Who is the Sony FX30 for? - Buying Advice

[Music] this is the new Sony fx30 Sony's most affordable Cinema line product yet but it's definitely not lacking in features essentially the fx30 is an fx3 but with its full frame 12 megapixel sensor swapped out for a super 35 millimeter 26 megapixel one now this keeps the cost down of course and is the main reason why the fx30 costs nearly half the amount of the fx3 but it's not just a cost saving measure it does come with a whole list of pros and cons compared to the full frame sensor in the fx3 we'll of course look at the changes in image quality in a minute which is the main area really where there's are some drawbacks but there are two main advantages of this sensor first versus the fx3s one firstly is the resolution it's a 26 megapixel sensor and that means it's capable of 6K resolution video now you can't record that 6K directly but it does use it to over sample for its 4K recordings second Advantage is that it opens up the world of super 35 millimeter lenses this means there are so many more lens options on the market for you in all kinds of styles if you want small lightweight Stills lenses at a good price there's a lot of choice if you want Cinema zooms there's lots more choice plus as a whole you know the lenses are just smaller and lighter which does make a huge difference when you're working with this kit day in Day Out the sensor has a dual native ISO of 800 and 2500 and Sony claimed 14 stops of dynamic range which is not bad at all for an affordable camera like this and it has the same fantastic hybrid autofocus system as well as the fx3 apart from that new sensor the camera feels identical to the fx3 all the same buttons in all the same exact places it is a bit lighter though at 562 grams without the top XLR handle while the fx3 is 640 grams it has the same five axis stabilization the same two card slots which is set both CF Express type A cards and SD cards the same ports as well like a full-size HDMI port which you can use to Output raw video there's a headphone jack and a 3.5 millimeter mic input USBC and of course this Mi shoe on the top which connects to any of Sony's normal Mi show accessories and of course this top handle that the fx3 also uses which you can buy with the camera it is a real must-have for most kinds of work it gives you something to hold on to of course but it also gives you two full-size XLR ports and proper audio controls just like the fx3 though there's no evf on the top of this camera like there is on the alpha cameras which you know some people don't care about but I do miss personally so let's look at recording formats and Sony definitely don't disappoint here we essentially get everything we're used to on the fx3 and a7s Mark III xavcs S i and HS the longop all eye or habc recording options 10 bit 42 color space the cine EI modes that we recently saw added to the fx3 plus regular s-log 3 modes in normal modes and S7 options as well in 4k you can get up to 120p but with a slight crop and in 1080P you can get up to 240 which is very impressive particularly having 4K 120 in a camera at this price point it's very welcome indeed we did some side-by-side tests comparing the fx30 to the fx3 and Blackmagic 6K Pro which we're going to make into its own video for people trying to choose between them but in this video I want to focus on the fx30 super 35 millimeter sensor and how it performs especially compared to the full frame sensor in the fx3 and it's surprisingly similar I think it's ever so slightly more detailed than the fx3 and slightly noisier as well maybe although like most Sony cameras it does like to be Overexposed a bit interestingly in these tests I did see some quite bad moire patterns on kieran's shirt on the fx3 footage which was completely gone on the fx30 perhaps because of that in camera oversampling process but overall both cameras look fantastic and really quite similar you're going to be able to match these really well if you're using both in a multi-camera environment which also means the fx30 will match well with the a7s Mark III and fx6 as they of course share the same sensor as that fx3 at higher isos the fx3 is much better though as you'd expect the fx30 isn't really anything particularly impressive here which I guess is to be expected not only is it a smaller sensor with smaller pixels because of its higher resolution but it also has a much lower second native ISO at 2500 instead of 12 800. so at the same ISO the fx30 is far noisier than the fx3 I wouldn't say it's bad at high isos but it's definitely only average performance for cameras nowadays if particularly good low-light performance is really important to you then it's going to be worth upgrading to the fx3 the dynamic range in our latitude tests seems pretty good though here's four stops Overexposed which we were easily able to bring back down to normal without clipping anything at all which I don't want to spoil our next video for you but wasn't the case on the Blackmagic pocket 6K here's four stops underexposed as well graded back up to a normal exposure and it's very noisy as nearly all cameras are by this point of course but the fx3 does perform better here overall though I certainly wouldn't say that the fx30 performs like a camera that costs nearly half the amount of the fx3 this is definitely a level of image quality that competes well with other cameras at a similar price point like the Blackmagic pocket 6K and potentially the Fujifilm xh2s as well [Music] so the main question of course is who is the fx34 well I want to split that into two sections whether you're picturing this as an a camera your main camera or as a b camera to go alongside a higher end cinema camera and if you're looking for your main video camera on a budget the fx30 is probably going to be one of the most practical choices for you on the market it has very good image quality very good frame rates image stabilization incredible autofocus and even some of those higher end features like Sydney EI with its XLR top handle as well it also has a audio system that is far more practical and comprehensive than most of the competition at this price point from any brand but there are a lot of features to be gained by stepping up from this to those larger Cinema cameras like the fx6 C70 C300 Mark III or maybe the Ursa 12K for example ND filters internal rule recording SDI ports false color you won't even get waveforms here which is quite disappointing really but all of those are cameras that cost significantly more money than the fx3 the value for money that you get with this camera is just exceptional especially once you consider the lenses e-mount is one of the most widely used lens mount systems on the market right now with a huge amount of fantastic third-party options for it and of course because it's a super 35 millimeter sensor you get an even wider selection of lenses to choose from for small production companies corporate companies wedding videographers anyone really trying to make high quality work on a budget the fx30 seems a very very sensible choice [Music] I also think we'll see the fx30 be chosen a lot as a b camera to cameras like the fx6 which has been our best-selling camera pretty much since it launched yes this doesn't have the same full-frame sensor like the fx3 does but for many people the fx3 is just that little bit too expensive to actually just use as a second camera in an interview for example if that's all you need and although the fx30 does have a different sensor they do seem to match very well indeed and it has the same autofocus system which is a big big plus you're going to miss the ND system though if only Sony could actually find a way to get that electronic ND system inside these small cameras then they would have something really special but it's easily fixed for now with a variable ND mount on the front of the lens at the end of the day Sony have long had one of the most practical video systems on the market for owner operators whether that's the good old fs7 and fs5 or the new fx6 or a7s Mark III and fx3 these cameras have all been hugely popular for very good reason and now with the fx30 we get a camera that sits perfectly among them with much of the same strengths but at a much lower price tag attached I think the fx30 is going to offer incredible value for money for a lot of people but what do you think if you want to buy an fx30 for your own work head over to proivy.com UK with the link down below and we're going to be releasing some more in-depth videos on the fx30 actually comparing it to other cameras very soon so stay tuned for that thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one foreign [Music]

Channel: ProAV TV

Views: 105,924

Keywords: Sony FX30, FX30

Id: Heh4KsP9sIU

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 28 2022