28.08.2012
Blackmagic Cinema Camera
Blackmagic, famous for its capture tools and its peripheral devices, now releases it's first camera: the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, able to record in RAW 4:2:2 2.5K (2432 x 1366 pixels) for less than 3,000€.
Its sensor, a bit larger than a Super 16 frame (15.6 x 8.8mm), offers a 13 stops dynamic range and a sampling depth of 12 bits, which makes the Blackmagic Cinema Camera a concurrent of the Canon and RED cameras.
Designed with a Canon EF mount, it accepts all lenses from Canon wide EF serie, as well as ZE lenses from Zeiss.
Meanwhile, ergonomics of the camera is amazing, with a 5" touchscreen of 800x480 pixels. This choice will probably be deplored by some people, but it allows a less conventional format, offering for example the ability of editing the metadata of a clip on the set. However, some control buttons for the recording and the playback are still available.
We can use, in addition to the RAW Adobe Cinema DNG standard, the Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD widespread formats, with a 1080p option and a frame rate of 24, 25, 29.97 or 30fps.
Blackmagic also took away from proprietary connections, and favored a 3Gb/s HD-SDI output.
We can also record on a standard 2.5" SSD, unloadable with a Thunderbolt port. Thunderbolt may also be used for direct capturing or monitoring with UltraScope.
Furthermore, Blackmagic offers a license for their grading software DaVinci Resolve 9, which costs $1000 alone.