Sony is building a 65mm format sensor. On June 3, the imaging giant announced that it is developing a 65mm sensor for its Venice 2 cinema camera system, dubbed the Rialto 65.
The 65mm format is technically part of the medium format family, which covers sensors that are larger than 36mm but smaller than 100x130mm large format film. But, the Sony Rialto 65mm sensor is a 3:2 sensor built for cinema, making it wider but shorter than many typical stills-oriented 4:3 medium format cameras that tend to sit around 53.4x40mm.
Sony says the upcoming Rialto 65 will be one of the largest commercially available cinema sensors – it measures 64.60mm diagonally and comes with a 3:2 aspect ratio, making the sensor about 53.75mm wide and 35.83mm tall.
If everything goes according to plan, the Rialto 65 is currently expected to arrive sometime in the first half of 2027.
But, rather than launching a new camera to go with the larger sensor, Sony is building a sensor block that can be used to modify the Sony Venice 2 bodies, allowing filmmakers to swap out the current camera’s full-frame sensor for a larger one. The modular design, Sony says, will help filmmakers adapt quickly.
The 65mm format has around 2.2 times the area of the full-frame sensor on the existing Venice 2 bodies. That helps the camera both gather more light and create an even shallower depth of field. That larger size will power the ability to shoot 9.6K open gate recording, which uses the full 3:2 sensor for greater cropping flexibility in post.
But, the larger image sensor requires larger lenses – Sony says the upcoming sensor block will be compatible with “various 65mm format lenses.” The company says that multiple readout modes will help the sensor support compatibility with more lenses.
The upcoming sensor joins a limited but growing list of medium format shooters designed specifically for cinema, alongside options like the Fujifilm GFX Eterna, the Blackmagic Ursa Cine 17K 65, and the Arri Alexa 65.
While medium format cinema cameras sit at a price accessible only to studios with large production budgets, Sony is one of the largest manufacturers of camera sensors, so the shift is an interesting move even for creators who will never get to hold such a large sensor.
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