Finally we have the official press release for the new Blackmagic MFT camera. UPDATE: Preorder are now available at BHphoto (Click here). There is also a hands-on at Engadget. The full dedicated page is up at Blackmagicdesign. A first review has been written by John Brawley.
Official Press Release:
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera
NAB 2013, Las Vegas, USA – April 8, 2013 – Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, a beautifully designed, pocket sized digital cinema camera that includes powerful features such as Super 16mm sized 1080HD sensor, super wide 13 stops of dynamic range, built in SD card recorder for Apple ProRes, lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW capture and active Micro Four Thirds lens mount, all in an attractive compact design for only US$995.
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design NAB 2013 booth at #SL218.
Since the original Blackmagic Cinema Camera was launched at NAB 2012, it has been celebrated by industry professionals for its amazing film look and accurate and cinematic color. The new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera has most of the features of its bigger brother, including its feature film look, but has been redesigned with a dramatically smaller size that is less than an inch thick and can be held easily in your hand.
This compact design allows the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera to be used in more situations where a larger camera would not be practical. It’s so small that it can be used in situations in the field where a larger camera could be dangerous. The camera’s film look even allows personal video to be shot with the style and creativity of a motion picture film!
The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera features an industry standard Super 16 sensor size, so it’s perfect when using Super 16 cine lenses via MFT adapters, as the shooting experience is the same as using the same lens on a Super 16 film camera. The 13 stops of dynamic range look of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is almost identical to shooting on a professional Super 16 film camera. The Micro Four Thirds lenses offer a wide range of low cost lenses with amazing image quality, and they are compatible with mount adapters such as PL mounts for large lens and professional motion picture film rigs.
One of the most important features of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is its super wide dynamic range of 13 stops, allowing feature film quality images. A common mistake in the television industry is the assumption that more resolution means higher quality. Most cameras, even ones with higher than HD resolution, can produce”video” looking images that suffer from highlight and black clipping that limits details. Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera’s wide dynamic range eliminates this problem and provides film quality with dramatically more detail retained in black and whites in the image. Once the shoot is complete, DaVinci Resolve Lite color correction software can be used to adjust images and take advantage of this extra range in the images.
To eliminate the damage that low bit depth and high compression video storage creates, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera includes a easy to use SD card recorder that allows the full sensor dynamic range to be recorded in professional ProRes 422 (HQ) format, as well as 12 bit Log RAW lossless compressed CinemaDNG format. These files can be read by high end video software as they are all open standard. In addition to the regular CinemaDNG RAW format, Blackmagic Design will also be implementing a QuickTime wrapper for the open standard CinemaDNG and companion codec, allowing the camera to record in a format that allows RAW editing in popular editing software.
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera has been designed as the perfect companion to editing software such as Final Cut Pro X and Avid Media Composer. Unlike other cameras, which require the use of custom video file formats, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera includes absolutely no custom video file formats, and every file type included is open standard.
The built in large LCD display makes focus easy, and allows playback of captured files. Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera includes a built in microphone, as well as external jack based mic/line level balanced audio connections. When reviewing recorded clips, audio can be played through the built in speaker and routed through the headphone port or micro HDMI output. The HDMI output includes all camera data such as timecode, transport control, shutter angle, color temperature setting and ASA information overlaid in attractive anti aliased fonts.
“This is an extremely exciting camera and its been amazing to work on. Our original Blackmagic Cinema Camera was small, but this new model is so much smaller than the original, we almost cannot believe it features very similar image quality,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “We think customers are going to really enjoy this new model and use it both personally and professionally. It’s going to allow shooting in situations that could never have been achieved at this quality level previously. It’s also going to be the camera that thousands of new up and coming cinematographers use as their first camera for their independent films. It’s going to be exciting!”
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Key Features
- High resolution 1080HD Super 16mm sized sensor with superior handing of image detail.
- Super wide 13 stops of dynamic range allows capture of increased details for feature film look.
- Compatible with extremely high quality Micro Four Thirds lenses. Compatible with other mounts via common third party adapters such as PL mount and Super 16 cine lenses.
- Built in SD card allows long duration recording with easy to use media.
- Open file formats compatible with popular NLE software such as ProRes 422 (HQ) and lossless compressed CinemaDNG 12 bit RAW. No custom file formats.
- Features all standard connections, including mini jack mic/line audio in, micro HDMI output for monitoring with camera status graphic overlay, headphone mini jack, LANC remote control and standard DC 12 power connection.
- Built in LCD for camera settings via easy to use menus.
- Supports 1080HD resolution capture in 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 and 30 fps.
- Compatible with DaVinci Resolve Lite color grading software.
Availability and Price
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is available in July for US$995 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide. UPDATE: Preorder are now available at BHphoto (Click here).
Source: Blackmagicdesign.
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86 Responses
A thousand bux for a mediocre ibis (if any) & slow to focus? FAIL.
Not sure if you are trolling or just plain dumb, sir.
IBIS? What are you talking about? This is a cinema product. Stabilization if required, is done in post if needed.
All you are doing is making yourself sound clueless.
You should quit while you’re behind, and not dig yourself deeper into embarrassment.
So this camera has no viewfinder tho, right….
How much $$$ is the regular Black Magic Camera.
I think it is cool that this is one more growing system that is using MFT lenses. This is good for all of us and the glass we buy will hold its value. So its a win win even though I do not shoot video or understand this stuff…it is really positive!!!!!!
(…Blackmagic is a cool name for this product and its design….., perhaps they could talk to the guys at SLR Magic and get them on track???? :-))
This camera doesn’t need IBIS, from Olympus, if you want stabilization then use Panasonic lenses that have Optical Image Stabilizer. Even Panasonic and Sony mirrorless cameras doesn’t have stabilization in body, but in lens. Slow to focus in auto mode ? We don’t know yet.
Okay. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is apparently a 1″ sensor? How is this thing going to outperform the GH3’s bigger sensor? I’m not being rhetorical. Is shooting raw carrying it most of the way? How is it possible. Even the GH3 sensor will most likely never have the low light ability of the mkiii. I am shocked and amazed, and can’t wait to see actual footage.
Less Megapixels and RAW codec are the answer 🙂
Wow. Wow. Wow…My GH3 is suppose to arrive Wednesday…Wonder if I’ll send it back now…Dammit!!!!! Probably not, because of the hybrid factor of the GH3. But damn….Damn.
The BMPCC still can’t do 60p, as framerates are capped at 30fps, so the GH3 still has viability on the video side – and the Cine cam doesn’t shoot stills. At that price, get both and you still have about $1000 for lenses compared to the 5d3.
13 stops of dynamic range, raw video, what else do we need?? The sensor is a bit smaller ok, but with active mount this is not a problem. Just put a 7-14 for wide shots or a f/0.95 for shallow dof. The AMAZING footage is already online, just take a look at any actual bmcc video, like this.. https://vimeo.com/47933090
Who are you addressing with the lens selection? Lol. Thanks for the vid (of not the bm pocket). Don’t get butt hurt now.
Reading your posts maybe you got butt hurted… hahahaa…
You need to inform yourself more regarding how having RAW directly affects low light performance. To keep things simple, RAW = more information. More information, larger latitude, more sensitive to light, etc. Besides, the m4/3 lens line up is vast, and comes with insane f/0.95 lenses care of Voigtlander and SLR Magic, and other hyperprimes. Include the upcoming Speedbooster. Heck, who needs the $3000+ 5D Mk III when you can have this $995 RAW shooting GAME CHANGER?
Like I said, I wasn’t being rhetorical. Thanks for informing me.
Sorry ’bout that. 😀 Just as excited as you are!
Lol, I can tell! Np.
If you shoot photos this is not for your and move on. I don’t think this will take a picture!
Its for people whom shoot film. Not short videos with a cell phone or DSLR. But people whom actually shoot film and what the dynamic range and high image quality. It would be interesting to see this on the next Shoot out series.
Yeah I pretty much already came to that conclusion. Exciting no less.
Also ironic that m43 users are now wondering if “the sensor is too small” when the whole idea behind m43 has been “it’s not just sensor size that makes the camera”
Just a note: super 16 is much smaller than a m43 sensor: 7.4×12.5mm (92.5mm2), vs 13×17.3mm (225mm2). It’s nice for using super 16 lenses, but that means a different angle of view with m43 lenses than what you get with m43 cameras.
you know many people already mentoned this in admin’s previous thread about this camera. Lets hope you are the only one in this thread 😉
Ohh boy, thats awesome!
What you guys think, will Panasonic bring out a big firmware update for the GH3 now?
sounds exciting
NOT INTERESTED!! A GH3 is a better video camera for a pro.
That is false. You clearly do not know the power of CinemaDNG RAW and ProRes. I own a GH3 and I will forever lust on a BMCC’s RAW codec. You need to inform yourself before you blurt out comments like this.
omg… today is not april fool’s day!!? unbelievable!! canon, nikon, sony, panasonic… be a man!!!!
GH4 – Open file formats compatible with popular NLE software such as ProRes 422 (HQ) and lossless compressed CinemaDNG 12 bit RAW ^_^. i hope this scares the shit out of the competition if not then the second version of the Pocket Cinema Camera will kick so much ass that panny an other adapt that quality codec.
There is no GH4 but GH5
What is the silver lens to the right of the camera in the press release photo?
Tamron 14-150 Super zoom. Announced but not on sale yet
No, it’s not. The Tamron is bigger and has a completely different barrel design. You can even see a “6”, probably the aperture at the maximum focal length. I think the Tamron was f/6.3.
Oooooo, I may get 2 🙂
Global shutter?
No.
However Blackmagic Design’s other camera just announced does have a global shutter.
Just hope July is July. No delay like its bigger brother. I’m holding my order to the GH3 for the time being…
I have seen on other sites people complaining about not being able to get shallow depth of field because of the sensor size bit shallow DOF is not always your friend. If you are shooting a doc and in a run and gun situation you want a little depth of field to play with and if you can get depth of field at 3.5 or 2.8 great. If you need really shallow DOF for an interview then you throw on your .095 prime lens. What I am most interested in seeing if the has is focus peaking on the small LCD and how fast the autofocus is compared to Panasonic GH3. It will also be funny to see how fast I burn through SD cards on a shoot with a codec like pro-res 422 or Cinema DNG Raw.
What I am really wondering is if it has an SD slot! It says SD built in. I hope it has an actual slot to slide in cards or a second card. The image doesn’t show the right side to see if it has a door. Built in memory is great, if fast and 64 to 128GB. But being able to take fast SDX cards would be great.
SD card slot. Class 10 high speed cards.
1920 * 1080 * 12(bits) * 24(fps) / 8(bits per byte) = ~71.2 megabytes per second. I heard someone mention a approximate 1.5:1 lossless compression ratio. That brings it down to 47.5 megabytes per second. Class 10 SD cards are rated for up to 10 megabytes per second.
Something doesn’t add up.
Now this is news for a change! Who’s taking preorders? (which will be a first for me)
I wouldn’t necessarily expect (easy) availability for this summer, though…
I can imagine a hi-res, very small, mountable EVF for the pocket camera to be made by someone eventually, completing the dream cam.
I don’t think he figured it correctly, but Brawley said the crop was 1.3 x the bmcc’s 2.7, which would equal about 3.5x.
The original BMCC is 2.3x crop.
Just preordered.
The BMCC’s 10-bit 422 prores is a far better codec than anything coming from the GH2/3 or the 5d2/3, or just about anything else under $15,000. Add in the raw capability and an external recorder/monitor like the new Convergent Odyssey7, and you have a full blown 1080p raw production camera. Nice
Forgot to mention, I have a 2/3″ broadcast lens that almost covers the entire m43 image circle, should easily cover S16, its T1.6, parfocal, 9-117mm (roughly 27-350mm/T5.6 in FF FOV/DOF terms). Plenty sharp, and the DOF wide open is quite shallow. This is and the 12-35/2.8 are perfect lenses for the BMPCC…
It looks like there’s a whole review here:
http://johnbrawley.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/the-pocket-rocket-blackmagic-downsizes-the-bmcc-and-does-a-4k-upsize-of-the-orginal/
Fell in love after the review.
Blackmagic is the clear winner! This is IT! I want it right now!
This should help sell a few more Panasonic and Olympus m43 (and 43 with adapter) lenses. 😉
m43 is the winner. Olympus, panasonic take note. You have to lift your game. Stop recycling things and have some vision. Cough.
“recycling things” it’s clearly for panasonic. look at the “brand new” gf6 with the gx1 sensor; that’s a joke. with olympus you can have the last sensor even on the epm2. Panasonic sucks period.
you do understand that this is supposed to sell at same price point as GF5, and GF5 sells (both list and street) at about 3/4 price of EPM2, right?
The market for which camera price is not a major concern is not a large one. And that market is 10.00% distinct from the market that is comparing the EPM2 to the GF5/6.
Frank you are going to embarrass the rest of us Oly fans with your short memory. Yes, this latest generation of cams have a new sensor, but prior to that, Oly may have been the king of recycling. Anon made a valid comment that both companies need to show some vision.
“but prior to that, Oly may have been the king of recycling”
It’s true but WHY ? Because panasonic was holding back olympus with their crappy sensors. Now it’s not the same thing thanks to Sony.
+1 !!
I will probably never own one of these, but I am very excited as a MFT user because I think this product (along with GF etc) pretty much drives the tent pole in for MFT, it is an incumbent platform to beat for video, not just an “alternative.”
Wow. This could seriously challenge several markets, from the GH3 on up. Assuming they can keep up production. It could be bad news for panasonic because the GH3 is already challenged on stills side by the more popular OMD. Even now, I’m trying to supress these terrible thoughts of abandoning my GH3. Help..I’m caving in!
One thing on the plus side for GH3: four thirds sensor. And also unless you have the computer/storage to deal with RAW, a high quality compressed codec is still pretty good way to go. GH3 stills look pretty good to me, but then I’m still using GH2.
OMD and Blackmagic could be an interesting combo. Will be nice to see some footage.
Ok, this is really starting to piss me off. Neither the BMCC, nor any other digital camera, produces an image that looks like celluloid film. A sharper image and more DR? That’s not at all what makes film beautiful. The way this company is pushing that phrase is really annoying.
Yes but 13 stops of dynamic range is a step in the right direction.
You’re not getting my point. Digital could get to 30 stops of DR and 15k resolution and film would still look better. The beauty of film is in the texture, the intangibles. And no, I’m not talking about grain. No matter how good digital gets, it still will look digital. A BMCC, DSLR, and an Alexa can be made to look exactly the same through grading (disregarding the soft footage/lack of resolution out of the DSLR). Because it all comes down to the fact that you’re still converting those light photons to electronic signals instead of shifting chemicals on the film strip.
and my point it is still a step in the right direction that is closer to film. To say digital will never be as good as film is rather a negative attitude plus no one knows what future developments will bring. So at this stage it is impossible to say will be as good or not. For all we know there could be post processing software in develop that will give it a more film look. We just don’t know. Plus film is not prefect by any means.
This sounds a lot like the vinyl records vs. digital recording argument. Maybe the point you aren’t getting is that if there was such a ‘digital 30 stops of DR and 15k resolution’ film camera it would look better than film. Shoot film all you want, the rest of us will move into the current century and shoot digital. No one is denying you the ability to shoot using film.
Why are you reading a rumor site about digital cameras if they can never achieve your level of perfection? To endlessly troll the same story?
Where would a camera designer start if they were tasked with creating intangibles, exactly?
“the intangibles”
You are ridiculous.
I’d like a camera with similar sensor, enlarged to 4/3 size, optimized for still images.
I’m not saying I hate digital or anything like that. I welcome the advance in technology and am excited for new cameras like the Sony F65 (Oblivion/After Earth). But film is still more beautiful, and the fact that any digital company would mention that their footage looks like film is an insult to the disappearing medium.
Your opinion doesn’t mean squat to me!! Gimme the camera nowwww or STFU!!!
James, you know you’re right, I know you’re right (as do many others), so just ignore those who don’t understand.
It is similar to those who understand the intangibility that is in a Leica, and those who don’t.
No he’s not ‘right’ in the global sense you are implying. He’s entitled to his opinion and you to yours, but the vast majority of film-makers either have or soon will vote with their feet and wallets and will leave film behind once and for all. And they are just as ‘right’ as you guys – they are just weighing trade-offs of the two technologies differently.
You’re right. But it won’t be their wallets that’ll stop them from shooting film. It’ll be the fact that in less than a decade film won’t exist anymore. I say if you’re a filmmaker and you’re in a position where you have to choose between film and digital, shoot film, because soon you won’t have the choice.
It’s merely your opinion that film still looks better. Once the dynamic range threshold is broken and digital images can produce high contrast situations without blowing out white or crushing dark detail within the same shot even film has a big flaw then. I think film generally can look better if in the right hands, but the Alexa, things like Game of Thrones and The Avengers look about as good as anything shot on film. In a comparison side by side I guaranteed if colors wanted to match a look of Super 35mm they could get so close it’d blow your mind. I’ve seen side by side comparisons with graded Epic footage to match 35mm footage and it was nearly identical. Now, if the contrast within the scene was higher the 35mm would have pulled ahead and Alexa would be a better competitor, but now with Dragon sensor you could literally put 35mm in a lighting scenario where it falls apart and the Dragon will come out unscathed.
This is such an amazing announcement! I just bought the GH3 for hybrid work, and between my manager, who just ordered another GH3, we’ll probably buy 2-3 BMPCC as well. I was super excited with the GH3, but with the BMPCC, I’m just blown away.
And then the 4K BM production Camera!? Goodbye Scarlet and Canon 1D-C & C300!
– Joe Gunawan
SLRLounge.com Editor
Will be very interesting to see some footage as if the colours, contrast and dynamic range are as good as the standard Blackmagic it’s going to look pretty amazing. Panasonic could end up losing a large chunk of their video only GH3 sales to this camera. Student film makers will love it as it is so affordable and they can hire the larger lenses they need. Also cheap to run with standard cards and what look like basic batteries.
True, better than the C300. But if the Scarlet Dragon upgrade really does live up to the claims of 18 stops of DR and images as sharp as still photos from a DSLR, then the BMCC is no competition.
True, better than the C300. But if the Scarlet Dragon upgrade really does live up to the claims of 18 stops of DR and images as sharp as still photos from a DSLR, then the BMCC is no competition.
A lot of guessing and really off approximations of the ‘crop factor’ of this sensor size. It’s 2.9x compared to ‘full-frame’ 135 format. So the Olympus 17/1.8 will look essentially like a 50mm at f5 on a Canon 5D. The Oly 12mm will look like a 35mm on ‘full-frame’. At 7mm it will look like 20mm on ‘full-frame’, so you can get pretty wide in this format but not REAL wide. I predict it will be common to match this camera up with the Metabones Speedbooster.
Remember though a 5D is not a film makers format. Easier to compare with M43 or plain 43 as that is much closer to 35 movie film. A lot of people will be using this camera with 16mm movie lenses. I would expect secondhand prices of them to be pushed up further.
If they ever make enough of these to be sitting on shelves in consumer camera stores, the soccer mums are really going to hate them 😉
I wonder if the actual resolution is 1920×1080? If so, perhaps moire and aliasing are things of the past?
I’m looking forward to seeing the gain or ISO capabilities and actual RAW samples.
The speedbooster all but makes up for the crop factor.
Do you know if my canon lenses compatible with this beauty? i have a 50 mm zeiss, 85mm bower and rokinons,tamron?
Whut, that was not the production cam…
The display said the mode was set to 2.5K raw, aka, the regular cinema camera!
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Is full frame ?
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