By Scott Lehane
At the recent International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition in Japan, Sony tipped its hand in terms of the next generation of its CineAlta line of high-end electronic cinematography cameras.
According to a press release from the show, “Sony has reached an agreement with Omnibus Japan to supply Sony’s high-end F23 line of CineAlta digital cinema cameras, as well as the F35 newly launched in Japan.”
At press time, details about the availability of the new F35 camera were still sketchy, and the company’s North American division seemed to be taken by surprise by the announcement.
But the F35 camera will be a 1920 x 1080p HD CineAlta camera with a 35mm CCD image sensor, offering variable frame rates of 1-50 fps, compared to the F23’s 2/3-inch sensor and variable frame rates of 1-60 fps.
According to a Japanese release from the company, the F35 digital-cinema camera’s main advantage over the F23 is “tremendously enhanced depth of field.”
Indeed, it’s a move that would enable cinematographers to use 35mm PL-mount optics, instead of the 2/3-inch B4 optics of the F23. It also puts CineAlta in the same league as Arri’s D-20, or the Panavision Genesis, which also use 35mm image sensors.
The company has previously denied that it was working on such a camera, however late last year Sony did reveal that it was working on developing a 4K camera. At the time, the company estimated it would take two to three years to develop.
Written by Scott Lehane
