Other: Sony full frame unveiled, named "VENICE"

Had a quick look at the Venice at NAB NY today. The camera appears to handle highlights very well. The images I saw on the connected Sony 4K monitor looked clean.
 
The five-second boot time and eight discrete stops of ND are genuinely a BIG deal. Along with being format-agnostic, those features open up a level of speed and precision that's basically unheard of in cinema cameras.

I'm pretty enticed by them.

The ergonomics also look terrific. The body's a great size, the handle design is smart, and the weight is nice and low, add the controls on both sides of the camera and some seemingly fast and intuitive new menus, and it's all pretty appealing.

My only real gripe is the apparent lack of integrated wireless systems (for video, FIZ, audio). Hopefully, it becomes updatable down the road (a slot-on attachment like the R7 perhaps). That said, with things like cmotion's new 'pro' motors with their integrated receivers, perhaps this will rapidly become less of an issue.
 
Everything about it looks great. I have not found a single negative point about it yet. I think it will be a winner. It might do what the F55 and F65 couldn't for Sony. We will see.

The only downside of this camera in my eyes is that it doesn't have a 12 Bit codec. I know, it is aimed at high-end cinema bur for instance. Alexa Mini in my country (Slovakia) is very popular at mid-high budget commercials and mostly they are shooting 12 bit Prores 4444. If you want to get anything better from the VENICE you need to go X-CON (which isn't bad but you know...another brick on the back). If SONY could release a 12 bit XAVC intra that would be superb! I will try to get an answer from SONY representatives at this years Camerimage.
 
The only downside of this camera in my eyes is that it doesn't have a 12 Bit codec. I know, it is aimed at high-end cinema bur for instance. Alexa Mini in my country (Slovakia) is very popular at mid-high budget commercials and mostly they are shooting 12 bit Prores 4444. If you want to get anything better from the VENICE you need to go X-CON (which isn't bad but you know...another brick on the back). If SONY could release a 12 bit XAVC intra that would be superb! I will try to get an answer from SONY representatives at this years Camerimage.

I think you said it yourself. It's aimed at high-end cinema. If you go by the F65, Sony doesn't see the need of lower shooting formats in ultra high end cameras for cinema. But I agree with you this is kind of a downer. Having prores never hurt the Alexa. Actually it made it more popular. This is probably another oversight from Sony. Maybe they will add it with a firmware update.
 
Anybody know if it will mate AXS-R5?

The AXS-R7 connects to Venice via long screws through the AXS-R7 and into the chassis of the Venice, meaning you could actually pick up the camera by the R7. Don't try it with a heavy lens on the front!

Since it does not have the same clip mechanism as the F5/55, the R5 cannot be mounted to Venice.

You will note that Venice is a bit shorter than F5/55. The rear clip mechanism accounts for most of that differential.
 
The AXS-R7 connects to Venice via long screws through the AXS-R7 and into the chassis of the Venice, meaning you could actually pick up the camera by the R7. Don't try it with a heavy lens on the front!

Since it does not have the same clip mechanism as the F5/55, the R5 cannot be mounted to Venice.

You will note that Venice is a bit shorter than F5/55. The rear clip mechanism accounts for most of that differential.

Interesting info. Thanks.
 
Sounds like an adapter plate might be a possibility.

The AXS-R7 connects to Venice via long screws through the AXS-R7 and into the chassis of the Venice, meaning you could actually pick up the camera by the R7. Don't try it with a heavy lens on the front!

Since it does not have the same clip mechanism as the F5/55, the R5 cannot be mounted to Venice.

You will note that Venice is a bit shorter than F5/55. The rear clip mechanism accounts for most of that differential.
 
So I had the opportunity to have a talk with one of the Sony representatives at Camerimage 2017. He said, that their not planning to implement a 12 bit 4:4:4 XAVC any time soon. The reason is, that in their testing, the camera has to be powered by a much powerful battery than a typical V-mount. But he also said, that their are thinking of implementing Prores (My guess is 10 Bit HQ flavour).
 
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