- So today is even more special
than every other ShortCircuit that I've done so far,
because I've looked at two stills cameras, which I loved.
But today we get to look at the Sony Venice,
which is a Cinema Camera
and I'm not a professional photographer
but I'm a cinematographer.
So this is really exciting
because this camera came out in 2018,
and I've yet to be able to try it until today.
We've been shooting on RED for about three years,
and I've used the Arri Alexa as well,
but this camera is extra special
because it is either as good or better than those cameras.
And it's made by Sony.
So let's see how they did.
Okay well, as you can see, this case is gigantic.
So that's a good sign.
This is a press unit, so it's not an official
like retail package version of this camera, but that's okay.
Opening it up.
So we have our camera, the Venice here.
What else have they included?
We also have this viewfinder.
As far as I understand, unlike the Alexa or the RED,
you don't need the viewfinder to use the camera properly.
Though I think a lot of people
who do use something like the Venice
prefer to shoot with viewfinder.
You have some batteries.
So standard Vima which is great.
All cinema cameras use this, we use these for our REDs.
They're awesome, these are pretty standard.
So in the box we have this AXSM card reader,
which is Sony's proprietary media
that can actually adapt to S-by-S,
which is a standard that other cameras use
also made by Sony.
And that's just so that you can use their RAW recorder
which is built onto this version of the camera
that we have right here.
Is that and then a power adapter
that allows you to use it with V-mount, that's cool.
A bunch of cables and another dual charger.
Okay, so let's get this case off the desk.
So here it is, this is the Sony Venice.
Guys, this camera is six K, not eight K like our RED cameras
but it's also full-frame.
Look at that sensor.
That is gorgeous.
So for those of you who don't recognize it,
this is a standard locking PL-mount.
But the really cool thing about this camera
is that the mount itself and the sensor block
is really flexible.
So Sony, unfortunately didn't send it to us
but they also make this thing called the RiaLto extension
which just allows you to take the sensor block
with the lens mount and the sensor off the Venice
and onto this even smaller box
which allows you all the features that are in this camera
but then allows you to use it in that much smaller space.
So you can take what is already relatively small
for a cinema camera and make it even smaller
and put it into cars or really, really small rooms
which is really cool
and not something that every camera these days can do.
The other awesome thing about this mount
is that underneath this standard locking PL-mount
is an E-mount which again,
for anyone who knows anything about cameras,
an E-mount is very, very adaptable.
It's the same mount that they use on the a7S II
and a lot of other Sony's cameras, the FX9, the FS7.
And anyone who uses those cameras
you'll know you can adapt anything from Canon PL,
basically any lens you can think of
that can cover a full frame, you can adapt to this camera,
which most people will stick with the standard PL-mount
'cause you're using higher-end lenses
but it's nice to have options.
All right, let's put a lens on this guy.
PL's a little bit different where you just push it in
and then lock it down.
I feel scared, I mean,
for the amount that this camera costs, you'd hope it does
because it's more expensive
than most cinema cameras out there.
So this body in this configuration with this recorder
will run you about $90,000 US
and that is before you even think factor in
which licenses you want because unfortunately,
Sony has gone with the decision to limit softwarewise
what you can do with the camera depending on your needs.
So if you wanted to shoot anamorphic,
and you wanted a permanent license for that,
that's $4,000 US.
If you wanted to shoot slow motion, that's also $4,000 US.
And you can also rent the licenses
for 30 days at a time at $500 US.
(chuckles) So it gets unnecessarily expensive.
But again, this is for the highest and this is for TV shows.
I don't know if anyone out there is a fan of "Ozark",
but the last season of "Ozark" was shot on the Venice
and that show looks awesome.
So going through the rest of this camera physically,
you have the assistant side of the camera,
which is just allows any assistant that's helping you out
to change all the settings as they need to
on a bigger display on this side.
But then it's nice
that this camera also has an operator side of the menu.
So if you're just using this on your own,
for like a documentary or you're a one-man band,
and you're somehow using a Venice,
you also can change all those settings on this side.
For comparison this is, and in the current situation,
a similarly built-out RED camera
that we use on a daily basis.
This is our weapon, it is only a Super 35 sensor.,
so it's a smaller sensor than the Venice
but like you can tell right off the bat,
the size difference between these two,
like the Venice is quite a bit longer,
but it has a couple things that the RED does not.
For example, the Venice has built-in NDs.
And not only does it have built-in Nds,
it has built-in NDs at every stop range
that you'd typically use.
So it goes in one stop increments,
it stops in the whole range,
which means you can be very precise
with how much ND you're using in this camera,
and you don't have to fiddle with a matte box
or any screw-in NDs.
It's all built in which is really awesome
for anyone who wants to move quickly
or shoots documentary especially,
and that's I think the cool thing about this camera
is Sony has taken an approach to make this adaptable
to basically any production environment
someone would wanna use, you could use it for a documentary,
you could use it for a live production,
you can definitely use it for cinema,
which is what its main use case is for.
But the fact that they thought about all those things,
and built in the RiaLto system
makes this very, very compelling.
And unlike our RED, which again I love our REDs,
but this thing does have a couple things that it doesn't.
It has a dual native ISO.
So this camera's two dual ISOs for middle gray
are 500 and 2,500.
And so dual ISO basically allows you to shoot
both in regular lighting settings and low light settings
without really compromising on your noise performance,
or the dynamic range of the camera
depending on where you want your ISO to sit,
which is awesome and something that the RED can't do.
If you put the RED at 2,500 ISO,
you're going to get a fairly noisy image,
especially at nighttime,
where the intention with the Venice
is if you use that 2,500
and you get your six stops over in your highlights
and your minus nine in your shadows,
you are able then to have full control
of where you want the image to sit
in your highlights and your shadows,
which is just incredibly flexible.
And another reason why this camera costs $90,000 US
for the basic package, and if you're building it out,
you're probably spending quite a bit more than that.
Now let's actually just weigh these two
'cause I'm curious to see what the weight difference is.
Now to be fair to RED, they do make a camera, the Gemini,
which is also made for the purposes of use in low light
the way that the Venice is.
But at the same time this is a full-frame sensor
that is not a full frame sensor and it's five K,
this is six K, but again there's a premium on all of that.
Just to finish off the last couple things that I missed,
the IO on this camera is ridiculous.
There are so many monitor outputs,
you have genlock and timecode in, which are standard BNC,
which are awesome for live production
and audio as well, so thank you.
And then there's also, unfortunately they didn't include it,
but there's this little slot on the side,
which allows you to plug in a little XLR module
that Sony offers.
And then you can get audio in camera
the same way that we record on like RC-200.
Let's see the difference in weight
because again they don't,
like that you can see physically the differences.
But how much heavier is all of those extra features
in a full-frame camera versus our weapon?
Okay so we've taken the lenses off and the batteries
just to compare roughly with the display and the top handle
what the weight difference is between these cameras.
So RED is 2.8 kilograms.
Not bad, all right?
That's not too heavy.
And let's see what the Venice weighs.
(laughs) Oh, whopping 5.4 everybody.
So yes, this has more features mechanically,
there's more going on.
And it also has a RAW recorder on the back.
But then the red can do that built in,
it's twice as heavy with just the body,
which again makes sense.
It's a full-frame camera, there's more cooling,
there's more mechanical features going on,
and then the viewfinder itself
is probably a little bit heavier than this monitor.
But that's also not that bad,
when I feel it, it feels balanced.
Like if this was on my shoulder,
I could imagine that it would feel pretty darn good.
Even on a long shoot day.
Why don't we shoot some footage?
And what better way to test the camera
than to test the slow motion?
So why don't we dump some water on our co-workers heads?
(upbeat music)
So that was really fun for me.
I hope you guys had just as much fun watching those clips.
Now there's obviously a lot more to this camera
that I didn't get a chance to talk about
because this is just a first impressions,
but if you guys want a full review
where I actually get to try the camera out
in multiple different scenarios properly,
lemme know in the comments down below
and maybe we can do a full review on Linus Tech Tips,
please I don't wanna send this back to Sony
and I wanna keep testing it out, so let me know.
Anyways guys, thanks for watching.
Please subscribe to short circuit.
All right.