Sony’s upcoming Rialto 65 cinema camera with a sensor that’s 2.2x larger than full-frame is no secret – but the camera giant has just unveiled the first footage shot with the upcoming camera system, along with the camera’s price tag.
The Sony Rialto 65 is an upcoming camera sensor that works with the company’s existing Venice 2 camera system. First teased back in July, the Rialto 65 has a sensor that’s 53.75mm wide and 35.83mm high. That’s about 2.2 times larger than a full-frame sensor. Sony says that makes it one of the largest commercially available sensors on a cinema camera, competing with other medium-format camera systems.
The Rialto 65 isn’t an entirely new camera but rather a sensor module for the existing Sony Venice 2, so it comes with the color science, 16-bit X-OCN recording, and other features already available from the Venice 2. Currently, the Venice 2 has two full-frame sensor options, one that’s 8.6K and one that’s 6K. The upcoming medium-format sensor will support 65mm format lenses, Sony says.
The upcoming sensor can attach directly to the camera system, but it can also be used in an extension mode where the head and camera body are separate for shooting in more compact spaces.
Watch the first sample footage from the Sony Rialto 65
Sony already shared that the new sensor was coming, but now the company has shared the first official footage coming from the upcoming sensor. Naturally, YouTube doesn’t even support 9.6K, and the footage is in 4K, but the footage offers some insight into the depth of field and low-light capabilities of the upcoming sensor.
"Local People," by Cinematographer Łukasz Żal, PSC, shows off the Sony Rialto 65's low-light capabilities and colors
Sony also offered one more bit of information that it didn’t share when first teasing the Rialto 65 back in July: the price. The Rialto 65 is expected to retail for $80,000 / CA$ 113,800 – which is about £59,811 / AU$113,658 at current exchange rates.
Sony is still expecting the Rialto 65 to arrive sometime in the first half of 2027, though the company notes that the timeline is still tentative.
You may also like
Don't have a Hollywood level budget? These are the best cinema cameras and the best vlogging cameras.
