Cinemartin, an external recorder and monitor developer, has posted on Facebook announcing it will be closing because due to bankruptcy.
In the post, Cinemartin said there was, unfortunately, no other choice for the company. The post goes onto say Cinemartin will most likely close by April 1st — and no this isn’t an April Fools’ joke. At the end, the post thanks everyone for their efforts and gratitude. You can read the company’s official announcement on cinemartin.com, where the site is now just a goodbye letter.
No more 8K Fran cinema camera
While Cinemartin may have been primarily a company that made external recorders and monitors, it had been working on an 8K camera for a while now. Just four months ago it was taking pre-orders for its 8K Fran cinema camera. A video for the camera even came out one month ago. Knowing this, it’s likely the forced closure comes as a shock to the company.
We’re not sure how many people actually pre-ordered the 8K Fran. Between the company’s relationship with its customers and its less than stellar marketing, we assume not many. Cinemartin’s introduction video for the Fran 8K was panned at release. While the video intended to promote a camera capable of professional level resolutions, the video itself was poorly produced. On YouTube, the video has an overwhelming majority of dislikes, which is never good for a company introducing a new product. You can see the introduction video for yourself from Cinemartin’s Co-Founder and Developer Manager Alejandro Martin’s YouTube channel:
Originally, the Fran was promised to be an 8K camera with a global shutter with the ability to record RAW images onto removable m.2 NVME SSD drives. Plus, Cinemartin claimed the VistaVision sensor would be using the world’s biggest commercially available sensor. The sensor would have measured out to be 37 x 27 mm. When compared to the RED Monstro VV, the RED comes out to be 40.96 x 21.6 mm.
Additionally, Cinemartin has yet to say if the people who paid a 10% deposit on the Fran will get their money back. Hopefully they will.
Making an 8K camera is no easy task
As we can see with so many other companies attempting the feat, making an 8K camera is extremely difficult. While we can verify Cinemartin was able to make a camera with all the specifications it promised, we do know it was an uphill battle for the company.
Regardless of your feelings about the company, it’s not pleasant to hear its employees are losing their jobs. We wish the best for all of them.
Image courtesy newsshooter.com
