Sony launches tiny Venice Extension System Mini camera

Sony has launched the Venice Extension System Mini, a smartphone size camera that enables the shooting of cinematic imagery in small spaces.

This accessory for the Venice 2 has the same Venice 2 8K sensor at a substantially reduced size than the existing Venice Extension System 2. 

The Venice Extension System Mini is designed to provide additional creative freedom for filmmakers. Director of photography Claudio Miranda ASC said: “I love the size of the Venice Extension System Mini. I love that you can put it anywhere, like a Formula One race car when you’re racing. You have the full resolution of a real cinema camera. It’s nice to have that flexibility without compromising image quality.”

 

 

 

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DP Kate Reid BSC added: “The day that I saw the camera at One Stop where we were prepping, I felt really comfortable. This camera, you can operate it like a medium format stills camera, and so shoot from the waist.”

The camera features a custom drop-in ND cartridge system with nine glass Neutral Density (ND) filters, including a clear ND specially developed to match the Sony Venice 2 systems while maintaining a compact size.

The Venice Extension System Mini also offers design improvements for easy mounting and rigging.

The connection cable between the Venice Extension System Mini and the Venice 2 camera body features a thinner, flexible cable that can be detached when rigging.

It also features mounting points to attach accessories more easily.

Multiple units of the Venice Extension System Mini can also be used side by side for stereoscopic imaging, which recreates the way the human eye sees with a 64mm inter-axial distance, matching the distance between eyes (average human interpupillary distance).

Nobutatsu Takahashi, general manager of professional imaging technology business unit at Sony Corporation (Sony Cinema Line) (pictured above) told Broadcast Tech: “The Venice Extension System Mini camera has been a popular request from cinematographers. It’s been about a year in development and we see a number of applications for it - you can use it on small gimballs, as it’s so small and lightweight, and given its size it provides the flexibility to enable you to shoot in really small spaces. Mounting two together is ideal for stereoscopic capture, too, as the inter-axial distance gives you such a natural image.”

Since its release, Venice has become Sony’s flagship digital cinema camera series, and has been used to shoot Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, and more recently, Nickel Boys, The Fire Inside, and A Complete Unknown.  

Sebastian Leske, head of business development, Cinema Line, said: “Through Cinema Line, Sony is committed to continue to expand a line of powerful creative tools designed to capture emotion in every frame and unleash the true power of visual storytelling from every corner of content creation.”

The Venice Extension System Mini will be available from July 2025. Sony says the price will be in the “mid-20,000 Euros” range.