Sony announced a new FX5 on July 22, and it’s caused some confusion already, because there was already an FX5 before this one. Sony’s own line is that this isn’t a Mark II. It borrows more from VENICE 2 and BURANO than from the Alpha-style cameras it visually resembles, and it slots in as a new tier between the FX3 we shoot with daily and the FX6. It doesn’t ship until August, so we haven’t put our own hands on one yet. A few outlets have, though. Sony loaned pre-production units to a handful of reviewers ahead of launch, and CineD’s Johnnie Behiri published a genuinely useful early review after shooting with one in Japan. Between his hands-on notes and Sony’s own spec sheet, there’s enough here to say something real, rather than just rewording a press release. What follows is what’s actually different, what a reviewer who’s used one has already run into, and what it would mean for a studio shooting cars, dealer inventory and content in Dubai heat every day.
The sensor and processing jump
The FX3 runs a 12.1-megapixel full-frame sensor that isn’t stacked. The new FX5 gets a 16.6-megapixel full-frame, fully-stacked sensor paired with the newer Bionz XR2 processor, the same chip family showing up in Sony’s latest Alpha bodies, with a dedicated AI unit for subject recognition. On the FX3, base ISO sits at 800 or 12,800 with nothing in between. The FX5 adds a third anchor at 4,000, plus a Dual Gain Shooting mode that takes a second read of the sensor to pull noise out of shadows. For anyone who’s had to choose between a clean daytime exposure and a usable interior shot in the same session, that middle ISO option is the kind of thing you notice immediately on a spec sheet, whether or not it holds up once real footage exists.
Open Gate and internal RAW
This is the headline feature for anyone doing colour work. The FX5 is the first FX-series camera with Open Gate recording, a full 3:2 sensor readout that gives editors the entire sensor to reframe with in post, useful for vertical cuts of the same shoot without a resolution penalty. It also gets internal 16-bit X-OCN RAW, previously reserved for VENICE 2 and BURANO, in three flavours: LT, and two new, more compressed options called C1 and C2 built to keep file sizes and transfer times down. The FX3 has neither. If you want RAW off an FX3, you’re recording externally over HDMI, which means another box, another cable, another point of failure on a rig.
Behiri’s CineD review put actual numbers on that file size question: one minute of 5K open-gate footage runs 5.54GB in the standard LT codec, dropping to 4.13GB and 3.34GB in the newer C1 and C2 flavours. He also flagged a real workflow snag worth knowing before you buy in: at review time, RAW editing support was thin. Sony’s own RAW Viewer wasn’t fully baked yet, and mainstream NLE support was still catching up, meaning early adopters may need DaVinci Resolve in the pipeline before a file plays nicely elsewhere. That’s the kind of detail that matters more to us than a spec sheet number, since a 24 to 48 hour turnaround promise falls apart fast if the footage needs an extra conversion step before anyone can touch it.
For us, this cuts both ways. RAW grading flexibility is genuinely valuable on a showroom or supercar shoot where the client cares about colour accuracy. It’s less obviously valuable on a fast-turnaround classified listing shoot, where bigger files and an unsettled RAW workflow just mean more time before a car goes live on Dubizzle.
Built for vehicles, literally
One line in Sony’s own announcement stood out more than any spec, and Behiri’s review confirmed it’s real, not just marketing copy: there’s an optional, paid service that mechanically and irreversibly locks the FX5’s image stabilization unit in place, done by Sony on request after you send the camera in. High-frequency vibration from a moving car can apparently confuse in-body stabilization into introducing shake rather than removing it, so Sony built a dedicated, permanent fix for exactly the situation we’re in every time we mount a camera to a rolling shot rig. That’s Sony explicitly designing around a use case that’s central to what we do, not a side note, and it’s also a bigger commitment than it sounds. Locking IBIS forever on a body means that body stops being useful for anything handheld.
The stabilization itself has also been reworked more generally: the same 5-axis hardware as the FX3, but with a wider roll-correction range and a new Dynamic Active Mode for steadier handheld footage. One limitation Behiri ran into: stabilization doesn’t work in anamorphic mode when shooting full-frame open gate in RAW, so if we ever add anamorphic glass to a shoot, that’s a setting to check first, not assume.
The parts that matter less for us, and the parts that cost more
Not every upgrade lines up with automotive work. The new CineAlta-style menu, matching VENICE 2, BURANO and the FX6, is a real change from the FX3’s simpler, Alpha-style menu, and Behiri’s review echoes this directly: anyone coming from the FX3’s Alpha-style layout should expect a learning curve. The detachable EVF is a genuinely welcome addition, tilting up to 90 degrees, but it has a real catch confirmed in testing: it can’t be attached to the camera at the same time as the new XLR audio handle. You choose one or the other, not both. That’s a meaningful workflow decision for anyone who currently runs both an EVF and an audio handle on the same rig. And the new handle itself doesn’t fit the older units already sitting in our kit from the FX3, so adding an FX5 means buying new audio accessories outright rather than sharing them across cameras. Older Sony batteries don’t fit the new body either. It takes a new NP-SA100 battery, which means a separate charger and spares.
Price is the other real consideration. The FX3 currently runs somewhere around $3,900 to $4,300 depending on the bundle. The FX5 launches at $4,899 body-only, or $5,499 with the new XLR handle kit. That’s a meaningful jump for a camera Sony itself is positioning as a step above the FX3, not a straight replacement for it, and Behiri raised the same question we’d ask: at that price gap, what would an eventual FX3 successor even need to include to still look worth buying next to this?
Is it worth adding to a Dubai car content kit
Not immediately, and not without testing it in our own heat first. Behiri’s take, after actual time with the camera, was that it doesn’t make the FX3 obsolete: if you already own one and have no specific work reason to move, there’s no urgency. His recommendation to upgrade was aimed at people buying into the system fresh, not existing FX3 owners like us. That lines up with our read of it too. The FX5’s dedicated cooling fan and independent air chamber sound like exactly what a camera needs for back-to-back outdoor shoots in a Dubai summer, but that’s still a claim from a spec sheet rather than something anyone has confirmed in real heat. The vehicle-rig stabilization lock is the single feature that speaks most directly to our work, and it’s the one we’re most curious to test, alongside how the RAW workflow actually holds up against a same-day delivery deadline.
For now, the FX3 stays in daily use. We’ll get our own hands on the FX5 once units ship in August, and we’ll update this with real footage and real heat numbers rather than specs pulled from a press release.
So who should actually buy which one
If you already own an FX3 and it’s covering your work, there’s no case here for switching. You’d be paying $1,000 or more to fix problems you don’t have, and taking on a menu system, a new battery, and audio accessories that don’t carry over from your existing kit. The upgrade only makes sense if something specific is missing right now: RAW footage a client is asking for, open-gate flexibility for vertical cuts, or a workflow you’re currently solving with an external recorder bolted to the side of the camera.
If you’re buying into this tier for the first time, with no FX3 already in the bag, the FX5 is the harder camera to argue against. You’re not carrying any of the switching costs we just listed, and you get internal RAW, the extra base ISO, and a stabilization system built with vehicle rigs specifically in mind. The trade-off is the CineAlta menu learning curve and a RAW workflow that, per Behiri’s review, was still maturing at launch. Budget for that adjustment period rather than expecting it to behave like the FX3 out of the box.
Frequently asked questions
Is the new Sony FX5 a replacement for the FX3? Sony says no. It sits as a new tier between the FX3 and FX6, aimed at productions stepping up from the FX3 rather than a direct successor.
Does the FX5 record internal RAW? Yes, 16-bit X-OCN, a first for the FX series. The FX3 can only output RAW externally over HDMI.
Can I use my existing FX3 XLR handle on the new FX5? No. The FX5 uses a new XLR-H2 handle with different screw positions, sold separately or bundled into the kit price.
When does the Sony FX5 ship? August 2026, priced from $4,899 body-only.
Has anyone actually reviewed the Sony FX5 yet? A small number of outlets got early pre-production units ahead of launch. CineD’s Johnnie Behiri published a hands-on first-look after shooting with one in Japan, which is where several of the workflow details in this piece come from. Full lab testing and wider reviews are expected closer to the August ship date.
We shoot car content across Dubai daily on the gear we actually trust for the job. See our videography services or get in touch about your next shoot.
Reference: Sony FX5 Review – Finally, a Compact Camera Worthy of the Cinema Line Name, CineD, Johnnie Behiri.