KineMINI 4K CinemaDNG Raw vs. Cineform vs. KRW Test

The Kinefinity KineMINI 4K has proved that it can compete successfully even with high end 4K+ cameras such as RED Epic/Dragon in terms of colour rendition and hi-resolution imagery. If you haven’t already done so, make sure you check out the series of posts we did related to the extended 12 Cameras Test produced by Film Cifrowy. You can see Part 1 & 2 here, Part III here, and Part IV here.

It was a kind of surprise to our team to see the KineMINI 4K holds up really well against competitors in the 10x higher price range. This time the guys from Film Cifrowy released a 4K codec comparison test for us to evaluate how well the codecs supported by the camera do compare in practice.

KINEMINI CODEC TEST from Film Cyfrowy on Vimeo.

Comparison of KineMini codecs: CinemaDNG, Cineform & KRW (new one – ratio 3:1) – all shot in 4K
CinemaDNG & KRW was transcoded to Cineform RAW by Kinestation.
CinemaDNG (one frame: 13.3MB) vs Cineform vs KRW (one frame: 3.8MB)

Retailing for less than $5K USD, the KineMINI 4K is a serious competitor to BMPC 4K and the upcoming Blackmagic Design 4K URSA for example. The Kinemini 4K has some unique features such as the Sports-mode in 2K/HD which helps improve the rolling shutter, plus higher frame rates (100fps in 2K/HD) 2 x than the frame rates on the URSA as they stand at the moment.

KineMINI 4K specs highlights: 

• Super35 CMOS 4K Sensor
• 12 stops DR in 4K / 13 stops DR in 2K
• OLPF for 4K (Optical Low-Pass filter) to help with aliasing, moire
• 100fps at 1080p/96fps at 2K (requires Hi-Speed option purchase)
• UHD and 4K DCI (3840 x 2160p and 4096 x 2160p at 24/25/30fps)
• Shoots both Compressed CinemaDNG raw or Cineform raw (Cineform raw requires transcoding in post from CinemaDNG via KineStation – provided)
• Lens mount – New locking style – EF mount or Steel KineMount
• Records on 2.5″ SSD x 1
• Adds SDI output x 1, and 2 x HDMI out
• S16mm crop  mode 
• 800 ISO native
• Sports mode – reduces rolling shutter (2K/1080p only)
• Price around $4,000 to $5,000+ depending on options. 

One of the major differences we can find right away is the CinemaDNG frame in 4K is roughly 13.3 MB while the transcoded to Cineform RAW by Kinestation is 3.8 MB only while the latter is retaining the same visual quality of the frame. Premiere Pro soon will implement Cineform Codec as a native intermediate codec which will be a great option for filmmakers working on a PC who now need pay an additional licence fee in order to use Cineform.

In this way, switching between Premiere Pro projects on a Mac and PC will become a lot easier. Due to downscaled material and Vimeo compression, it is hard to judge whether there are any major differences among the codecs, so if you want to weigh up by yourself, below there are download links to files used in the test.

You can download RAW files here:
DNG – http://bit.ly/ZgJeRk
Cineform – http://bit.ly/ZhBmPe
KRW – http://bit.ly/1BrYbxt
KRW transcoded to Cineform – http://bit.ly/1rGspFX

In addition, there are four more cllips shot in 4K RAW on KineMINI 4K you can download and play with as well.

Video 01 – Filesize: 427MB Download link: http://bit.ly/1weTSW9

Video 02 – Filesize: 3.26GB Download link: http://bit.ly/1AynFaf

Video 03 – Filesize:4.45GB Download link: http://bit.ly/1osvJU5

Video 04 – Filesize:2.09GB Download link: http://bit.ly/1AynSKr

Every package contains SLATE (information about settings) and LUT’s (KineLOG_5-6h_0_0.cube and KineLOG_5-6h_0_0.look). You have to apply the LUT to the specific take. The scenes were filmed intentionally with LOMO lenses.

[via filmcyfrowy.net]

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