timbutt2 wrote:The only time that AutoFocus would be handy is in situations that you're doing an interview or a teleprompter reading. And, that's currently where the Sony FX9 and FX6 are currently being asked for the most by clients and producers. I still get plenty of work with my URSA Mini because of the image quality. But the convenience of AF in those cameras for those documentaries and interviews is very apparent.
It must be remembered that despite massive inroads into the prosumer (and pro) cine markets, Sony is essentially of a broadcast background. The reason the FS7s and FX9s have been so popular is largely to do with their XAVC 10bit 4:2:2 codecs that comply with 50/100/200mbps, HD/UHD minimum EBU requirements and are considerably smaller and simpler for transcoding/post workflows, than Prores/raw codecs for huge documentary shooting ratios. It went largely unnoticed sadly that BMD, introduced similar codecs on the UBG2. Grant Petty has a broadcast engineering background and this arena remains very important for BMD.
The move to larger sensors and smaller bodies almost necessitates AF and IS, but it is my view these cameras are the wrong type for doc and run and gun. It should not be a problem on any camera to focus manually a setup, sit down interview but the run and gun is a different matter. I suppose everyone wants everything to look like fiction cinema these days. It is still my view that a proper ENG camera with very flexible fast B4s is still the best tool for this job. However, the documentary professional cameraperson is rarer every day now, and the size and complexity of a shoulder mount B4 lensed camera is too much for the PD self shooters, who mostly film this content these days. Again the smaller FX6/FS7s and even the FX9 are easier for them to handle and Sony are selling them by the shedload.
I would go so far, as to say, the FS7 and now the FX9, have been
the defacto documentary cameras for long form broadcast TV, for a number of years, replacing the once common 2/3" ENG/EFP cameras many fold, and most jobs here in TV specify a familiarity with them, for those roles. DSLR and mirrorless are much less common, for such work.