't do raw

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in the slow motion frame rates. You can only get up to 60 FPS in those frame rates.

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The thing that I do like is that you can still record scratch audio while shooting 120 FPS,

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or 240 FPS, just like they did in the A7S3.

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So you have a number of brands this year

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releasing cameras that are much higher than 4K.

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You've got the 12K in the Black Magic, the 6K in the RED Komodo, and you might be asking, okay,

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why would Sony stick to the lower resolution?

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And my take on that is, a lot of people aren't asking

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for higher resolution cameras. What they're asking for is cameras that are

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more fully featured and that are easier to use in the field.

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And it really does feel like Sony has done their best

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to focus on those aspects by making a built-in variable ND filter,

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audio that's easily accessible, a camera body that is really small

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and can be rigged in many different ways and places.

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Are higher resolution cameras cool? Yes. Are they useful in some instances?

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Yes. But do you need them to be significantly more than 4K?

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Sony says no, and I don't necessarily disagree with them.

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Now you might be asking why someone might buy the FX6

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over the A7S3. So what this gives you is built-in NDs, built-in audio,

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and a camera that out of the box, you could use for basically any kind of run and gun shoot,

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or even a short film. Because it's very capable,

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especially when you have the built-in S-Cinetone that allows you to match it with an FX9, or even a Venice.

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So the only thing that you'd be missing once you have media and a battery is a lens.

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And Sony sent over their brand new

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16 to 35 Cine lens as well.

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Let's see what this guy is like

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mounted on the FX6.

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Holy! This lens is huge.

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It does have a built-in servo or built-in-ish, 'cause you can technically remove it.

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But that also allows you to use the zoom rocker

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on the control grip of the camera. So Sony has rehoused their standard stills 16 to 35,

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and made a Cine version of it just like they've done with the 28 to 135.

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Oh my God. Andy, does that look as big as I, like,

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it almost makes, it dwarfs the camera itself.

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But the nice thing that you can do, is you have full servo control

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on the grip. No configuration, no settings,

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just put the camera on, and then you have zoom control.

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Pretty fricking sweet. The base size ISO of this camera is 800 ISO,

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which is pretty standard. And the dynamic range is about 15 stops.

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Now, more actual testing has to be done before we can confirm those 15 stops,

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but it really does look like, considering that you could match the colors of an FX9

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and a Venice to this camera really easily,

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this seems like a pretty compelling package. We're gonna put in some autofocus tests

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and a little bit of footage here at the end of the video, but I have to hand it to Sony.

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They've clearly had a very good year for cameras. That's honestly impressive.

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Like, I couldn't pull focus better than this. Sony has not at all confirmed this,

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but I think what they've done is taken the full-frame sensor performance

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out of their mirrorless lineup of cameras. And just like the FX9, put it into a body

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that's even smaller, and has all those features

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that you'd want in a run and gun package, a camera that you can buy,

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and right out of the box just start using, and not be concerned about buying a million accessories for.

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Like you even have a top hand, you don't even need to buy a top handle, which is an essential part of the cinema camera.

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So good job, Sony. This does feel like a pretty good package,

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and anyone who buys this I'm sure would be quite happy with it.

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So thank you guys for watching. Subscribe to shortcircuit. And if you want to see any more camera videos,

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maybe watch the FX9 video that I did, or the Sony Venice video.

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Sony really has done a very good job rounding out this cinema camera lineup.

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(upbeat music)