Sony FX9 config for Live News

[@leave-eye]

Hey Cranky, just wanted to say, thank you for documenting all of your knowledge like this. I'm around 6 years into my career, under contract with a local production company who along with channels like yours, taught me everything I know. Like many of us seriously interested in this passion I'm a sponge for information on the subject, and resources like these videos are endlessly helpful. You have and are continuing to give me more and more confidence to eventually make the leap towards becoming an independent DP... But damn it seems daunting! I fear that leaving a company who has treated me incredibly well and provides me with a consistent liveable income, might get me into a situation where I "can't find work". I hear that sentiment expressed constantly by fairly successful freelancers I know, but when I ask, most of them say that the independence they have outweighs the stress of potential work gaps. I want to believe them, but how often would you say you experienced moments of real fear that you might not get enough work to cover your expenses? If so, how do you combat that? I'm not sure if I'm just buying into the fear and it's holding me back, or if maybe I'm just not interested in constantly having to sell myself. Sorry for rambling a bit, but I would love to know your thoughts! Peace, from Central California

[@CrankyCameraman]

Every week I’m concerned not enough work will confirm to cover expenses. And there are months when it happens, even though I’m in a position where several bad months would not be too disruptive to present lifestyle. I think that mindset is necessary to survive long term as a freelancer. But top level, no or minimal debt, no car loans, no equipment loans, 6+ months of business and personal expenses in cash. When I dropped out of college my grandmother gave me her high miles Buick, peeling paint, I drove it for 8 years, saved and bought a house before a car with air conditioning (LA / OC). I would change into fresh clothes before walking onto set and drive home shirtless to avoid a car payment. You’ll need to find several side or parallel roles to fill the first few years. I worked as an operator, film loader, AC, electric, editor, truck / transpo driver for productions. After my DP income expanded to cover expenses, I continued to backfill days in other roles to max out income. Building up a G&E van package was a big deal for me, additional rental income and I could send one of my crew to run the truck if I double booked a DP job. Today if I needed extra income, I'm over working crew on 12 hour days for a labor rate. I would pivot to light construction / handyman work. I carry a city contractor's license to work on my rentals, each time I turn a house I have neighbors and drive-bys asking for my card and to estimate a project for them. While the media business is oversaturated on the supply side, the building trades are the inverse. Hope this helps, good luck.

[@leave-eye]

@@CrankyCameraman Amazing thanks for the insight. Definitely seems like I need to hold my position and keep learning for a bit in order to pay off my car and get that savings up. Luckily I feel like I have a good base of knowledge working a wide variety of roles and have made some good connections nearby, so that's reassuring for the future. I turned 25 this year, and can't help comparing myself to people with your level of experience and wondering why I can't achieve the same level of "career freedom" so-to-say. Good to hear I've got time to get there lol Thanks again!

[@907DP]

@leave-eye I’d highly second what CrankyCameraman said. When Covid hit, I probably would have went under if it wasn’t for the fact that I have never taken on any debt except for home mortgage. If I need a new camera or lens or light, I have to pay for it with cash or I don’t buy it. Helps you set your rates at an appropriate level as well but you really want to keep your monthly expenses down as much as you can. Also be aware, it’s a constant roller coaster of peaks and valleys as a freelancer. When you have good weeks or months, you need to sock some of that money away so that when the dry times come, you can deal with them. Too many guys I know have a $10k week and spend like crazy as if they are convinced that every week will be a $10k week. Don’t be that guy!

[@deovid]

Aputure Amaran AL-F7 is a really great light for on camera work. It's quite powerful, light weight and decently sized. Also, despite its power it's not very power hungry, I ran it for about 4 hours continuous once on a single NP-F battery.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Looks great, but discontinued!

[@AndersBakfeldt]

Great walk-through, Interesting to hear an OGs view on what's actually needed and what is not. Still in happy semi-newbie rigging mode here though -)

[@Lawman212]

thanks for the breakdown of the reasons behind your rig. I'm very interested in the specifics, even though they might be unique to your situation.

[@jeffsaffron5647]

Very nice overview from someone who actually works with their camera. Nice thing about FX9 is that it now supports B4 lenses for FullHD work in Super16 scan. It is a bit pricey solution but it may help you get around the DoF issues of larger sensor.

[@CrankyCameraman]

I've looked into it, but haven't been impressed with the lack of sharpness and loss of the 2x extender.

[@jeffsaffron5647]

​@@CrankyCameraman Adapter for Super16 doesn't need extender to be engaged, original adapter from Sony (LA-EB1) is about 5k tho... which is a lot. But it does support ALAC to some degree with modern lenses. As picture quality goes... it is hit or miss depending on a specific lens it is probably never going to be as good as on native 2/3" broadcast camera. But I seen some good results.

[@WyshyNet]

Another option for the mattebox issue with the light being blocked by eyebrow is to swap it out for a different eyebrow that can be folded in half or maybe 1/3s, that way you could fold it up as needed but still be able to extend it the full way. This would need to be a custom 3D printed piece or something new from small rig but that way you could keep the light in the same spot and not need to add weight to the rig. Thanks for the walkthrough of your setup.

[@jeremyhle]

For the Shape handle, you can mount the rosette part facing down or facing back so that the arm and grip don't poke out as far forward hitting your matte box

[@CrankyCameraman]

Thanks!

[@kevinmcroberts8527]

On ENG camera straps: look up the "Vocas Strap Pin Set." Two ENG-strap-style lugs that thread into a 1/4-20 on a top plate w/ side holes. I'm using the Wooden Camera top plate, obviously several different options available.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Fantastic, thank you.

[@cameradude486]

I did a top cheese plate on my FS7 then the Vocus pins with loctight. Makes the broadcast camera straps work like they should. As for top light a small broken arm holds my Dedo LEDzilla, or more recently one of my Apature MC pros also threaded to the cheese plate. Gets the light out over the lens and eliminates the flag problem. Great stuff BTW. Really enjoy your videos.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Excellent details, thank you!

[@tiger5551]

your lucky, I’m still stuck with a aj hpx 2000 from 2006 or 8. Still works awesome for news all these years later, made a perfect studio camera for 6 months when our Sony went down

[@CrankyCameraman]

Great camera, draws a lot of power as I recall and not the best in low light. But otherwise excellent picture. I have a buddy in Florida that bought the HPX-3000 new, as his first HD camera, moving up from the SDX-900, and he still shoots on it today.

[@tiger5551]

@@CrankyCameraman I have to run ac power most of the time if i can get away with it, runs hot and the lowlight isn’t awesome but with some lights up it still delivers after all this time

[@Marcus_Schuler]

@tiger5551 I shot my first TV documentary for German television with that camera. At that time, I was still living in Munich. The documentary was about the tech industry in Silicon Valley and we spent two weeks in San Francisco recording interviews. One evening we drove out to the Golden Gate Bridge to shoot time-lapse B-roll footage. And while I was setting up my Panasonic camcorder in the dark, a guy suddenly stood next to me and asked me what kind of camera I was using. It was Philipp Bloom... He was shooting test footage with the Canon 5d MKII at the time. Back in Germany I sold the HPX 2000 and got the Canon 5d. Today I live about 10 kilometers from the Golden Gate and I have completely said goodbye to Canon except for my Canon lenses and shoot with Sony and Blackmagic....

[@CrankyCameraman]

Great story!

[@davidmorefield]

The 6” sdi extenders sound like a smart solution. You may have already tried it but you can rotate the rosette connection on the camera. Swing it to the back so that it shortens the minimum distance of the shape and clears the mattebox.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Great suggestion, I will take a look.

[@robinprobyn1971]

I took the grip off the arm , and put it on a Vocas 15mm rod clamp. They make the adaptor too. With a Vocus short arm Also have a wooden camera rosette on that ,so I can swing the grip up. Easy to take off , and easier to pack separately . I also like the grip to be up close to the camera , from starting out with the old Aaton 16mm grips.

[@ToxicMetropolis]

Always cool to see your setup and the thinking behind it. Lots of nuggets of wisdom here for both the newbies and the old hands. I'm on my own FX6, sometimes rigged and sometimes very much not rigged, sometimes use an FX9, too, and I prefer the FX6 for a smaller footprint, etc. At the end this episode you mention a possible top light replacement, so a quick note on that: Have you looked at the SmallRig on camera LEDs? I am quite happy with the recently'ish discontinued M160 (though you can still find it) and it was replaced by the RM120 as far as I can see (bigger battery). They are really nice: full colour RGB, pretty well built, cheap, small form factor (and obviously not heavy, so if you're not using them as the on camera light - you can easily fly them as backlight at night and because they are so small you can put them in some tight corners, close to walls, etc. for a background accent - last year I used them placed on suction cups to light up a shot inside an elevator). Drawbacks: Not enough power to be of use in the sun and not D-tap, so maybe a deal breaker for you, but grab a long USB-C cable and easily run them forever. The built in battery lasting for 3hrs on max setting for the RM120 by the look of it, probably a bit less in real life scenario, but that's still plenty of time.

[@kevinmcroberts8527]

On on-camera lights: have used the Lupo Smartpanel 700. Incredible output from a small, very lightweight fixture. It's a harder source but enough output to use diffusion gel or shoot through a small umbrella and still get useful output. Current model is the Lupo Smartpanel 701 which has about 25% more output so you can completely obliterate your on-camera talent's retinas (for reference, Smartpanel 701 specs 5100lux @ 1m... a huge chunk of not-on-camera Astra 6x specs 6330lux @1m)

[@CrankyCameraman]

I'll take a look. Thanks!

[@PyroKalfje]

The litepanels brick are right here in the netherlands the standart for ENG, these are waterproof, build like a tank, large easy knobs , great quality , super bright. but its quite large and heavy but perfect for tranditional eng broadcast style camera's and powerd by dtap, but there is no otherway to power then dtap and i didn't yet tried with a fs7 or fx9 style camera that is way smaller.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Thank you. This looks like the buy once cry once solution.

[@robbioe]

love the behind the scenes videos

[@PDMokry]

That shark fin is next on my list! I feel I am always changing up my kit as much as I can, if it helps me move quicker. How does the EVF hold up overtime?

[@CrankyCameraman]

Shark fin is great. I need to add a second one to my kit. The FX9 EVF is just a bad design, Sony EVF is a much better design on their broadcast cameras.

[@thetexascenter4059]

Love your how to! I used to work in news, so it's great to see a news photogs setup with the FX9. Since I have to use the XQD cards for mine, what setting do I need to put my camera on to get the most bang for my buck? I don't need to shoot more than 4k - if that - and right now I can't record more than about 45 minutes on each XQD card. Is there a setting where I can compress more information on the card? Many thanks for any help you may be able to send my way! Thank you for your posts!

[@CrankyCameraman]

I'm running 240GB cards. For news I shoot in the XDCAM codec 50mbps, 1080. I can shoot news for 2+ weeks on one card.

[@seangentry2943]

Thank you for pointing out that full frame isn't ideal for all shooting situations. I'm so tired of it being put on a pedestal as something every production absolutely needs.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Yup. I see it was the low budget definition of “cinematic.”

[@ToxicMetropolis]

If I had 5 bucks every time someone asked for that shallow depth of field without knowing what they're talking about...

[@12yfilms]

Oooooh I like that shoulder pad.... I might need to give that a try.

[@CrankyCameraman]

It's ok, checks the boxes, VCT, 15MM rods, shoulder pad. I do wish it was sliding (like Amira) for ballance.

[@chrisw443]

Zylights are good, but its heavy, every pound counts, also cut my arm up as its all metal. So those smaller hand held lights, aperture makes one, that are real powerful would be a good option, but a little more annoying to adjust. Today i had 3 mins to setup an interview shot with the ceo of a credit union and the only thing in the conference room was a random landscape photo, so I used the vg30 and my prime to blur out the background lol. When i need that shallow dof, it comes in handy! That md46, I consider a good friend after how long ive had it! I was in a indoor carousel so loud we had to scream, yet that mic made my talent sound so good. Best dialogue mic ever! I found the electro voice stick mic let me down with too much background noise in the past.

[@Marcus_Schuler]

The Sennheiser MD46 microphone was developed for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The goal was to create a microphone that could function well in the noisy environment of the Olympics while still delivering clear, high-quality sound. For nearly eight years, I've primarily used this microphone during interviews in the field (mostly for radio pieces), and I wouldn't dare venture into an interview without it. Originally, Sennheiser tailored this mic for NBC's use in the boisterous ambiance of the Olympic stadiums, exhibiting remarkable proficiency in distinguishing the interviewee from the background noise. The catch, however, lies in its overachievement in noise isolation; if you position the mic more than a foot away from the interviewee, you'll notice a decrease in volume. Consequently, it might not be the top pick if you're strolling with the person being interviewed and can't consistently maintain a distance of 12-18 inches. Likewise, it falls short as the optimal choice for capturing ambient sound if you aim to record a broad range within your surroundings.

[@chrisw443]

@@Marcus_Schuler I have just held out the md 46 at events In quiet rooms, even a few feet away, as long as they look at me I can get decent sound. But yea i loooove the noise isolation. They nailed the sound of voice though. I love the crispness of the dialogue it gets. I forgot it was the Sydney olympics. I only remembered the year.

[@WesleyClouden]

its smart setup and fx9 is solid get mini quickteless from small rigs or kondor blue add the matte box and will not need the arm try the Newer bicolor Neewer NL288 LED npf to Dtap connector I love the zigtay ones as the have power isolater so dont fry shit

[@maxyorkshire5930]

Have you looked into the sony 18-110? May be a good wide setup instead of the pl lens.

[@jeremeyshelton]

Take a look at the Zhiyun MOLUS X100 in bi-color. It’s natively a point-source light but with the dome diffuser it should give you a nice soft light for talent. Also, given the fact it is a 100w fixture with the ability to use a reflector when needed, it should be able to provide a nice throw / output at a distance when needed. All in the size of roughly a small mirrorless camera. High CRI scores, comes with a detachable battery and you can power off a USB-C to D-Tap (just make sure the cable you get is capable of providing enough power). I’ve got one on the way currently so I can’t speak directly to these facts but this is what lead me to picking one up to try.

[@CrankyCameraman]

I'll take a look. Thanks!

[@aLgProduction]

WOW a lot of information.

[@SamoScopom]

I'm still a beginner in this and I wish I had a bigger camera like this. Running the 28-135 F4 on my A7 is quite uncomfortable. I never shot from a shoulder, I wish to try it sometime, but all even older ENG cameras are too expensive.

[@PyroKalfje]

used sony pxw x500 is quite good priced and you dont need 4k for just eng work

[@CrankyCameraman]

Great camera, I've been looking at ones on Ebay. Some low hours.

[@hi.imgonner5813]

Thank you for the videos. I am a student to cinematography and getting a fx6 and seeing what these bodies are capable of and what to expect have me excited. Had a question do you suggest i get mine insured and can you suggest a good affordable insurance for a student?

[@CrankyCameraman]

Athos (share grid), Dewitt Stern, Next Insurance.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Rates | Florida | Insurance | owning RED ARRI FX9 FX3 kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4LVlWmaqryFfdU

[@LonzosStudios]

I'm on the east coast and I just haven't been able to find an agency for video production, any suggestions.

[@CrankyCameraman]

My career to date has been a string of referrals, people move around, land at a new company, then I get an opportunity to shoot. I wish I had a secret marketing hack, but it has been a slow path of incrementally better work.

[@ToxicMetropolis]

What was the pricetag on that LU300? Trying to figure out if it's any cheaper out there, as I'm about to buy one at this end.

[@CrankyCameraman]

I paid list price direct from LU.

[@jasonmarotta9545]

How do you like that dual A/B dual plate? Was told that they don’t work with the current generation batteries.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Purchased in 2014. Works great, no issues.

[@DanielMorsing]

Would one of the smaller fixed-lens camcorders in sony's lineup work for you for ENG stuff? They seem to have the zoom range/sensor size/IOs/video formats that you need at a significant discount to a B4 system

[@CrankyCameraman]

Yes, I'm considering a Z90v as a B camera.

[@ToxicMetropolis]

Sony PXW-Z280 ticks a lot of boxes and is basically an improved/updated 200. Not cheap though.

[@faizsamsudin9371]

I bought the FX9 Cage the side have threads where at times I threaded my G3 there... And a cheese plate definitely would save u... mounting options aplenty... Am using the 19-90 ... Are u using a Dtap Hirose for ur servo lens?

[@faizsamsudin9371]

Oh yeah maybe u wanna look at lilliput HS5... Both HDMI/SDI capable and 2000nits

[@CrankyCameraman]

I have the Abel Cine cable for the lens, D-Tap and LANC connectors.

[@CrankyCameraman]

I'll check it out, thanks.

[@Dstonephoto]

Im a tech guy with some ideas for your 1080i dilemma (and hungry to get some experience in order to learn video to my repertoire). Loving your channel. Lemme see if i can solve the mac 1080i issue. Update next week.

[@CrankyCameraman]

Fantastic, I've been stalling on buying a Blackmagic USB-C to SDI "video card."

[@CrankyCameraman]

Is this in regards to playing back video in FCP (macbook) HDMI out to a LiveU? If so, the video footage on the timeline in FCP is 1080i 29.97. Or, something else?

[@Dstonephoto]

@@CrankyCameraman my bad, maybe we should start over . i skipped over the most glaringly and obvious part which was an assumption that I understood the problem at hand. I was under the initial impression that you were unable to export your source footage from FCP into 1080i .

[@dag221]

Did you say broadcast standard is 60fps? I thought it was always 30 fps for some reason.

[@CrankyCameraman]

In the US it is 1280x720 59.94p or 1920x1080 29.97i (59.94 fields per second).

[@CrankyCameraman]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_standards

[@rmullhaupt]

Are SDI extension cables really an effective way of stopping ports getting burned by ground loops? I always thought it was a problem with the circuitry inside the camera/accessory. I trust you’d know better but could you explain? Or maybe you’re solving a different issue with them…

[@CrankyCameraman]

Poor word choice on my side. I'm working to prevent failed chassis connectors from too many mating cycles.

[@rmullhaupt]

@@CrankyCameraman Aha! That makes much more sense. Thanks!

[@Marcus_Schuler]

I bought the FX9 body today. My prime lenses are all EF lenses, which I have attached to the FS7 so far with a Meta Bones adapter. I am thinking of selling my Sony FS7 MKII but keeping the kit lens, the Sony E PZ 18-110mm f/4 G. The only drawback is that it is made for APS-C sensor cameras. So I can't use the full frame of the FX9. Which Parfocal lens can you recommend? (I want to use it mainly for News and Documentary.)

[@CrankyCameraman]

Congrats. For news you'll be running the camera in 5k or 4k (super35) sensor scan, if 50 or 60fps. In which case I would set the camera to 4k super 35 and use your existing 18-110mm as it's a better wide angle side for news vs 28-135. And I think the servo is improved as well. For the primes, I had a similar situation, collection of L series primes and zooms, but I'm slowing replacing with E mount lenses as the AF is fantastic.

[@SportFlow]

Get yourself an Ursa Broadcast G2 with a nice B4 lens from a fraction of the 750. Not ideal, but sure it can be a welcomed addition to your FX9

[@amplifiedcopenhagen3745]

What lens do you have on?

[@CrankyCameraman]

Sony 28-135mm E mount. But I often shoot news on a PL Canon 17-120mm (in 5k sensor scan).

[@907DP]

You might take a look at the Sony 24-240 full frame zoom lens, I know Alister Chapman has written a couple articles on it and seemed to be impressed. Downsides are variable aperture (F3.5 to F6.3) which would be less of an issue for news as you mentioned you are usually shooting F6.3 or higher anyways. Other downsides are focus by wire, and no servo zoom. But the autofocus is quite good (love the tap to focus on the screen) quality is quite good for such a wide zoom range, it has image stabilization built into the lens and the range is about perfect for news. It costs about $1050 brand new.

[@CrankyCameraman]

There is a local bureau photographer here in Texas that shoots on a FS7 with the 24-240. Excellent range and the 6.3 is rarely an issue. Good suggestion.

[@907DP]

@@CrankyCameraman I think it would be even better on the FX9 than the FS7. If you use it in full frame mode 24mm is a pretty wide focal length. Then if you needed extra reach, you could not only zoom into 240mm but switch to Super 35 mode and get even more reach. I think for news, using the FX9 it might be a fairly good choice….

[@StringrPress]

I also do live news. I freelance with Stringr.

[@defilmenier]

I really disliked the 28-135mm, had one since it came out in 2014 and hated it. At the moment I'm using the Canon CN-E 18-80 for quick setups, just bought it last year and i actually really like it. It's lightweight, has far beter optics, is parfocal, has a proper servogrip, has stabilization and works fine with an 2x extender if you need that extra push.

[@robinprobyn1971]

Its rubbish in a s35 sensor , but way better on FF, its like it never should have been sold for s35 work , as the 28 is no where near wide enough , not really wide enough even on FF, but its a decent workhorse , 28-202 in 4k with the s35 crop . 28-135 also have OSS,is parfocal electronically , and almost too sharp. And the AF works. Best around, but I hope the Mk2 is 24 on the wide end .

[@defilmenier]

@@robinprobyn1971 I mainly had issues with the awkward powerzoom, it was definitely not parfocal (I even send it to Sony to double check and they said that's just how it was) and the optics where rather 'meh' (I've used it on both s35 and FF). I've heard the 18-110mm was much better and had a lot of improvements, but I never tried it. I ended up selling it and bought a Fujinon XK

[@CrankyCameraman]

28-135. I consider it acceptable, nothing more. Both fX9 travel cased with the 28-135 installed. I use them for corporate, news, random broll. When I have more time I'll switch over to E primes or my collection of PL zooms and primes. 18-80mm wide side would be wonderful for news, but 80mm is not enough on the tele side. Possibly if it had a flip in doubler, but don't have time on news assignments to add and remove a lens mount doubler. Appreciate the suggestion, thank you.

[@robinprobyn1971]

@@defilmenier Yes agreed re the power zoom , I only use manual zoom, once you get used to that "creep" at the end ,the dampening is not bad . It's par focal in AF at least :) . It's not a cine zoom by miles but it's the only workhorse in town if you want AF too. The OSS can be handy at times too, I'd rather deal with this than a CN7 and easy rig , which I used for many years with f5, wouldn't go back to that again ever. But its about time they came out with a MK2 , some improvements , and even a higher price , it would sell like hot cakes !

[@vladimirtalijan]

This is incredibly confusing :) You despise rigging and big cameras (me too), yet you're using this ridiculous rig for the stuff which requires a totally opposite setup :) I'm doing similar stuff and I've tried everything but settled down with Canon C70s with zero rigging and I bet I can do the same job for 1/3 of the time or even faster, with multiple angles and the result will be better regarding color, DR and shallower DOF since I have 10 stops of internal NDs and I can shoot f1.2 anywhere. Not to mention Glidecam, slider, crane shots which are all really easy and simple to do since C70 weights next to nothing compared to this, and we all know that shot diversity is what makes videos more interesting and more expensive. Shooting from a tripod all day long is not just exausting and slow but makes boring Charlie Chaplin videos :)

[@CrankyCameraman]

If you have the time please check out a few of my News vlogs to get some perspective on a typical 10-17 hour day covering breaking news. Majority of the day is tripod based with spontaneous moments where we shoot on the shoulder. I was a canon shooter for many years, last year as a freelancer I missed one day not owning the current c300 platform. Past two years Sony FX line is approx 75% of my clients. If the market shifts to a new brand I’ll adapt to remain competitive. Thanks for jumping into the conversation.