KineMINI 4K & KineMAX 6K cameras are (soon) here

Gear News

by Sebastian WöberMarch 3^rd, 2014

In an online press-conference Chinese camera manufacturer Kinefinity just presented a new 4K and as well a 6K camera.

Unfortunately the entire presentation was held in Mandarin and since most of the details were embedded within .jpg files we only have very limited technical information. The things we could decipher however are very intriguing hinting and towards an improved workflow, connectivity, multiple format output and wireless iPhone remote monitoring.

The biggest things here today are a 4K camera that shoots RAW and 100fps slomo for under $6000 and the 6K version shoots 4K 50fps, but there’s no pricing yet.

It looks like the KineRAW Mini we had in for review a couple of months ago has been upgraded to become a 4K camera.

Here are more details (phrases) we could read. No guarantees yet:

• OLPF for 4K (the camera seems to have an optical lowpass filter on the sensor)

• 1080p: 100fps (certainly looks like a slow motion feature in 1080p as well as 2K mode)

• SDI connection (the previous camera only had hdmi and a slow 20fps @ 720p output which was difficult for monitoring. An SDI connection seems like a hint that something has been improved here)

• Something at the back is 1.5cm. Couldn’t say what.

• There are 2 USB3.0 connections (interesting)

• The camera has WIFI 802.11AC built in. Maybe the iPhone is used as a wireless remote monitor.

• The supported lens bayonets seem to be: EF / Nikon F / PL / B4 (very nice!)

• The codec it records in seems to be cinemaDNG RAW (12bit / 14bit) which can be transcoded with a separate device called “KineStation” that would output to formats like ProRes 422HQ, Cineform RAW or h.264. the KineStation would also include a loaded LUT file. The question I suppose is how fast can the KineStation transcode and how convenient is the workflow.
All supported formats:
– Apple ProRes 4444
– Apple ProRes 422 / 422 HQ / 422 LT
– Cineform RAW / YUV / 444
– H.264 / H.265 / CPX / RGB 444

• PRICING:
Seems like the price for the body will be: $3220
Additionally the slowmotion feature and 4K feature seem to be $647 each.
Price for the KineStation can’t be identified.

The premium package including two 64GB mags seems to be $5823. All very affordable if it’s a good 4K.

• Now there’s new pricing. Looks like it’s for the first 100 customers and they get a discount.

KineMAX 6K camera:

The specs we could make out:

• Shoots 4K @ 50fps

• Looks like it has the same lens-mount options as the KineMINI (EF / Nikon F / PL / B4)

• It also has an iPhone leaning on the camera and WIFI connection. Something seems to be going on between the two.

• Framerates:
– 30fps @ 6K
– 50fps @ 4K
– 100fps @ 2K
– (also shoots 1080p & 720p)

• Connections:
– 48V phantom powered XLR
– USB (3.0 maybe?)
– SDI & hdmi

• Records 6K in cinemaDNG to an SSD mag.

• There also seem to be sensor crop modes (much like RED does it) for 4K, 3K & 2K.

• Dynamic range seems to be 16 stops @4K and 14 stops @ 6K.

• and there’s also mention of an OLPF filter.

• Something about KineMINI 30%. Maybe that the KineMAX is 30% bigger?

• Seems like two color options.
Black & Metallic.

• They now show 3 different kit options, but there’s no pricing revealed in the charts. I think that green symbol means something like “to be announced”.

• The words KineMAX and NAB 2014 show up. We will be there on April 7th and check the camera out.

Since these are all 3D renderings I wonder how “ready” the products are and when they can be expected. This might take a little more time. Couldn’t decipher a release date.

They showed a “one more thing” slide and the rendering above followed. Not sure there’s actually anything else coming.