I have read many of the threads here, watched the clips you have shared, and have seen first reviews (be it with initial firmware) from ProAV TV & CineD on the Edge. Overall I have been very intrigued with the camera, even since it’s announcement in 2020.
Is this camera right for me? The main type of work I do currently revolves around professional sports (mainly American football and soccer *actual football). I film matches and follow players documentary style. I’m almost exclusively working handheld run and gun style when I am not shooting the game. Even when I do commercial style work where shots are planned ahead of time, I still like to use the handheld style, and only will use an easy-rig for a person speaking. I don’t often use a tripod outside of filming games, and if so would only do it for a specific execution with commercial concepts.
Currently I use the Sony FX9 as well as the FX6 + FX3 in conjunction at work. Overall I have been pleased with what the FX9 has to offer, but think the Edge has some features that make it very appealing. If I were to get the Edge it would be a personal investment for freelance work I do outside of my regular production job where I use the mentioned Sony cameras provided. I potentially could add it to our lineup of cameras at my job as well depending on our budget, but investing in servo lenses is something we would prioritize first. Which I will touch on next.
One question I have is the possibility of using ½″ or ⅔″ Fuji Broadcast Lenses (typically B4 mount) with this camera? I saw the different crop modes at higher frame rates and thought that this could be a great opportunity to use for sports action. Compared to the Sony FX9 the furthest you can crop in is to a Super 35 sensor size, which is still too large for these types of servo lenses. However a friend of mine uses a Blackmagic Ursa 4.6k which has a native Super 35 sensor, and has a center crop function that basically take the 2k image of the full 4.6k sensor. The Blackmagic works with these lenses in that way, plus often these servo lenses have a built in 2x convertor which could help to cover the sensor size. For the Edge I’m sure you will need to add an adaptor to the EF or Sony E mount from Kinefinity for example. For my job, we are looking at the Canon Cine Servos (Ex: 25-250mm) which are meant for Super 35 coverage, and would work on our FX9s. However they are 30k plus. Hence my exploration of this camera as one that could be used for sports and the use of more affordable Fuji Broadcast lenses that could offer even more zoom possibilities as well.
In relation to using a B4 lens, how quickly can you change lens mounts on this camera? One scenario might be where I am using a wider zoom or prime lens before a match starts (players lining up for their national anthem) and then need to change to the servo B4 lens for the game action shortly after. I am thinking of being able to change lenses/mounts within 90 seconds.
