The VENICE 2 features a compact body design with the ability to swap sensors for higher frame rates. Here’s an in-depth look.

The original Sony VENICE helped capture films like the Oscar award-winning The Father, popular series including The Flight Attendant, The Crown, and Ozark, and even NFL broadcasts.

The new VENICE 2 camera seeks to elevate performance with its streamlined body, interchangeable 8.6K and 6K sensors, 8-stops of built-in ND filters, and more.

Interchangeable Sensors

The Sony VENICE 2 debuts a new 8.6K (8640×5760) full-frame sensor with 16 stops of dynamic range. It has a dual base ISO of 800/3200 to capture clean images in most lighting conditions. Dropped down to 4K, the camera still supports full-frame, full-frame anamorphic, and Super35.

8.6K Sensor Modes

To shoot at higher frame rates, the camera can use the original 6K sensor, which is completely swappable.

Footage and Reactions

Director of Photography Claudio Miranda tested the low-light capabilities and the camera’s ability to capture skin tones and fire in the desert.

Claudio Miranda explains,

How does the highlight roll off? How does the low-light go into the black? Does it go red? Does it get too saturated? That’s my personal bias of what this test was about.

– Claudio Miranda, DP

The results, in Miranda’s own words, are . . .

Freaking stunning . . . It’s clean. The noise, if you do hit it, is organic. It doesn’t feel overly electronic. And, I just like the way it feels. I shot a fire shot at 3200 ASA that’s intentionally overexposed, and I just thought it had this natural, organic feel. The low-light footage is really amazingly clean.

– Claudio Miranda, DP

On the simplicity of features like the built-in ND filters, DP Rob McLachlan says:

Something as simple as those built-in NDs can add up to just an incredible amount of time savings. Those time savings add up to extra shots, extra setups, and that adds up to potentially a better scene, and a better movie or TV show.

If you add it up, let’s say, even an average size TV series, which has probably got a 12-hour per day shooting budget around $300,000. Some might be more, some less. Just break that down into the minutes of the day and how much one minute costs.

(Side note: PremiumBeat did the math—it’s $416 per minute for a $300,000, 12-hour day.)

If you save ten minutes changing ND filters so that you can be consistent in your depth of field as you change lenses, or lighting conditions change, over the course of a four-month project, that’s a massive amount of money, and that’s a lot of extra shots. So, apart from the fact that it makes absolutely gorgeous cinematic pictures, that alone is another reason to love the VENICE.

– Rob McLachlan, DP

Camera Specs

• Sony PL or E Lens Mount
  • Removable PL mount, Cooke /i Protocol
  • Sony E-mount with electronic contacts
• 8.6K Sensor
  • 8.6K: 1 to 30fps
  • 8.2K: 1 to 60fps
  • 7.6K: 1 to 60fps
  • 5.8K Anamorphic: 1 to 48fps
  • 5.8K: 1 up to 90fps
  • 5.4K: 1 up to 90fps
• X-OCN Internal Recording
• 4K ProRes 4444/422HQ Internal Recording
• Built-in ND Filter Mechanical Filter Wheel
  • Clear, 1 stop (1/2), 2 stop (1/4), 3 stop (1/8), 4 stop (1/16), 5 stop (1/32), 6 stop (1/64), 7 stop (1/128), 8 stop (1/256) ND filters
• ISO Sensitivity 800 / 3200 (Native)
• Rolling Shutter
• 16 Stops Dynamic Range

Availability

The VENICE 2 camera with 8.6K image sensor is scheduled to start shipping in February 2022 and the VENICE 2 camera with 6K image sensor in March 2022.  

The price is currently unknown. The original Sony VENICE was released with a starting price point around $40,000.

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Cover image via Sony.