Poll: Sony FX5 – Which Missing Feature Do You Want Most?

Poll

by Nino LeitnerJuly 28^th, 2026

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The Sony FX5 has landed to arguably the warmest reception a compact cinema camera has enjoyed in years, but no camera is perfect, and the comment sections prove it. From the absent internal ND filter to the missing photo mode and the long wait for firmware version 2, we want to know: which omission matters most to you?

When Sony unveiled the FX5, it delivered a remarkable amount of what the community had been asking for since the original FX3: a newly developed 16.6MP fully stacked full-frame sensor, 5K open gate recording, internal 16-bit X-OCN RAW in three flavors, three base ISOs, and frame rates up to 4K 240p, all covered in depth in our Sony FX5 announcement article and in Johnnie’s full review from Kyoto. Yet within hours of the announcement, the conversation in our comments, in our Focus Check podcast special with Philip Bloom, and across the wider filmmaking community shifted from what the camera does to what it doesn’t. So let’s take stock of the most requested missing features, and then it’s your turn to vote.

The internal ND filter elephant in the room

By a wide margin, the most cited omission is a built-in electronic variable ND filter. The Sony FX6 spoiled an entire generation of documentary and run-and-gun shooters with its stepless 1/4 to 1/128 variable ND, and many hoped the FX5 would finally bring that convenience to a smaller body. It didn’t happen. Sony explicitly keeps the electronic variable ND as one of the FX6’s unique selling points, alongside SDI and its box-style form factor, and the sliding filter mechanism of the larger camera simply has no room in a 750g / 1.65lb body that is barely bigger than an FX3A. Understandable from an engineering standpoint, perhaps, but for anyone shooting fast-changing exteriors, screw-on filters and matte boxes remain part of the daily routine.

No photos, for now

This one caught many people off guard. While the FX3 was never a stills powerhouse, it could at least capture photos when needed, and plenty of hybrid shooters relied on that for quick location scouts, continuity references, or BTS frames. The FX5, in contrast, launches with no photo functionality at all. When we sat down with the FX5’s product planner Ryoji Yamada-san in Yokohama, he explained that Sony wanted to make a perfect Cinema Line family camera this time, which is why the FX5 adopts a new VENICE-style menu, and that menu does not include a still function. Because of that, the company decided to rethink from zero how a still function should work for cinematography. According to Yamada-san, this was technically hard and took more time, but it will come in a future update. You can read the full conversation in our Sony FX5 interview. So stills are on the roadmap, but anyone who needs them on day one will have to wait.

SDI and Genlock stay upstairs

Broadcast and multi-camera operators quickly noticed that the FX5 offers a full-size HDMI Type A output and Ethernet, but no SDI and no Genlock. Timecode synchronization is at least addressed through the new TC cable accessory, which allows the FX5 to sync with FX6 units and other cameras in a fleet. Still, for live production environments built around SDI infrastructure, the FX5 remains a camera that needs converters and workarounds, which again is precisely how Sony wants to keep the FX6 relevant.

One port, two accessories

The optional OLED viewfinder connects through a new proprietary connector on the top of the camera, and the XLR handle unit covers exactly that connector once attached. In practice, this means you have to choose between the tilting EVF and the handle with its 32-bit float audio recording; using both at the same time is not possible. For solo documentary shooters who would love professional audio and an eyepiece on the same rig, this compromise stings, and it was another point we raised with Sony’s product planners in our interview.

The long road to firmware version 2

Some of the FX5’s most exciting headline specs are not actually available at launch. The 5K open gate at 120p, open gate recording in XAVC, full-frame 5K RAW at up to 120p, and the flagship 4K 240p mode all arrive with firmware version 2, and Yamada-san confirmed on camera that this update is scheduled for August 2027 or later. Sony’s track record of delivering on its FX6 and BURANO firmware roadmaps inspires confidence, but a wait of a year or more for advertised features is a legitimate frustration, especially for buyers planning productions around high frame rates.

Smaller grievances that add up

Beyond the big five, several recurring wishes appear in the comments. The Super 35 crop mode tops out at 3.2K, so there is no true 4K Super 35 option for shooters with S35 glass. There is no recording to external SSDs via USB-C, a workflow that competing compact cinema cameras have embraced. And we can confirm from our own time with the camera that boot up times when switching between resolution or frame rate settings take remarkably long, unlike with other cameras from other manufacturers in this category, which slows down fast-paced shooting. None of these are dealbreakers on their own, but they shape the daily experience of working with the camera.

Cast your vote

So here is the question we are putting to the CineD community.

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Of course, some of these are hardware realities that no firmware can fix, while others could conceivably arrive through updates. Either way, manufacturers do read these polls, and Sony has repeatedly shown with the FX5 itself that user feedback shapes its cameras; internal RAW and open gate were among the most requested features for years before they finally arrived in this body.

The Sony FX5 is priced at $4,898 / €4,600 (net) for the body only, or $5,500 / €5,132 in a kit with the XLR handle unit, with sales planned to start in August 2026. More details can be found on the Sony Cinema Line website.

Which missing feature gets your vote, and did any of them stop you from pre-ordering? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!