Getting a new camera should always start with a purpose, i.e. the WHY question. For me, I needed a better camera for documentary style travel photography compared to my Sony FS5 and Sony A6300.
To film horses in the nature, you need good AF, light enough to put on a gimbal and 10-bit codecs. But you also need to capture good audio for two persons and ambient sound.
This is why the FX30 fits the bill for me very well, compared to my current cameras and other alternatives from Sony.
The Sony FX30 doesn’t have internal ND-filter, so I need an external one. The SonyZeiss lenses that I have; 24/1.8, 35/2.8, 55/1.8 and 16-70/4, don’t allow a varible ND-filter together with the lens hood, e.g. when you most need it. Therefore, I need a combination of a matte box and ND-filter that don’t break the bank.
The SmallRig Mini Mattebox Light is not front heavy, and the adapter ring is also threaded on the outside so you can put a circular filter on from the front. As my lenses have two different front diameters, 49 & 55 mm, I need at least two adapter rings to be able switch fast.
My plan is mainly to use AF, but I would like to have good manual focus as an option. (DCI 24 fps settings.) The SmallRig Mini Follow Focus fits on the 15 mm rod on the cage. For my manual Nikkor AI lenses and a Sony 18-105/4, I have custom made focus rings from followfocus and I’m waiting for new rings to arrive from overseas.
Next is audio. The top handle have two XLR-inputs and one 3.5 mm stereo jack. As I would like to record two persons with wire-less mic, the XLR inputs with more control goes to lavs. The 3.5 mm input don’t have phantom power, and the shotgun must have an internal battery.
I have an extra Røde NTG4+ plus that I use with an Sennheiser XLR-3.5 mm cable. As non Sony mics are thinner, the remains of an old bicycle tube is used as sleave.
Right now I’m using two Sennheiser XSD wireless kits as I have them. But the problem with both them and the Røde shotgun is that they have internal, non-replacable batteries, that is an issue for documentary shooting.
I would recommend Sennheiser K600 and Sony UWP dual receiver instead, so you can switch batteries instead of be foreced to be re-charged. For now, I’m using what I have.
The built in 3” monitor is too small and an existing 5” Atomos Shinobi SDI monitor is a better option. I got a SmallRig monitor swivel and an extension to mount it on the handle.
Sadly no SDI on the camera, only HDMI. Still, the cage have a HDMI lock to avoid the cable to slip out.
Memory cards is another story. I have plenty of 64 GB Lexar SDHC cards V60, so for time being I stick with them. When I need faster cards, they are probably cheaper.
Some other stuff. The gimbal I have is a DJI RS3 and the carbon fibre tripod is a Manfrotto Befree Advance. I carry the kit in a Lowepro camera back-pack with space for a 12.9” iPad Pro.