The Cinema Camera You Never Heard Of! 2 Months Review of Kinefinity Mavo LF Mii

[@James-xm4ki]

Thank you so much for your willingness to share this footage with us. I'm looking at it on my machine now, and I'm absolutely blown away by how gorgeous it is! I've heard so many people say that Mavo cameras inspire them to go out and shoot. I totally get it now. It sounds like a contradiction to say, but it's such a perfect balance of being both sharp and soft at the same time. It just feels "right".

[@JakubChlouba]

Happy to be able to help James! I absolutely agree with that expression! It has a certain cinematic quality which I haven’t experienced with ither cameras. 🔥🎥

[@josephasghar]

You got your priorities right here. Amazing how many filmmakers you encounter who can’t tell a story.

[@JakubChlouba]

Storytelling is like like a muscle, the more you train it the better you become, it's understandable that lot of filmmakers first learns the technical skills before learning storytelling but it would be great if it's the other way around, don't you agree?:)

[@davidvchrn520]

Thank you so much for this review ! There's so little informations about these cameras ! I'm looking for getting to rent one to try it before buying but there is not many of them available around, so thank you so much for sharing the footage with us ! I can't wait to see what you will produce with it in the future !

[@JakubChlouba]

Happy I could help man! :)

Beautiful footage

[@JakubChlouba]

Thank you man!🙏

[@friso7751]

Hey Jakub, Lovely review! I notice the rolling shutter seems more worse on your Lumix S1?

[@JakubChlouba]

Hey brother, yes Lumix has worse rolling shutter than Mavo.

[@mehdikhadouj8935]

I follow these cameras this 2 years and i really love it !

[@JakubChlouba]

They are incredible man💪🏼

[@TevinFosterDP]

Amazing footage, really love the colors. I am So torn between this Camera and the Komodo X

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks so much! Yeah I think it really depends what's your shooting style... I do a lot of Doc/one man band shoots and so Mavo is in my opinion a better choice. I also don't shoot a lot of fast paced action so don't really need the global shutter and I def don't need raw. I like FF and I love the Audio on Mavo + it's versatility and price.

[@TevinFosterDP]

@@JakubChlouba yea I’ve been keeping my eyes on Kinefinity Since the original Mavo LF and I was always shocked by how beautiful the images looked, only reason I haven’t gotten it was because there was distributors in New York at the time but now that B&H has them I’m even more tempted that ever haha but I have a strong feeling this will be my next cam, thanks for the reply and thank you for sharing sample footage, greatly appreciated since there’s not much out on these cameras at the moment

[@JakubChlouba]

@@TevinFosterDP Glad to hear that man! I'm sure the cameras will be more accessible as time goes by so maybe renting one to test it would be a good idea :) But from my side I highly recommend it haha

[@TevinFosterDP]

@@JakubChlouba thanks for your feedback Brotha 🙏🏿

[@charliedango2664]

If you want a slow shutter type effect you'll need to lower the sensor frame rate below that of the project frame rate and set your shutter angle to something above 180 degrees, depending on the amount of blur you're desiring.

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks so much Charlie! I will try it👍🏼🎥

[@EdProsser]

Great review! I really love the look from the Kinefinity cameras, I opted to go the RED Komodo route last year but if I had some spare cash lying around I'd love to pick this up. The open gate looks beautiful for Anamorphic shooting. Maybe I'll rent one for a project! You really show it off well!

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks Ed! Def rent one and see how it feels😉

[@lostinayaland]

Really loved this one! The footage from the camera looks very high end - I’d love to see more of what you’ve been shooting, but I’m especially curious about your color grading process 🎨

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks Aya! Unfortunately I’m not able to show some of the client footage I’ve shot yet but it was mostly docu style filming. With the Mavo, grading is really easy as the color science is so nice but I will do a tutorial in the future :)

[@imDonDiestro]

The interchangeable mount is genius

[@JakubChlouba]

I agree!

[@markoskassinosCY]

Wow, absolutely love the images that I'm seeing here! Thank you very much for your time and effort Jakub. Looking forward to seeing some more.

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks Mark, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and the image :)

[@andrehugomedia]

Great review Jakob. Really enjoyed it. Colour science looks beautiful on this camera.

[@JakubChlouba]

Thank you man! The color is one of my favorite features and you can download some sample footage from the description of the video now :)

[@andrehugomedia]

Awesome! Downloading some footage now.@@JakubChlouba

[@CineDailies]

great footage bro! I have a few more videos coming out for my mavo s35ii

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks man! Excited to see it:)

[@alphaandomegaproductions5073]

It’s a great camera and it looks like you’re using it well. I looked very hard at this camera. Great price to feature ratio. I ultimately went with something else but only for business reasons. I believe this camera’s quality and feature set is up there with ARRI, Sony Venice, and RED VV. Great video. Thank you.

[@JakubChlouba]

I definitely agree man! I was also thinking about other cameras but caneras such as FX6 or C70 which are in the same price range didn’t convince me enough as I was really looking for a cube ✌🏼

[@RandomRotation]

Nice one. Thanks for sharing your experiences with this device.

[@JakubChlouba]

My pleasure man!✌🏼

[@alzibaba]

Thank you Jakub, beautiful footage. I have long been following Kinefinity, and am seriously considering the LF Mkii. You mentioned the shutter angle has limitations - what's the max it will do? I often use 360 at 3-6fps, it'd be a bummer if it won't do this. Thanks man.

[@JakubChlouba]

Hey hey, it can do 360 shutter, when I said limitations I didn't properly understood how shutter angle works as I was only using shutter speed before. I now often shoot 8 fps on 360 shutter angle and it's great for that blurry effect.

[@alzibaba]

@@JakubChlouba😅 thank you!

[@JoshuaSweet-k5i]

Man i dream of this camera

[@williamsnyder4361]

Hey Jakub! Thanks for the short review. It definitely looks like it offers a nice blend of everything. I have two questions for you. 1) Is the kinefinity monitor a must for using the camera? Or could it easily be replaced by any other monitor, such as a SmallHD cine5. Does it offer touchscreen camera control through the monitor that would be difficult/annoying without it? 2) How do the 2 base ISOs compare to each other? Are there any differences in dynamic range, colour treatment, noise, etc?

[@JakubChlouba]

Hey Will, thanks for the support and good questions👍🏻 1) You can use any other monitor that has SDI but you won’t be touch control the camera with it. However I almost don’t use the touch control and control everything with the buttons. The Kine Monitor however has false color, peaking, waveform preset on its buttons. If you monitor has those functions that you should be good to go. 2) The base ISO of 800 is definitely cleaner than the 5120 in terms if noise but it’s a very organic noise that is easily removed in Davinci. I haven’t compared the dynamic range of these 2 ISOs yet so can’t answer that. Hope this helps:)

[@VinceCheong]

To add on top, which what Jakub has already mentioned, yeah you can pretty much use an external monitor. the buttons on the camera is more than sufficient to navigate thru the menu and quick setup to change iso, aperture, shutter, WB. I started from the KineMINI, and that only came with a jogwheel and a couple of buttons llol. But it's also nice to see that Kinefininty made a touchscreen monitor version to make life slightly easier to change parameters and navigate thru the options too.

I think the biggest selling point is opengate 3:2 with 50 or 48fps at that pricepoint, all other opengate affordable cameras only offer up to 30fps. the missing slow shutter effect is a shame though, this is super modern and very often asked for and saying to the client it is not possible, but it is with cheaper cameras is just a shame

[@JakubChlouba]

It can actually shot up to 58 FPS at OG and the slow shutter effects it's possible it just works a little differently than in mirrorless cameras. You have to set your project frame rate higher than your shooting frame rate and then do 360 degrees or more shutter angle :)

[@shagral]

Thanks for making this! One small correction: BP-U batteries are a Sony standard. I've been wanting to try KF Mavo 8K for years now. It ticks all the boxes for me. Love the in-camera 4K downsampling from 8K. Genius media and battery solutions. Great EVF and monitor. ProRes444... On paper it seems like an Alexa LF for 1/10th of the price. But investing in it makes little sense because noone is gonna rent it from you. And for personal art projects the camera it's too expensive. Hey, Kinefinity, if you're reading this, I would very much like to test it for a review.

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks for correction mate✌🏼 Yeah renting the camera might be difficult compared to more known brands but for what I do it was a good choice so far✌🏼

[@JS_Leger]

How do you compare the image quality against the Blackmagic 12k? I had a P6K Pro + Canon R6, that I sold for a FX3 + FX6, but I miss so much the quality from my Blackmagic. Therefore I choosed to switch because I hated the form factor of the Pocket 6k Pro. And the Ursa 12k also has a weird form factor. I'm always thinking "as soon as Blackmagic release a design more like an arri mini or red raptor/komodo, I will buy it right away! But I'm waiting since a long time. So perhaps this camera will do the job, I don't know anymore 😅 Since I shot with Arri on a project, I feel the blackmagic is the closest to the Arri look but when I see your footage, it looks like this camera has also this "organic" image that I like.

[@JakubChlouba]

Hey man, I def feel you with the BM form factor, that’s why I never opted for the camera. I would honestly say that Kinefinity is even closer to Arri than BM and the form factor is there. I literally treat the footage as if it was Arri when grading and the results are great. In 2-3 weeks I will actually be doing a comparison to Alexa Mini so maybe wait for those results to see more:)

[@JopaDP]

Great video, Jakub! How does the dynamic range compare to your S1? Does the rolling shutter improve in the s35 & s16 modes?

[@JakubChlouba]

Hey man, thanks a lot! I haven’t compared the FF and S35 rolling shutter yet. One I do I will let you know:)

[@JopaDP]

@@JakubChlouba you’re the best! Thanks!

[@MATT2P]

Being able to use m.2 SSD's is such a baller feature.

[@JakubChlouba]

Absolutely!

[@jaredfilms]

Beautiful man! Isn’t 360° normal for the lowest you can go with shutter speed on cinema cameras? Cus that’s what i’m used to

[@JakubChlouba]

It might be bro, I never tried that effect on a cinema camera before only on mirrorless. :)

[@The11thPower]

Dope camera, been looking at these for the last year or so.

[@JakubChlouba]

Yeah man, same here, until I made the step to get one haha

[@The11thPower]

@@JakubChlouba have you shot anamorphic on it ?

[@JakubChlouba]

@The11thPower not yet but if you search on KZbin for “Mavo LF Paris” there’s some anamorphic examples shot on the Edge 6k.

[@williamoverton7775]

the color in these clips looks like ideal 16mm

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks William! Some was graded with Dehancer pro and some with a simple Kine log to Arri log C + Pipeline and then applying Arri Rec 709 lut.

[@TheAugusts]

The image looks so nice 👌

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks guys✌🏼

[@vincentcolorfilm]

Amazing review!

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks my brother ✌🏼🙏

[@Kashilembo]

Great video! I've been wanting to pull the trigger, but I'm also a bit hesitant because I wanted to rent this camera before buying it. Unfortunately, I can't find it anywhere in London. This video helped, but my question is, how reliable is the camera? Is Kinefinity very supportive when you reach out to them about potential issues with the camera? I would love to know

[@JakubChlouba]

Great question man! I bought the camera from Gafpa Gear in Amsterdam and they are extremely supportive and they also directly communicate with Kinefinity if needed. ProAv is a reseller in UK so maybe get int ouch with them for some testing :) So far I haven’t had any issues with the camera but ofc you never know.

[@Kashilembo]

@@JakubChlouba great to hear from you , I love the look of the videos you shared, might try harder and see if I can rent it for a day then make my decision based on how well it fits within my workflow. Keep up the good work .

[@AKSTUDIOUSA]

Hey man. Thank you for the review. I'm looking to get a cinema camera, turns out this is the greatest for the $$$. If we compare this with Sony Burano? Burano is a good camera but way too expensive for that camera. My budget is not more than 10k for a cinema camera. Thank you again.❤

[@JakubChlouba]

Hey man, I honestly don't think you will find anything better in this price range. Burano is absolutely overpriced for what it can do I think. What type of stuff do you shoot mostly?

[@AKSTUDIOUSA]

Hi, I shoot promotional films, documentaries, short films, and music videos. Thank you 🙏

[@AKSTUDIOUSA]

I'm also looking into a NEW Blackmagic design 6K Pyxis that costs $3K. Seems like a fine camera but the 13-stop dynamic range throws me off, I need at least 14+. Preferably a global shutter as well. What I'm going to tell my clients I shoot with Pyxis 6k which costs $3K lol.

[@JakubChlouba]

@@AKSTUDIOUSA Yeah, seems like a good option too. I think it depends what type of clients you are working with. If they understand cameras then they might care but if they don't just rig the BM up and you good haha Kinefinity doesn't have global shutter but the S35 model has a decent rolling shutter I've heard. Komodo X might be your best bet if you really need that global shutter though.

[@erikoneill6904]

There is so little footage for this camera available for download. You'd be doing the community a massive service if you'd be willing to post some LOG footage for folks to check out for download :)

[@JakubChlouba]

I will be doing it today/tmr Erik✌🏼 will add the dropbox link here 😊

[@erikoneill6904]

@@JakubChlouba you’re the goat!

[@gatosoul]

Hi, can do external raw recording? thank you for sharing

[@JakubChlouba]

No it can’t but it can record up to Prores 444XQ which is a 12bit codec so plenty fo data for most projects.

[@raredreamfootage]

Can the Kinimag support 4TB and larger NVME's?

[@JakubChlouba]

I'm not sure tbh. I only have 2TB but I don't know why it shouldn't support 4TB :)

[@TavianOrd]

Great footage? What was your reasoning for choosing Kine over something like a red or ursa?

[@JakubChlouba]

Thanks man, my main reason was that I was really intrigued by the brand and what they’ve been putting out. I also wanted a camera that can work well for both indie/docu filming and commercial production. What I would get from Red for the same amount of $ wouldn’t measure with Mavo and Ursa is too big and not really a easy to operate as 1 man crew.

[@OSKVIDCreativemedia]

I compared his footage to bmcc4k , and it looks the same.

[@JakubChlouba]

@@OSKVIDCreativemedia were you comparing to BM Raw? This was all only Prores 422HQ

[@OSKVIDCreativemedia]

@@JakubChlouba Nope, to the 422hq

[@JakubChlouba]

@@OSKVIDCreativemedia well then it makes sende it is similar. It is a same codec, probably the color science will be the main difference because both cameras have a great cinematic looking footage.

[@JonackFilm]

What an interesting Camera :)

[@JakubChlouba]

Absolutely, I love using it!

[@ChristopherIan]

What side handle you using there?

[@JakubChlouba]

Just a Small Rig one :)

[@ChristopherIan]

@ also in the test footage you have shared, what lenses did you use for the hammock scene? Same goes for the surfing and the guy in the rainforest scene? Would love to know! Cheers

[@WalterTheBalter]

That shutter speed would be a huge issue for me. Could live with the rolling shutter but for the price its absurd. Really dont think its worth buying this camera til they make it better than the competition price point in all of the factors but still envious of the 444 codecs

[@JakubChlouba]

Hmm I don’t agree with you. I think for the price the camera is very good and Kinefinity is improving any flaws very quickly. But ofc it comes down to your shooting preferences and features you expect from a cinema camera. For me it ticks the boxes and was worth the investment 🙂

[@MikeMarrah]

How many ms is it?

[@JakubChlouba]

@@MikeMarrah MS?

[@MikeMarrah]

@@JakubChlouba milliseconds for the rolling shutter

[@WalterTheBalter]

@@MikeMarrah who cared it bad and too expensive fir this quality

[@DANAMIONLINE]

Are you working on any new docs? If so, what?

[@JakubChlouba]

Good question🤙🏼 I’m in pre-prod phase for 2 docs currently. One in Indonesia and one in Nepal.

[@---__000]

Nice video! ;) TNX

[@JakubChlouba]

Glad you liked it!✌🏼

[@jamescook5931]

Is that a 5 inch monitor or a 7 inch monitor.

[@JakubChlouba]

It's a 5 inch James.

[@DarthZoxGaming]

🦝🦝🦝

[@JakubChlouba]

Nice one man! Thanks for watching :)

[@lauramarinkovich]

🦝🦝🦝🦝 Love u!

[@JakubChlouba]

yo tb potra!

[@lostinayaland]

🦝🦝🦝

[@OSKVIDCreativemedia]

I compared your footage to my bmcc4k, looks the same. Just 5 thousand difference in money :D

[@JakubChlouba]

Image quality is not the only reason I bought it😉

​@@JakubChloubaI just check his work. That's not true, his portoflio with blackmagic 4k is no competition for your Kinefinity. He's joking or maybe he have a cheap bad monitor and he cant check footage corectly

Dont cry

[@OSKVIDCreativemedia]

@ 🤣 All my videos are run n gun. U cant compare one man team from a team and guys setting up lights and doing set design. With that kind of team even with iphone 15 you can get really good quality Kurwa much 🤣 Polska

[@JakubChlouba]

I’m a one man team too btw. It’s not an excuse man✌🏼

[@redbeardproductions-kevind9806]

🦝🦝🦝

[@JakubChlouba]

Hahaha thanks so much man✌🏼🔥

[@redbeardproductions-kevind9806]

@@JakubChlouba you're welcome! I've always wanted to see a comparison between this and the Z Cam. Both underrated Chinese box-style cinema cameras. I shoot with Z Cam F6, but they just released the F6 Pro... that would be interesting.

[@JakubChlouba]

I never tried Z-Cam but heard some good things about it. I feel like Kinefinity is a bit more high end, the design, materials etc. I will be uploading some footage examples during these days so feel free to download it and compare the 2 :) @@redbeardproductions-kevind9806

[@redbeardproductions-kevind9806]

@@JakubChlouba it's a surprising camera to say the least. Looking forward to seeing more from yours.

[@Arsenjev_Kirill]

🦡🦡🦡🦡

[@JakubChlouba]

Haha thanks brother!