AGENDA MODULAR SYSTEM If our teamhad toomuch experience on how other camera makers work, we would have looked at how it was always done and done that. Our camera is the only 6K ProRes camera on the market now to record internally. No other camera can do that in camera. It was a difficult job but we did it and we’re proud of that.
We don’t make our own sensors We source and buy our sensors from specialised sensor manufacturers rather thanmaking our own. Electronics is a global market now and everyone buys components from all over the world. If you buy a smartphone then chances are lots of the components will come from lots of different manufacturers all over the world. The screen, the camera, the battery, the circuit board and the case will come frommany different suppliers so that’s the best way to do it. Our cameras have come a long way in a short time Our first camera was the KineRaw S8, with a tiny Super 8 2K sensor. We proved the signal process flow and recording with this prototype. In 2012 we launched our official first-generation product, the KineRaw Super 35, a 2K Raw recording camera. Our first cameras were larger than the current ones. If they were too compact, people might have thought they were a toy. Our customers, especially independent filmmakers, are the biggest group of buyers inmost countries, and they wanted a more compact camera. In the UK and USA, the cost of hiring people is very high. In China it’s easier to hire more assistants to carry the cameras! Back in 2014, we launched the KineMax which was one of only two 6K cameras, the other being the RED Dragon. Ours shot 100fps in Raw Cinema DNG. We now have a full range of cinema cams Our three products – Terra, Mavo and Mavo LF – go from entry level to flagship. We aim to keep focusing on these models, improve the firmware andmake them easier to use. So we have not finished yet. The 6KMavo and LF share the same 444XQ and Cinema DNG files with variable compression ratio. For 4K they shoot at 100fps, 66fps at 6K, and have 14 stops of dynamic range. The Terra 6K is discontinued in favour of the 4K Terra. The Mavo has an improved rolling shutter over the Terra. And with the Kinemount you can choose fromfitting PL, passive Emount, EF or Nikon. I believe Raw is the future Raw is the future as it gives somuch more flexibility. We have Cinema DNG
“I hope the image quality fromKinefinity will be what filmmakers choose our cameras for”
in different compression levels and soon we will have our own new Raw format, KineRaw II. But for speed of grading and for the right compression, ProResRaw is something I thinkmight take over. We are in contact with Apple as we had ProRes in all our cameras and would like ProResRaw in future – I see it as the way forward. At the moment only Final Cut Pro X can natively handle these files but I think other software will do in the future as customers will demand it. Maybe not DaVinci Resolve as this is part of Blackmagic and it handles CinemaDNG very well. But other manufactures will. Modular design makes sense In focus groups, convenience of use and colour science came out as priorities. We asked them about the first Kinefinity S35, a bigmachine and not modular. In 2015 we realised we had tomake the camera more compact and lightweight for some users, but provide more functions for others. So modularity is the evolution. We designed it with good interfaces so later models can be compatible. It’s good news for our customers as we provide a very reasonably priced upgrade to the newer camera and accessories, as do RED. It’s a good way to protect our customers’ investment. Our cameras are affordable so our upgrade planmust be, too. We want to be known for image quality Arri has a very long history, Sony is huge in broadcasting, REDmade the first 4K
Raw digital, and Canon and Panasonic are giant. But we make better andmore affordable tools for filmmakers. When we started to look at image quality, I believed Arri was the Gold Standard so we wanted ours to be as good as that, if not better. I hope the image quality fromKinefinity will be what filmmakers choose our cameras for, as well as ease of use and the modularity. Plus the cost, of course. Perfect for independent filmmakers Our customers are the very large numbers of independent filmmakers. Not the sort of people working on Hollywood films with huge crews but those working on smaller films who want more creative tools. It’s these people that can be the most inventive and try new things. If you have a huge crew, it is difficult to change they way they do things. On smaller shoots, people are used to trying new things tomake up for the lack of budget so this often brings out new ideas. I amdriven by the work customers send us, made on our cameras and I showmuch of it to the staff in China tomotivate them. There, we can’t access Google, YouTube, Facebook or Instagram as we have our own versons. Via our international partners we are very active on Facebook and listen to what our customers ask for which helps us decide what to do next.
More information www.kinefinity.com www.proav.co.uk
THIS PAGE Jihua Zheng demonstrates one of his company’s cameras to interested filmmakers.
12
PRO MOVIEMAKER WINTER 2018
Powered by FlippingBook