Sony FX5 Interview – Firmware V2 Timing Confirmed, Anamorphic Limitations, and Cinema Line Strategy

by Johnnie BehiriJuly 27^th, 2026

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At Sony’s headquarters in Yokohama, we sat down with Ryoji Yamada-san, product planner of the new FX5, and Takuro Ema-san, who heads product planning for the entire Cinema Line, from the VENICE down to the FX30. The conversation covered the long wait for firmware version 2, the missing photo mode, the EVF versus XLR handle compromise, the anamorphic restrictions, and what happens when Sony runs out of numbers for its FX cameras.

The Sony FX5 is the first camera in the FX series to offer open gate recording and internal 16-bit X-OCN RAW, built around a newly developed 16.6MP fully stacked full-frame sensor and the BIONZ XR2 processor with an integrated AI unit, with three base ISOs at 800, 4,000, and 12,800. Those specifications are public, and we covered them in detail in our first-look review. What is not public is the reasoning behind them, which is exactly why we went to Yokohama to ask about it. You can watch the full conversation in the video above. And yes, we are aware that there is a hint of “marketing” in Sony’s representatives’ answers, yet we hope that in the lines or between them, one will find some valuable information that can serve you well.

A cinematic look studied from zero

Yamada-san, known as RJ inside his team, made it clear from the start that the spec sheet was the least interesting part of the story for him. Sony’s Cinema Line philosophy, he explained, rests on two pillars: look and operability. Both were defined with the FX3 in 2021, and the company then watched that camera turn up in places it had not necessarily planned for, including large film productions running alongside VENICE bodies, as well as live events and news broadcasts.

For the FX5, the ambition was to build a more complete Cinema Line family camera rather than a bigger FX3, and according to Yamada-san, the hardest work went into something that never appears on a spec sheet at all: the look. His team, engineers included, went back to what he called zero, studying the philosophy of cinema, the history of the industry, and what picture quality actually means to the people who use these tools. Sony already has a well-established reputation for imaging quality, so the question they put to cinematographers around the world was a different one: what is good, and what could be better? Engineers visited DPs in several countries and even asked them to run workshops for Sony, followed by a long stretch of trial and error in image tuning. It is a process that cannot be reduced to measurable numbers, which is precisely why Yamada-san wanted to talk about it. Doing all of that while keeping the camera at roughly the same size as before was, in his words, the other really hard part.

Firmware version 2 will arrive August 2027 or later

This is the point that generated the most questions after our review went live, so let us settle it here. Several readers asked whether the mention of August 2027 was a typo for 2026. It was not. Yamada-san confirmed on camera that firmware version 2 is scheduled for August 2027 or later.

That matters, because a meaningful part of the FX5’s headline capability sits behind that update: 5K open gate X-OCN at 120fps, open gate recording in XAVC, full-frame 5K RAW at up to 120fps, and the 4K 240p mode in the cropped full-frame scan. The new X-OCN C1 and C2 codecs, on the other hand, are available from launch. Asked why the wait is so long, Yamada-san pointed to testing and workflow validation rather than development time, saying Sony wants customers to be able to use the features safely and comfortably across a wide range of conditions, and that the company evaluates the whole workflow, not just the act of recording. He also framed the announcement itself as a response to a long-standing request: users keep asking Sony for a roadmap, so this time the company published one, even though the date is not the one buyers were hoping for.

We appreciate the transparency, and Sony’s track record on delivering promised firmware for the BURANO and the FX6 is good. Still, anyone buying an FX5 for high frame rate work should plan their productions around the version 1 feature set, because a year is a long time in this business.

Will X-OCN C1 and C2 reach other Sony cameras?

The new compression flavors are arguably the most quietly radical thing about this camera. 16-bit RAW has traditionally been too heavy and too expensive to handle, which is why it lived on big budget productions, as Yamada-san himself acknowledged. Sony’s goal with the FX5 was to let everyone work with 16-bit color, and that required a compact file size. Our own measurements from the review bear that out: one minute of 5K full-frame open gate at 24p came in at 5.54GB in X-OCN LT, 4.13GB in C1, and 3.34GB in C2.

So will those codecs migrate to other bodies? Yamada-san could not comment on other products, which is the expected answer, but he did not close the door either. If many creators love the codec and ask for it on other cameras, Sony will consider it. That is not a commitment, though it is a clear invitation to make some noise in the comments.

The EVF or the handle, but not both

One of the FX5’s more frustrating design decisions is that the new detachable OLED viewfinder and the new XLR handle unit cannot be mounted at the same time. We wanted to know whether that was an oversight or a deliberate call. It was deliberate. Yamada-san said Sony received strong requests for an EVF and knew it had to deliver one, and that good audio is equally important, but that keeping the camera small and at the right weight was the top priority. People use a camera of this size handheld, on gimbals, and inside larger cinema rigs, and doing everything at once proved technically very difficult, so compactness won.

Sony’s own product documentation states the restriction plainly. The XLR-H2 handle unit cannot be used at the same time as the DVF-EL1 OLED viewfinder, the handle is not compatible with the FX3, FX3A, FX30, or FX2 either, and the viewfinder itself blocks any accessory that needs the Multi Interface shoe. For context, the viewfinder is priced at $698/€750, and the handle unit at $798/€900, and the FX3’s older XLR-H1 handle is not supported at all. For a solo operator who wants an eyepiece and professional audio on the same body, that remains an uncomfortable choice.

No stills mode, and what the frame grab will actually be

The FX5 has no photo functionality. Yamada-san explained that the company wanted to make a perfect Cinema Line family camera this time, so they decided to use a new VENICE-style menu. As we all know, that menu does not have a still function. Because of that, Sony decided to rethink how still function should work for cinematography from zero. According to Yamada-san, it was technically hard and took more time, but it will come in a future update.

The result is a frame grab function planned for firmware version 2. Sony lists it publicly as well, naming a frame grab among the planned post-launch additions alongside high frame rate shooting up to 240fps in X-OCN, XAVC S-I recording in 3:2 with full sensor readout, and an optimized interface for vertical shooting. What the grab will actually output is still unclear: asked whether it would produce a JPEG or something closer to RAW, Yamada-san said he could not explain it yet, only that some kind of still format will be available for grabbing a frame. In other words, do not expect the FX5 to become a hybrid camera, and do not count on the frame grab as a stills workflow until we know its quality.

Anamorphic autofocus and stabilization, an official request

The FX5 handles anamorphic monitoring generously, with de-squeeze options for 1.3x, 1.5x, 1.6x, 1.8x, and 2.0x lenses available out of the box. The catch is that in-body stabilization does not work in anamorphic mode when filming open gate, at least in X-OCN, and autofocus anamorphic lenses are not supported at all. With 5K open gate being one of the camera’s marquee features, and with a growing number of autofocus anamorphic lenses arriving on the market, that combination of restrictions is hard to explain to anyone who wants to work as a one-person crew.

Yamada-san’s answer was diplomatic. Sony has already received a lot of feedback and requests since the announcement, he said, and the company intends to keep building the future together with creators, so please send in requests. We made ours official on camera: enable IBIS and autofocus in anamorphic mode. He responded that he will consider it. Not a promise, but not a refusal either, and it is worth adding your voice if this affects your work.

Noise reduction you can switch off completely

A genuinely useful detail is the noise suppression menu inherited from the BURANO, which offers high, mid, and low settings as well as a full off position. Yamada-san confirmed that this came directly from creators asking to control texture themselves rather than having the camera decide for them. His own preference, for the record, is the mid setting, which he finds strikes the best balance between noise and texture. That is a recommendation worth testing, particularly for anyone whose instinct, like ours, is to switch noise reduction off entirely and deal with grain in post.

Ema-san on why the FX5 is such a big jump

Takuro Ema-san runs product planning for the whole Cinema Line, so we put a broader question to him: after years of cameras arriving with modest, incremental feature sets, why did the FX5 suddenly land with open gate, internal RAW, and high frame rates all at once? Was this market pressure, or a plan made long ago?

His answer had two parts. The technical reason is the new camera system, the sensor and processor combination that made the leap possible. The strategic reason is more interesting: Sony does not regard small changes as a negative for its users. The Cinema Line’s goal, in his framing, is to give creators tools and choices within a single platform, and because these products are not cheap, customers who invest in them need to be able to use them for a long time. That, he said, is why Sony keeps issuing software updates, so that the product and the customer grow together.

The FX3 is not going anywhere

That philosophy explains why the FX3 will continue to be sold in parallel with the FX5. When we pointed out the sizable gap between the two, Ema-san argued that Sony does not really recognize the FX3 as an aging camera, because the annual software updates have kept making it better, and that work will continue. There is still a place for it in the lineup, and there will still be customers who prefer it, even with the FX5 on the shelf next to it.

Sony is running out of numbers, and admits it

We could not resist pointing out that with the FX2, FX3, FX5, FX6, and FX30 all on the books, and with Ema-san’s own remit stretching from the VENICE down to the FX30, the naming scheme is close to exhausted. Ema-san agreed, quite openly, that the company is running out of numbers and will have to come up with something. He also framed it as a happy problem, since it means Sony has managed to offer a wide range of choices under one Cinema Line brand, and confirmed that more choices are planned within the FX series for as long as customers keep asking for them.

The last question was the one we ask every manufacturer eventually: when does large format become accessible to the rest of us? Ema-san said Sony would like to do that and is thinking about it, but that several things need to be solved first, starting with which lenses would be available, and the sensor itself. For now, that is as far as any Japanese manufacturer will go on future products, but it is more than a flat no.

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 the optional DVF-EL1 OLED viewfinder at $698/€750 and the VMC-BNCU1 timecode adapter cable at $98/€100. According to Sony, sales start in August 2026. Full specifications are listed on the Sony FX5 product page, with more on the range at the Sony Cinema Line website.

Which of Sony’s answers surprised you the most, and what would you ask them next time? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!