Today at pre-show the evening before NAB (in Vegas), hardware maker AJA gave a sneak-peek at their first foray into professional cameras for film with the CION. A 4K, 60P (up to 120fps), global shutter, production camera which AJA have priced at $8995. The story broke on Twitter with Kevin Fitzgerald (@BrownEnvelope) tweeting this picture of the new camera.
Pic from Kevin Fitzgerald
Hot-on-the-heels of that tweet came Kei Kinoshita’s (@KeiKinoshita) tweet with these four images of the camera.
An hour later, Juan Salvo, who is the head of color at ColorSpaceNYC (at least according to Twitter) gave us the first bit of information on the new camera.
Seems @AJAVideo is introing a camera. $9K, UHD, HFR, global shutter, prores proxy-4444, PL mount, ThB. Crazy.
— Juan Salvo (@j_salvo) April 6, 2014
Those specs look pretty interesting! Cion seems to have all the bells and whistles on board, including a thunderbolt output, PL mount and Proress. And at the price point announced, this may be some serious competition for the filmmaker dollar, particularly with, what can be assumed, is an ease of sync and operation with AJA’s other hardware. Whether it can shoot in RAW remains yet to be seen, we’ll just have to wait until the official announcement. We will continue to update this page as more information comes in, so STAY TUNED.
UPDATE
Tech specs have now been released for the Cion:
Tech Specs
User Interface
6x Dedicated Menu Buttons
(STATUS, CONFIG, MEDIA, FPS, EI and WB)
4x Transport Buttons
(Play, Fast Forward, Reverse Playback, Stop)
1x Media Unmount Button
1x Record Button
1x User Interface Control Knob
1x User Interface Screen, 320×240 LCD
Sensor Type
CMOS, Electronic global shutter, 12 stops of dynamic range
Sensor Size
4K APS-C sized, 22.5mm x 11.9mm
Lens Mount
PL (positive lock)
Filtration
Optical Low Pass Filter (OLPF) and IR Cut Filter (combined)
Removable Storage
AJA Pak media
Video Output
4x 3G-SDI Main Outputs
(4x BNC connectors, 3G/1.485Gbps)
2x 3G-SDI Monitor Outputs
(1x front mounted BNC connector,
1x rear mounted BNC connector, 3G/1.485Gbps)
2x HDMI Outputs
(1x front mounted HDMI v1.3 Type A connector,
1x rear mounted HDMI v1.4 Type A connector)
Audio Input
2x Balanced Analog Audio Inputs
(2x 3-pin XLR connectors with dedicated line/mic/48v
selection switch per input)
Audio Output
1x Headphone Jack
(3.5mm stereo mini TRS)
Reference Input
1x Reference Input
(BNC connector, analog color black)
Timecode
1x LTC
(BNC connector, 0.5 to 4.5Vpp)
Start/Stop Trigger
2x LANC
(1x 2.5mm top connector and 1x 2.5mm side connector)
Network Interface
1x LAN connector (RJ45 connector, 10/100/1000)
Data Output
AJA Raw via 3G-SDI up to 120 fps or Thunderbolt™ up to 30 fps
Weight
6.4 lbs / 2.9 kg (without top handle attached)
7.4 lbs / 3.4 kg (with top handle attached)
Power
AC Range: 100-240 VAC 50/60Hz (AC adapter)
DC Range: 12-18Vdc, 5A maximum
(4-pin XLR connector or 2-pin input connector)
Consumption: 38-42W typical, 45-47W maximum
(Note: does not include power draw from 2-pin output connector)
Output: 2-pin power output connector, 10W recommended maximum
Temperature Range
Safe Operating Temperature Range: 5C to 40C
Safe Storage Temperature Range (power OFF): -20C to 60C
Format, Frame Rate, Encoding and Output
4K
4K (4096×2160) progressive 23.98/24/25/29.97/30/50/59.94/60/119.88/120
Apple ProRes 4444 or Apple ProRes 422 (all versions) up to/including 30 fps
Apple ProRes 422 (or a lower data rate ProRes version) for 50/59.94/60 fps
SDI output support for 23.98/24/25/29.97/30 fps
(SDI 1-4 YCbCr, SDI 1-4 RGB or SDI 1 Raw)
SDI output support for 50/59.94/60 fps (SDI 1-4 YCbCr or SDI 1-2 Raw)
SDI output support for 119.88/120 fps (SDI 1-4 Raw)
Ultra HD
Ultra HD (3840×2160) progressive 23.98/24/25/29.97/30/50/59.94/60/119.88/120
Apple ProRes 4444 or Apple ProRes 422 (all versions) up to/including 30 fps
Apple ProRes 422 (or a lower data rate ProRes version) for 50/59.94/60 fps
SDI output support for 23.98/24/25/29.97/30 fps
(SDI 1-4 YCbCr, SDI 1-4 RGB or SDI 1 Raw)
SDI output support for 50/59.94/60 fps (SDI 1-4 YCbCr or SDI 1-2 RAW)
SDI output support for 119.88/120 fps (SDI 1-4 Raw)
2K
2K (2048×1080) progressive 23.98/24/25/29.97/30/50/59.94/60
Apple ProRes 4444 or Apple ProRes 422 (all versions) up to/including 30 fps
Apple ProRes 422 (all versions) for 50/59.94/60 fps
SDI output support for 23.98/24/25/29.97/30 fps
(SDI 1 YCbCr, SDI 1-2 RGB, or SDI 1 RGB)
SDI output support for 50/59.94/60 fps (SDI 1-2 YCbCr or SDI 1 YCbCr)
1080 HD
1080 HD (1920×1080) progressive 23.98/24/25/29.97/30/50/59.94/60
Apple ProRes 4444 or Apple ProRes 422 (all versions) up to/including 30 fps
Apple ProRes 422 (all versions) for 50/59.94/60 fps
SDI output support for 23.98/24/25/29.97/30 fps
(SDI 1 YCbCr, SDI 1-2 RGB, or SDI 1 RGB)
SDI output support for 50/59.94/60 fps (SDI 1-2 YCbCr or SDI 1 YCbCr)
1080 HD
1080 HD (1920×1080) interlaced 25/29.97/30
Apple ProRes 422 (all versions) up to/including 30 fps
SDI output support up to/including 30 fps (SDI 1 YCbCr)
