How many of you heard about the “J Cam”? Well, it appears that this was a prototype of the Sony VENICE, which was invented for Avatar 2, according to James Cameron’s demands. An excellent cinema camera needs to be born from a real necessity of acclaimed directors.

A talk about Avatar 2

Last week, there was a line around the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood for a special screening of Avatar: The Way of Water in 3D IMAX. The screening, presented by SonyCine in partnership with Shot Deck, gathered together a theater full of filmmakers and featured Avatar’s producer Jon Landau, Oscar award-winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter ASC, chief lighting technician Len Levine and 3D Systems Engineer Patrick Campbell in a conversation moderated by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Lawrence Sher ASC. Unfortunately, there’s no recording of that conversation. Luckily, Sony Cine wrote an article about it. The most fascinating part of the article is how the Sony VENICE, and particularly, the Rialto were born. Well, say ‘thank you’ to James Cameron.

After the first Avatar, James Cameron asked for a camera where the front could be decoupled from the back. According to Jon Landau, he and the team then took the idea to Sony engineers — who were keen to take up the challenge. They initially worked with prototypes for such a camera that the engineers at the time called the “J cam” or the James Cameron camera.

Russell Carpenter ASC (stated by Sony Cine)

The “J Cam”

As stated by Sony in the article: “According to Russell Carpenter, after the first Avatar, James Cameron asked for a camera where the front could be decoupled from the back. According to Jon Landau, he and the team then took the idea to Sony engineers — who were keen to take up the challenge. They initially worked with prototypes for such a camera that the engineers at the time called the “J cam” or the James Cameron camera. As cinematographers like Carpenter and Claudio Miranda continued giving feedback to Sony, and engineers continued to develop and advance camera technology over the last decade, the Sony VENICE came to be created with its crucial counterpart, the Rialto. It was the Sony VENICE and Rialto that made the visual wonder of Avatar: The Way of Water possible”. You can read the full article here.

Final thoughts

The characteristics of the Sony VENICE, Rialto, combined with the DeepX 3D, which is the underwater rig utilized on Avatar 2 (invented by cinematographer Pawel Achtel), made the underwater sequences possible to be beautifully screened on IMAX 3D HFR. It’s intriguing to reveal that the top engineers at Sony have maneuvered their R&D resources for the sake of Avatar 2, and James Cameron’s crazy mind. However, that’s how cinema cameras evolved. Since then Rialto has been creativity utilized by many productions, and in between them, the famous implementation in Top Gun: Maverick. If so, cinema camera manufacturers need to partner with acclaimed directors in order to develop the perfect tool for high-end productions. Let’s know your thoughts about this statement.

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