Sony Announces HXC-FB80 Studio Camera

LOS ANGELES—There will be a new studio camera in Sony’s portfolio come the new year, as the company has unveiled the HXC-FB80.

Part of Sony’s HXC series of cameras, which started last year with the HXC-FB75, the FB80 will have a 3G platform and will be able to do 1080 60p in the lower end studio camera range. It also comes with a new CCU, the HXCU-FB80, which provides the ability for 4K upscale.

The camera provides signtal-to-noise ratio at -60dB with high sensitivity of F13 at 50Hz or F12 at 59.94Hz. It has many of the same configurations at the HXC-FB75, including the HXC-FB80HN (camera body only), HXC-FB80KN (with 2/3-inch HD lens, portable viewfinder and microphone) and HXC-FB80SN (with 2/3-inch HD lens an large viewfinder). The camera's 2/3-inch type CMOS Exmor image sensors provide 59.94Hz progressive operation at 1080x1920 between the camera head and CCU using a 3G platform. It also supports 23.98PsF, 25PsF and 29.97PsF shooting.

Sony already has plans to release a firmware upgrade for the camera that will make the HXC-FB80 HD/HDR-capable. Additional features will include a 12G-SDI output interface, four 3G-SDI outputs, a servo ND filter and camera control for up to 24 cameras. Sony estimates that the firmware upgrade will be available around June.

Sony will begin shipping the HXC-FB80 in early January 2018. The company is previewing the camera at NAB Show New York.

In addition, Sony has announced that PXW-Z450 version 3 firmware will be released in December. The upgrade will offer full HDR support with HLG and S-Log3, BT.2020 color space. There will also be simultaneous recording to one card and 4K cache recording. Sony will offer this firmware upgrade for free.