Sony’s Cinema Line is not one camera but a ladder, from a palm-sized Super 35 body to a shoulder-mounted broadcast rig. They share the same color science, the same log workflow and much of the same menu, so the question is rarely which is “best” and almost always which fits your sensor size, your budget and the way you work. Here is the whole line, sorted by who each one is for.
Want the smallest full-frame body for run-and-gun or a gimbal? The FX3. Shooting stills as seriously as video? The FX2. On a budget, or set on Super 35? The FX30. Long days, a built-in ND and no need for in-body stabilization? The FX6. The FX9 is the aging broadcast option. And if you were weighing an FX3 and can spend about $600 more, the new FX5 is now the one to put beside it, though it does not ship until mid-August.
The compact full-frame bodies
The FX3 is the one most people mean by “an FX camera”: a 12.1MP full-frame sensor built for low light, internal 4K up to 120p, 5-axis in-body stabilization and a detachable XLR handle, in a body small enough for a gimbal. Sony refreshed it as the FX3A in 2025 with a sharper rear screen. If you want one compact full-frame body for run-and-gun, documentary or gimbal work, this is the default choice.
The FX2 is the hybrid of the group: a 33MP full-frame sensor with a tilting electronic viewfinder, which makes it the FX to pick if you shoot stills as seriously as video. The trade is readout speed. Its higher-resolution sensor reads out more slowly than the FX3’s, so fast pans show more rolling shutter, and its fastest 4K frame rates are Super 35 rather than full-frame.
The Super 35 entry point
The FX30 shares the FX3’s body, its stabilization and its 4K120, but with a 26MP Super 35 (APS-C) sensor instead of full-frame, at the lowest price in the line. If budget is the deciding factor, or you actively want the tighter Super 35 field of view, it is a lot of camera for the money. What it gives up to the full-frame bodies is low-light headroom.
The workhorses
The FX6 steps up to a run-all-day production body: a 10.2MP full-frame sensor in the same low-light-first vein as the FX3, a built-in electronic variable ND, larger BP-U batteries and 4K120. The catch is no in-body stabilization, so it leans on a gimbal or sticks. Choose it over the FX3 or the FX5 when you want the built-in ND and the longer battery day more than you want IBIS and a pocketable body.
The FX9 is the oldest body here, a shoulder-style camera whose 6K full-frame sensor oversamples to 4K internally, with a built-in ND, aimed at documentary and broadcast crews. It is a specialized, heavier tool, and with a successor overdue it is the one body in the line we would think hardest about buying new today.
And the newest body
Sony announced the FX5 on July 22, 2026 and ships it in mid-August, at $4,899.99 for the body. It sits a step above the FX3, with a stacked full-frame sensor, triple base ISO and internal X-OCN LT RAW that no other FX body has. At about $600 over a new FX3 it lands much closer to the FX3 than to the FX6, so it belongs on the list even if you thought the FX3 was your ceiling. It has no internal ND, though, and no photo mode. The tracker shows how the rumors landed, and the FX3 vs FX5 breakdown walks the choice.
How to choose
- Sensor size. Full-frame (FX3, FX2, FX5, FX6, FX9) for low light and the shallowest depth of field; Super 35 (FX30) for a tighter field of view at a lower price.
- Stabilization or built-in ND. The compact bodies (FX3, FX2, FX30) and the FX5 have in-body stabilization but no built-in ND; the FX6 and FX9 have a built-in ND but no IBIS. If you shoot outdoors without a matte box, that ND is worth more than the spec sheet suggests.
- Stills. Only the FX2, with its higher-resolution sensor and tilting EVF, is a serious hybrid stills-and-video body. The rest are video-first, and the FX5 has no photo mode at all.
- Budget.The FX30 is the most affordable, the FX2 sits well below the FX3, the FX3 and FX5 are about $600 apart, and the FX6 and FX9 are the production-tier spend. Each tracker carries that body’s current price with its source and date.
Still undecided? The honest default: the FX30 if budget is the constraint, the FX3 if you want full-frame in the smallest body, the FX2 if stills matter as much as video, the FX6 if you shoot long days outdoors, and the FX5 if you can spend about $600 more than the FX3 and want the newer sensor, once shipping units are in reviewers’ hands. The cards, cages and batteries guide covers what each one needs around it.