Sony's PXW-FX9, whilst it isn't officially a replacement for the FS7 and FS7 II, it is clearly the successor to these hugely popular cameras. I have had my FS7 for over 5 years and the FS7II, which itself is already 3 years old, only improved a few physical things on the camera body as well as a variable ND filter. This is the camera I was hoping the FS7 II was going to be. Whilst it isn't perfect, as no camera ever can be, the image out of the full-frame sensor is beautiful. The autofocus, colours and low light performance are also really impressive. Its still missing a lot of features that are due to come with firmware updates over the next 12 months but even without them I feel this is the camera that every FS7 owner will be salivating over. - Philip Bloom We sat down with Philip Bloom and Sony Engineer Tom Cubby to talk about this impressive new camera. And, we took your questions LIVE as part of our #ZacutoLive show! Watch and check out the video comments to get all the info you need about dual base ISO, fast hybrid autofocus, new color science, autofocus, and much more. Philip is working on a longform Sony FX9 review. Well embedd it here as soon as its ready! The Sony FX9 and Zacuto Philip had a chance to work with some of our new gear for this camera. You can get 15% off everything in our Sony FX9 category here with coupon code BLOOMFX9. Heres what he had to say... ********** Sony fixed a lot of the physical body issues the FS7 had when they released the FS7II. The FX9 has inherited these improvements but not actually improved them even more. Thankfully, Zacuto have solutions which make using the FX9 much less fiddly and better ergonomically. What I like is that you don't have to buy them all. So, if you have no issues with some of the things Zacuto have replaced then you just get the ones you need. The other really good thing is that if you already have an FS7 and have some of these, many of them will work just fine with the FX9. Not all of them but most of them.
Starting with the 15mm rod system that the LCD screen and microphone are attached to, there is still no quick release for it. So Zacuto's FX7 & FX9 Top Plate solves that very easily. Staying on that part of the camera, the LCD screen itself has had a big resolution jump over the FS7/ FS7II and so works way better as a viewfinder in conjunction with the loupe. The problem for me is that I have disliked that loupe ever since they first used it 8 years ago on the FS100. It has improved since then but it's still too long for on the shoulder operation as it forces you neck back. It is also not robust enough, it isn't something you ever want to drop. Trust me on this. The good old Z-Finder (for FS7, FS7 II and FX9) is a big step up from it, much shorter, very robust and nicer optics. It is also a flip down design like the Sony one. If you are going this route I would also recommend the Axis Mini EVF arm and the adaptor to attach the camera's LCD screen to the ARRI rosette of the arm. This gives you way more flexibility and music easier adjustments to adjust to where you need it for comfortable operation. You don't have to get it and can use the Z-Finder just fine on Sony's rods, it's just not as good. Adding an EVF? You can of course replace the LCD loupe with a proper EVF but the camera has no power out which all the Zacuto EVF's need other than the Gratical HD/X as they use a Canon L series battery. If you have 3rd party batteries with a D-Tap on them or the extension back then you will have no problem using the Gratical Eye or the Kameleon Pro. When I use a proper EVF with the FS7 and now the FX9 I reposition the LCD screen to the rear of the camera so you can still access menus easily without looking into the EVF.
The grip extension on the FX9 is OK, you don't need to use a screwdriver to extend it like the original FS7 but it's still fiddly and doesn't have enough adjustments. Zacuto's Sony FX9 Trigger Grip not only makes it easy to adjust with a press down on the top trigger but it is longer and can also be rotated so you can get it into the perfect position to reduce wrist strain.
The last key part is the Shoulder rig. The camera can be used on the shoulder much like the FS7 can without any add ons but it will always be front heavy and uncomfortable to use with prolonged periods of time. To really make the camera a pleasure to use handheld, alongside a Z-Finder or EVF, then you need the VCT Pro Baseplate which gives you a comfortable shoulder pad, a VCT tripod plate connections, rods and an ARRI rosette connection to get your grip even further away from the camera if needed. (Zacuto Note: Our Recoil Pro shoulder rig for the Sony FX9 is available in single grip or double grip configurations and can be use with a Z-Finder on the Sony LCD or an EVF of your choice.)
Zacuto's accessories make a great camera a much more ergonomic camera. If I was going to prioritise what you should get first if you are on a budget then that would be the Top Plate and Z-Finder. Absolute essentials that Sony really should bundle with the FX9!
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Sony's PXW-FX9, whilst it isn't officially a replacement for the FS7 and FS7 II, it is clearly the successor to these hugely popular cameras. I have had my FS7 for over 5 years and the FS7II, which itself is already 3 years old, only improved a few physical things on the camera body as well as a variable ND filter. This is the camera I was hoping the FS7 II was going to be. Whilst it isn't perfect, as no camera ever can be, the image out of the full-frame sensor is beautiful. The autofocus, colours and low light performance are also really impressive. Its still missing a lot of features that are due to come with firmware updates over the next 12 months but even without them I feel this is the camera that every FS7 owner will be salivating over. - Philip Bloom We sat down with Philip Bloom and Sony Engineer Tom Cubby to talk about this impressive new camera. And, we took your questions LIVE as part of our #ZacutoLive show! Watch and check out the video comments to get all the info you need about dual base ISO, fast hybrid autofocus, new color science, autofocus, and much more. Philip is working on a longform Sony FX9 review. Well embedd it here as soon as its ready! The Sony FX9 and Zacuto Philip had a chance to work with some of our new gear for this camera. You can get 15% off everything in our Sony FX9 category here with coupon code BLOOMFX9. Heres what he had to say... ********** Sony fixed a lot of the physical body issues the FS7 had when they released the FS7II. The FX9 has inherited these improvements but not actually improved them even more. Thankfully, Zacuto have solutions which make using the FX9 much less fiddly and better ergonomically. What I like is that you don't have to buy them all. So, if you have no issues with some of the things Zacuto have replaced then you just get the ones you need. The other really good thing is that if you already have an FS7 and have some of these, many of them will work just fine with the FX9. Not all of them but most of them. 
