Cinelux is teasing its upcoming SIXTEEN film camera. The Cinelux SIXTEEN will be a truly Hybrid Cinema Film Camera. It features a digital sensor instead of a ground glass, so you get 2 exposures in one shutter rotation. This means that there is not just a video feed, but a true dual delivery.
Cinelux first showed an early prototype of the camera way back at Cine Gear 2025.
A year later, the Cinelux SIXTEEN is still in prototype form, but after over two years of development, the shipping version is getting closer and it should be available in 2027. Cinelux states that is should cost less than a used ARRI 416 package.
The Cinelux SIXTEEN is being billed as a truly hybrid Super 16 film camera that has its very own digital cinema sensor built in. It features a 3K Super 16 sensor that records the CFExpress Type B media in many usable codecs, so you have instant digital proxies as well as a true-to-life film feed while shooting.
Cinelux is developing live-reactive image processing that will behave as close as possible to the film stock you’re using, providing an accurate live feed that reacts with the same sensitivity to color, highlights, and shadows as your film stock, so you can eliminate surprises when you get your scans back.
In developing the Cinelux SIXTEEN, the company wanted to answer the question of what if analog cameras were still designed in the digital era? With the technology available now, they have been able to largely move away from the dependence on mechanical gearing to sync everything together perfectly. At the same time, they wanted to democratize use by eliminating extremely expensive optical and mechanical systems that made the last generation of film cameras so inaccessible. Now, each component can move completely independently from each other, which also opens up an unlimited world of creative film movement and manipulation and shutter techniques.
Cinelux has added a large adjustable jog wheel on the side that can simulate a hand crank and even move the film backwards.
If you are heading to Cine Gear, the camera will be on display at the Kenko Tokina lens booth.
