this review is going to be a little bit
different to my other camera views that i've made for a number of reasons the first one is
last summer in fact on the 3rd of august 2020 i published a video that was 75 minutes long
the second longest review that i've ever made for youtube and as of right now it's had actually
almost 200 000 views which my channel is pretty high so what does that have to do with this
review well that was for the sony alpha 7 s3 otherwise known as the a7sIII and the fx3 is an
a7siii with a different body so yeah pretty much all the changes are physical the features
the recording modes the menus the image they're all identical to the a7siii the only
software feature that was different when i tested out the camera was it had an additional picture
profile number 11 which has s-cinetone in it depending on when you're watching this and
if i manage to get my review out on time there is a firmware update coming out or has
come out giving the a7s iii S cinetone I will of course cover the key features of the fx3 in this
video but if you want a really detailed look at what the camera is capable of i highly recommend you
watch my a7s iii review it is long but i promise you the time will fly by it's informative funny
and entertaining i think well that's what the comments say anyway what i want to concentrate on
in this review are the physical changes both the great and the not so great trying to figure out
why sony made this camera who they made it for what i wish they'd done differently and maybe
could still do to make it more compelling for many people including myself and how it fits into
the whole alpha and cinema line of sony cameras the fx3 is an incredible video camera it has specs
and performance which outclass cameras many times its price this isn't news though because
as i've said it's an a7s iii in a different body in my "best cameras of 2020" video which
was the last video that i actually made i awarded the best video camera of the year to
the alpha 7s iii even though it isn't officially classified as one by sony it has the designation
interchangeable lens camera e-mount ilce which they have used for all of their stills cameras since
2013. so despite being a mirrorless stills camera officially it's also a killer video camera
sony's fx6 camera came in a close second but the value for money of the a7s iii pushed
it ahead to me and the fx6 has the new acronym i l m e which stands for interchangeable
lens movie e-mount which the fx3 also has even though it is as much a sales camera
as the a7 s3 anyway enough about names for now the video you get from these cameras is
just beautiful i cannot emphasize this enough here's a quick run-through of the headline
features of the fx3 and the a7s iii they both have the same full frame sensor now many people say
the camera is sampling the sensor one to one which isn't strictly true the horizontal resolution
of the sensor is 4240 pixels and it down samples that to get to 3840. by 2160 uhd 4k there is no
crop the horizontal field of view is identical in stills and video with both cameras it's like this
in 4k up to 60p but when you get into 100p 120p you do get a 1.1x crop because in this mode
it is actually sampling one to one because down sampling is just too processor intensive you also
get full sensor 1080p recording up to 240 frames per second although when you are in this mode in
the 200 frames per second mode you are actually getting an effective pixels of just 1408 by 804
even though the recording will be 1920 by 1080. so it isn't as detailed as normal hd mode and does
have moire and aliasing so because of this i do tend to mainly use the 4k 120p for slow motion and
it does look so much better than the 200 and 240p there is no super 35mm mode in 4k as
there aren't enough pixels for that but there is an hd but you can use clear
image zoom to get a 1.5 times nearly flawless digital crop in 4k although you do lose
most of the autofocus tracking abilities both cameras have identical recording
codecs all of which are capable of 10 bit with a varying degree of compression depending
on what you select there's a really superb XAVCS-I inftraframe codec which i really love because it
lets you edit natively without having to transcode these proxies on most modern computers, both of the
cameras have the same dual card slots which are dual media taking sd cards or the new cf express
type a cards for the more demanding codecs, but you can record in every frame rate including the very
highest ones without needing these. v90 sd cards are fine it's just you won't be able to record them
in iframe neither camera are officially called dual iso sensors but well unofficially they pretty
much are in slog3 both cameras base sensitivity is 640 iso with a usable dynamic range of about 13
stops when you get to the second sort of base iso of 12800 you have almost the same noise levels as
640 iso with only a small drop in dynamic range i have a dedicated video all about this which
is linked in the description below and somewhere up there as well both cameras have a full size
hdmi out which is capable of outputting 10 bit 422 uncompressed video as well as 16 bit raw but
you do need a compatible recorder and currently that means the atomos ninja v which takes that
16-bit raw and converts it into 12-bit prores one it's not capable of recording in any other raw
format the video autofocus is the second best i've ever used on any camera it was the best
until i received a review sample of the new alpha one last week which is even better, this camera
here.The way that it is able to rack focus in autofocus is so smooth you would swear it was
a fully manual lens being pulled by a focus puller that being said the a7S III and fx3 is no slouch it has
amazing face and eye tracking ability it works in every single frame rate and resolution
including raw it really is just incredible, as is the touch screen tracking feature you just touch
the subject or object that you want to be in focus and it will stick to them and follow them almost
like glue and when i say touch the object i mean the screen not.... you know what i'm saying what
it doesn't have in video is animal eye auto focus tracking in stills mode it does just not in video
mode even though in the video auto focus menu you can select it and it clearly shows as a stills/
video feature via the icon it just doesn't work Sony also says it doesn't work but it is time
for it to work oddly enough when in human mode it does track some animals but it is pretty rare. Canon animal video autofocus is absolutely tremendous so come on sony! i've had a petition going
since last year and it's been nowhere near enough people signing it so if we can get a
lot more signatures maybe we can make it happen the fx6 came out in late 2020 and with
it launched sony's cinema line series it's unusual in the launch line because it wasn't
the first camera in the new lineup both the fx9 and the high-end cinema camera the venice were
included as part of this lineup which came out much earlier they just became part of the cinema
line when that was launched. so what is this cinema line actually let's start
with something a bit more basic what is a cinema camera? well for me it's a
term that has really become rather meaningless i previously had always considered digital cameras
made specifically to film movies big budget tv shows high-end commercials etc to be cinema
cameras, the cameras i'm referring to are cameras like the arri alexas the reds the canon c700, sony
f65 and the venice these are true cinema cameras to me cameras which are designed to be used with a
crew not by a single operator.the cameras that can be integrated into proper large set environments
with all the professional connections you need and have very high end recording options and
with an image designed to mimic film as closely as possible they also need to be able to shoot
24p dead on not 23.98 24p and have the ability to shoot in the dci aspect ratio.t hese days
everything that isn't a stills camera seems to be called a cinema camera and the most it's really
just marketing as these are video cameras and there's nothing wrong with calling them that, look
is canon c100 really a cinema camera for example of course not but it was a really
great budget super 35 mm video camera so looking at sony's cinema line i personally
would call the venice a cinema camera the fx9 a broadcast video camera and the fx6 is a general
purpose video camera what makes the fx9 a broadcast video camera things like the legacy codecs, the
ability to record in the wonderful interlaced and be integrated into a broadcast infrastructure.
the fx6 has no legacy codecs or ability to record in interlaced it's not designed for broadcast
but of course it still can be used in broadcast it can also be used for most things like the fx9
can too, both of these cameras would work really well in cinema productions most likely being used
as b cameras but totally capable of being the main camera they both shoot dci 4k in dead on 24p
they both shoot in 10 bit 422 and can do 16-bit raw out, although the fx9 does need that rather
big extension on the back to do so the fx6 doesn't so that brings us to the fx3 this is the cinema line fx3 it certainly looks the part with the lovely nice
gray color introduced with the sony venice, it's a gorgeous design so much slicker and more
modern looking than the rather tired and outdated alpha series of mirrorless cameras but
it is still an a7S III within that lovely exterior and the a7SIII is not part of the cinema line
despite being essentially the same as the fx3 confusing isn't it does it really
matter what a camera is called does the naming really matter well no of
course not but it does muddy the waters making it really quite confusing for
people who are looking to buy a camera it certainly looks like a mirrorless stills
camera right down to the hand grip with the shutter button yes this camera takes photos too
it has all the same photographic performance as the a7S III, it has the exact same connections on
the body as the a7s iii we have the full size hdmi 3.5 mm mic input and 3.5 mm
headphone out usb-c for power delivery charging and connecting to your computer and a micro
usb for things like time lapse triggers although it does have a nice interval mode
in the stills menu which works really well if you want a really simple way of shooting time
lapse you can go into s & q mode and go as low as one frame per second, that looks really nice
it has the exact same fully articulating lcd screen as the a7s ii which is a shame as
it's not the best i wish the screen was bigger brighter and at a higher resolution
in fact we have the same quality screen on the alpha one their flagship camera. it really
is time to improve your lcd screens please sony and this is even more important on the fx3
because the single biggest difference to the a7s iii is there's now no evf they've lopped
it off they've decapitated the a7s iii so you can now only use the lcd screen unless
you connect an external viewing device obviously now personally this is a big problem for me the
a7s iii has the best EVF used it's an absolute joy to use yes it is fixed in one position
because that's what stills cameras evs alike yeah so it's not that much using the tripod unless
it's exactly your height but for handheld shooting it's so great when it's too awkward
to use for a specific angle or shot then you do have the articulating lcd screen by
losing the evf there's now a totally flat top of the camera which is rather reminiscent of the
aps-c line of stills cameras like yeah the a6500 etc and also the new a7c although they still
have a little evf in the top left-hand corner on top of the fx3 there is the usual
multi-interface shoe but something new is three quarter 20 mounting points two of them
are used for the included handle pro audio unit this is very much based on the XLR K3M device
that you can buy for sony cameras with mi shoes gives you two xlr trs combo jacks which are
switchable from line to mic to phantom power in addition there's a 3.5mm stereo mic
input which can be used on its own or to give you up to four channels of 24 bit audio, having this
integrated so solidly into the handle is a really fantastic part of the camera and something i can't
imagine being made available separately due to the very specific way it mounts onto the fx3.i've
always worried about the XLR K3M style devices because there's been lots of them over the
years because the mi shoe connection isn't the most robust thing in the world, but on this
handle with those screws feels pretty solid unlike the xlr k3m unit you don't get an included
microphone or the extension cable for the mi shoe not having these is not that big a deal
on this camera i mean the microphone was really never that great but better than none, the
extension cable i really do like but there's no use for it on this camera with the handle
because you can't relocate it unlike you can with the k3m. there's also a quarter 20 mounting
point on the grip which i think is for that really lovely thing called vertical video my
favorite but maybe there is a secondary reason there is also a really bizarrely placed 1/4 20
just above the hdmi port, if you attach most things onto it you will block that port. you could use it
for an hdmi clamp though as there isn't any other hdmi protector that comes with the camera unlike
with the a7s iii, but maybe that mounting point and the one on the grip and underneath could be used
with the upcoming air peak drone... speculating i don't actually. know there's quite a few changes
to the positions of the dials and buttons. the top mode dial of the a7s iii is now a button on the rear
of the camera and the exposure compensation dial has completely disappeared it's now purely done
through menus and shortcuts. the power switch by the shutter button on the a7s iii has now
become a servo zoom controller although there are currently just two full-frame servo zooms i
think that work with this, but you can also use that servo zoom with clear image zoom. the actual
power switch is now on the rear of the camera too there's a nice big record button on the top as
well as one on the front a very welcome addition the shortcut buttons are pre-assigned and
labeled you can of course change them but we now have a white balance and iso shortcuts
up on the top of the camera and the rear dial also has marked preset functions. i really like
the new tally lights which you can turn off and on depending on how you want to use them, there's
a small red one visible from the front the record button on the top lights up and there's a really
bright one above the lcd screen on the back and in the menu you can choose to have a big red
border on the lcd screen when you're recording there really is no way you are not going to
know when you're recording on this camera the last major physical difference between the
fx3 and the a7siii is there's now a physical fan to avoid overheating. the a7s iii could
overheat in certain situations but very rarely especially when you have the power of temperature
set to high on the camera in the menus don't worry about engaging this as
it has no effect on the image quality and does no damage to your camera whatsoever
it just makes the body warm up a little bit what's that smell? i did some really rather
unscientific overheating tests for this video both with the screen folded to the body and flipped
out, you definitely get much longer with the screen flipped out with both cameras. despite having the
fan i still did get overheating with the fx3 in the 4k 120p mode i managed to get just over an
hour at 22 degrees celsius ambient temperature and when i was at 44 degrees i got about 25
minutes, this was with the fan set to auto so it kicked in when it needed to the a7s iii with
the screen closed obviously didn't get as long recovery available for both cameras is super
quick for the length of time it's going to take me to tell you about the sponsor of this
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in that short rest period for the camera you can record for almost as long as you did before it's
shut down the fan definitely helps when things are really hot how much i can't say categorically
as i couldn't do any testing in the real world outside under a hot sun as it's winter here. why
anyone would need to record 4k 120p for this long in one continuous take i don't know but if you
really want the longest recording in this mode you could use a dummy battery into a v-lock or mains
power adapter. whilst editing this video i did one final test using a dummy battery with the
a7s iii as the fx3 had gone back by then and in that setup with the screen out temperature
of about 22 degrees i managed to get over six hours of 4k 100p that is a lot and it would have
kept on going but i needed to stop it to get the camera back to do some other things. most times
in the real world whatever that is in these days you will be using the fz100 battery though but
with either camera if you ever do experience any overheating issues you could use a dummy
battery solution and a v-lock battery and you should be able to keep on going much longer.
the biggest thing that the camera had over the a7s iii or me when i first learned about it was it
had S cinetone but as i've mentioned the a7s iii now has or is about to have it via firmware.
now i didn't know about this until i had shot all of my tests of course, i spent a few hours down
at richmond lock doing some side-by-side tests with two cameras i shot in s log 3 on both of them
an fx3 in S cinetone and the a7s3 and the fake s cinetone which is the one created by paul ream of
the extrashot YouTube channel. "but the real test is with let's move this stick out of the way"
fun fact for you, paul was actually my old boss when i first started at sky news when i was just 18 years
old. anyway that s-cintonel tone was programmed into the camera via the picture profile settings and
it's actually really good looking very close to s cinetone, of course now with the real one on
the a7s iii you don't need the fake one but i was really impressed nevertheless, but if you want
the best dynamic range you really should shoot in s log 3 s gamut 3 cine as s cinetone does
cost you about two stops of dynamic range i think it's finally time to address the big
questions of what's the point of this camera who's it for and what could they done differently to
make it better, well in my opinion, by losing the evf but giving it a very nice professional audio
solution it could definitely appeal to people more than the a7s iii, who exactly i'm not sure.
one thing about losing evf which could definitely appeal to certain people is it's gonna be much
better on gimbals because it doesn't have that evf to get in the way and it is lower so
you've got a better rear clearance for heavier lenses but you want to put the xlr handle on
at the same time as that will get in the way this is the dji ronin rs2 with the sony a7c and a
200 to 600 mm lens and it's balanced why? because it felt impossible. will i ever use
it? no. maybe it's for vloggers as they pretty much just use the lcd screen as they are mostly filming
themselves there is a front record button after all so that is perfect for them but the camera is
more expensive than the a7s iii despite losing evf but you do get the xlr handle but then is
that of any use to vloggers because they hold the camera at about an arm's length from
their face so a shotgun mic on the xlr module will be too close to them and pointing over
their head and there's no way of angling it down which is how you'd have a shotgun mic
pointing at a subject in the case of the a7s iii vloggers tend to use top mics that go into
the 3.5mm input of the camera like the rode videomic ntg or the really lovely mi shoe
cableless microphone the sony ecm b1m, both of which are great and a much better audio solution
for vloggers so sony, thank you for sparing me the misery of having to review this thing that
i already had, for more money, the xlr inputs nobody uses that we use lav mics tethered
like a school child would. if it's me I'd but the Sony A7S III just for the on off switch
and it's slightly cheaper slightly lighter there you go clearly part of the price you're
paying for the fx3 is that xlr handle but if you wouldn't use it and even if you don't use
the evf the a7sii makes more sense as at the time of the making of this video it is much
cheaper and is the same camera, you cannot buy the fx3 without the handle again at the time
i'm making this review maybe that will change look i know i am of a different generation to most
people out there filming, i'm in my 32nd year of this business which is longer than most of you lot
have been alive. i did wonder if my love of the evf was misplaced and i'm just old-fashioned and maybe
people just used built-in lcd screens these days so i did a poll in a couple of facebook groups
asking people how they used their a7s iiis there were different results in both groups
in one the "i only use the lcd screen" came top in the other group most put
that they used external monitors only using the lcd screen came in third
now i don't know how many of these people put down external monitors because they record
with the ninja v prores raw, i should have asked that question really because that is the only
way to record in that format. so people clearly do like to shoot using the lcd screen a lot i do
too but i also love using the evf and it truly is an essential feature for me when i was shooting
these shots with the manual sirui anamorphic lens to make sure i was in focus initially i was using
the digital punch in getting it right there but when i was rolling i had to rely upon peaking
which has never been great to be honest and even in the evf but much worse on the lcd scree, at
least with an evf i would have had a much better chance of accurately putting focus and after i'd
done this shot i couldn't even check the shot back by looking in evf to make sure i've got it
because there isn't one, in playback mode on the lcd screen you cannot zoom in on a shot to
check your focus only in stills. with an evf you have a nice big image so you can see if you've
got it or not. the fx6 doesn't come with an evf either it doesn't even have the loop that the fx9
has, so i added my own evf the zacuto graticall eye so i tend to use that and the lcd screen
which i've moved to the back of the camera but i also frequently use an external monitor
when i'm on a tripod when i'm filming interviews the problem for me with not having an evf is i
found i was shooting my handheld stuff way lower than i normally would, yes i am quite tall being
six foot two and when using evf shooting handheld maybe i'm a little bit too tall at times
but i could easily squat down a little bit i just found that hand held with the fx3 everything
was much much lower because holding the camera up to your face to get that same sort of height
is really uncomfortable, so by default you do keep holding the camera much lower. when i first
found out about the camera it was via presentation and one of the things that was said was it
has a cage built into it so you don't need one i would certainly recommend getting one if you
buy this camera and intend to mount a monitor or an external evf like the Zacuto gratical on it
alongside the xlr handle. i did try to set it up to show you what it would be like but i would
not shoot like this because it didn't feel solid at all or robust, it also did look rather silly but
a big part of that is the size of the evf, i don't know of any external evfs out there that are as
good as the Zacuto gratical hd or the graticall x that can be powered by a battery on the actual evf
all the other ones need external power and there is no power out on the fx3. just like the a7s iii
there's only one tripod mounting point underneath there's no additional locating hole so your
tripod plates will start to come loose and spin a cage will fix this as it will give you many
mounting points on the underside of your camera just be aware that you will need to buy a brand
new one for this camera as no previous cages made for sony cameras will fit, trust me i've
tried because of the way that handle sticks out also the camera isn't as tall as the a7 s.
one thing that i would love sony to make is something that i first showed in my fx6 review. it's an
mi shoe tilting evf add-on. the one i'm showing here on the fx3 is the one made for the sony rx1.
it's old, it's not the best evf and it isn't even compatible with the camera but it's there to show
the concept and i think it's a really solid one yes it does mean you couldn't use the xlr handle
and that at the same time but having a tilting evf would be much more preferable than even the
built-in evf of the a7s iii and clearly i'm not the only one who thinks this way as blackmagic
just announced their pocket cinema camera 6k pro which supports a $500 add-on tilting oled evf that
they've made and it looks really nice for the fuji gfx 50s and the original gfx 100 you can add
a tilting avf to that camera, it's using the same evf but you just add a bit in between you can take
off the evf from the camera sliding the tilting part and then put the evf on, and it isn't
just tilting, it also moves left and right or angling left and right and it's absolutely
amazing.if they did make it they would need to sell it with something like the mi shoe
relocating cable that comes with the xlr k3m so you don't just have it on top of the camera
if you don't want to, you can put it in different positions which will be very important when using
on video cameras like the fx6 because the mi shoe is on top of the handle which is a dreadful
place to put an evf...top or the handle at the front the fx3 is a fantastic camera but should it be
part of this cinema line? does it have the features that make it really part of this lineup?don't
forget this lineup has the sony venice in it but does it matter is it just marketing is it just a
name it is very confusing though.in my fx6 review i was equally confused as it had many things
that were better than the more expensive fx9 the things which were worse than the cheaper
a7s iii and likewise the fx9 has things which are better over the fx6 but things which are worse
than the fx6. the fx6's advantages over the s3 were much clearer the main thing being the incredible
variable nd, s cinetone which was not on the a7s iii at the time, and the ability to control the
noise reduction with the ability to turn it off as well as three strength settings. that's
one of the biggest downsides to the really high iso performance of the a7siii and the fx3. the noise
reduction cannot be turned off and it can become really aggressive making the footage look really
quite ugly this made the fx6 the best 4k low-light camera in the world. whilst the noise is still
there at the high isos the detail is also there and with post-production plug-ins like neat video
you're able to get some really fantastic results in my fx6 review i did complain
about the somewhat clunky way the camera operated it is more or less identical
to the fx9 which i was fine with, it's just that in between those two cameras being released
the a7s iii came out with a whole new menu system and a touch screen function shortcut menu which
made the camera an absolute joy to use and also the fx6 autofocus is a step back from the a7s iii because there's no touch screen tracking i wish that some of the innovations from the a7s iii had made it to the fx6, which would have taken it from being a great camera to an incredible camera.
i still hope that maybe they can in a firmware update the fx3 has gone too far the other way
well it's gone completely because it is an a7s iii i'm not sure if i've mentioned that. it needs
to have a few key things to come over from the fx6 and fx9 to really justify its name
and inclusion in the cinema line. i know some people would have wanted to have variable nd
in this camera and yeah it would have been amazing to have it but it would mean something
would have to go and that would be the ibis because you can't have both and because you don't
have an evf you are shooting in a different way you need some stability and the ibis gives you
that so not having it wouldn't be a great idea so i think it needs to add the following as a bare:
manual control over noise reduction, shutter angle waveform, dead on 24p mode after all this is a
cinema frame rate and it's a cinema line camera and also dci 4k. right now for me the fx3 sits
in the sony lineup in a rather awkward position i'm very happy to be proven wrong and it
could well sell like hot cakes it's just the loss of the evf makes it a no-go for me but
i really love the design and i love the handle but then it would simply be a replacement for
my a7s iii, as you know it's the same camera just without the wonderful evf. i think the price
of it plays a massive part of this awkwardness being more expensive than the a7s iii it needed to be more than it is and the xlr handle isn't enough not when you've
lost the evf because you can get the exact xlr features of that without the handle with the 600
xlr k3m module. if the camera had the additional software features that i mentioned i can imagine
it's selling really well at the launch price if the camera as it is right now was the same
price of the a7s iii, i think it would still sell but you know definitely would still sell, if it was
cheaper than the a7s iii, yes it would shift loads i don't know it'll be really interesting to see
how many of these cameras sell i just don't know why anyone would sell the a7s iii as a loss to buy
a more expensive version of it with no real actual benefits camera wise. if you're looking at buying
an a7s iii would you pay more to get the fx3 knowing was the same camera internally just to get the
new body fan and xlr handle and happily lose the evf i don't know, quite possibly, i mean let me
know what you think down in the comments below i normally feel like i'm pretty good at
knowing if a camera is going to do well or not but this one has just left me so unsure and
considering it's such an incredible video camera and still a really great price for what it
does it is a really bizarre thing for me to say
I like Philip Bloom. He's WAY slower paced than I usually like, but somehow he pulls it off, and I just feel relaxed instead of impatient.
It’s out now. https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/e-mount-body-ilce-7-series/downloads
Do we have a date when the update will come to the A7SIII? I heard 2/25 being floated around