- People are confused. They're upset.
They don't know what to think. They don't know what to do.
The FX3 is almost the same camera as the A7Siii, right?
Well, yes and no.
(upbeat music)
What is up, people? Dunna here.
And today we're gonna be taking a look at these Sony FX3,
some of the things that are different
between that and the A7Siii.
I was one of the fortunate ones who got an A7Siii early on,
and I've been using it for a while now,
but I recently got my hands on an FX3
and have been absolutely loving it.
And I'm actually going to be buying one really soon here.
So in this video, I'm gonna talk about why.
Now, a quick primer for these two cameras.
They are both video centric cameras.
However, only the FX3 actually got called
part of the Sony Cinema Line.
Now, whether it deserves that Cinema title or not
is heavily under debate all over the internet.
So leave a comment down below and let me know if you think
it should be called a Cinema camera or not.
All right, hopping into our first section,
these are the things about both the A7Siii and FX3
that I really like as compared to other Sony cameras.
First of all, we've got the flip screen
and as someone who films himself all the time, this is huge.
Absolutely a game changer for me to be able to see myself
without having to bring an extra monitor
or without having to have some kind of a mirror contraption
or using the app, which is hit or miss.
Having that new flip screen is fantastic.
It also opens up some options
for different angles of shooting.
And while there are certain cases
where I do miss having that tilt up and down screen
that we see on things like the A7iii,
most of the time I find that I can work around that
and I much rather have the flip screen than not have it.
Probably the biggest thing that these cameras introduced
to the Sony lineup is 10 bit video.
This has been a massive game changer for me.
It allows me to use S-Log3 comfortably
without having to worry that I'm going to be
breaking apart my footage when I go to actually grade it.
But also these cameras have introduced 4k 60 and 4k 120
and it looks absolutely amazing.
So unlike previous Sony cameras,
now you don't have to upscale your slow motion.
And going along with our bit depths and our frame rates,
you've also got the new XAVC S-I Kodak,
which is really awesome.
It makes it really easy to edit,
even though the file sizes are quite a bit bigger.
And these cameras both also take fantastic stills.
And with the exception of a couple of times
that I wished I could have cropped in
just a little bit more,
the mega pixel count hasn't really been
an issue for me at all.
Both of these cameras have insane low-light capabilities.
This is something that the A7S line
has always been known for.
Because they keep the low mega pixel count on the sensor,
The photo sites are larger
and therefore it does better in low light.
And because they share the same sensor,
you're gonna see the same quality
and the same low-light performance across these two cameras.
Also new to the Sony lineup in the A7Siii
is the ability to have separate photo and video settings.
So when you switch between photo and video modes,
you'll actually switch settings as well.
This feels like a bit of a no-brainer
and I feel like they should have done this a long time ago,
but I'm glad that we have it now on these two cameras.
And finally, for this section,
we've got the new menu system on both of these cameras.
This has been a long time coming for Sony,
but they finally updated the menu system.
Both these cameras have it as well as the new A1.
The new menu is so much easier to get around.
It's much better organized,
and you can use both of the touch screens
to get around in the menu too.
So those are some of the new updates that you might've seen
on the A7Siii that also carry over to the FX3.
But let's take a look at some of the new things on the FX3
that the A7Siii doesn't have.
Starting off with some of the features
that for me are kind of neutral
but might make a bigger difference for you.
On the FX3, we've got more video centric labels
on the camera as well as some of the settings
are more video-centric as well.
So for example, some of the buttons on the FX3
are labeled with things like zebras or iris,
things that are more video-centric.
This just makes it a little bit easier
if you're a video shooter to know where things are.
Unless, of course, you've customized
everything to something else.
But beyond the buttons in the menus themselves,
there's actually some more changes
that are more video-centric.
For example, when you go to set up your custom buttons,
it follows the video mode
rather than following the photo mode.
Previously, you would go in and you would set up
all your custom buttons for photo mode
and then it would default
to having all the video buttons follow those ones.
So it's still basically the same thing.
You can have two fully different sets of custom buttons
depending on which mode you're in.
But now the default is that the kind of main one
is the video mode
and same thing with your function menu as well.
Another new update for the FX3 that I'm pretty neutral about
is the new color.
It's gray now instead of black. That's kind of cool.
I know it has a lot to do with different materials
and stuff that's going on,
but in general, I think it mostly was to match
the Cinema Line rather than their Photo Line.
Another new feature on the FX3
is the new fan system.
And while this is really cool, pun intended,
it hasn't really made much of a difference for me.
I'm sure there are some cases out there
with people who shoot a lot more 120
or 60 frames per second or something like that,
where we might need some overheating protection.
Like I said, I've never run into any issues
the way that I personally shoot
so I threw this in the neutral category.
On the FX3, the joystick button is actually on the top
and we're gonna talk a little bit more later
about the new buttons and the layout.
I was really used to having that
on the back on the A7Siii,
but I think it's something that I'll totally get used to
and won't make much of a difference
once I've had some more time with the FX3.
And finally, in the neutral category,
we've got a slightly different grip
on the FX3 from the A7Siii.
I've heard a lot of people
be either really positive about it
or really negative about it,
but I really don't find it to be a huge difference.
Yeah, it is different.
You might feel it if you grabbed one camera
and then grab the other one right after,
but I don't think it's so different
that it's gonna make a big change for anyone.
Actually, you know what? I shouldn't say that.
It didn't make a big change for me.
You do you.
All right, so next, we're gonna talk about
some of the differences on the FX3 from the A7Siii
that I absolutely love.
These are the reasons that I'm going to be buying an FX3.
But before we hop into that, I want to take a second
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Okay, so here are the things about the FX3
that are making me buy one
even though I already own an A7Siii.
First of all, and probably most importantly,
I love the form factor of the FX3.
It's a little bit thicker than the A7Siii is,
but they've chopped off the EVF so it's shorter.
I almost never use an EVF on any of my cameras
so I was really happy to see them just chop it off
and save me the space.
This also means that if you're gonna fly
this camera on a gimbal,
you've got more clearance on the top
and it makes room for the new top handle
which we'll talk about in a second.
The next thing that I love about the FX3
actually surprised me a little bit
and that is the button layout.
And the reason that it surprised me
is because I was so used to the previous layouts
of the A7iii and A7Siii which are relatively similar.
And I knew that there were some
big changes made to this body.
Particularly, they've gotten rid of the mode dial
which I thought was gonna be a big problem for me,
but they've replaced it with a mode button.
And honestly, it's quite easy to use.
In fact, I would argue that it's easier to use
than the current locking system that they have
on the mode dial for the A7Siii.
You hit the mode button and it brings it up on the screen.
You go and change your mode. Good to go.
The other thing that they've taken off
is the exposure compensation dial
which is pretty fine by me.
I can find that somewhere in a menu if I really need it,
but it's not something that I use very regularly.
And finally, they've moved the power button over to the back
on the left-hand side of the camera
and they've replaced it with a zoom rocker
which I absolutely love.
And I know a lot of people are kind of annoyed by this,
but Sony cameras have something called clear image zoom
which basically allows you to punch in by a certain amount
with very little or no quality loss.
Now, the zoom rocker can also be used
with lenses that have power zoom enabled.
But personally, I've been absolutely loving this
for getting just a little bit extra reach
out of my prime lenses
or if I need a little bit of extra reach
out of the end of, let's say, my 16 to 35.
The one downside to using clear image zoom
is that you kind of lose what I call smart autofocus.
It goes into a much more basic auto focus mode.
But as long as you're aware that that's going to happen,
I find that it's pretty workable.
The next thing that kind of goes along
with the smaller form factor is the cageless design.
So what they've done
is they've put kind of a chassis that's stronger
and then they've mounted
a bunch of quarter 20 threads to it.
So you can actually attach a bunch of stuff
specifically to the quarter 20 threads
so that you don't need to put a cage on your body.
This is one of the very first things that I did
when I got the A7Siii is I grabbed a cage
so that I could start to mount things all over the camera.
And while that's okay and some people are definitely
still going to need a cage depending on your setup,
I find that being able to keep it small and light
by having some of those quarter 20 threads
in the camera themselves is a huge advantage.
But the one place that the cageless design
really shines for me, personally,
is being able to attach a tripod plate
to one side of the camera and shoot vertical video
without having to have a cage.
This is the way that things are going.
We gotta be shooting vertical video nowadays.
Now, sometimes this works if you've got a ball head,
you can just do it to the side.
But on certain tripods, if you don't have the ability
to tilt it to the side like that, it can be kind of a pain
and then that's where you need to add a cage.
The next thing that we get with the FX3
that we don't get on the A7Siii
is the top handle and the audio options.
So with the FX3, you actually get a unit
that is a top handle
as well as a dual XLR input audio interface.
And it uses Sony's multi interface shoe technology
to be able to do it without having any cables.
Now, this has pros and cons.
It means that you have to eat up your hot shoe
in order to get XLR inputs into the camera.
But I think that that's a fair trade off
to be able to have that capability.
And there's a lot that you can do with those audio inputs,
as far as different combinations and different volumes
and different settings.
It's really cool to be able to
expand your audio capabilities,
but they've still given you
a regular 3.5 millimeter mic jack on the camera body itself.
So you can use it without that top handle as well.
I've used it both ways and it's so nice that it's modular.
You can use it either way.
The handle itself is actually really light too
so it doesn't add a lot of extra weight to the body.
It's not the nicest handle in the world
but it definitely does the job.
And it has a bunch of other quarter 20 threads
so you can attach other things to it as well.
It also allows you in certain ways
to have four inputs of audio.
The two XLRs and then a left and right
from a 3.5 millimeter jack.
So again, we're just kind of
expanding our capabilities here.
And finally, we've got the new record button
and tally light.
So we've got a new record button on the front of the body.
So if you're someone who films yourself like me,
this is nice because you can reach out and you can hit it
as well as we've gotten new tally lights on the front
and the top of the camera
so you can see whether you're recording.
Again, this is geared a little bit
towards people who are filming themselves,
but also any talent on camera can tell
whether the camera is rolling or not.
And of course, you have the option in the menu
to customize that front button
as well as customize the tally lights
so which ones are on and which ones aren't.
Personally, I left them all on. I really like it.
I can see right now that it's recording and that's nice.
Now, of course, there is no such thing as the perfect camera
and the FX3 had a very specific thing
that it was going for.
So we're going to have missed the mark on a couple of places
or have things that could be improved
for maybe a future generation.
So let's talk about those.
First of all, I think they could have done
a little bit more with that top handle.
The FX3 is a couple hundred dollars extra
on top of what you would pay for the A7Siii.
And I think a lot of that is the fact
that you're getting the top handle
with the audio interface as well.
But personally, I think there are some things
that they could have done with it
that they kind of missed out on.
For example, there is a microphone holder on it
but it is only for a specific size of microphone.
It's not adjustable to fit different microphones.
For example, my Rode NTG5,
I had to wrap in a bunch of gaff tape
so that it would fit in that spot.
It also would have been cool to be able to see it
used as a top handle with or without that audio interface.
Maybe find a way to connect them
so that you can use one or the other or both.
As it currently stands, it's kind of all or nothing.
And thirdly, I do have a little worry
that it feels a little plastic-y.
I haven't had any bad experiences with it so far
but the FX3 itself feels like it's built like a tank.
And then that top handle feels a little bit plastic-y
like if you dropped it or something,
that could break pretty easily.
Again, no bad experiences yet
but it does feel like it's not quite the same build quality
as the rest of the body.
The next thing that I would have loved
to have seen on this camera
is the ability to shoot with shutter angles
rather than shutter speeds.
And even then you can't really dial it
into a perfect 180 degree shutter rule.
You just have to get it
to the closest shutter speed you can.
This is something that is pretty common in Cinema cameras
and they did call this a Cinema camera
so that would be something that I would love to see
and I think is possible in a firmware update.
Something that is not possible with a firmware update
is that they missed out on adding
some tripod plate options on the bottom.
Even something as common and simple as having the dual spots
to mount your plate on the bottom of it
so that it doesn't move side to side.
One of the things that I think a lot of people
would have liked to see in the FX3
are internal ND filters.
Now, I don't know what the technology is needed
to fit internal NDs in a body this small.
But because it's included in the Cinema Line,
I think a lot of people
would have really liked to have seen that
since that is a more common feature on Cinema cameras.
Hopefully, with all the technology
and how they're managing to make everything smaller,
we might see that in something like an FX3 mark two.
Who knows?
And then kind of wrapping up
all of the things that I just talked about,
I think they kind of missed the mark
a little bit on the Cinema label.
Some of those things that I was just talking about
would definitely help to kind of categorize it in that way.
But in the end, the label doesn't really matter that much.
It's how you use the camera and what works best for you.
In my personal case, the FX3
is basically the camera that I've been wanting.
It was basically the camera that I wanted
when I bought the A7Siii.
The timing on that was a little annoying,
but that's okay.
I'm really excited to be able to get this
and to use it more.
But as always, I want to hear what you have to say.
So make sure to leave a comment down below and let me know,
are you an FX3 person or an A7Siii?
Which one would you choose?
And on your way down there,
make sure to hit that like and subscribe button,
hit the bell notification
so you don't miss out on future reviews and tutorials.
Thank you so much for watching.
Thank you to Canva for sponsoring this video
and I'll see you next time.
(chill music)