Sony FX30 – Interview with Product Planner Kosuke Imagawa-san

by Johnnie BehiriSeptember 28^th, 2022

The Sony FX30 has been announced and we took the time to talk to Kosuke Imagawa-san, a 26-year-old product planner at Sony and the head of the team behind the creation of this new APS-C/Super35mm camera. For complete FX30 coverage, head to our news article.

Introducing a new camera is always a reason for celebration, especially when you are the product planner behind the new filming device. Kosuke Imagawa-san will be turning 27 this year and after three successful years at Sony, he was proud to talk to us about Sony’s latest creation, the FX30. If you are a regular follower of CineD, you may have been among those, who thought that Sony deserted the APS-C camera arena for good, as we haven’t seen any new product with a super35 sensor size in a long time. Obviously, having such a camera can cater to those who have the right image circle glass size and want to film in an “industry standard” format. Now, with the introduction of the FX30, the wait is finally over and this new release is the ultimate answer to those who kind of lost faith in the development of Sony’s APS-C line of cameras.

For full information on the new camera, please head to our news article. It is worth noting that we are in the middle of working on our FX30 Lab Test, next to a full camera review. We will share our impressions in the weeks to come.

Listening to Kosuke-san, it is interesting to see that Sony is aiming this camera, especially at young creators and beginners. (That said, the price/performance is very good). Personally, I think it is a smart move since Sony is now able to capture the hearts of many users in this segment and allow them to professionally grow and use additional Sony equipment in the future.

Aside from announcing the camera itself, what really caught my attention is the fact that a creator was able to “cross over” to the production side and by being accepted to work as a product planner at a distinguished manufacturer like Sony at a relatively young age. I hope that the interview with Kosuke-san can inspire those who think working in an interesting and influential position at a big company is hard or even impossible to reach.

Interview table of content:

00:50 – Introduction

01:08 – Meet Kosuke Imagawa-san, Sony’s product planner

02:49 – FX30 Strengths

03:34 – Specs (Sensor, Processor, Resolution, Frame Rate)

05:02 – For the young content creators

06:20 – Picture quality

06:48 – Did Imagawa-san use the FX30 himself?

07:27 – How he went from film creator to product planner

08:21 – 2 Variants of the FX30

09:32 – EVF

10:33 – DCI 4K Recording

Of course, a lot more could have been discussed, such as ND filter, Shutter angle, and Anamorphic de-squeeze), but as these features are not present in the FX3, I was confident that Sony didn’t feature them in a camera that is aimed mostly at young creators, either. In any case, this of course leaves something to be discussed for next time…

What do you think about the new FX30? Were you expecting Sony to come up with a professional Super35mm sensor under their Cinema Line at such a competitive price? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.