We've all been speculating that this year's NAB show would be a major one in terms of new cinema-style cameras at incredibly low price points. After Blackmagic Design shook up the cinema camera world last year, the market seemed destined for another company to swoop in an steal the BMCC's thunder. However, a photo of two brand-spankin' new Blackmagic Cinema Cameras has been leaked, and it's definitely real. It appears that Blackmagic has done it again, and their thunder is locked down in a vault that would leave even Danny Ocean and his team of 13 stumped. Check out the photo below for the limited details that we have at this point.
Jim Geduldick posted this on Twitter:
For those of you having a difficult time reading those fuzzy little letters on the boxes, here's what they say:
Blackmagic Production Camera 4K
Compact 4K camera with large super-35 sensor, global shutter, Ultra HD and 4K support, built-in SSD recorder, touch LCD metadata entry, compressed CinemaDNG RAW and ProRes recording, Thunderbolt and EF lens compatibility, Includes DaVinci Resolve and UltraScopes.
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera
Ultra-portable super-16 digital cinema camera with super wide 13 stops of dynamic range. Super 16 sized 1080p HD sensor, built in SD card reader, High resolution LCD, ProRes and Lossless CinemaDNG RAW recording, Active Micro Four Thirds lens compatibility, Micro HDMI monitoring with Overlays.
There are some really significant bits in this photo, the largest of which are the full-size sensor and the considerable upgrade in terms of resolution. Plus, a global shutter on a camera in this price-range is absolutely unheard of, the nearest competitor likely being the F55. I'm also highly intrigued by the phrase, "Compressed CinemaDNG RAW" recording. If Blackmagic has managed to considerably shrink the size of their DNG RAW frames, this camera will likely prove a much more affordable option for shooting RAW due to the amount saved on data storage. Overall, this camera looks to be a serious production tool with serious production features.
The Pocket Cinema Camera looks to be another interesting release. At a price that competes with low-end DSLR's, and with cheap SD cards as a recording medium, the camera is well-positioned to be the perfect entry level cinema camera for folks who couldn't quite afford the original BMCC. Not to mention that it has some seriously potential as a crash cam on higher end productions. Lastly, there will be an official announcement tomorrow regarding these cameras (and NFS will have awesome coverage of it, of course), so keep your eyes wide open and your ears peeled, because it's sure to be an exciting day.
To me, it seems pretty clear now that Blackmagic means some serious business when it comes to manufacturing cinema cameras. But what do you guys think? Do these new cameras have you excited? Let us know in the comments.
Link: Blackmagic -- Super 35 4K production and s16 pocket cam -- Jim Geduldick -- Twitter
