Sony FX5 Special with Philip Bloom | A24 Defends Its $75M Google DeepMind Deal | EBU’s Women’s Athletics Camera Guidelines

The Sony FX5 is here – and this week’s episode is largely dedicated to it. Nino is joined live from Tokyo by Johnnie and by special guest Philip Bloom from London, both of whom spent a week shooting with Sony’s newly announced compact cinema camera.

Beyond the FX5 deep dive, the trio covers A24’s controversial $75M Google DeepMind deal, ByteDance’s Seedance 2.5 API, the EBU’s new camera guidelines for respectful coverage of women’s athletics, fresh lenses from Tamron, Viltrox, and NiSi, Godox’s inflatable mat light, a new high-payload modular gimbal from Poland, and a lot more – all the way to two awards you can enter right now.

This episode is sponsored by Hollyland – check out the Pyro S wireless video transmitter on their we b site. (53:23 in the episode).

Sony FX5 announced – full-frame 5K open gate, internal X-OCN RAW, three base ISOs, and 4K 240p

(01:26 in the episode)

Holding the new Sony FX5 – Image credit: CineD

It’s a big release for Sony: the FX5 is the company’s first full-frame camera with 5K open gate capture and internal X-OCN RAW recording, packing three base ISOs and 4K up to 240p into a very small body. Sony is one of the last major manufacturers to bring internal RAW to its mirrorless-sized cameras – Canon, Panasonic, and Nikon all got there first – but with the industry’s biggest installed user base of video shooters, the FX5 is likely to make a bigger splash than any of them. Sony specifically stated the FX5 is not replacing the FX3, and the FX6 also remains in the lineup, which sparks a discussion about where the Cinema Line goes from here.

Sony FX5 review – finally, a compact camera worthy of the Cinema Line name

(05:51 in the episode)

Both Philip and Johnnie reviewed the FX5, and the verdict is remarkably aligned: for Johnnie, it’s “the first compact Sony camera that really deserves the Cinema Line badge – it felt like a mini VENICE or a mini Burano,” while Philip calls it “probably the best video camera Sony has released” in this price bracket. The UI is now pure Cinema Line (FX6/Burano/VENICE rather than Alpha), which cost both reviewers a couple of days of head-scratching before things clicked. The internal X-OCN comes in three compression flavors – LT, C1, and C2 – and the efficiency is remarkable: C2 in 4K 24p sits around 232 Mbps, actually smaller than Sony’s XAVC S-I at around 240 Mbps, so you can shoot RAW without filling up your cards.

The triple base ISO (800, 4,000, and 12,800) plus a new dual gain mode make this, in Philip’s words, the best low-light camera he has ever used – with the 12,800 base cleaner than on the FX3 and controllable noise reduction. There are quirks, though: the beautiful 4K 240p (1.3x crop) that Philip shot with is part of the Version 2 firmware that won’t officially arrive until August 2027; there is no photo mode at all despite a physical shutter button; 32-bit float audio only works with the optional XLR handle; the new tiltable EVF (approx. €750) occupies the same spot as the handle so you have to choose between them; and all anamorphic modes disable both IBIS and autofocus. Philip also floats an interesting theory: the FX5’s 16.6MP sensor may be the A7R VI’s sensor with quad-binned pixels – unconfirmed by Sony, and a question Johnnie plans to raise in his upcoming interview with the product planner in Tokyo. Watch Johnnie’s review on CineD and Philip’s review on his channel – both are linked in the article above.

A24 defends its $75M Google DeepMind AI deal after fan backlash

(54:14 in the episode)

The studio behind “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Marty Supreme” took a $75M investment from Google DeepMind – Google’s first stake in a major movie studio – and the backlash from fans was immediate, including canceled AAA24 memberships and flooded socials. A24 insists this is not an IP deal: no data training, no production mandate, and the library stays locked – a key difference from Lionsgate’s licensing deal with Runway or the Disney vs. Midjourney lawsuit. The first project will be an AI storyboarding tool via A24 Labs. Philip and Nino take the discussion further into where generative AI is actually headed in production – from AI-generated interview “anonymization” in a Netflix documentary that destroyed its emotional credibility, to the hopeful counter-trend of audiences flocking to see “The Odyssey,” shot on 65mm IMAX film with almost no VFX.

ByteDance Seedance 2.5 API goes live – 30-second single-shot clips, 50 reference inputs, and 3D camera blockouts

(01:01:16 in the episode)

ByteDance has opened the API for Seedance 2.5, its latest and most capable generative video model – the successor to the one behind the infamous Brad Pitt vs. Tom Cruise fight scene. API access means third-party AI video services like Artlist and Higgsfield can plug it in, and the technical bar moves up: clips of up to 30 seconds in 4K with 10-bit quality. ByteDance frames it for social media, but Philip isn’t buying any of it (“everything you see is just slop”), while Nino sees a few defensible uses – generated backplates for virtual production and impossible transitions between unrelated shots – and argues for legal disclosure requirements whenever generated humans are shown, because the pushback shows audiences don’t want to be fooled.

EBU’s “Raising the Bar” Camera Guidelines give clear instructions which kind of angles are okay, and which ones aren’t. Image credit: EBUEBU Sport publishes “Raising the Bar” – camera guidelines for respectful coverage of women’s athletics

(01:06:15 in the episode)

Developed together with female Olympic athletes, this free PDF is a shot-by-shot camera and replay guideline against the sexualization of women athletes in athletics coverage – and it carries weight, since the EBU counts 113 members in 56 countries. It shows, per event type, how to position cameras and how not to, including specific guidance on slow-motion replays. Philip wonders how practical it will be for directors switching between cameras live, while Nino appreciates that it’s framed as a tasteful guideline rather than a rulebook – though both agree the athletics authorities should perhaps also revisit the athletes’ dress codes themselves.

Tamron 12-20mm f/2.8 announced – compact ultra-wide zoom for Sony E and Nikon Z full-frame cameras

(01:11:35 in the episode)

An interesting choice of focal range: most ultra-wide zooms stop short of 20mm, and 12mm is seriously wide on full frame. Philip owns several Tamron zooms and likes them, but the lack of a front filter thread is a dealbreaker for him – his Laowa 12mm f/2.8 autofocus prime takes filters, which is exactly why he’d reach for that instead. Nino sees gimbal work as a prime use case, which also suffers without front filters, while Tamron itself showcases astrophotography. Not a cheap lens either: $1,700 for Sony E and $1,800 for Nikon Z.

Viltrox AF 26mm f/2.8 EVO full-frame pancake lens announced for Sony E and Nikon Z

(01:13:27 in the episode)

A tiny always-on lens for staying really compact with your E or Z mount camera – Viltrox shows it on the A7C II, clearly targeting the lifestyle crowd. At around $300 (€320 incl. VAT) it’s affordable, and unlike many pancakes it actually covers full frame.

NiSi 16mm f/2.8 medium format lens for FUJIFILM G and Hasselblad XCD announced

(01:15:22 in the episode)

A fully manual, very wide lens (roughly a 12–13mm full-frame equivalent) for a mount that arguably still needs more glass. At $1,400 it’s notably affordable for medium format, with astrophotography as the marquee use case – and NiSi’s optics reputation (Athena primes, variable NDs) works in its favor.

KNOWLED AM800R – Image credit: GodoxGodox KNOWLED AM800R released – 800W full-color inflatable 4’×4’ mat light

(01:17:18 in the episode)

An inflatable 1.2 × 1.2m RGB mat light that packs down to almost nothing and weighs just about 5kg – a welcome smaller sibling to Godox’s existing 8’×8’ and 4’×8’ models. It ships with several diffusion strengths rather than the usual one or two, offers strong color rendering scores, app control, DMX and wireless CRMX, and multiple units can be ganged into a bigger surface. At around $4,000 it’s aimed squarely at professional use, but the size and weight make it a light you can take anywhere.

HD Air Studio HALO modular gimbal debuts – 15kg payload, 360° roll and pan, handheld-to-remote head

(01:19:20 in the episode)

A Polish company enters a space long dominated by the aging DJI Ronin 2 / Freefly Mōvi XL duopoly: the HALO is a modular, made-in-EU gimbal with a 15kg payload (enough for an ALEXA), 360° roll and pan, weighing about 6kg handheld or 4kg converted into its remote head configuration. No price, shipping date, or transmission specs yet – for now it’s an early sign-up – but it’s encouraging to see movement in a category high-end operators have been begging to see innovation in.

edelkrone Krone X Compact announced – up to seven axes of motion in a backpack

(01:24:01 in the episode)

The Turkish manufacturer’s new dolly-jib-remote-head system offers up to seven motorized axes that fit in a single backpack, at $5,500 (with a 30% launch discount). The built-in wheels let the whole rig drive itself around a subject – edelkrone demonstrates a studio car shoot with pre-programmed motion control moves – though it’s naturally limited to very flat surfaces. Nino has always loved edelkrone’s ideas while having mixed reliability experiences with some past products, so here’s hoping it works as advertised.

Zaxcom publishes white paper on Narrow Band Direct Conversion

(01:26:21 in the episode)

One for the audio folks: with wireless frequencies getting more crowded everywhere – anyone who has fought transmission dropouts on a trade show floor knows the pain – Zaxcom’s white paper explains why that happens and how their narrow band direct conversion receiver architecture works around it, implemented in their four-track 32-bit float recorder/automixer with USB-C interface. It’s a manufacturer white paper, so the claims are unverified, but the pain points it describes are real.

LIT DUO 1 gets a feature-heavy firmware update. Image credit: LIT SystemsLIT OS 0.9 beta4 for the LIT DUO 1 light meter released

(01:27:45 in the episode)

The LIT DUO 1 – whose founder Johnnie interviewed in episode 112 – gets a major beta update: 2.5× spectrum resolution, CRI and SSI readings (SSI on a pocket meter is genuinely new), an exposure-difference ΔEV sub-mode, Color Engine 2.0, and reworked encrypted BLE for upcoming apps. The final release lands in mid-August, but you can install the beta now via simple USB-C drag-and-drop – it can’t brick the device and doesn’t void the warranty. A European hardware startup that ships and iterates in public is rare and worth celebrating.

Log Cam and RAW Cam bring open gate RAW and log video to older iPhones – a skeptical look

(01:29:35 in the episode)

A one-person studio in Croatia is bypassing Apple’s ISP to record open gate CinemaDNG, MCRAW, ProRes, Log, and HEVC on iPhones as old as the iPhone 13 – including non-Pro models that never got Apple Log. Both apps are a one-time purchase of around $12–13, and the developer claims true Apple Log 2 (the curve and gamut are published, though Apple’s per-sensor characterization is not). The fun anecdote: in a blind test, every viewer preferred a four-and-a-half-year-old iPhone 13 mini running Log Cam over an iPhone 17 Pro shooting ProRes RAW. Honest caveats remain – no autofocus while recording, unreliable manual focus at slow shutter speeds, and freezes on base hardware – but MCRAW’s lossless RAW at a third of the storage, mounting as virtual CinemaDNG in Resolve via the Motion Cam tools, makes this worth watching.

Image credit: CineDCineD Best-of-Show Awards at IBC 2026 – submit your product or innovation now!

(01:32:18 in the episode)

Submissions for our Best-of-Show Awards at IBC 2026 are now open – manufacturers, send in your products! Categories include AI innovation, audio equipment, battery innovation, broadcast, camera, camera control and accessories, camera support, lenses, lighting equipment, monitors, and recording/streaming/cloud (we reserve the right to move submissions into a better-fitting category). Winners will be announced during the show.

Sony Future Filmmaker Awards 2027 open for entries – new Immersive category, Snapdragon Shorts Award, free entry worldwide

(01:33:44 in the episode)

Sony has opened entries for the 2027 edition of its Future Filmmaker Awards, adding a new Immersive category and a Snapdragon-sponsored Shorts Award. Entry is free worldwide and submissions close on December 15th. Nino has attended the award show at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles (the infamously rainy year – Philip was there too) and considers it one of the few genuinely worthwhile competitions for young filmmakers: winners get meetings with Sony Pictures executives, the chance to pitch ideas, and a great community of fellow filmmakers.

That’s a wrap for episode 126! Next week: the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P and our lab test of that camera, plus a lab comparison with the Luna Ultra. Don’t forget to subscribe, like, and comment on YouTube, email us at [email protected], and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Sony FX5 Special with Philip Bloom | A24 Defends Its $75M Google DeepMind Deal | EBU’s Women’s Athletics Camera Guidelines – Focus Check ep126

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