Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

1) Most people base their decisions on specs, not image quality
2) Most of the reviews of the Cion were made before AJA released version 1.2 of the Cion firmware, and with v1.1 the image quality just wasn't there. AJA made a major blunder letting that firmware out into the wild. (It had some other issues also, for example not being able to record 12-bit, limited instead to 10-bit ProRes...

AJA made some serious blunders in the launch, probably because they were trying to get the camera out before Black Magic hit the industry over the head again... but now we have both the new 4.6K sensor imminent (which was quite a surprise coming from BMD, as I'm sure everyone here will recall), and the Kinemax is getting some surprisingly positive results in Geoff Boyle's testing, and we have the Apertus coming along... in the wake of the Ursa Mini 4.6K announcement, I wouldn't have even considered a Cion without the large discount over the summer...

Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

I didn't buy one because they wouldn't let me try one with their "Try it for a week" deal.
They did let a (less qualified, less working) acquaintance have one for 10 days though.
Bought a Blackmagic 4k instead.

Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

I don't think that they understand the production side of filmmaking particularly well.

A bit like Black Magic in that regard, who thought that the aluminum bricks were a great design, ergonomically... they were surprised that everyone who bought one of those bricks rigged it to make it usable, or just used it exclusively on a tripod... but AJA should have consulted with actual cinematographers before releasing their camera. It's going to be a tough road for them now, and with the KineMAX 6K coming soon along with the C300 MKII, Red Raven, and BMD 4.6K, the waters will be bloody, to say the least. :)

Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

I am a Sony loyal and am ready to try the Cion. Anyone in RI area have one?

Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

An article about a Cion shoot.

Ali?s AJA Asprey Films | Film and Digital Times

Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

If we were local, I could help you out with that... hopefully you'll find someone local who has one, possibly an AJA dealer. One of the local dealers let me demo one.

Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

No worry I have one coming by on Thursday. My main concern is no ND. No time to add and remove filters so I will see how it goes on Wed.

Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

Spent four hours with Keith yesterday going over the camera. Very impressive camera.

I will be spending some quality time with the camera after an onslaught of jobs is finished and look forward to the experience. After that time I will post a more detailed report on my site and link to it from here.

A company that listens to the end user, what a concept.

Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion
 

There's new firmware announced at NAB:

“Our new firmware update and promo were created in direct response to community feedback. CION v1.3 offers a more gentle roll off of highlights, and a greater level of detail in the blacks, while the new promo makes the camera even more accessible to shooters looking to capture stunning footage,” said Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video Systems. “We’ve seen great adoption of CION from the commercial and industrial production community and we look forward to getting this update into our customers’ hands.”

The new V1.3 gamma modes can be seen here: https://www.aja.com/en/products/cion

The video: