Camera Gear

Sony Puts a Price on 65mm: The RIALTO 65 Costs $80,000 and Ships in 2027

Sony’s RIALTO 65 adds a 9.6K, 65mm-class sensor to the VENICE 2 with 16-bit X-OCN and dual base ISO. It costs $80,000 and ships in the first half of 2027.

Sony has announced the RIALTO 65, a camera extension system that brings a 65mm-class sensor to the VENICE 2. It records 9.6K open gate with internal 16-bit X-OCN and is priced at $80,000, with availability tentatively set for the first half of 2027.

Unlike the original RIALTO, which separates the VENICE’s existing sensor block from the body, the RIALTO 65 is a new camera head with its own large-format sensor. It connects to a VENICE 2 body by cable or mounts directly to it.

The Sensor

The RIALTO 65’s sensor measures 53.75 x 35.83mm in a 1.5:1 aspect ratio, with a diagonal of about 64.60mm. Sony says that’s roughly 2.2 times the area of a full-frame sensor.

At launch, it offers two readout modes: 9.6K 1.5:1 open gate and 9.6K 2.20:1, which has a diagonal of about 59.04mm. Sony says more readout modes will come through future VENICE 2 software updates. Frame rates haven’t been announced.

The sensor has dual base ISO of 2500 and 10000, and Sony claims more than 15 stops of latitude at ISO 2500. Footage records internally to the VENICE 2 body as 16-bit X-OCN on AXS cards.

How It Works

The RIALTO 65 runs in two configurations. In Extension Mode, the roughly 3.3-pound head separates from the body on a cable, which suits gimbals, cranes and tight spaces. In Studio Mode, it attaches directly to the VENICE 2 body.

A 14.76-foot cable is included, and an optional 39.37-foot cable costs $9,000. The head has no built-in lens mount and is designed for third-party lens-mount adapters.

It includes a drop-in ND system with 11 filters that the VENICE 2 recognizes automatically, and an optional replacement ND kit costs $8,000. The system also records tilt and roll metadata and supports anamorphic de-squeeze and Zoom to Fit display. The VENICE 2 body needs RIALTO 65 firmware version 6.00 or later.

Sony’s Yang Cheng, senior vice president of Imaging Solutions, said the system lets filmmakers “explore the 65mm visual format in ways never done before.”

Competitive Context

Large-format digital has mostly belonged to ARRI, whose 65mm ALEXA cameras have been available through ARRI Rental rather than for purchase. Sony is offering the RIALTO 65 as a product with a list price, which could make the format available to more rental houses and productions.

Blackmagic Design offers a far cheaper path to 65mm with the URSA Cine 17K 65, which costs $23,995 after the company’s price increases earlier this year. The RIALTO 65 is aimed at productions already working in Sony’s VENICE ecosystem.

Film is still part of the large-format conversation, too. Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot is shooting on 65mm film, covered in Ryan Coogler’s X-Files Reboot Is Shooting on 65mm Film, and Dune: Part Three moved to IMAX film, covered in Dune: Part Three Trades Digital for IMAX Film.

The Signal in the Noise

For most filmmakers, the RIALTO 65 is a rental-house camera, not a purchase. At $80,000 for the extension alone, on top of a VENICE 2 body, the buyers will be rental companies and high-end productions.

What matters more broadly is that a major manufacturer is now selling a 65mm digital system at a published price. That gives cinematographers another large-format option and puts pressure on the rest of the market, at a time when open gate and larger sensors are spreading through every price tier, covered in What Is Open Gate? Why Filmmakers Want It, and Which Cameras Have It.

The open questions are frame rates and the readout modes promised in future updates, which will shape how flexible the system is on set.

Would you shoot a project on 65mm digital if your rental house carried it? Share which format you’d reach for in the comments.