Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion at DVinfo.net

Glen Vandermolen · April 7th, 2014, 02:43 PM

Looks pretty cool, and for $8,995.

CION - Products - AJA Video Systems

Dylan Couper · April 7th, 2014, 07:57 PM

It looks great, 1/2 the weight of the Ursa and a bit of a classic design.
Hope they are not too late to the party to compete...

Zach Love · April 7th, 2014, 09:04 PM

If nothing else, just the fact it does multiple flavors of ProRes & not ProRes HQ only makes me interested.

One of my biggest complaints with BMD cameras & recorders is that they only do ProRes HQ. I've done a lot of quality work with XDCam EX, which means that ProRes, or hell even ProRes LT is plenty enough codec for a lot of jobs.

This camera looks really interesting, I feel like Aja took a lot more time talking with actual, in the field, camera guys than Blackmagic did. (Things like how all the cable ports on the BMDCC are on the left side, the side where your face is if you put the camera on a shoulder rig.)

Brian Drysdale · April 9th, 2014, 12:41 AM

I gather, when fitted with a battery on the back, it does balance pretty well for shoulder holding.

Brian Drysdale · April 9th, 2014, 12:50 AM

An interview at their stand giving a lot of info:

Brian Drysdale · April 10th, 2014, 01:09 AM

I gather there's still a bit of work to be done on the Cion, but it looks like a camera of interest to people who can't stretch to an Arri Amira.

Phil Goetz · April 10th, 2014, 07:55 AM

Pre-order today!

https://www.omegabroadcast.com/produ...on-90-4795.htm

Brian Drysdale · April 10th, 2014, 10:06 AM

Interview that gives some background to the camera:

Gary Huff · April 11th, 2014, 02:45 AM

I was definitely impressed with the form factor, but there looked to be some FPN going on in one of the display models, and it was currently rated at 200 ISO, which needs to be improved.

The biggest issue I can see with it is PL mount only. That would be quite an expense for me to get ready to just use the thing.

Mat Thompson · April 12th, 2014, 07:03 AM

I like the specs of this camera a lot. Form factor/size/encoding!

I wonder why 120fps or similar is not supported at 1080/2k internally or even externally for that matter?

I'd love to see some type of sensor cropping feature on this, it would really cover all the bases for me then.

Jacques Mersereau · April 12th, 2014, 01:14 PM

Due out this summer, I was told that AJA has been developing the CION for four years now.
I love all the AJA gear we have purchased thus far. It has all been rock solid and never let me down.
I expect the CION to be another professional example of AJA's work,
and one which will get even better with time.
For me, I would rather spend a bit more and get a product that is solid and comes with great support as opposed to the drama that comes with less expensive alternatives.

That said, I still like RED's Dragon images best.

Brian Drysdale · April 14th, 2014, 08:11 AM

Here's a PVC interview about the Cion workflow.

Jon Thorn · April 14th, 2014, 07:36 PM

The PL lens mount on the AJA CION is in fact removable and was designed with shorter focal flange distances in mind. As part of our effort to provide open connectivity throughout the entire product design, we are inviting third-parties to create adapters for lenses and lens mount systems that cover the APS-C sized sensor. This will mean that a variety of offerings with a variety of capabilities - as well as a variety of price points - should come to market answering the acknowledged need for flexibility among different users. AJA simply chose the PL lens mount as a starting point because it is an open and accepted professional standard and an array of high quality lenses are available worldwide in PL mount.

Also worth noting, the CIONs at NAB were still to be considered pre-release versions; some image fine-tuning is still being performed prior to the product release. Having said this, we allowed NAB attendees to operate the cameras at the booth with relatively minimal AJA supervision. We even provided a lit set: 1940s film noir replete with actors in costume. Because we allowed attendees to largely "do as they pleased" with these CIONs, this meant that sometimes the images displayed on our 50" Ultra HD displays connected to the cameras might not have been producing optimal image quality. We felt it was more important for people to try the new product with their own hands to formulate an opinion. Further to this point, you cannot determine much about a product's ergonomics simply looking at it in a display case so we even supplied an area where you could handhold a CION. Universally, the response to the design, with respect to handheld operation, was extraordinarily positive. The unit really is balanced and feels familiar, like a Super 16mm film camera form factor, when resting on the shoulder.

I hope this information is helpful and I hope many of you were able to attend NAB and see the product first hand.

Sincerely,
Jon Thorn
Senior Product Manager
AJA Video Systems

Mat Thompson · April 15th, 2014, 05:46 PM

Hi Jon
Thanks for your post.

Any chance of getting explaining why the camera can't run 120fps in 2k or indeed in a compressed format? This would be exceptionally useful for my work. (Wildlife tv)

Also any plans on featuring some sort of sensor cropping for 2k/HD ? The implementation of this as well as the high framerates in the F5 is pulling me towards it but I'd love to go with your camera this summer.

Many thanks
Mat

Jon Thorn · April 16th, 2014, 11:46 AM

Hi Mat,
While many feature requests are under evaluation and we are actively monitoring requests like the ones you have made here, we will only pursue an effort to implement additional features beyond what has already been specified after we have made a sufficient technical review and determined feasibility.

Currently, CION's maximum on-board recording frame rate is 60 fps. 120 fps raw data may be output via 4x 3G-SDI connections. Currently, CION does not offer cropping of the image, but instead, high-quality scaling so that your lens focal length is consistent no matter what raster size you elect to use.

I understand the use cases for your requests and I appreciate your interest in CION.

I hope my explanation is helpful and thank you again for your requests; we will take them under consideration,
Jon Thorn
Senior Product Manager
AJA Video Systems, Inc.

April 7th, 2014, 02:43 PM	#1
Glen Vandermolen Space Hipster Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 1,596	Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion Looks pretty cool, and for $8,995. CION - Products - AJA Video Systems

April 7th, 2014, 07:57 PM	#2
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion It looks great, 1/2 the weight of the Ursa and a bit of a classic design. Hope they are not too late to the party to compete... __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

April 7th, 2014, 09:04 PM	#3
Zach Love Major Player Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 944	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion If nothing else, just the fact it does multiple flavors of ProRes & not ProRes HQ only makes me interested. One of my biggest complaints with BMD cameras & recorders is that they only do ProRes HQ. I've done a lot of quality work with XDCam EX, which means that ProRes, or hell even ProRes LT is plenty enough codec for a lot of jobs. This camera looks really interesting, I feel like Aja took a lot more time talking with actual, in the field, camera guys than Blackmagic did. (Things like how all the cable ports on the BMDCC are on the left side, the side where your face is if you put the camera on a shoulder rig.) __________________ Nothing says you're a serious video maker like S-VHS

April 9th, 2014, 12:41 AM	#4
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion I gather, when fitted with a battery on the back, it does balance pretty well for shoulder holding.

April 9th, 2014, 12:50 AM	#5
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion An interview at their stand giving a lot of info: NAB Video: Interview with AJA on Their New CION 4k Production Camera - YouTube Last edited by Brian Drysdale; April 9th, 2014 at 02:59 AM.

April 10th, 2014, 01:09 AM	#6
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion I gather there's still a bit of work to be done on the Cion, but it looks like a camera of interest to people who can't stretch to an Arri Amira.

April 10th, 2014, 07:55 AM	#7
Phil Goetz Austinite Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Austin Posts: 550	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion Pre-order today! https://www.omegabroadcast.com/produ...on-90-4795.htm

April 10th, 2014, 10:06 AM	#8
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion Interview that gives some background to the camera: PVC at NAB 2014 - CION Exclusive in the AJA Booth on Vimeo

April 11th, 2014, 02:45 AM	#9
Gary Huff Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 2,006	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion I was definitely impressed with the form factor, but there looked to be some FPN going on in one of the display models, and it was currently rated at 200 ISO, which needs to be improved. The biggest issue I can see with it is PL mount only. That would be quite an expense for me to get ready to just use the thing.

April 12th, 2014, 07:03 AM	#10
Mat Thompson Trustee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Kent UK Posts: 1,397	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion I like the specs of this camera a lot. Form factor/size/encoding! I wonder why 120fps or similar is not supported at 1080/2k internally or even externally for that matter? I'd love to see some type of sensor cropping feature on this, it would really cover all the bases for me then.

April 12th, 2014, 01:14 PM	#11
Jacques Mersereau Trustee Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 1,334	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion Due out this summer, I was told that AJA has been developing the CION for four years now. I love all the AJA gear we have purchased thus far. It has all been rock solid and never let me down. I expect the CION to be another professional example of AJA's work, and one which will get even better with time. For me, I would rather spend a bit more and get a product that is solid and comes with great support as opposed to the drama that comes with less expensive alternatives. That said, I still like RED's Dragon images best. __________________ Jacques Mersereau University of Michigan-Video Studio Manager

April 14th, 2014, 08:11 AM	#12
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion Here's a PVC interview about the Cion workflow. PVC at NAB 2014 - The CION Workflow on Vimeo

April 14th, 2014, 07:36 PM	#13
Jon Thorn AJA Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Grass Valley, CA Posts: 252	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion The PL lens mount on the AJA CION is in fact removable and was designed with shorter focal flange distances in mind. As part of our effort to provide open connectivity throughout the entire product design, we are inviting third-parties to create adapters for lenses and lens mount systems that cover the APS-C sized sensor. This will mean that a variety of offerings with a variety of capabilities - as well as a variety of price points - should come to market answering the acknowledged need for flexibility among different users. AJA simply chose the PL lens mount as a starting point because it is an open and accepted professional standard and an array of high quality lenses are available worldwide in PL mount. Also worth noting, the CIONs at NAB were still to be considered pre-release versions; some image fine-tuning is still being performed prior to the product release. Having said this, we allowed NAB attendees to operate the cameras at the booth with relatively minimal AJA supervision. We even provided a lit set: 1940s film noir replete with actors in costume. Because we allowed attendees to largely "do as they pleased" with these CIONs, this meant that sometimes the images displayed on our 50" Ultra HD displays connected to the cameras might not have been producing optimal image quality. We felt it was more important for people to try the new product with their own hands to formulate an opinion. Further to this point, you cannot determine much about a product's ergonomics simply looking at it in a display case so we even supplied an area where you could handhold a CION. Universally, the response to the design, with respect to handheld operation, was extraordinarily positive. The unit really is balanced and feels familiar, like a Super 16mm film camera form factor, when resting on the shoulder. I hope this information is helpful and I hope many of you were able to attend NAB and see the product first hand. Sincerely, Jon Thorn Senior Product Manager AJA Video Systems

April 15th, 2014, 05:46 PM	#14
Mat Thompson Trustee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Kent UK Posts: 1,397	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion Hi Jon Thanks for your post. Any chance of getting explaining why the camera can't run 120fps in 2k or indeed in a compressed format? This would be exceptionally useful for my work. (Wildlife tv) Also any plans on featuring some sort of sensor cropping for 2k/HD ? The implementation of this as well as the high framerates in the F5 is pulling me towards it but I'd love to go with your camera this summer. Many thanks Mat

April 16th, 2014, 11:46 AM	#15
Jon Thorn AJA Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Grass Valley, CA Posts: 252	Re: Aja has an $8,995 S35 4K camera, the Cion Hi Mat, While many feature requests are under evaluation and we are actively monitoring requests like the ones you have made here, we will only pursue an effort to implement additional features beyond what has already been specified after we have made a sufficient technical review and determined feasibility. Currently, CION's maximum on-board recording frame rate is 60 fps. 120 fps raw data may be output via 4x 3G-SDI connections. Currently, CION does not offer cropping of the image, but instead, high-quality scaling so that your lens focal length is consistent no matter what raster size you elect to use. I understand the use cases for your requests and I appreciate your interest in CION. I hope my explanation is helpful and thank you again for your requests; we will take them under consideration, Jon Thorn Senior Product Manager AJA Video Systems, Inc.