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Sony’s New Entry-Level Cinema Camera Is Half the Price of Its Predecessor

Photo: Sony

While making professional-sounding music from the comfort of your own home can be accomplished with little-to-no money, amateur filmmaking still requires some decent overhead to do successfully. Sony’s previous entry-level camera in its Cinema Line was the FX3, which ran for about $3,900.

Photo: Sony

Now, the electronics behemoth has unveiled a newer, cheaper, and on-par replacement called the FX30 at half the price. Not only is it compact enough for easy carry and is capable of easy lens swapping, but it serves as a reliable B camera for supplemental footage thanks to the Super 35 sensor with 20.1MP that oversamples at 6K for a crisp 4K cinematic output at up to 120fps.

Photo: Sony

Built with Sony’s already-legendary auto-focus capabilities, the FX30 makes no compromises on the filmmaking quality and comes equipped with several looks, including Sony’s proprietary S-Cinetone and the S-Log3 for expert grading and a plethora of other features. The new camera will get several shooting modes grandfathered in from the FX3, such as Cine El, Cine El Quick, and Flexible ISO.

Photo: Sony

Favoring simplicity and performance more than anything else, the Sony FX30 is arguably the best Super 35 on the market. With the XLR handle, the camera will cost $2,200, but just $1,800 without it.