Sony Urx-p03d

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Mario Davis

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Aug 3, 2024, 5:18:05 PM8/3/24

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The MI shoe solution is light and affordable but sensitive to humidity and it can break more easily. The audio connection through the shoe will be digital w/ next fw so audio quality won't be an issue.

Yes, but you have only two analog ins. If you use hot shoe or slot in you get two additional ones.. and then you need a lot of cables and attachments for the receivers. And maybe power supply if you don't want to change batteries frequently.

That's still not that expensive at all for the Sony S03D, that is less than half the price of the slot in dual reciever from Lectrosonics (and the Wisycom / Audio Ltd slot dual receivers would both be priced similar to Lectrosonics).

Nothing about the audio performance of the receivers but I shot four projects with the FX9 over a month in February. I liked the camera. I didn't use any slot receivers and I did use the XDCA, primarily so I could power the camera with V Mounts. IMHO, adding the XDCA and a good sized Vmount and a single or pair of receivers will change the footprint, balance and overall weight and bulkiness considerably. I found the camera with the adapter and a thick V mount to be overly long and a lot heavier. If you come from Arri Alexas and big shoulder mounted cameras, bearable. If you come from smaller cameras, you might find the same.

That's my main concern! I come from very small cameras (a7s, a7 III) with rig or gimbal and tried the fs7 some time ago. To me it felt heavy - and very front heavy with a big lens. So most people recommend a vmount adapter at the back to balance the fx9 although it adds much more weight. Did you have problems balancing the camera without the adapter?

I even had an easyrig some time ago and still one some support rods for my camera rigs but I was very happy to finally get rid of them as they really limit my movement and speed while working. In documentary it's all about speed.

I use the small cameras together with a sound bag right now so I get even more audio channels and it works, although you have to charge and think of lots of differebt batteries every time (camera, audio mixer, lav mics, gimbal etc..) But now "summer is coming" in Germany and I had overheating issues with the a7 III outside in the sun (uhd recording with face autofocus and lens correction on) and don't know if I can fix them with an external battery and maybe a mini fan attached. But this solution it's not 100 percent reliable and adds even more cables again. So maybe I will have to switch to a "big" camera eventually although I hate all that extra weight.

You can also look at swapping out the original rods for the view finder for third party ones which are longer to place it further in front, this will then allow you to shift the weight of the camera back without ending up with the viewfinder being in an awkwardly far back place too.

Like this for example:
-mount-sony-fx9-fs7-fs7mkii-panasonic-eva1-no-clamp

What you'll need will also depend on the size/weight of the lens you're using too.

Using a dummy battery in the camera and keeping the screen flipped out, can help keep at bay longer the overheating in the Sony a7 series of cameras.
But this is one of the reasons I prefer the rock solid workhorses that are the Panasonic GH series instead. (I've got a couple myself, while my Sony mirrorless would overheat in a blink of an eye)

I found, for me, personally, the FX9 with the XDCA back and a good size V mount to be too long and too heavy. I used it mainly with the 28-135mm f/4.0 G OSS lens, which is really liked, but I liked the rig better without the XDCA back and the small batteries. Without the back, yes, the camera was very front heavy. A good compromise might be the much smaller and cheaper battery plates from Wooden and Tilta (I think it was those two so far?) They are much less money and much shorter than the XDCA. For me personally, I have never cared about wireless receiver slots, I would rather work with a pro sound mixer when I am shooting and we attach whatever they are using for a wireless hop via Velcro, rear rods, 1/4" 20 holes, etc. For me, wireless slots are for newsshooters who don't work with a sound mixer. Few pro sound mixers I work with use Sony wireless.

My main A camera is the Canon C200, or our C300 MKII if we have clients who don't want RAW. Granted, I rig those cameras up with the Zacuto VCT Pro, rods, handgrip extension, etc. so those cameras aren't super small and light as well but when fully rigged, they are still smaller and lighter than the FX9 with the XDCA. A lot of it just depends on what you mostly shoot. On tripod, who cares about weight and length? But if you are walking around a hot beach all day with the camera on your shoulder and no tripod, every ounce counts IMHO.

I shot some sunsets and surfers for stock with the FX9, the XDCA and the Sony 100-400mm G OSS lens and that setup was ridiculous because it is a very long lens, mounted on a very long camera and back. Liked the lens but carrying it and trying to fit it on the floor of my car for transport was a mess. My B camera is the Fujifilm X-T3, which is super tiny and light weight so going from that to the fully rigged FX9 was quite a shock.

I was looking at the wooden camera adapter plate as well these days.. My main concern is, that you cannot see or hear when the battery is running out. I had already lost some shots with my vmount camera rig because the camera suddenly shut down. That seems too risky. I dont know if the original adapter from sony can share the battery status?

I asked some sony vendors. They confirmed that the slot in version has the same issue: True diversity only in one channel mode. Otherwise you would need four antennas instead of two (thats what they told me)