Tim Hawkins shoots 4x4 success with Sony’s new FX5 in the Australian outback

Sydney-based Director of Photography Tim Hawkins, one of Australia's most respected television shooters, has given a powerful early endorsement to the recently launched Sony FX5 after using a pre-production unit in demanding real-world conditions on Series 19 of Pat Callinan's 4x4 Adventures.

With more than three decades of experience across broadcast television, documentary, lifestyle and reality programming, Hawkins is well placed to judge whether a camera can genuinely deliver when it matters. His conclusion is emphatic. After five weeks of punishing field use in the remote Australian outback, the Sony FX5 did more than impress. It earned his trust.

"I was fortunate enough to be briefed several months before the official release," said Hawkins. "Sony reached out to see if I'd be interested in putting a pre-production unit through its paces."

At first, Hawkins expected the FX5 to be a direct successor to the FX3. Instead, he discovered a camera that significantly raised the bar for compact cinema production.

"To be honest, like most of the industry, I was expecting a direct successor to the FX3," he said. "In order to surpass the FX3 it needed significantly better image stabilisation, improved low-light performance, image quality closer to the BURANO and VENICE, an integrated electronic viewfinder, internal RAW recording and of course the feature everyone has been asking for, open gate recording."

For Hawkins, those features are not wish-list extras. They are practical tools that answer the way content is actually being made now. He shoots a substantial volume of social media and multi-platform content, where clients increasingly want maximum flexibility from every setup.

"I shoot a substantial amount of social media content where clients request Open Gate recording," he said. "This gives me the flexibility to capture full widescreen imagery alongside aspect ratios tailored for social platforms in a single take. I've been waiting a long time for a Sony cinema camera to offer Open Gate."

That is one of the key reasons the FX5 stands out in a crowded market. Sony's full-frame Cinema Line camera combines open gate recording with internal 16-bit scene-linear X-OCN RAW, AI-enhanced autofocus, high-speed capture up to 5K at 120 fps and 4K at 240 fps, plus an optional high-resolution OLED viewfinder designed for confident outdoor monitoring. 

For content creators, cinematographers and directors of photography, that translates into a camera that can move seamlessly between high-end commercial work, documentary, branded content, social-first production and fast-turnaround client briefs.

"I was genuinely blown away by what Sony achieved with the FX5," Hawkins said. "They hit it completely out of the park. By integrating Open Gate, internal RAW recording, a fantastic EVF and highly flexible menu architecture, they created what is, in my opinion, the ultimate and best run-and-gun camera I've ever operated."

The feature Hawkins cites as the biggest game changer is the camera's image stabilisation. "Without a doubt, the single feature that blew me away is the image stabilisation," he said. "It is hands-down the best stabilisation I've ever experienced in a camera."

He says the ability to assign stabilisation modes to a custom button and switch between them on the fly has transformed the way he shoots, allowing him to rely far more on handheld operation and work faster on set. When combined with Sony's AI-driven autofocus, the result is a compact cinema camera that can dramatically increase speed and flexibility without compromising image quality.

Hawkins also points to the camera's triple base ISO as a major practical advantage, especially in difficult lighting conditions.

"On the FX6 and FX3, you have a wide gap between the low and high base ISO settings," he said. "Having a middle base ISO fills that gap perfectly. Using the dual gain function gave me an extra stop of latitude, which was crucial while shooting in the Australian outback. Having that extra stop of light allowed me to preserve shadow detail without blowing out high-contrast highlights."

Those benefits were tested under serious production pressure. Hawkins received the camera early because he was heading into the remote Australian outback to shoot the latest season of Pat Callinan's 4x4 Adventures, filmed in rugged environments where dust, mud, water and constant movement are simply part of the job.

"One of the reasons I received the camera so early was because I was heading into the remote Australian outback to shoot Series 19 of Pat Callinan's 4x4 Adventures," he said. "We were filming in some of the most striking and unforgiving environments in the country."

What happened next surprised even him. Although his FX6 had originally been scheduled as the main A-camera, the FX5 quickly took over.

"It very quickly became the primary camera for the entire series," Hawkins said. "My FX6 was originally slated as the main A-cam, but it quickly became obvious to everyone on set that the FX5 was the superior tool for this specific show."

As he was working with an unreleased body, Hawkins had to build a custom rig from available hardware, as no dedicated cages or accessories yet existed. Even so, he found the camera highly adaptable in the field. He spent the first four weeks shooting primarily with the new viewfinder attached and says the EVF was one of the strongest surprises of the whole experience.

"Historically, Sony isn't always thought of first for viewfinders, but what they delivered here is world-class," he said. "It's an outstanding piece of kit with a high-resolution OLED screen that is an absolute joy to use in the field."

The reaction to the images has been equally strong. Hawkins says clients and post-production teams have praised the footage, with one moment on location underlining just how effective the camera's internal stabilisation really is.

"Our editor called me after receiving a batch of rushes and said, 'Hey Tim, I love that you put the camera on the gimbal for these shots,'" Hawkins recalled. "At that point in the shoot, I hadn't even mounted the camera to a gimbal once. He was looking entirely at handheld footage backed by the internal IBIS. The stabilisation is genuinely that convincing."

On workflow, Hawkins says the FX5 is every bit as versatile as modern productions require. For 4x4 Adventures, he shot UHD in XAVC-I to balance image quality with manageable storage demands in remote conditions. Going forward, he sees the FX5 as a camera that can adapt easily to any brief.

"If a client requires RAW, I can deliver internal RAW," he said. "If they need Open Gate, it's right there, and if it's a fast-turnaround HD deliverable, it handles that effortlessly as well."

He is equally enthusiastic about the camera's value as a long-term investment. "Capturing 4K at 120fps with no noticeable crop yields spectacular image quality," Hawkins said. "Knowing that upcoming firmware additions will unlock up to 240fps in 4K with full functionality makes this camera an extraordinary long-term investment. It's a huge deal for high-end action and commercial work."

For buyers, that is the real commercial story behind the Sony FX5. This is not simply a camera with an impressive spec sheet. It is a tool that can increase efficiency, reduce reliance on additional stabilisation gear, expand delivery options for multiple platforms, perform in harsh real-world conditions and give creators confidence that the camera will keep up with ambitious ideas.

Hawkins believes that puts it in a class of its own.

"Simply put, it doesn't compare because there is nothing else like it on the market," he said. "I haven't seen or used another camera that packs this level of performance into this form factor. Sony built the absolute best small-form cinema camera to date."

His final assessment is perhaps the strongest endorsement any camera can receive from a working director of photography.

"At the end of the day, the Sony FX5 completely earned my trust," Hawkins said. "I threw five weeks of absolute punishment at it, rain, mud, sliding around the back seat of a car and it didn't fail once."

"What really blows me away, though, is how harmoniously the features work together. On so many other cameras, turning on one setting arbitrarily locks you out of another. With the FX5, everything just works in tandem seamlessly. I've never owned a camera quite like it and as a result, I've put my order to buy two of them."

Tim Hawkins is a Sydney-based Director of Photography with a career spanning more than 30 years. He is known for his work across current affairs, documentary, reality and lifestyle television, including Who Do You Think You Are?, Todd Sampson's Body Hack and Selling Houses Australia.

To learn more about the Sony FX5 go to: https://www.sony.com.au/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilme-fx5 

Picture credits

Images by Scott Mason of Tim Hawkins putting the new Sony FX5 through its paces shooting Series 19 of Pat Callinan's 4x4 Adventures in the Australian outback.

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