Free 90-minute Sony FX6 Masterclass: Alister Chapman Teaches Filming on the Tiny Wonder

Education

by Graham TempletonAugust 6^th, 2021

Freelance DP Alister Chapman has done a long form Sony FX6 masterclass video on how to get the most out of your cinema camera.

The Sony FX6 cinema camera brought a new level of full frame cinema camera functionality to a new low in price point, making those features available to a wider audience than ever before. There’s a problem when that happens though: the more, newer shooters buy a camera, the less those shooters are likely to know about the camera.

It’s an odd thing, since you’d think that budget-conscious buyers would obsess about getting every ounce of value out of their purchases, but we all know someone who owns an expensive camera, yet has no idea how to use it to its fullest extent. Without that knowledge, you might as well have bought something far cheaper.

Now, Alister Chapman has put together a 90-minute masterclass on all the tools available in this remarkable machine, made for the equipment merchant Visual Impact. It goes over most of the what a new shooter would need to know – it’s not particularly advanced, but then, many new Sony FX6 owners are new shooters. The tutorial is partially specific to the FX6 and partially generalizable to any cinema camera with similar tools available.

A Sony FX6 masterclass in 90 minutes

The video lays out everything from how to use the waveform and other scopes, to when to use the much sought-after S-cinetone profile, to how to different SDR/HDR shooting modes. It covers a lot of the basics of how to nail a shot and how to use the FX6 as a cinema camera, rather than simply a video camera.

He also spends some time talking about the S-log profiles, in particular the S-log3 profile and the uses it can have.

There’s still a lot to learn about your FX6

I would have liked to see more on the S-log profiles, in particular a guide to exposing each of them in the way it likes best. The S-log2 profile is well known to favor over-exposure, but it would have been nice to get a more detailed breakdown of these profiles.

There’s also no specific discussion of several key aspects of the FX6, including my own favorite feature: that Sony-exclusive continuously ramping ND filter. The system uses a complex and amazing system of automation that basically succeeds in being what auto-iris was always trying to be and failing: simple, no-fuss exposure compensation in real time, with no downsides.

The FX6 is a revolutionary camera – though it would be more revolutionary if Sony could ship enough units to fulfill demand. With training materials like this available, we’re sure to see some amazing indie content coming out of new Sony shooters.

Do you wish someone would make a masterclass video for your camera? Let us know in the comments below!