No that's not a typo. RED DRAGON is about to get some company as far as 6K is concerned. Chinese camera maker Kinefinity, who has so far produced two cinema cameras, the KineRAW S35 and KineRAW-MINI, has just announced that they are working on a brand new 6K camera, the KineMAX 6K, and a 4K version of the MINI. Check out specs and pricing for both models below.
KineMAX 6K RAW Camera
Many thanks to cinema5D and also to Newsshooter for finding this and putting this information together (more information is available at the Kinefinity site as well), here is some of what we know so far about the 6K camera:
- 5760 x 3240 Super 35 CMOS Sensor
- PL, Nikon, Canon EF, B4 Mount Options
- 12-bit 6K up to 30fps
- 4K High Speed Mode/3K 30fps/2K 100 fps
- Cropped Modes: 4K 50fps/3K 60fps/2K 100fps
- 1080p and 720p options as well
- 800 Native ISO
- 14 Stops of Dynamic Range at 6K
- 16 Stops at Pixel-Binned 3K Resolution
- Uncompressed CinemaDNG 6K to Two KineMAG
- Compressed Cineform RAW to One KineMAG
- Two SDI & Two HDMI Ports
- Phantom Powered XLR/USB/Headpone Ports
- OLPF designed to work with both 6K and crop/scaled modes
- Price: Unknown, but Pre-Order is around $3,000
KineMINI 4K RAW Camera
And here are specs on the 4K KineMINI (more information is available at the Kinefinity site):
- 4K Super 35mm CMOS Sensor (same sensor as original MINI)
- PL, Nikon, Canon EF, B4 Mount Options
- 12-bit 4K/ 14-bit 2K
- 4K Uncompressed or Compressed CinemaDNG
- 2K Cineform RAW
- 4K RAW up to 30fps
- 2K up to 96fps
- 1080p up to 100fps
- 13 Stops of Dynamic Range in 2K (Possibly less in 4K)
- HDMI and SDI
- 2 USB 3.0 Ports
- Built in WiFi
- Price: Body Only a little over $3,o00, and packages range from a barebones a little under $4,000 to full package a little under $6,000
If you got an original MINI or S35, there are upgrade options. From Newsshooter, here are some details:
...for old MINI users who bought the camera with promised 4K or RAW options the upgrade is $1990 US and for those who didn’t it will cost $2590 US.
The original larger KineRAW S35 camera, which was the company’s first, has not been left out either and can be upgraded to 4K and high speed too for $1990 US. It’s good to see owners of the older cameras are not forgotten.
KineStation Transcoding Software
KineRAW also has their own software called KineStation:
KineStation™ is the core of Kine camera system. KineStation™ and KineRAW consist of hybrid digital cinema system to cover serious filmmaking and quick post workflow. Kine Cameras captures light and images which are RAW and remain native information as possible at frontend, while KineStation™ transcode the RAW images into the specific format based on post workflow which may suit for this shot or this team, at backend.
It is a software at backend, running on your DIT lap-top or workstation, and play key role in Kine Hybrid System (KHS).
So When Do We Get to See Them?
This is all very exciting news, and the specs on paper look great for the 6K camera. I know this comes up every time we talk about 6K, but it is not intended as a display resolution, but as a way to get sharper and better-looking 4K images (this is because each pixel only represents one color and the entire image must be interpolated from these pixels -- basically, the more the better when you're using a single sensor).
While we don't know the price for the 6K camera or packages, the 4K KineMINI is inexpensive considering its specs, but just like with RED, it's not very usable right out of the box, and will need some additional accessories that will add to the price (the 6K camera needs a few as well, but its settings can be changed right from the side of the camera). Neither camera will have built-in ND filters, but considering these should be much cheaper than equivalent cameras from other companies, I don't see that as a huge deal.
We will likely see something about these at NAB, but the biggest issue right now for the rest of the world is that Kinefinity has better support and relations in China and in Europe than they do in the US. In fact, I don't believe there are any US distributors for their products at this times, which means getting one isn't exactly easy (and their website isn't totally English-friendly).
I think it's probably best to keep expectations low for seeing these in any significant numbers in the US, but if somebody were to pick up Kinefinity in the States and not only distribute their cameras, but also provide support, they might become a lot more popular. While rolling shutter wasn't great on the previous cameras, the images looked good enough, as you can see in these videos below (NOT from the new cameras):
Read more about both cameras using the links below (and if you can read the slides, feel free to add any of that information in the comments so we can correct this post).
Links:
