HANDS-ON REVIEW: Sony PXW-FX9 Digital Cinema Camera

One thing Sony tends to do better than many of its competitors in the pro cinema camera market is to read and respond to market segment demand. I know because I’ve owned several Sony cinema cameras over the years and watched how the company has reacted to new technologies and format changes. It’s why Sony has become a powerhouse in the market segment of event, corporate and reality shooting with two models—Sony’s PXW-FS7 and FS7 MKII.

But just as times change, so does the technology. For at least the past year or so, the digital cinema camera market has become obsessed with full-frame sensors and using them to record a full-frame image using a 6K or 8K raster, which raises the question: Does anyone really need 6K or 8K acquisition? In my view, no, or at least, very few do. But like it or not, the digital cinema camera business has turned into a sensor- and raster-size arms race.

Sony’s answer to this entirely new obsession with sensor size is the new PXW-FX9 digital cinema camera, one of its latest XDCAMs, which Sony says is the first featuring “an advanced 6K full-frame sensor and Fast Hybrid Auto Focus (AF) system.” But taking a look at the FX9’s design, layout and feature set, it’s hard to not see it as the heir apparent to the Sony’s PXW-FS7 and FS7 MKII.

Of course, it’s too early to tell if the FX9 will actually replace the FS7 and FS7 MKII, or merely provide a full-frame