While all of the other cameras had gotten some form of compressed RAW up until now, the oldest of the bunch finally joins the club. Just like the other cameras that have it, the lossless should look identical to the uncompressed RAW, but will save card space and let you shoot longer (since it's basically compressing like a ZIP file instead of removing information). They've also added some new functionality with both the BMCC and the BMPCC by letting you bypass the dashboard and go straight into the settings. Something else that annoyed many people was the fact that the camera wouldn't remember that you'd turned on peaking when you shut it down, but that's now been fixed, and they've also added more frame guide options.
Here are the changes in 2.1:
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera
- New Blackmagic Camera Setup software
- Adds support for more frame guide options
- Adds Japanese and Chinese language menu support
- Holding down MENU will bypass Dashboard and go straight into settings
- Peaking state is remembered after power cycle
Blackmagic Cinema Camera
- New Blackmagic Camera Setup software
- Adds lossless compressed RAW support
- Adds support for more frame guide options
- Holding down MENU will bypass the Dashboard
- Peaking state is remembered after power cycle
Blackmagic URSA
- New Blackmagic Camera Setup software
- Improved media formatting performance
Here are all of the recording formats now possible with the Pocket through 4K:
I think these updates are a pretty good sign that even though the Cinema Camera was announced almost 3 years ago, they are still committed to supporting it with new updates. That likely goes for any of their other cameras for some time to come. You can find the firmware update over on the Blackmagic support page.
Source: Blackmagic Support
