Kinefinity, the Chinese company that has been making scientific cameras for years, is now making some waves in the cinema camera market. Their first two models received a bit of attention for the features offered in such affordable packages, but now we are getting the next generation of those models, the KineMINI and KineMAX, which give 4K and 6K resolutions, respectively. We talked with Kinefinity at NAB, and while we already knew the 4K camera was going to come in around $3-$6,000 depending on the package, we now have some official pricing for the 6K camera (which is also capable of 14 stops of dynamic range, and an incredible 16 stops in a special 3K mode), and it's being offered for a limited time under $10,000.
Here is the new pricing information, which applies to the first 100 orders. The numbers crossed out are what the camera is going to cost after the first 100 orders (thanks to Michael for sending this over):
And here are the specs:
The company goes on to explain a few of the modes in their FAQ. One of the biggest questions I had when originally hearing about the camera was about the 3K pixel-binned mode. Apparently this just samples pixels down from the entire 6K resolution, and they are able to get more dynamic range -- up to an amazing 16 stops. This mode is meant for finishing at 2K, and they've also apparently got processing to minimize aliasing, which is something you get with some DSLRs that pixel-bin their sensors down to HD resolutions for video.
We don't know what rolling shutter looks like yet, but their Sport mode at 4K and 2K resolutions samples the sensor faster to reduce rolling shutter to essentially nothing. This is sort of the best of both worlds, as many global shutter sensors decrease performance, so you can use the sport mode when you really need it. They've also got a special high-speed mode which does similar sampling at 4K and lower resolutions to give you faster frame rates, up to 100fps at 4K:
KineMAX is capable of slow motion capture (overcrank), especially KineMAX featuring HiSpeed mode which enable 4K/2K slow-mo up to 100fps at S35mm frame.
It also supports crop mode to higher fps.
- M4/3 (Crop mode), 4K records up to 50fps;
- S16mm (Crop Mode), 3K up to 60fps;
- Smaller area, 2K up to 100fps.
The interesting thing about this camera are all of the different ways of recording internally. Not only does it have uncompressed (in some resolutions) and compressed CinemaDNG, but you also get Cineform RAW, which is very similar to the way RED compresses their RAW files. This means that you can have much more manageable files in post.
You can see footage from their 4K KineMINI camera here, but it doesn't look like anything from the 6K camera has been posted yet. The camera is apparently going to be shipping sometime in the next few months, so it shouldn't take long before we see something. If you'd like to pre-order, you can find it either straight from Kinefinity in China, or from one of the European distributors, who can also handle support if you're in Europe. The 4K camera, which is available for less than half the price, should be shipping very soon, and is available to order from the same places.
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