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KINEFINITYMAVO EDGE 8K
EXCLUSIVE TEST GIVE YOURSELF THE 8K EDGE Kinefinity’s newMavo cinema camera packs very high resolution and some unique design benefits
WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH
W e last fully tested a Kinefinity camera three years ago – it’s fair to say the Chinese manufacturer has taken a huge leap forward with the launch of the Mavo Edge 8K cinema camera. That 2018 version we tested was the Mavo 6K, with a Super 35 sensor. Back then, the Kinefinity brand was expanding into an all-new factory, setting up more distributors in different territories – including working with ProAV for services in the UK. All things that have given confidence to any potential purchaser. We said that if you wanted the modularity of a Red, or the beautiful skin tones and colour science of an Arri – but at a price that wouldn’t break the bank – then the Kinefinity Mavo 6K would get you close. It was well-built, well-designed, easy to use and produced very natural colours, with sharp images. But there was no built-in ND, and you needed to add on a back to get XLR and other I/O options. Kinefinity soon launched the Mavo LF: a similar camera, but with a full- frame 6K sensor. Fast forward to 2021 and the Kinefinity Mavo Edge 8K is not just a step forward, but more of a quantum leap. It has a carbon fibre body, full-frame 8K dual ISO sensor recording in 12-bit ProRes 4444, built-in electronically variable ND, clever battery solutions and dual SSD media slots. And now, instead of having to buy an add-on back for lots of input and output options, the new Mavo Edge 8K has them built in, along with Wi-Fi and all the usual modern control
and time code options you would expect – including genlock. The camera has lots of lovely design touches that make sense for a working filmmaker, such as the battery options. The camera comes with a slot on the back that takes a standard BPU cell, ideal for gimbal use. But it also has an integrated V-mount, so you can clip on large batteries for all-day
shooting – if you don’t mind the extra bulk. The pro kit we used comes with a V-mount battery, as well as a clever KineKIT rig solution – built in conjunction with Movcam. This large base plate fastens to the bottom of the camera and houses 15mm rails, but also takes a pair of NP-F batteries. These can power the camera or be a backup, and the main camera battery can be
removed for recharging while the Mavo Edge 8K remains in use. And with such a big body, you can be sure there are no sensor overheating issues. This extended filming time is made possible by two large- capacity SSD cards for storage. These can be used for relay recording, instant backup, or for lower-res proxies to one card, with full-fat footage to the other. The kit comes with two of Kinefinity’s own 1TB drives that essentially are standard NVMe SSDs in nice aluminium housings. So, you can buy new NVMe drives relatively cheaply and fit them
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