The Spanish company Cinemartin, best known on our site for it's Blu-ray conversion software MyBD, has announced an 8K camera with a 50MP sensor that is has named 'FRAN'. The FRAN should become available in fall this year with a price, that according to the company is, “affordable in comparison with rivals.”
Cinemartin writes the camera is able to capture video in 8K (8000x6000) RAW / uncompressed 12 bits. The camera has a global shutter, for the best results when recording thing in movement, and a sensor with an aspect ratio of 4:3. The sensor measures 37 x 27mm and supports VistaVision 1:47 aspect ratio 7920 x 5388. 8K 4:3 48 MP content is shot at 24 frames per second (fps).
Other resolutions are also possible, at launch the FRAN is able to shoot video in 6K color in 20 fps, 4K color at 24fps and 60fps color in 2K and 1080P. A planned upgrade in 2019 should make it possible to record 6K content with 24fps in color, 4K content with 60 fps in color and 2K and 1080p content with 96fps in color. When color is not a requirement the camera can shoot with slightly higher fps rates at launch, the planned update will also make higher frame rates possible when recording in monochrome.
The high resolutions also require high bandwidth and a lot of storage capacity, therefore the camera will come with an internal NVMe SSD with a capacity of either 1TB or 2TB. It's possible to connect additional storage using a USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt 3.0 connector. The camera can also connect wirelessly through Wi-Fi and with Gigabit Ethernet to other devices. An HDMI output with a maximum supported resolution of 4K can be used to connect a display for monitoring.
Cinemartin plans to make the first batch of FRAN cameras available in fall this year with limited availability until early 2019. The company has not disclosed any price information but writes on its website, “Will be a camera not for all, but will be affordable as in comparison with the rivals. [sic]”
