The KineMAX is one of the few cameras on the market that can shoot in 6K resolution. That’s actually nine times the resolution of standard HD. Beat that 4K!
You might be wondering what’s the point of shooting in 6K, when most of the world still watches in HD or is slowly moving to 4K?
It’s for the same reason people switched to 4K cameras. Higher resolution means that you can get a more detailed image, even in HD, without the moire artifacts. It also makes (or should make) the noise less visible since the pixels are much smaller.
The KineMAX shoots in KineLOG and CinemaDNG RAW, a very high quality lossless codec. But that comes with a downside – you can’t directly edit the footage, unless you have a super computer. So really, most people, just like I do, will have to transcode the footage once they connect the hardrive to their computer. That sucks because it takes time.
The good thing is that Kinefinity provides you with their KineStation software that makes the transcoding super easy – not too many settings to mess with, yet it converts the files to Cineform RAW. It’s a compressed format that works great on most editing machines and with all the popular editing software.
For recording media, this camera uses the standard solid state drives (SSD) that you can buy for laptops. They’re great because they’re cheap. Kinefinity also offers their propriety SSD called KineMAG. Those, of course, are more expensive, but they do offer higher data rates.
If your wondering about the quality, I can honestly say that this camera rocks. It’s got a great dynamic range and amazing resolution, even in 1080p.
Here’s my review
Overall, using this camera feels just like using the RED Epic – it’s similar in size and weight. It’s definitely not light and portable like a DSLR, but it’s also not as heavy as the Blackmagic URSA camera.
The camera has different lens mounts that change easily. I used on it the CANON EF with a focal reducer. This effectively changed the Super35mm image sensor to a full frame camera when shooting in 6K.
There is also a PL mount available from Kinefinity and I’m sure other mounts will become availabe too.
Here is my full slow motion test I shot in 2K at 110 fps
Overall, I liked the camera. It wasn’t yet ready for prime time at the time that I used it – the firmware was still in beta version. I have been told that the latest firmware has addressed and fixed all the issues I encountered.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about this camera is the price. You can get the camera body for just $8000. The professional kit, which includes everything, is $13000.
That’s a lot more affordable than the RED Epic. I think this camera opens up the world of professional cinema tools to indie filmmakers.
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The camera’s main features
- ≤14 stops in 6K-4K and ≤16 stops in Golden 3K/2K and 1080p
- supports 3rd-party LUT upload to camera, live view with custom LUT
- EI mode works nearly the same as with Arri Alexa
- KRW 2.0: Single KRW file format, which is not a frame sequence any more – it’s one file that includes video sequence, audio files, slate, snapshot
- adaptive codec choice for different resolution and fps
- KineAudio, Dual XLR recording is now available
- HiSpeed option: allows 4K@100fps and 2K@150fps – with full S35 sensor read-out
If you are interested in a more detailed latitude test, then watch this video
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Future firmware updates:
- HiSpeed mode (i.e. 4K@100fps): release is planned for late summer
- ProRes: end of 2015
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The different packages:
- KineMax Body: $8,000
- Entry bundle: $9,000
- Standard kit: $11,000
- Professional kit: $13,000
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The Kinemax 6K Entry Bundle (others not yet defined)
- Price: USD 8990 / EUR 9629 (excluding taxes)
- KineMAX BODY with built in Active EF-Mount or KineMOUNT
- KineStation
- 6K option included
- HiSpeed option included
- 1 year license for Assimilate Scratch
- dual SDI
- KineAudio
- integrated battery plate
- 1pc KineMAG-120GB SSD
- upper hand grip by Movcam
Inlcuded software features:
Included hardware features:
To buy the camera in Europe, go to www.kinefinity.tv
The rest of the world, go to www.kinefinity.com
Technical questions can be sent to contact@kinefinity.tv or contact@hdvideoshop.com
If you want to get in touch with my model Annie here is her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annie_v2000/
Here is another official camera test (shot by the manufacturer), where you can see the beautiful quality of the KineMAX 6K
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