Should You Buy The Sony FX30, A7 IV or FX3?!

hey everybody Jake here from CVP and today we are comparing three Sony cameras the new fx30 A7 mark IV and fx3 we'll be explaining the differences to help you decide on which camera you may need to grab for your next project before getting into the differences and comparing them they actually all share a few things they all run similar menu software or use Sony's email which has a huge ecosystem of lenses around it they all have excellent phase and contrast detection autofocus excellent in-camera image stabilization systems they all feature similar recording formats using Sony's xabc compression they all feature the same color profiles such as a slog3 escamba 3. cinetone they use the same mpf Z100 battery they have the same excellent white balance function very similar inputs and outputs and they all feature dual ISO sensors though they are slightly different they really do share a lot but if you're looking at just Sony systems you probably know the benefits of them already however if you want to learn more specifically about them we've done big long reviews of each of these cameras links to which are in the description below we didn't include the a7s3 in this comparison as we already compared the entire Cinema line before the fx30 came out and if you're looking at the differences between the a7s 3 and fx3 I would seriously suggest checking that video out as well anyway let's start off looking at the differences between the fx30 and the a74 these two cameras are going to be compared massively due to their incredibly similar price points the a74 is 2400 pounds and the fx30 is roughly 2 100 pounds for body only or 2 500 pounds with the optional XLR top handle well they are priced incredibly similarly they're actually pretty different cameras first off the bat the a74 is a hybrid camera through and through it can capture excellent video and stills whereas the fx30 is squarely aimed at acquiring video with very compromised sales features for comparison the fx30 can only shoot single frames and it features no mechanical shutter the a74 has a mechanical shutter and can capture up to 10 frames per second this along with the vast Stills features and settings that both cameras have make it a much more powerful Stills camera than the fx30 and this is also reflected in their body designs the A7 Force body design fits in line with the rest of the Alpha Series of cameras throughout the years and it's still clearly designed for still use you can definitely still use it for video though especially with a little bit of customizing of the button layout however the fx-30s body is much better for shooting video than the a74 it has a slightly different button layout and more obvious recording buttons you also have three bright tally lamps which make it incredibly obvious that you are recording it also has a range of quarter inch threads across its body which makes mounting it in more creative ways much easier though I would still recommend grabbing at least a half cage for it however the fx3 and 30 do feature better cooling solutions than the Alpha Series of cameras thanks to the addition of a fan and better intakes and exhaust for air and this means you have a much lower chance of running into overheating issues whereas you may with the a74 the fx30 and 3 feature the same dual card slot that can take either uh S2 SD cards or see if Express type A the a74 can take the same but only has one dual slot with one slot only being able to take SD cards one of the biggest differences between the two is the evf on the a74 whereas the fx-30 does not have an evf on its body just the rear LCD monitor this viewfinder is excellent on the a74 it features a 3.6 million dot OLED display that is great to use whether you find this crucial for your work will depend on how you like to shoot but it certainly can be helpful for certain shooting scenarios to get an evf onto the fx30 you'll need to rig up a third-party one onto the camera which will add a lot of bulk and weight to the camera to get a good quality one it will also cost a lot as well depending on the work you do and how you do it you may be better off looking at a monitor instead of an evf though for the same price as the a74 you can get the fx30 with the top XLR handle that was originally released with the fx3 this handle uses the Mi shoe on the top of the camera to directly communicate with the camera this handle adds much better preamps than the ones used on the 3.5 millimeter mic inputs on the camera and on the A7 IV so if you want to capture better quality audio this is an awesome option it offers two full-size XLR inputs with phantom power as well as a 3.5 millimeter mic input and then a bunch of controls you can also capture four channels of audio and monitor them all simultaneously the fx30 can also Jam Time code via the USBC with the correct adapter cable which means you can keep a Channel of audio free whereas with the a74 you will have to use the mykin port the handle itself is pretty good but not the sturdiest but story do make some accessories for it which could make it even better if you want a similar XLR unit for the a74 you can grab the XLR k3m which will add pretty much all of the same functionality without the top handle another big difference is the sensors each camera uses and the image they can produce both are backside illuminated CMOS sensors for the A7 4S is a 33 megapixel full frame sensor and the fx30 uses a 26 megapixel aps-c size sensor when comparing the latitude between the two cameras the a74 wins out very very slightly but both do form very well and look to have similar damage range the a74 also looks better in lower light situations than the fx30 does but they both do perform very well both cameras have pretty bad roll and shutter artifacts however this is easy to shoot around on both they can both produce great detailed imagery thanks in part to the down sampling happening in both of them with the fx30 featuring a smaller sensor it also opens up the camera to be used with a great range of lenses as well as speed boosters this means that you can use a lot more lenses on the fx30 than the A7 IV not only that but lenses designed to cover abs-c are normally smaller lighter and more affordable than their full-frame counterparts it's good to have the option to also use a Speed Booster so you can achieve similar looking imagery to that possible with larger sensors but you will lose the reliability of the excellent autofocus possible with other adapters and Native e-mount lenses but for more controlled Cinema Productions or people wanting to mainly use manual focus using a speed booster could be a good way to maximize image quality we've done a video detailing exactly why you may want to use a Speed Booster and how they work which you can check out via the link in the description below the fx3 and 30 also feature a zoom rocker on the shutter button this allows you to control powered zoom lenses or clear image Zoom to achieve some really smooth consistent zooms this is possible on the A7 IV but it requires rebinding the function to two buttons which isn't ideal Sony has been making more and more powered Zoom options as of late which are great for video so fingers crossed we keep seeing more of them the fx30 can capture a 4K up to 120 frames per second however it has a heavy 1.6 times crop to avoid this you will need to shoot 4K at 50 or 60. it can also capture full HD up to 240 frames per second with no crop whereas the a74 can capture 4K up to 60 which also has a crop or full HD 120p which does not both of these have compromises but the fx30 clearly has the better options out of the two all three cameras feature full-size HDMI ports but the fx30 and fx3 can output Pro as raw whereas the a74 cannot this could be a pretty important feature for those who want to capture raw for more flexibility in posts the menu systems across the two of them are very similar however the fx30 does have the edge slightly over the a74 when it comes to more video features and usability Sony introduced version 2.0 firmware a while back for the fx3 and since then this has been a clear distinction between the fx3 and 30 and the Alpha Series cameras includes functions such as log shooting mode which allows you to shoot in three different modes when recording an s-lock 3 cine eye cine eye quick and flexible ISO flexible ISO is like shooting a picture profile level on the a74 whereas cine EI is more akin to the cine EI modes in the higher end Cinema line cameras and it's great for more controlled shooting scenarios you can also ingest up to 16 user Luts into the fx3 and 30 whereas you can't with the Alpha Series cameras you can bake these into your recorded image or just use them as a monitor lock next is the new list style main menu system this is a new layout for the main menu which gives faster access to Key video menu items they also updated the standby movie screen to put all the settings around your image similar to venice's evf layout so that way you have a full view of your image and your settings at the same time without obstructing your frame these are some pretty key differences between them and for anyone looking at shooting video professionally primarily these will make the fx30 a better camera to use day to day comparing the fx30 and fx3 is a slightly easier comparison as they share so much they share the same physical design in pretty much every way the only difference is being the model number here the full frame label the sensor and light cluster here the NFC logo the color of the quarter 20 threads which are black on the fx30 and silver on the fx3 and of course the biggest difference the size of the sensor the price is also very different the fx30 is just 2500 pounds with the top handle or 2 100 pounds without it which is much cheaper than the fx3 which is only available with the top handle and is around 4 000 pounds that's quite a decent chunk and for people on a budget needing to grab lenses media audio equipment and other bits of Kit it will definitely be worth considering the biggest difference between the two is the sensor sizes resolutions and recording options both are backside illuminated CMOS sensors but the fx3 uses a 12.1 megapixel full frame sensor and the fx30 uses a 26 megapixel aps-c size sensor the readout speed of the fx3 is much faster than the fx30 she will experience much less running shutter artifacts with the fx3 the fx3 also has around a stop extra damage range compared to the fx30 and does perform better when it comes to Latitude performance I also prefer the way the image of the fx3 looks over the fx30 though both can look good the fx3 is also a low light monster it really does perform excellently in low light and you can really see the difference between the two of them here they both featured two base isos but the fx3s is much higher compared to the fx30 however the fx30 does look pretty good considering its sensor size and resolution both cameras can capture 4K 120p in their slow and quick mode however the fx30 has a 1.6 times crop when in this mode whereas the fx3 can record this while using the full sensor readout I think the high frame rate footage does look better out of the fx3 but that isn't surprising the fx30 has slightly restricted photo capabilities over the fx3 as well the fx30 has no mechanical shutter whereas the fx3 does it also only has a single shooting still mode no continuous modes whereas the fx3 has both of these there is also no flash sync control on the fx3 but honestly these aren't massive emissions given that the FX cameras are definitely more video focused than Stills however the camera still does have basic Stills options it just isn't quite as powerful of a Stills camera as it could have been removing this shutter could also have kept the pricing of the camera down which is one of the biggest differences between the fx3 and 30. there is also no NFC in the fx30 whereas there is with the fx3 the USB C on fx30 has been updated to the same standard as the A7 IV though and this means improved resolution and frame rate options and previous Alpha and FX series cameras including the fx3 but they both share very similar autofocus systems there are actually some differences here the fx30 has human as well as animal and bird tracking in its video mode whereas the fx3 does not the fx30 also features two tools that the fx3 does not focus map and lens breathing compensation Focus map is a new manual focusing tool which is kind of like false color but for what's in Focus or not lens breathing compensation will take the metadata being read out from compatible e-mount lenses and correct for Focus breathing with a slight crop this is also possible in post 2 now with all of this in mind which camera is best for you well they all have different pros and cons the a74 is the obvious choice out of the three if you need a camera that can shoot Stills and good quality video if you must have an evf it's also the obvious choice unless you can stretch to the a7s3 if you're primarily focused on video it also performs excellently in this video mode it has detailed footage with good color and low light performance but it does lack a lot of the video functions that the FX series of cameras have it also suffers from really poor running shutter performance but so does the fx30 however the fx30 offers a really nice blend of everything you need to shoot great quality video and it's also the most affordable out of the three it offers a much better shooting experience for video than the a74 but I would say a slightly worse image the fx3 is the most expensive by a good margin but it takes everything great about the fx30 but pairs it with an incredibly versatile fast sensor improved image quality and frame rate options if you can stretch to it it's a really good option for filmmakers wanting a blend of image quality and shooting experience in the Sony line if you want some more tailored advice on exactly what camera may be best for you don't hesitate to get in contact with our experience team via the details in the description Sony have been struggling with stock issues for a while now but fortunately at the recording of this video we actually have stock of the fx3 and the a74 and the fx30 is now available to pre-order so if you're after grabbing Netflix through on a74 head over to our site now or if you want to grab an fx30 I would suggest putting your name down on a pre-order as soon as possible all of these cameras can go wrong and all of them will need accessories around them to get the most out of them luckily we offer support on both of these points our technical team will be able to assist you with recommending the best accessories for the package you want to create and our in-house Sony certified engineering and support team will be able to help you if you have any issues with your camera if you have any more questions about the cameras or if we've forgotten to mention something let us know in the comments we've done various videos covering all of these cameras so if you want to learn more you can check them out on our Channel let us know which you would choose in the comments below and if you like the video please give it a like and maybe consider subscribing so you don't miss out on our awesome upcoming content and thank you so much for watching [Music]

Channel: CVP

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Id: yZvk1CbBDA8

Length: 15min 8sec (908 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 06 2022