Fremont, CA – January 7, 2020 - Blackmagic Design announced today that Deadline Hollywood, the preeminent site for the most up to date breaking news stories in the entertainment industry, recently upgraded their video production unit to Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras 4K for all of their entertainment video interviews and reporting.

With a major presence at every prominent film festival and event, the team behind Deadline’s production needed a more robust solution, and one that was equally portable.

“Because Deadline is primarily breaking news, many of the videos we do have to be turned around in only a few days, and sometimes even a few hours or minutes,” said David Janove, Video Producer for Deadline and parent company PMC. “We need equipment that will work in any environment regardless of lighting, and be able to set up as soon as possible.”

The unit travels across the world, with an active presence at festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes, Toronto and SXSW. Older equipment simply couldn’t adapt to the ever changing conditions. Between poor lighting, constant travel and fast turnarounds, the team found the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K a refreshing change.

“Our previous equipment wasn’t doing the trick in low lighting environments,” said Janove. “The dynamic range of the new cameras provided a more professional look, with greater range when color correcting and grading. Having a portable unit like the Pocket 4K makes going through security a breeze. We never lose equipment now because we’re able to carry everything on!”

And when the shoot is done, the smaller package helps them move to the next event quickly. "Sometimes we cover events like red carpets and junkets with other film crews. The portability of the Pocket 4K means that, after the event, while they're still breaking down their external monitors, we're already in the parking lot."

An added bonus has been the 5 inch touch screen on the back of the camera. “That kind of screen is unheard of in cameras this size,” said Janove. “And while it helps provide a large monitor solution, aiding in easier focus, the screen comes with its own challenges, mostly from those in the room watching over the camera operators’ shoulders.”

While the flexibility and size of the system is a key ingredient to the team’s productivity, the quality of the image was equally important, particularly at major events such as Sundance, where they produce more than 80 videos in 4 days, and interview top professionals from around the world. “We’ve had everyone from Twin Peaks cinematographer Peter Deming to director Luca Guadagnino (Suspiria) ask about the equipment we use,” said Janove. “Image quality is important to them as well, and they seem intrigued such a small camera can create such a great picture.”

Press Photography

Product photos of Blackmagic Cinema Camera 4K as well as all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

FREMONT, Calif.—Blackmagic dipped its toes into the ocean waters this summer, as the company recently announced that its Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks and URSA Mini Pro cameras were part of the production of the Science Channel’s limited series “Legends of the Deep.”

Echo Bay Media was one of the production companies for the series that follows Celine and Fabien Cousteau, the grandchildren of Jacques Cousteau, as they dive underwater to explore shipwrecks, strange scientific occurrences and natural anomalies from the sea. To capture these underwater expeditions—which were shot in Belize, Bermuda, Nova Scotia and Cyprus—Echo Bay selected two Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks.

The Blackmagic camera was used inside compact submersibles that would often feature only one camera operator and the two hosts. The camera’s low light capabilities and dynamic range were also key in helping to control the lighting in difficult underwater conditions. The captured footage was then edited with in post-production using Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve Studio, where it could assist with any needed noise reduction. The Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks were also used for vehicle shots of the Cousteau siblings.

Echo Bay also utilized the URSA Mini Pro camera during production, with members of the production crediting the camera’s durability, color capabilities and portability as key benefits.

“Legends of the Deep” premiered on the Science Channel in June

Deep in a rain forest in Equatorial Africa, the peaceful Batwa Pygmies were once known as ‘the keepers of the forest.’ But for generations, these people, known for their unusually short height, would fight against their own slavery, rape and now, poverty. Three generations ago, this process culminated in the Uganda government seizing the Batwa Pygmies’ land with no monetary compensation and no place to call home.

The Batwa needed a champion.

Enter Justin Wren.

At six foot two and two hundred-fifty pounds, Wren is a giant of a man who spends his days fighting in the heavyweight division in mixed martial arts. With flowing blonde locks, he’s a mirror of the Marvel superhero Thor. And Wren is just the giant of a man the Batwa need.

After reading about the Pygmies, Wren, who would later be known in MMA as ‘the Big Pygmy,’ made a life-changing decision to head to the Congo. “I was fighting against people, but really I was supposed to be fighting for people,” Wren said in an interview for his book titled, “Fight for the Forgotten.”

The fight for the forgotten is about providing the Batwa with the skills to exist in the modern world and resources such as fresh water wells, and land to farm.

And Wren is not alone in his fight. He has rallied some in the MMA community to the cause, particularly legendary female fighter Cris Cyborg giving her dollars and time. And now, a documentary to chronicle this powerful story is being brought to life.

That’s when Jody Eldred entered the frame. Eldred, an Emmy award-winning and DGA award nominated TV and Filmmaker, trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and is well-known to some UFC production professionals deeply affected by what Justin Wren is doing to free the Pygmies in the Congo and Uganda.

The connection was made, and Jody began putting together the gear needed to effectively operate in Uganda. To create the cinematic look D.P. Filipe Bessa and Director Brady Nasfell were looking for, they turned to the new Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.

“Because of the rough environment we would be shooting in and having to carry gear for great distances, and in tropical heat, we wanted stuff to be as lightweight as possible but still functional,” says Jody. “So I decided that, after trying everything, we could get by with a smaller head and slightly lighter sticks.”

Supporting the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2, the crew used a Cartoni Focus 8 head with SDS Tripod. The Cartoni SDS Tripod sets up & folds in an instant, making it a perfect choice for camera operators on the go.

“What I really liked about the Cartoni was how fast it set up,” says Jody. “You flip a single lever on each leg and you are ready to go. The Cartoni performed very well. It’s very well designed and supported the weight of that camera, monitor, etc. without an issue.”

Powering the equipment, including lighting, was going to be challenging. There is no electricity in the rain forest, and the “hotel” where the crew stayed had sporadic power outages. “Sometimes we got up in the morning realizing the generator had gone off during the night. We would run out of gas, run out of electricity, and our batteries weren't charged,” says Jody. Manios Digital supplied us with the Hawk-Woods Mini V-Lok 150 and 98wh batteries and some accessories such a hot-swap plate, charger, and a light spigot. The Hawk-Woods batteries and accessories were great. So we had plenty of power regardless. They are lightweight, small, TSA-approved and didn’t raise eyebrows.”

The Hawk-Woods Mini V-Lok batteries are the smallest and lightest V-Lok batteries in the market. Nearly half the size of a standard V-Lok battery, the Mini V-Lok batteries are travel safe and lightweight, making them a great choice for camera operators on the go. “I literally carried every single one of our batteries, the camera body, and ENG lens in a small carry-on roller case. I could never have done that with full-size bricks.”

Light & Motion Stella Pro lights were used to bring needed punch to lighting interviews in the harsh, overhead equatorial sun, as well as nighttime shots. “We were able to get some incredibly cinematic images at night shooting around a campfire with the Pocket Camera at a high ISO, around 16000,” says Jody. “Without the Stella Pro, it would have been very flat, no texture or depth.”

“We were there for about nine days of filming. It’s the first part of this documentary, and there's going to be a lot of filming going on over the remainder of this year.”

Justin Wren has won a few rounds in his fight for the Pygmies. A wealthy benefactor facilitated a land purchase so one tribe would have an area they could live on and farm. And even more important, low-cost groundwater wells are being drilled and will be maintained. What remained was a negotiation with the Mokala – a tribe to which the Pygmies are literally enslaved. The price of freedom was providing fresh water wells to the Mokala slavers as well, and it’s helping establish a level of goodwill never experienced before.

To follow the progress in the fight for the forgotten, visit fightfortheforgotten.com. Manios Digital is the exclusive US distributor of Cartoni camera supports and Hawk-Woods batteries. 

Fremont, CA - March 25, 2019- Blackmagic Design today announced that the YouTube series "Flunk," which also airs on Amazon Prime and Here TV, was shot entirely with Blackmagic Design cameras, including URSA Mini Pro, Blackmagic RAW and Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. DaVinci Resolve was used for color correction.

Filmed in Melbourne, Australia, “Flunk” has quickly amassed a global audience during its first sea-son, which includes eight half hour episodes airing on Amazon Prime as well as 40 shorter episodes on YouTube. Created by Director Ric Forster and Producer Melanie Rowland, the show is a new LGBT series exploring sexuality, drug and alcohol use, identity and consent and stars Jessica Li, Akasha Collins, Beaudene Perussich, Uisce Goriss-Dazeley, Caylen Forbes and Olivia Wright.

To film the show, Forster and Rowland chose to use the URSA Mini Pro as their primary camera, with the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K used for various tight or hard to reach shots in each episode.

“The show follows the lives of a number of teens, day and night. When shooting, there was a wide mix of low light, bright natural lighting and indoor nighttime shots where there was the potential for losing details in the shadows. So we had to plan for a huge number of different shooting sce-narios, all while having a small crew and tight budget,” said Forster. “The combination of the URSA Mini Pro and the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K freed us to be creative while knowing we were going to get the highest quality footage possible.”

“The cameras gave us a huge amount of dynamic range, and the footage looked great without a ton of artificial lighting. Instead of spending money on extra lighting, we could put our resources into getting exactly the shots we wanted and being as creative as possible. The cameras’, especially the Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks, dynamic ranges are amazing and gave us the leeway to shoot in low light and know nothing was going to be blown out or lost in the shadows. On top of that, the skin tone we got was beautiful,” he continued.

On a tight budget, Forster and Rowland decided to use Blackmagic RAW, which allowed him to save resources on storage. Blackmagic RAW is a new codec that gives stunning image quality and fast performance in an intelligent new file format, offering both the quality and benefits of RAW with the speed, ease of use and file sizes of traditional video formats.

“Blackmagic RAW is great. We can shoot all day and not have to change cards, and we could just bring all the RAW files directly into DaVinci Resolve, so the post production workflow was easy,” Forster said.

Press Photography

Product photos of URSA Mini Pro, Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, Blackmagic RAW, DaVinci Resolve, and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk re-corders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereo-scopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engi-neers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more in-formation, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Fremont, CA - March 18th, 2019 - Blackmagic Design today announced that it has won three gold award wins at this year’s prestigious iF Design Awards from the International Forum Design GmbH in Hannover.

Introduced in 1954, the iF Design Awards are one of the world’s most celebrated and valued design competitions, internationally recognized as a symbol of exceptional design and outstanding service. The latest trends, innovation and uniqueness are reflected in the awarded submissions across the following categories; product, packaging, communication, interior architecture, professional concept, service design, user experience and architecture.

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, the Blackmagic eGPU and the Blackmagic ATEM Camera Control Panel each received an iF award, competing against more than 6000 entries from over 55 nations. All iF Gold award entries are judged by a panel of 67 independent, internationally renown design experts.

“Our goal has and always will be to enable as many people as possible to be more creative and help them tell their stories with video” said Grant Petty, CEO at Blackmagic Design. “2018 saw us launch the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and the Blackmagic eGPU, both of which were carefully designed around the needs of today’s creative professionals to offer the most flexible and affordable solutions for high end video. It’s such an honor for these products to be recognized by leaders in the design industry alongside our ATEM Camera Control Panel.”

In addition to the iF Design Awards, Blackmagic Design has been honored to receive more than 100 international awards for innovation in design and engineering. The dedication that goes into designing great products at Blackmagic Design is driven by an innovative spirit and mission to bring incredibly high end video production quality and technology to everyone.

The winners were presented at the iF Design award ceremony on March 15th, 2019 at the BMW Welt in Munich.

About the iF Design Awards

The iF DESIGN AWARDS has been a globally recognized trademark when it comes to excellence in design for 66 years. The iF brand is internationally established as a symbol for outstanding design achievements. It rewards design achievements in all disciplines: product, packaging, communication and service design/UX, architecture and interior design as well as professional concept. All award winning entries are presented in the iF WORLD DESIGN GUIDE, published in the iF design app and exhibited in the iF design exhibition in Hamburg.

Press Photography

Product photos of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, the Blackmagic eGPU, the Blackmagic ATEM Camera Control, and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/media/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk.

Fremont, CA - March 7, 2019 - Blackmagic Design today announced that YouTube channel Hashtag United is using the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K as part of a production package to document the club’s journey into the English national league system.

Vlogger Spencer Owen first set up Hashtag United as a YouTube Channel in 2016, playing exhibition-style games and friendlies that were filmed and posted online. This season (2018/19) Spencer has gone a step further and taken the football club semi pro.

“Before joining the national league system, training and games were on an ad hoc basis,” begins operations director Neil Smythe. “And scores were not reported live as they are now. Essentially meaning we had control over when and how the story was told.”

Now in the Eastern Senior League Division One South, Hashtag United is playing every Saturday, and a growing number of fans are coming down to the ground to support in real life. “Content production has had to speed up,” Smythe explains. “We need to be telling our story in real time, like any other football club would, or we’ll lose out.”

In order to maintain the high quality fans have come to expect, Hashtag United required a camera solution that would strike a good balance between image quality and more manageable file sizes.

“Both the URSA Mini Pro and Pocket Cinema Camera 4K fit our needs perfectly,” Smythe said. “We have a good choice of professional codecs, and the extended video mode means we can work with the images straight out of the camera with little or no post.”

“The improved low light sensitivity on the pocket camera is another huge bonus. It guarantees we can shoot practically anywhere, even a dimly lit changing room during the manager’s half time talk and rely on nothing more than the available light.”

According to Smythe, it’s shooting outdoors where the URSA Mini Pro really shines. “I use this camera to film training sessions and Spencer’s commentary, and the built-in ND filters are a life saver in the variable weather conditions!”

Highlights of the commentary go into the weekly match package, but the team also live stream that commentary to Twitter using a Blackmagic Web Presenter.

Smythe concludes: “Hashtag United is one of the most watched sides on YouTube, outperforming many of Europe’s footballing elite, which is amazing! But adjusting to non league life hasn’t been without its challenges. While we’ve barely scratched the surface of what these cameras can do, their addition has ensured that we don’t compromise on our core production values.”

Press Photography

Product photos of Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, Blackmagic Web Presenter and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Fremont, California, USA - March 5, 2019 - Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic Camera 6.2 update which adds support for Blackmagic RAW to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.

Blackmagic Camera 6.2 update is available as a free download from the Blackmagic Design website.

Blackmagic RAW, a revolutionary next generation codec that combines the quality and benefits of RAW with the ease of use, speed and file sizes of traditional video formats. Blackmagic RAW is a more intelligent format that gives customers stunning images, incredible performance, cross platform support and a free developer SDK.

With Blackmagic Camera 6.2 update, customers using the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K now have the ability record images using Blackmagic RAW for the first time. This allows them to capture the highest possible quality images in smaller files, giving them much longer recording times with the media they already own. For example, customers can record over 2 hours of full cinematic quality Blackmagic RAW footage in 4K on a single 256GB SD UHS-II card. With Blackmagic RAW 12:1 you can even record 4K DCI images to an SD card, giving you stunning cinematic quality images on incredibly small, inexpensive cards. In addition, Blackmagic RAW gives customers an even faster, more fluid and higher quality editing and color correction workflow in DaVinci Resolve than ever before.

Once the camera has been updated, customers can choose between 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 and 12:1 constant bit-rate recording or between constant quality Q0 and Q5 recording. This lets them prioritize image quality or file size. The constant bit-rate encoding options give customers incredible images at predictable and consistent file sizes. Constant quality Q0 and Q5 use variable bitrate encoding so complex frames are encoded at higher data rates, preserving the maximum amount of detail and quality possible. Blackmagic Design Generation 4 Color Science is used for superior imaging that results in extremely accurate skin tones and gorgeous, lifelike colors. Blackmagic RAW images are encoded using a custom non-linear 12-bit space designed to provide the maximum amount of color data and dynamic range.

In addition, Blackmagic RAW features extensive metadata support, highly optimized GPU and CPU accelerated processing on the desktop and more.

Traditional RAW codecs have large file sizes and are processor intensive, making them hard to work with. Video file formats are faster, but suffer quality problems due to the use of 4:2:2 video filters that reduce color resolution. Blackmagic RAW solves these problems, giving customers the same quality, bit depth, dynamic range and controls as RAW, but with much better performance and smaller file sizes than most popular video codecs. Once files are brought into DaVinci Resolve, additional GPU and CPU acceleration make decoding of frames incredibly fast, so customers get extremely smooth performance for editing and grading.

When the Blackmagic RAW settings are changed in DaVinci Resolve, a .sidecar file can be generated or updated if one already exists. When opened in other software applications that support Blackmagic RAW, the .sidecar file, which contains the Blackmagic RAW settings made in DaVinci Resolve, will be automatically used to display the image. If the .sidecar file is removed then the file will be displayed using the embedded metadata instead. This innovative new workflow gives customers a non-destructive way to change Blackmagic RAW settings while working between different applications.

Blackmagic RAW is much more than a simple RAW container format. Its intelligent design actually understands the camera and the sensor. This means the image data, along with the unique characteristics of the image sensor, are encoded and saved into the Blackmagic RAW file, giving customers much better image quality, even at higher compression settings, as well as total control over features such as ISO, white balance, exposure, contrast, saturation and more.

In addition, Blackmagic RAW uses Blackmagic Design Generation 4 Color Science for superior imaging that results in reproducing extremely accurate skin tones and gorgeous, lifelike colors that rival those of cameras costing tens of thousands of dollars more. Images are encoded using a custom non-linear 12-bit space designed to provide the maximum amount of color data and dynamic range.

Blackmagic RAW also makes it easy for any software developer to access all this technology. The free developer SDK lets any third party software application add Blackmagic RAW support on Mac, Windows and Linux. The Blackmagic RAW developer SDK automatically handles the embedded sensor profile metadata, along with Blackmagic Design color science, for predictable and accurate image rendering that yields consistent color throughout the entire pipeline.

Blackmagic RAW features two types of file compression. Customers can choose either constant quality or constant bitrate encoding options, depending on the kind of work they are doing. This lets them prioritize image quality or file size. Constant quality uses variable bitrate encoding so complex frames are encoded at higher data rates to preserve detail and maintain the highest possible quality. Blackmagic RAW Q0 has minimum quantization and yields the highest quality, while Blackmagic RAW Q5 uses moderate quantization for more efficient encoding and a smaller file size. Blackmagic RAW 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 and 12:1 use constant bitrate encoding to give customers the best possible images with predictable and consistent file sizes. The ratios are based on the unprocessed file size of a single frame from the camera’s sensor, making it easy to understand the relative amount of compression being used.

The pristine camera native quality of Blackmagic RAW Q0 and 3:1 are perfect for effects heavy feature film and commercial work. Blackmagic RAW Q5 and 5:1 are extremely high quality making them great for episodic television and independent films. Blackmagic RAW 8:1 and 12:1 offer high quality and speed, making it suitable for productions that wouldn’t normally consider shooting RAW. Now, more customers than ever will be able to use high quality Blackmagic RAW images in an incredibly efficient way that was impossible before.

Featuring a fully scalable design and completely modern CPU and GPU acceleration, Blackmagic RAW is optimized for AVX, AVX2 and SSE4.1 enabled processors, multi-threaded, works across multiple CPU cores and is GPU accelerated with support for Apple Metal, CUDA and OpenCL. Frame decoding and image processing is extremely fast, making it super smooth for editing, color correction and visual effects in DaVinci Resolve. Another benefit of media being stored as single files, and not image sequences, is it makes media management easier and file copying much faster.

The free Blackmagic RAW Developer SDK is available on Mac OS, Windows and Linux. This SDK takes care of all the work for developers, so adding support for Blackmagic RAW to third party software applications is easy and fast. Developers get access to GPU and CPU accelerated algorithms for decoding files, along with unique information about the camera’s image sensor so their applications can accurately decode and display the files. The SDK features highly descriptive and flexible metadata options designed to support today’s modern workflows. Metadata is embedded directly in the .braw file or it can be stored in a .sidecar file. Metadata is important because it contains the Blackmagic RAW settings along with information for the slate, iris, focus, focal length, white balance and a lot more. The metadata in .sidecar files can be used on top of the embedded metadata without overwriting it. Blackmagic RAW also supports frame based metadata so customers can access values, such as focus distance, that often change on a frame by frame basis.

“Blackmagic RAW has been incredibly successful since we introduced it last fall on URSA Mini Pro,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “The new Blackmagic Camera 6.2 update is exciting because it makes this incredible new technology available to Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K customers absolutely free! They get the visually lossless image quality of RAW with the speed of traditional video workflows!”

Availability

Blackmagic Camera 6.2 update is available today as a free download from the Blackmagic Design website www.blackmagicdesign.com/support

Press Photography

Product photos of Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

Fremont, CA - February 25, 2019 - Blackmagic Design would like to congratulate the 2019 Oscar nominated films and the production professionals whose hard work and creativity helped bring them to life. Blackmagic Design is honored that its products, such as URSA Mini Pro, DaVinci Resolve Studio and Fusion Studio, were used on groundbreaking films including“A Star is Born,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Marvel Studios “Avengers: Infinity War.”

Oscar nominated films that used Blackmagic Design products include:

• Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” used DaVinci Resolve, UltraStudio, Smart Videohub 40x40, DeckLink Quad 2, DeckLink Mini Monitor and a variety of converters for on set work by DIT Kyle Spicer;
• “BlacKkKlansman” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Tom Poole at Company 3;
• “Bohemian Rhapsody” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Greg Fisher at Company 3;
• “The Favourite” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Rob Pizzey at Goldcrest Post;
• “Green Book” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio at FotoKem;
• “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Dave Francis of Technicolor PostWorks;
• “Minding the Gap” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Tyler Roth of Company 3;
• “A Quiet Place” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Stefan Sonnenfeld at Company 3;
• “RBG” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Ken Sirulnick of Glue Editing & Design, along with using Fusion Studio for stabilizing work;
• “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Natasha Leonnet at EFILM;
• "Solo: A Star Wars Story” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Joe Gawler of Harbor Picture Company;
• “A Star is Born” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio by Stefan Sonnenfeld at Company 3; and
• “Vice” graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio at FotoKem.

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve Studio, Fusion Studio, URSA Mini Pro, UltraStudio, Smart Videohub 40x40, DeckLink Quad 2, DeckLink Mini Monitor all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Fremont, CA - February 5, 2019 - Blackmagic Design today announced that acclaimed cinematographer Roy H. Wagner, ASC shot the upcoming musical drama “Stand!” using several URSA Mini Pro cameras for principal photography, along with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K for select shots.

Juliet” style love story set in the violent events of the era. Starring Gregg Henry (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Laura Wiggins (“Shameless”), Marshall Williams (“Glee”), and Hayley Sales (“Deadpool 2”). “Stand!” is slated for release in 2019.

Shot on location in Winnipeg, Roy knew he needed a reliable camera system that would withstand the rigors of location shooting, but also would be easy to use. “This is a camera I’ve done extensive tests with and have found it incredibly competitive with the most expensive camera systems. The camera crew had never used the camera and yet were able to pull a brand new camera out of its case and have it fully prepped within three days.”

The style of photography called for dynamic lighting contrast, deeply detailed shadows and brilliant highlights, requiring a camera with enormous exposure latitude. “What amazed me shooting with the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro,” said Adetuyi, “was that it allowed us to get into low light situations and still capture really thick, rich blacks. We went for a very aggressive style, and the images allowed us a lot of latitude for interpretation in post production.” Wagner was incredibly happy with the detail in the shadows. The resolution, the sharpness, they dynamic range will please any demanding cinematographer. We were filming with atmospheric smoke, filming through layers of lace and open weave material that would have caused aliasing with other cameras”

The project put a high demand on unique imagery, both for its period setting but also its musical style. Adetuyi knew Roy was up to the task. “It was a great challenge to capture 1919 in its fullness, yet tell a poignant and dramatic story. There were a lot of typical issues with time that meant the cameras were under combat style conditions. We never waited for camera problems nor was I ever told I couldn’t accomplish a difficult task. The cameras were incredibly light and small enough to place wherever I needed. Roy created such beautiful images for this story.”

Wagner’s past work helped him develop a unique style that was not afraid of contrast, yet embraced the story within the imagery. Wagner has driven the visuals of such diverse and innovative shows such as “CSI”, “House” and “Elementary.” He is a multiple Emmy Award winner, and is a member of both the American Society of Cinematographers as well as being an honorary Fellow in The British Royal Photographic Society.

Wagner has seen the transition from photo chemical film to digital, and was deeply involved in early development of high definition imaging, photographing the very first dramatic episodic network television series in high definition, “Pasadena”. While always eager to embrace new technologies, he has not always been pleased with the results. “I’ve done extensive tests with the URSA Mini Pro and knew I was able to let the highlights over expose and then bring them back in post production,” said Wagner. “I could expose for the shadows and print for the highlights, which is what we used to do with the photo chemical process. I was astonished at how it reproduces skin tone. I’m not having to use cosmetic rouge on the key light, like I’ve had to do with virtually every other digital camera.”

Wagner was impressed with both the image quality and the technology. “Most modern cameras are like using medical devices. I’m having to put a great deal of diffusion in front of the lens, or something between the lens and the sensor in order to protect the actors. That was not the case with this camera. The filtration choices I made were creative. This camera loves what’s in front of it.”

“This camera gives me a chance to be an artist again,” said Wagner. “It can compete with any camera on the market now. But most of all, I’m excited about Blackmagic Design team because they love cinematography as much as I do.”

View the teaser trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JllrjJ_XpQ&feature=youtu.be

Press Photography

Product photos of URSA Mini Pro, URSA Mini 4.6K, Micro Cinema Camera, Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, Pocket Cinema Camera, Micro Studio Camera 4K, Production Camera 4K, Video Assist 4K, DaVinci Resolve, Fusion, ATEM, Videohub, SmartView Duo, SmartScope Duo 4K, UltraStudio, DeckLink, Intensity Shuttle, Media Express, Converters and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Fremont, California, USA - February 4, 2019 - Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic Cameras 6.1 which is a new update for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. This update adds quieter audio recording, a new pixel remapping feature, new 2:1 monitoring frame guides, improved battery performance and much more.

Blackmagic Camera 6.1 update is available now as a free download from the Blackmagic Design website.

The new Blackmagic Cameras 6.1 significantly improves audio recording when using the built in microphones on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. The new processing now analyzes incoming audio from the dual microphones on each side of the camera to dramatically lower the noise floor, resulting in quieter recordings than possible before. In addition, latency has been reduced for audio monitoring, audio and video synchronization has been fine tuned, and the 3.5mm audio input selection interface is now more intuitive, making it faster to use.

Blackmagic Cameras 6.1 also improves auto focus performance. Auto focus now responds quicker and more accurately so that lens hunting is greatly reduced when the camera is locking on to the focal point. There's also a new media formatting interface that helps prevent customers from accidentally formatting media cards. Once the camera is updated, customers will need to tap and hold the media format confirmation button for 3 seconds before a card will be erased and reformatted.

This update also includes a new in-camera calibration feature which allows customers to recalibrate pixels in the camera. Over time some pixels can change in brightness and create small variations across the sensor. The new pixel calibration feature allows the camera to realign the light output of each pixel resulting in a smooth clean image under changing environmental conditions. Blackmagic Camera 6.1 update also features 2:1 monitoring frame guides, which is another creative composition tool for filmmakers to frame shots. In addition, new power savings and efficiency enhancements improve battery runtime by 10-15% and give customers a more accurate indication of remaining battery power.

“The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K is an incredible success and it’s been very exciting watching the adoption of digital film workflows by a much wider range of people,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “This update is exciting because it adds even more great new features to the camera and it’s an exciting way for us to say thank you to all the people who have purchased a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and who have taken the time to discuss ideas for the future with us. We can’t wait to see what customers will produce next!”

Blackmagic Cameras 6.1 Update Key Features

• Adds support for pixel calibration in camera.
• Improves auto focus performance.
• Improves signal to noise ratio performance of the camera’s internal microphone.
• Improves power efficiency for improved battery life.
• Adds 2:1 monitoring frame guide.
• Improves media formatting user interface.
• Improves audio monitoring latency performance.
• Improves 3.5mm audio input selection interface.
• Improves AV sync performance.

Availability

Blackmagic Cameras 6.1 is available as a free download for all existing Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K customers from www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.

Press Photography

Product photos of Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, as well as all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

Confession—I had a one week loaner of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. After tearfully returning it to Blackmagic, I ordered one.

Measuring 7x3.4x3.8 inches, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K isn’t exactly a camera that can fit into your pocket, but at a $1,295 price point you also don’t need to dig deep. No piece of equipment is perfect, but the Pocket 4K is an ideal price/performance device that has applications ranging from low budget to high production value projects.

Since the original $995 Blackmagic Pocket Camera, BMD has been under consumer pressure to create a comparable device for the 4K world. Hence, I suppose, the Pocket nomenclature was retained. Actually, the camera felt to me much more like a small medium-format camera from still film photography days. But weighing under 13 ounces without battery or lens, the camera is exceptionally easy to handle and suitable for smaller gimbals.

THE DETAILS

Let’s just start with some specs. The camera brain centers around a 18.96 x 10mm four-thirds sensor with an active MFT mount. The mount is fixed but a whole host of adapters could allow the camera to be used with a wide variety of optics. The sensor is a dual ISO 400 and ISO 3200 and can record up to ISO 25,600. Recording to either a CFast or SD card, it can capture up to 4K DCI resolution with 13 stops of dynamic range. Depending upon the lens, it can operate in fully automatic or manual modes. It can record up to 60fps in 4K DCI or 120fps in a windowed HD format.

While there are no video inputs for recording from other devices, for audio it offers a mini-XLR with phantom power as well as a 3.5mm stereo input. Headphone output is also via a 3.5mm connector but playback can also be monitored through a built-in speaker. Audio is analog only. The built-in stereo mic system can also be selected via audio input menu.

A useful feature is a USB-C port which, with a compatible external drive (Blackmagic lists certified drives and memory cards on its website) can power both the drive and record all available video formats. This provides more recording time for example, for RAW files than a CFast card at a lower cost per gigabyte than the expensive CFast memory.

Recording formats include:

• CinemaDNG RAW with uncompressed, 3:1 or 4:1 ratios

• ProRes 422HQ

• ProRes422

• ProRes Lite

• ProRes Proxy

It can record straight Rec 709 video (called “Video” by BMD) or Log (called “Film”). The rear 1920x1080 resolution monitor can display either recorded signal or apply a LUT for Rec 709 viewing. Blackmagic also includes an “Extended Film” gamma, which achieves maximum dynamic range.

DaVinci Resolve Studio (a $299 value) comes bundled with the camera not only to make it even a greater bargain but also to facilitate working with the files. Resolve’s built-in Film or Extended Film LUTs make a good starting point for grading LOG footage shot in camera while Resolve 15 and greater takes advantage of BMD’s latest color science. I personally find that latest color science particularly pleasing to the eye, especially on flesh tones.

The camera is powered by Canon LP-E6 batteries and it is here that shooting the camera alone provides some weakness. It can deliver around an hour of 24p shooting but I find in real world applications I wouldn’t count on it beyond 50 minutes and even less for 60p. It could of course be operated via AC if available but most likely an operator would need an external power supply.

STILL CAMERA VIDEOGRAPHY

That leads me to a more general comment about mirrorless or still-camera style videography. Most likely operators will need a rig. While there are numerous third-party cages, bases, mounts, power supplies, battery plates, monitors, etc on the market, it does mean that your small pocket camera requires a kit that could cost several times the cost of the camera and may even be more cumbersome to shoot than conventional-format dedicated video camera. And because the Pocket Camera4K has no built-in ND, many shooters may need to opt for fixed or variable ND filters over the lens. I don’t like variable ND filters and the vast difference in price and quality of these filters may cause artifacting or color shifts.

Whenever my camera arrives, I personally intend to keep the kit to a minimum with some kind of external battery, but mostly use it on a small gimbal such as a Zhiyun Crane or DJI Ronin-S.

I tested the camera with the Panasonic Lumix Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4. This compact zoom offers internal stabilization and is lightweight. The Blackmagic folks expressed a preference to me of the Olympus zoom, but the only MFT lens I owned is the Panasonic/Leica.

Like all Blackmagic cameras, the touchscreen menu system is straightforward, fast and easy to move between setups. I find the ability to enter user metadata for scene and take info to be invaluable.

The USB-C connection to an external drive didn’t give me a problem but being a user accustomed to locking BNC connections, I am suspect of all non-locking connectors. Third-party cages can provide additional connection security. It did record CinemaDNG flawlessly to the external SSD but I never exceeded 60 seconds or so in a test take.

I have tended to shoot Blackmagic Cameras in the CinemaDNG 3:1 RAW format. CinemaDNG files are large but with this modest compression, 4K DCI or UHD footage to my eye barely shows artifacting. Blackmagic has indicated that they hope to bring their BMD RAW formats to the Pocket. Currently only available on the Ursa Mini 4.6K Pro, BMD RAW is a native format with files smaller than ProRes but with all of the flexibility of shooting and grading RAW files. Certainly the availability of BMD RAW will add even greater value to the Pocket.

The dual-ISO sensor of this camera makes it a low-light champion. Once over ISO 1250, the sensor switches to its native ISO 3200 mode. That means that an image shot at, say ISO 1500, is cleaner than an image shot at ISO 1000. This helps greatly in the positioning of this camera in the marketplace as I’ll describe.

The audio pre-amps are clean and recording through the built-in mics is well, what you would expect from any built-in microphone system. For street video and lightweight operation the built-in mics are decent enough.

I find the image from the camera and the Lumix lens pleasant. Manual focus is a bit tough to nail with this lens and despite the peaking features on the camera, so many of my test images seemed a bit soft. This could be the result of the lens but more extensive testing with an assortment of glass is called for in order to determine sharpness. And, as always, the acceptability of an image is based upon individual preferences, target project and often just the whim of a producer. For my application of web delivery, images from this camera-lens combo are perfectly acceptable (when I nailed focus).

CAN FIND A NICHE EVERYWHERE

But the real question here is target market and the usefulness of the camera to TV Technology readers.

I would not hesitate to use this camera for any level of web delivery. With an external battery to extend shooting time and a USB-C drive to extend recording times, it is an ideal reality-TV camera (whether for web or broadcast). Throw it on a gimbal with an appropriately lightweight lens and it can get the shot in tight spaces and easily follow the action. It can easily cut together with other cameras and be a B or C camera in a higher-budget shoot. I’d even send it out in the field with reporters for interviews or action-following formats.

Let’s keep the perspective when looking at this camera. I have heard far too many niggling comments of “it feels too plastic-ky” or it doesn’t offer ProRes 4444 or why doesn’t it have video inputs. The fact here is that for $1,295 including DaVinci Resolve Studio, Blackmagic has delivered a camera which can find a niche everywhere from individual web shooter to broadcast production to ENG to promos to big-screen cinema. It is lightweight, versatile, can be used alone or with a massive kit that dwarfs the camera, shot on gimbal, tripod, monopod or handheld and with a dual-ISO sensor for all kinds of lighting conditions, to popular formats and with 13 stops of dynamic range.

It is a tool well-worth considering for just about any content creator.

Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

www.blackmagicdesign.com

$1295

Pros: Compact and lightweight. Dual-ISO Micro four-thirds sensor. Sharp built-in screen. Records to SFast, SD or USB-C devices. Powerful but simple menu system

Cons: Internal battery insufficient. Most likely requires a rig. No video input. Mini audio XLR input.

Summary: A remarkable value in a camera with application across the spectrum of production, equally at home with the solo web creator, a broadcast outlet or a cinematic shoot.