Insanely boring question, sorry!
I work for a record label that’s trying to get the budget in order for next year. We shoot a lot of documentary/music videos/interviews/live videos/general social content for our artists. They’ve asked me to make a list of wants to add to our production gear. I’ve got lighting/grip/sound stuff under control, but they’ve asked if I’d like to add a cinema camera to our lineup. Obviously, if I’m not buying— sure, why not?
Currently, we’ve got 2 Sony A7s iiis and 1 A7 iv. We’ve got a 50mm, 17-28, 24-70, and 70-200mm lenses. My inclination is to kind of keep us within the Sony E mount ecosystem, but an FX6 is just out of budget. We’ve discussed the FX5, but it does seem kinda overpriced for what it is. I’d go FX3, but I’m kinda stuck on wanting open gate, since we do a lot of vertical deliverables (and I like the 3:2 aspect ratio a lot, too).
I’ve also looked at the Pyxis 6k (leaning PL mount), having used a BMPCC 4K as my personal camera workhorse for years and years— which is initially much cheaper than FX5, but then we’re sort of investing in a whole new lens system— which I’d prefer to make PL vs getting a Canon C50 and getting stuck in their world. PL seems more versatile as far as having lenses if we opt to rent an Alexa or whatever for the biggest shoots. I know we could buy a Pyxis and probably a few lenses for our budget. We’ve basically decided to ask for $8k, in the hopes we’ll get $6k, but they’re all in on content right now, so we might get the full 8! Never know with these people!
We do utilize auto-focus a lot during live shows, so that’s another reason I’m leaning Sony— but I also think our current lineup does totally fine for that, so I’d rather get a camera than can be our A cam for the interview/doc work, and supplement the more run and gun stuff with the A7s.
It’s been a decade since I remotely cared about keeping up with camera specs, so not really sure what way to lean. It’s sort of a “use it or lose it” situation, so definitely need to make a choice, but there seem to be so many cameras in the market right now that are all basically “very good”. I did used to like shooting with REDs too, but haven’t done that in a decade and their naming scheme is bizarrely confusing, so haven’t even looked into that— but should I?