IMAGO IAGA 2023: News and insight from Sony

The 2023 IMAGO IAGA (Annual General Assembly) plays out against the spectacular setting of the venerable Cinecittà studios just south of Rome in Italy. Of vital importance to such an event is of course the companies sponsoring it, and Sony are here with a team of representatives to present the Rialto 2 unit in combination with the VENICE 2 camera.

Florence Quintin, campaign marketing manager, cinema, at Sony Europe, and Sebastian Leske, European product manager, cinematography, spoke to us about these new additions to the cinematographer’s creative tool kit.

It’s been heavily publicised how the VENICE 1 and Rialto 1 were extensively used on Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water so these are obviously highly popular tools on major productions, and all the suggestions and wishes offered by crews working with them have come to fruition in these two new Mark-2 versions.

“The VENICE 2 offers a series of improvements to the product,” explains Leske. “Internal 16 bit X-OCN recording is new to the VENICE 2 – with the original VENICE you had to attach a recording unit to the camera, making it bulkier. The new version is therefore smaller and lighter. And the VENICE 2 also has a new sensor which is full-frame with 8K resolution, but also supports super-35 and anamorphic and other formats. It has increased latitude and sensitivity, and the concept of dual-base ISO remains from the original VENICE, but in the VENICE 1 we were talking 500 and 2500 dual-base ISO, and now we’re looking at 800 and 3200 dual-base ISO. So the concept remains, but now offers higher sensitivity.”

“Everything which everyone was enthusiastic about with the VENICE 1 we have kept,” Quintin adds. “James Friend ASC BSC shot the low-light sequences on All Quiet on the Western Front with a VENICE 2 and all of The Whale was shot with VENICE 2, so it’s a popular camera.”

“We have designed these products to be backwards compatible also,” Leske clarifies. ”You can put the VENICE 1 sensor in the VENICE 2 body if you so wish, and the Rialto 2 is backwards compatible to the VENICE 1. The Rialto 2 is the latest tool, it’s something like six weeks young. There have been lot’s of improvements due to suggestions from Directors of Photography in the field. For example the sensor can now be 12 meters away, before it was only 5.5 meters. New buttons on the Rialto 2 unit also now allow the operator to directly change ND filters, activate exposure tools etc.”

On Sony’s decision to be present at the IAGA and at the IMAGO 30th Anniversary, Quintin and Leske mused: “IMAGO is the main association for cinematographers, and you who are active in that community create beautiful images with your craft. We want to create the camera that you need to be able to do this.”

But Quintin also stresses that “we want to support the community of cinematographers. It’s not only about supporting you with the right tools, but also to support you as an organisation. We enjoy this close collaboration with IMAGO and its members.”

“30 years is also a very nice milestone to celebrate,” Leske adds. “We wanted to be there for the occasion.”

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Words: Lars Pettersson FSF