Kinefinity's 6K Full frame Cinema camera
The almighty MAVO Edge 6K, Kinefinity's latest full-frame cinema camera is now available. This camera is a bit like the little brother or little sister of the MAVO 8K. I had the camera in my hands for a short amount of time with the versatile CHIOPT Xtreme 28-85mm T3.2 cinema lens. Here are my thoughts on this cinema camera so far...
The MAVO EDGE 6K at a glance:
- Max Record Res: 6016×3984 (Open gate 3:2), 24M
- Frame Rate: 0.2~75fps FF 6K Wide, 0.2~150fps S35 4K Wide
- Active Area: 36x24mm, ø 43.3mm
- Dual Base ISO: 800 & 5120
- Latitude (Dynamic range): 14 stops
- Shutter Angle: 0.7°~358° with rolling shutter
- Lens Mount: Omni Native KineMOUNT
- Short FFD Adapters: PL/LPL/Active EF/passive E
- Optical Filter: OLPF with UV and IR-cut filter
- ND Filter: Built-in motorized e-ND from 0.6 to 2.4
It's a 6K full-frame 3:2 CMOS imaging sensor that films up to 75 fps in 6K and 150 fps in 4K. The camera features dual native ISO (800/5120) and has an internal motorized full-spectrum e-ND filter. And this was enough for me to get me interested.
You have Industry-standard ports and dual SSD media slots. You can record in Apple ProRes4444/XQ and uncompressed RAW. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to film in RAW this will be available in a future Firmware.
So keep that in mind when watching the video and the examples I shot with the camera. There will be some fixes and changes in the weeks to come.
I shot 2 short videos with the MAVO Edge 6K and the Chiopt Xtreme 28 - 85mm. One of the two is part of the Boxing photoshoot I made a few weeks back, and since I used to be a dance photographer, I had to make a short dance video too.
The beast Weighs 3.6lbs (1,6kg), it is compact and lightweight and if you don't add too much stuff on it you can operate it alone. The Chiopt Xtreme ( PL mount version) had just the range I needed for these 2 videos.
I love the colors straight out of the camera from the MAVO Edge 8K so no surprise here. I enjoy the skin tones, low noise, and the dynamic range of the Camera. They claim 14 stops of latitude, I won't comment on that but most of the tests made so far show it is a little less than that, but, if you know what you are doing it should be plenty enough.
The Apple ProRes Recording Codec is perfect for me, I filmed the majority of my sequences in 6K ProRes4444 XQ, which gives me a 12bit image. In my opinion it is more than enough for the scope of work that I do. For those of you who need more, I said it earlier, uncompressed RAW will be unleashed in a future update.
The KineOS 7.0 firmware although not definitive, already offers a taste of the redesigned user interface. Navigation is quick and easy, I have nothing to complain about here. I am a fan of the overall design, the button layouts and again working with an internal e-ND filter is a joy is hard to work with a camera that doesn't have this option after that.
Multi-channel audio tracks are available, you got 2 full XLR connexions on top of the MAVO at your disposal. This time I used the KineBAT PD batteries instead of my own V mounts, and they worked great.
Several mounts are available I would go for the PL mount but you got plenty to choose from.
EF, passive E , and the LPL mounts it is all up to you!
The Xtreme CHIOPT 28-85mm is a full-frame zoom cinema lens that delivers great performances overall. It looses a bit of sharpness wide open but starting at T5.6 you get better results. It has a smooth 288-degrees focus throw, for a precise manual focus, I used it with the small wireless PD movie follow focus and it performed flawlessly.
It is par focal and has a T3.2 constant aperture, and breathing is almost unnoticeable. The only thing I didn't like is how It handles flaring. Sometimes it seemed uncontrolled and all over the place. It can be a desired effect, but not for me.
Since it's a cinema zoom lens it is a bit heavy. At 2.7 kg / 5.95 lb it weights more than the MAVO Edge itself. With all the accessories attached, follow focus, wireless transmitter, monitor, EvF and battery, the kit becomes a real cinema camera, but it becomes less compact, heavy and will utlimately require a crew.
Don't get me wrong, you can operate this camera alone, like I did most of the time but I would choose compact Prime lenses for sure instead of this zoom lens, and I would get rid of any unnecessary accessories to minimise the weight and footprint. Now who is this for ? Would I choose the 6K over the 8K ? Why ?
If you shoot commercials, short films, documentary films then yes, it is an affordable solution, and this camera will become a great tool for your work, if you already have a foot in the industry. I am repeating myself but given the price of the camera, Kinefinity should propose this camera to more rental houses. This will allow more people to see it, test it, and help the brand further down the road. I know that a lot of people will most certainly choose an established and known brand for their project instead of Kinefinity. But depending on the project, some might be tempted if the camera was much more available.
If you are more into web content, you know this camera ain't for you. You make corporate videos, I mean you can use this camera, but it wouldn't make any sense... I saw a lot of content creators on Youtube complain about this camera, and show how much it isn't made for them. Of course it's not, you are not going to vlog or film review videos with this.
I personally would choose the 6K over the 8k for 2 reasons: 1, the MAVO 6K is cheaper, 2, I don't need 8k in my work. I would work mainly in 6K and deliver in 4K, and I'd still have that extra room just in case. Now, I am in a place where the volume of work I do that requires this type of camera is too low, making this a bad investment for me. This is why, I often complain about the difficulty to rent this camera because I would most definitely rent it from time to time now that I know what it's capable of.
But who knows, things may change for me in the near future, and I may consider investing. Until then, I guess that more amazing tools like this will be available for us filmmakers, because things move so fast these days.
And just in case you missed it, down below is my video on the MAVO Edge 8K:
Tell me, if the MAVO edge 6K was available to rent near you, would you test it? use it in your work?
Learn more about the camera: www.kinefinity.com
The CHIOPT Xtreme: www.chioptfilm.com