CREATE BETTER VIDEOS

Instagram compresses your Reels, but a lot of the time that is not Instagram's fault. Here is every Final Cut Pro setting that actually matters, plus the one final step that unlocks higher quality playback.

I put the Sony FX5 in direct Texas sunlight recording 5K open gate RAW at almost two gigabits per second and tried everything I could to make it overheat. The body hit 135 degrees and the camera never flinched.

The Nikon ZR costs less than half what the Sony FX5 does and records higher resolution RAW. But compression, dynamic range, and the long-term cost of storage complicate the math more than the sticker price suggests.

You do not need an expensive CF Express Type A card to shoot 16-bit RAW on the Sony FX5. Here is exactly which SD and CF Express cards you need for every format, and the silent failure that can ruin an entire shoot.

Counterfeit memory cards are slower and smaller than the label claims, and you usually find out at the worst possible moment. Here are the free Windows and Mac apps that verify a card's real speed and capacity, including one I built myself.

After actually living with the Sony FX5, here are the ten things that annoyed me most, from the imager mode that says 5K while you record 4K to the EVF and XLR handle fighting over the same port. And why I am still buying one at $5,000.