Tag Archive for: Launches

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Onefinestay Launches Luxury Villa Collection in Provence, France

Luxury Vacation Rental Apartments & Homes

Onefinestay – Launches Luxury Villa Collection in Provence, France

London, March 6, 2023

Leading private rental brand onefinestay has launched a new collection of high-end villas in Provence

MARCH 2023 (LONDON) – onefinestay, the world’s leading luxury private rental brand, is delighted to launch its latest collection of stunning homes in the beautiful region of Provence, France. The collection offers a striking range of villas, all fully furnished, to the brand’s impeccable level of luxury. The introduction to onefinestay adds a further destination to the brand’s ever-expanding array of homes in France, already including Paris, Cannes, St Tropez, as well as other sought-after destinations in southern Europe including Italy, Spain and Greece. The Cote D’Azur’s prime location, Provence, offers everything from cultural and historic sites to beautiful vistas of rolling lavender fields and vineyards, and the perfect central spot to discover the south of France.

onefinestay’s new offering in Provence will include the brand’s customary 24-hour concierge service, engaged guest and homeowner relations team, and the opportunity to add any additional services guests would like. These services include everything from housekeeping through to private chefs, vineyard tours or childcare, ensuring the best guest experience possible.

onefinestay remains at the forefront of the private rental market, offering guests homes and villas of the highest standard across the globe, ranging from ski retreats in the Rockies, sprawling Caribbean villas, and historic castles in the Tuscan hills to design-led homes in cities such as New York, LA and London or incredible villas in Indonesia and Thailand. onefinestay attracts a range of discerning global travellers, from families or groups of friends, to couples or those wanting to work away from home – all united in shared appreciation of flawless end-to-end service and unmatched design.  The launch of Provence marks another desirable destination where guests can enjoy this inimitable onefinestay experience.

“We are thrilled to announce the launch of these stunning new villas in Provence, further increasing onefinestay’s growing footprint in southern Europe. The villas added with the Provence portfolio are of the highest quality, providing a vast range, from both traditional French interiors to slick modern design. As per onefinestay’s standards, each are handpicked by the expert team, and provide the best possible villa to suit any guest.” – David Whiteside, Chief Operating Officer, Europe 

Discover a selection of onefinestay’s Provence collection below:  

Chateau du Moulin  
Luberon, Provence 

https://www.onefinestay.com/home-listing/TK29167 

A peaceful paradise perfect for large family gatherings or group holidays with friends, the Chateau du Moulin is a stunning, sprawling ode to Provençal culture. With 15 bedrooms split across the main house, guest house and farmhouse, this magnificent chateau can comfortably sleep up to 30 guests. The chateau encapsulates the beauty of southern France and effortlessly blends traditional design and modern amenities.

Bastide des Chenes

Luberon, Provence

https://www.onefinestay.com/home-listing/TK29163

Secreted away in the heart of the Luberon Valley, the Bastide des Chenes is surrounded by the spectacular natural landscapes. Carefully renovated to update the building’s interior, the bastide remains an authentic expression of local architecture and Provençal living. The bastide’s expansive grounds encompass three al fresco dining spaces, seven seating areas, a Japanese-influenced garden, and traditional Jardin à la Française.

Mas de l’Ange  
Les Alpilles, Provence 
https://www.onefinestay.com/home-listing/TK29190 

This secluded villa is surrounded by stunning gardens and retains many of its original features, such as charming courtyards, outdoor stone staircases, and bright blue shutters. Guests are encouraged to spend as much time outdoors as possible, with the wisteria-covered al fresco dining area and outdoor lounge areas offering sunny spots and dappled shade.

 

Villa Blanche
Var, Provence

https://www.onefinestay.com/home-listing/TK29202 

Villa Blanche is a slick modern villa, sitting in the heart of a Golf estate and internationally renowned resort. Offering seven elegant bedrooms and welcoming up to 16 guests, it’s an outstanding example of modern architecture at its best. The private estate ensures that guests have total privacy and seclusion, yet Villa Blanche’s location puts it within walking distance of the estate’s many facilities, including a championship golf course, tennis courts, spa and exclusive restaurants.

Destet
Les Alpilles, Provence

https://www.onefinestay.com/home-listing/TK29173/

Destet is a gorgeous traditional home located in Les Apilles, nestled amongst the area’s lush greenery. Sleeping eight guests across five bedrooms, Destet has a wonderfully rustic aesthetic, complete with large windows inviting in the sunshine. A spectacularly renovated bastide, Destet is made for families and friends who want to experience Provençal living in all its glory.

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OPPO Launches Its First Foldable Flagship Smartphone, the OPPO Find N, at INNO DAY 2021
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OPPO Launches Its First Foldable Flagship Smartphone, the OPPO Find N, at INNO DAY 2021

OPPO Launches Its First Foldable Flagship Smartphone, the OPPO Find N, at INNO DAY 2021

SHENZHEN, December 2021: OPPO, the global smart technology company, today launched its first foldable flagship smartphone, the OPPO Find N, on the second day of its annual OPPO INNO DAY showcase. A result of four years of research and development and six generations of prototypes, the OPPO Find N brings a new approach to the foldable form factor and offers a refreshed user experience both for people who have used foldable devices in the past, as well as users who are new to the foldable form factor.

Pete Lau, Chief Product Officer of OPPO, said, “New form factors are ushering in an exciting new time in smartphone technology. OPPO has invested a significant amount of time and effort into coming up with a better approach to a foldable smartphone, experimenting with a range of form factors, hinge designs, display materials and aspect ratios, to create a new device that meets the needs of more users. With the OPPO Find N, we aim to change people’s perceptions about what a smartphone can offer and begin making foldable devices more accessible to an even larger audience.”

From Novelty to Necessity

The OPPO Find N brings together cutting-edge technology and unprecedented quality to create an improved foldable experience, offering a fully functioning compact smartphone when folded and an intuitive and immersive landscape display when unfolded.

Landscape Ratio

For the first time in a foldable smartphone, the OPPO Find N uses a landscape ratio for the inner display, striking a better balance for users to seamlessly switch between an immersive 7.1-inch inner display and a 5.49-inch outer display that offers a full smartphone experience with no compromise on size or usability. With an 8.4:9 aspect ratio, the inner display unfolds directly into landscape mode so users can watch videos, play games or read books without the extra step of rotating the device. When folded, the 18:9 aspect ratio gives users a full, familiar smartphone experience with a display that is easy to use with one hand.

Flexion Hinge

The Flexion Hinge on the OPPO Find N brings together 136 components with extreme precision of up to 0.01 mm, ensuring the hinge works as smoothly as the joints in the human body. OPPO’s unique water-drop hinge design solves some of the biggest pain points in foldable devices by widening the angle of the fold in the display and offering a buffer when the display folds, resulting in a minimal crease that is up to 80% less noticeable compared with other devices, according to TUV. This design also practically eliminates the gap between displays when folded, offering a more integrated look and better protecting the inner display from scratches.

FlexForm Mode

The cam and spring structure inside the advanced Flexion Hinge allows the device to freely stand when unfolded at any angle between 50-120 degrees. Together with a range of software features that take advantage of the folding display, FlexForm Mode on the OPPO Find N gives users the flexibility to adapt the device to a wide range of usage scenarios.

OPPO customized the user interface to operate better and more efficiently in compatible apps like the Music, Notes and Camera apps. For example, in the Notes app, the OPPO Find N can convert into a mini laptop allowing you to take notes without needing to hold the device. Since the Find N can freely stand at various angles, the device also serves as its own tripod, making 4K HD time-lapse imaging, video calls and online meetings easy and hands-free.

Serene Display

OPPO’s custom 12-layer Serene Display offers excellent protection and durability and works with the Flexion Hinge for a smooth foldable experience. The display includes a 0.03 mm layer of Flexion UTG (ultra-thin glass), compared to 0.6 mm for regular smartphone glass, allowing it to easily bend while providing strong durability. The Serene Display is also very reliable, with the ability to be folded over 200,000 times while still maintaining an overall smooth folding experience with next to no crease, as verified by TUV.
The inner screen uses an LTPO display with smart dynamic refresh rate technology that adapts the refresh rate anywhere between 1-120 Hz based on the content you are watching. The inner display also features support for a touch sampling rate of up to 1,000 Hz.

OPPO has fine-tuned both the brightness and color calibration between the inner and outer displays to ensure a consistently smooth experience for users. Both screens provide 10,240 automatic brightness levels, ensuring user comfort in all kinds of complex lighting environments, with a peak brightness of up to 1,000 nits.

Software Innovation

A great software experience on a foldable device makes the most of the new form factor and gives users a fresh smartphone experience. The 7.1-inch inner display of the Find N offers a 60% larger visual area than a standard 6.5-inch display, creating a more immersive experience and more possibilities for software innovations in usage scenarios like multitasking and productivity.

To make full use of the larger tablet-like experience when unfolded, the OPPO Find N includes new gestures to make side-by-side multitasking more intuitive. When using a compatible app, simply use two fingers to swipe down in the middle of the device to split the screen in half, or turn a full-screen window into a floating window by pinching it with four fingers. The OPPO Find N also supports traditional split-screen gestures, such as long pressing and dragging compatible icons, while allowing you to save commonly used multi-app split-screen combinations to the home screen.

The software of the OPPO Find N is optimized to allow users to smoothly and naturally switch between the two screens. When unfolding the phone, the content is seamlessly relayed from the outer screen to the main inner display. And when folding the device, the user can swipe up on the cover screen to continue using the same function on the outer screen. In addition, a range of keyboard customizations for the large inner display, including a split keyboard that makes it easier to use two thumbs to type, help to maximize productivity.

Camera

The OPPO Find N is equipped with a flagship-level triple-camera setup for high-quality photos and videos. It includes a 50 MP Sony IMX 766 main sensor, a 16 MP ultra-wide lens and a 13 MP telephoto lens, as well as selfie cameras on both the inner and outer displays. Combined with the new form factor and the adaptability of FlexForm Mode, the OPPO Find N gives users a refreshed camera experience with customized software to fully leverage the foldable form factor.

The Flexion Hinge of the OPPO Find N allows the device to serve as its own tripod, making it a compact and burdenless gadget for advanced imaging scenarios. For example, FlexForm Mode makes 4K HD time-lapse imaging easy and hands-free at any angle between 50-120 degrees, while three templates within time-lapse mode – light trails, night sky, sun & clouds – optimize photo and video settings in one click for more exciting and creative astrophotography. When the device is bent at an angle below 60 degrees, the screen automatically moves the image preview to the bottom display to make it easier to set up your shot.

A new split-camera user interface on the OPPO Find N gives you the ability to use the large, immersive inner display to efficiently take photos on one side and then view, share or delete your most recent photo on the other side. When taking photos from the main camera with the display unfolded, you can use both the inner and outer displays for both you and your subject to preview the shot simultaneously.

The more powerful rear camera can be used to take even higher-quality selfies, using the cover screen to preview the image. Selfies can also be taken using hand gestures, so you can easily stay in the frame without having to press the shutter button.

Ergonomic Design

For the first time on a foldable phone, the OPPO Find N uses a 3D-curved design on both outer edges of the device to improve the hand feel and maintain a sleek look. The back cover and rear camera module continue the fluid curve design language of the Find X3. Streamlined curves visually lower the height of the camera module, while the Gorilla Glass Victus back panel and ceramic camera plate blend an elegant touch with a tasteful finish.

The OPPO Find N comes in three distinctive colors. The Black variant combines glittery matte glass and new film lamination techniques to achieve a subtle and premium shimmering effect on the base layer. The White option is inspired by a white ceramic glaze, with glossy glass and a refined texture that matches the ceramic camera plate to create a consistent feel. The Purple version is reminiscent of a bottle of luxury perfume, using multiple layers of customized films to create illusions of light and shadow with a transparent texture.

Performance

The OPPO Find N comes with the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 888 Mobile Platform, together with up to 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. A large 4,500 mAh battery offers all-day battery life, while 33W SUPERVOOC Flash Charge is optimized to charge to 55% in 30 minutes and to 100% in 70 minutes. It also comes with 15W AIRVOOC wireless charging (compatible with standard Qi) and 10W reverse wireless charging. The OPPO Find N includes a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that is housed in the power button, as well as a dual speaker system and Dolby Atmos support to deliver more lifelike sound.

Availability

The OPPO Find N is available in China from December 23, 2021, with a starting price of RMB 7,699.

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Blockchain platform for trading cards – Forward31 launches start-up Fanzone

Blockchain platform for trading cards

Forward31 launches start-up Fanzone

Berlin. Porsche drives its digitization strategy forward: through its company builder Forward31, the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer is launching the start-up Fanzone. The young company develops and operates a platform for digital trading cards. Thus, Porsche is opening a new business area in online gaming and digital entertainment.

The Berlin-based start-up offers an online marketplace for trading cards. Sports fans can collect and exchange digital player cards over Fanzone and use them in different game variants. The special feature of this interactive offering is that the company uses blockchain technology for the platform. This enables the creation of so-called non-fungible tokens (NFTs), i.e., digital objects that cannot be copied. NFTs guarantee the rarity and identity of collectables. Thanks to verifiable ownership, fans can benefit from value increases, for example, for limited editions. Fanzone’s first partner is the German Football Association (DFB).

New marketing channels for sports institutions and managers
“The demand for classic trading cards and albums has been unbroken for decades,” says Christian Knörle, Head of Company Building at Porsche Digital. “With Fanzone, we are now digitizing this promising market. We look forward to strategically supporting Fanzone and the team with Dirk Weyel, Björn Hesse, and Claudio Weck on this journey.” The founders bring along many years of experience in gaming, sports marketing, and blockchain technology.

In addition to the offering for fans, the platform also provides new marketing channels for sports institutions and officials – as the digital collectables are to depict various sports and leagues in the future. Currently, football player cars for the German women’s and men’s national teams, the U21 youth team, and players from the German third league can be collected. Further partnerships are being planned.

“We are convinced that innovative, digital interaction platforms between sports fans and their favourite teams offer huge growth potential,” says Dirk Weyel, Chief Executive Officer of Fanzone. “That’s why we’re excited to be able to build such a platform sustainably with a strong partner like Forward31.”

Porsche’s start-up ecosystem
Porsche is consistently driving the expansion of its start-up ecosystem forward to strategically increase its innovative strength. In addition to creating start-ups through the company builder Forward31, the sports car manufacturer uses various other instruments: the company invests directly in promising young businesses through its investment unit, Porsche Ventures. With the APX accelerator programme, a joint venture between Porsche and the media company Axel Springer, Porsche focuses on further developing companies that are in an earlier start-up phase. Porsche is also a partner of the open innovation platform “Startup Autobahn”.

About Forward31
The company builder Forward31 is a business unit of Porsche Digital. The focus is on building a portfolio of promising start-ups that tap into new target groups and value chains beyond the core automotive business. Jointly with entrepreneurs, these are founded and further developed as independent companies. Further information can be found at: www.forward31.com

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Sony Launches FX3 Full-Frame Camera with Cinematic Look and Enhanced Operability for Creators
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Sony Launches FX3 Full-Frame Camera with Cinematic Look and Enhanced Operability for Creators

Sony Launches FX3 Full-Frame Camera with Cinematic Look and Enhanced Operability for Creators

The Most Compact and Lightweight Cinema Line Camera and First Choice for Creators Who Strive for New Cinematic Freedom

  • 2 megapixel full-frame back-illuminated CMOS Exmor R™ sensor and BIONZ XR™ image processing engine
  • Ultra-high sensitivity with ISO expandable to 409,600 for very low light conditions and 15+ stops of dynamic range
  • S-Cinetone™ look profile which is inspired by the digital cinema camera VENICE’s colour science, also used in FX9 and FX6 Cinema Line cameras, and records up to 4K 120p
  • Compact and lightweight body design with high operability for hand-held shooting, gimbal and drone-mounted work
  • Multi-thread (1/4-20 UNC) body makes it easy to mount accessories
  • Detachable XLR handle unit with two of XLR/TRS audio input
  • “Active Mode” image stabilisation supports handheld movie shooting
  • Fast Hybrid Auto Focus, Touch Tracking (real-time tracking) and Real-time Eye AF, also used in other Alpha™ cameras
  • Uninterrupted 4K 60p recording (Continued) by Effective heat dissipation and built-in cooling fan　

(ASIA PACIFIC, 24 February 2021) – Sony today officially announced the FX3 (model ILME-FX3) camera that combines the best of Sony’s industry-leading digital cinema technology with advanced imaging features from Alpha™ mirrorless cameras to create the ultimate cinematic look.

As the latest addition to Sony’s Cinema Line, the FX3 delivers a cinematic look and professional operability and reliability all in one device that answers the needs of young creators who are looking for new ways to express their creative vision. The new model provides outstanding image quality and usability for small scale and one-person shooting. The FX3 boasts first-class focus performance, optical image stabilisation, handheld shooting design and advanced heat dissipation for extended recording times. All this in a compact, lightweight body that provides the performance and mobility to meet the growing demands of today’s content creators.

“The FX3 was designed to turn creative vision into reality,” said Ryo Ochi, General Manager, Digital Imaging Division, Sony Electronics Asia Pacific. “It allows creators to bring their visual expression into the world of cinema through immersive content. We will continue to support the world’s creators through Sony’s Cinema Line Series.”

Cinematic Look

The FX3 flaunts Sony’s industry-leading image sensor technology to achieve high processing speeds and outstanding image quality. The full-frame, back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor full-frame 10.2 megapixel (approx. effective) count for movie recording (and 12.1 effective megapixels for stills) and the BIONZ XR image processing engine team up to ensure high sensitivity with low noise. The standard ISO range is 80 to 102,400 (expandable to 409,600 when shooting a movie), and dynamic range is an impressively wide 15+ stops2.

In response to a growing need for more expressive depth, the FX3, along with FX9 and FX6 Cinema Line cameras, allows users to create a cinematic look without post-production using S-Cinetone. Based on the colour science inspired by Sony’s flagship VENICE camera, S-Cinetone delivers natural mid-tones, plus soft colours and smooth highlights that are essential to cinematic look.

Create movies with in-camera 4K recording at up to 120 frames per second3. Extraordinarily smooth slow-motion imagery (up to 5x) at QFHD (3840 x 2160) resolution with autofocus provides new expressive capability.

Sony FX3 Full-frame Cinema Line Camera

Designed for Comfortable Solo-Shooting

The most compact and lightweight Cinema Line camera is ideal for handheld shooting, gimbal and drone-mounted work. It weighs just 715 grams, including the battery and memory cards, and the body is 77.8 mm high, 129.7 mm wide and 84.5 mm deep – without protrusions. The camera grip has been carefully designed to provide optimum flexibility, stability and comfort for long shoots.

Designed for mobility and efficiency, the FX3’s body features five thread holes (1/4-20 UNC) to easily attach compatible accessories while remaining light enough for handheld shooting and making it easy to carry and set up. The supplied XLR handle unit securely attaches to the body via the Multi Interface Shoe without any special tools and provides three additional thread holes for accessories: two on the top and one on the end. External monitors, recorders, wireless microphone receivers, the accessory shoe kit (cold shoe plate), or other add-ons can be securely attached.

To enable high quality audio, the XLR handle unit includes two XLR/TRS audio inputs to the FX3. With an optional XLR microphone, digital audio data can be directly transferred to the camera for outstanding audio quality.  Camera settings provide audio recording formats, including 4-channel 24-bit recording. Because the XLR adaptor is integrated into the handle and does not require any additional cables or batteries, it offers stress-free set up.

The FX3 offers Fast Hybrid autofocus (AF) by using the 627 points focal plane phase-detection system during movie recording. The camera is further enhanced with Touch Tracking (Real-time Tracking) where simply touching the desired subject on the monitor screen initiates auto focus and tracking on that subject. Precise and smooth focus is maintained with Real-time Eye AF – technology that pinpoints eye even when subjects are looking down or up at steep angles. Additionally, other AF features have been included and refined in response to feedback from professional users, including AF Transition Speed, AF Subject Shift Sensitivity, intuitive control and AF support when focusing manually. These AF features have been implemented in the FX3 to ensure stable, flexible and precise focusing in any situation and are easy to operate for solo shoots.

The FX3 features 5-axis optical in-body image stabilisation – highly effective for handheld shooting. A high precision stabilisation unit and gyro sensors have made it possible to provide an Active Mode4 that is dedicated to movie shooting in each format, including 4K. In-body image stabilisation means that effective stabilisation can be achieved with a wide range of lenses, including E-mount lenses that do not include stabilisation of their own. In addition, the FX3 records image stabilisation metadata that can be done more practical adjustment during post-production using Catalyst Browse/Prepare.

Expandability and Operability for Content Creators

Operability

No compromises have been made when designing the FX3 in terms of professional control and operability. The buttons frequently used in movie shooting such as ISO, iris, and white balance adjustment are located on the grip and on the top of the body. The design allows solo creators to control the buttons with one hand. In addition, 140 functions assignable to 15 custom keys allow for ultimate efficiency.

The zoom lever located on the top of the grip not only controls compatible powered zoom lenses, but also allows Clear Image Zoom to be also used with unpowered zoom and prime lenses with less image degradation – reducing the number of lenses required for many projects. This lever also enables smooth zooming that is difficult for manual zoom-ring control.

Recording lamps (tally) are provided on the upper front and rear of the camera, so that operator can easily distinguish when the camera is rolling. A side-opening vari-angle touch-panel LCD monitor allows for easy operation and is suitable for gimbal-mounted shots, complicated angles, handheld operation and more. Flexible Exposure Mode allows the FX3 to have a similar Auto/Manual switch operation as other FX series cameras for aperture (iris), shutter speed, and ISO, which can be set independently. A short press of the assigned custom buttons enables switching between locking the dial / Manual, and a long press on the custom buttons allows on-off switching of Auto setting.

Reliability

Creators need more than just refined features and performance; they also need reliability and durability. The FX3 combines a fan for active cooling with effective heat dissipation resulting in uninterrupted 4K 60p recording without thermal shutdown5. The newly developed fan provides high-efficiency cooling.

The new camera also features a dust and moisture resistant design and durable magnesium alloy chassis. Moreover, USB PD (Power Delivery) supports fast charging[x] for uninterrupted recording.

Expandability

The FX3 is compatible with several recording functions including S-Log3 gamma with S-Gamut3.Cine colour space to preserve rich colour and gradation, that can record in a high dynamic range and wide colour gamut. It also supports internal recording in XAVC S™ and XAVC S-I formats in 4K (QFHD) and FHD, and XAVC HS™ (MPEG-H HEVC/H.265, 4K only) format. 4K 60p video in 10-bit 4:2:2 or 16-bit RAW format can be output to an external device via the FX3 HDMI Type-A jack.

The FX3 also offers fast, future-oriented media slots that contributes to unprecedented shooting freedom with two CFexpress Type A cards. The same data can be simultaneously recorded to both cards for backup, and a “relay” mode will automatically switch to the second media card when the first media card becomes full during recording.

The new camera has been developed with advanced connectivity features to better assist professional creators with high-speed wireless LAN functionality (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band[xii]) and wired LAN connection via a compatible USB-to-Ethernet adaptor. This FX3 also supports remote shooting from PC by Imaging Edge Desktop™ application “Remote” via Wi-Fi, or Superspeed USB 5Gbps connection over USB Type-C® terminal.

About Cinema Line

Cinema Line is a series of cameras that have a filmic look – cultivated from Sony’s long experience in digital cinema production – plus, enhanced operability and reliability that respond to the wide variety of creators’ high demands.

Cinema Line includes the digital cinema camera VENICE, highly acclaimed in the feature and episodic production industry, the professional camera FX9, which is popular for documentary and drama production and the FX6, for grab and shoot action and content creation. With the addition of the new FX3, the most compact camera in the series, Sony offers a true line up of versatile creative tools for all types of visual storytellers.

Pricing and Availability

The FX3 will be available in selected countries in Asia Pacific from March 2021.

Exclusive stories about Cinema Line, FX3 and Sony’s other imaging products can be found at https://www.sony-asia.com/electronics/cinema-line and https://www.sony-asia.com/alphauniverse/home – resources designed to educate and inspire all fans of Sony’s technology for content creation and photography.

A product video on the new FX3 can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/2YXh88hwqnM.

For detailed product information, please visit: https://www.sony-asia.com/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilme-fx3.

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