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Blackmagic Design has announced it’s dropping the price of its Pocket Cinema Camera 6K (BMPCC6K) by $ 500, bringing the retail price down to $ 1,995.
Although Blackmagic Design doesn’t explicitly say the price drop is due to the current COVID-19 pandemic in the press release, it does suggest the decision was made alongside the release of its ATEM Mini switchers to help the current demand for at-home livestreaming efforts, saying ‘With the current demand for multi camera live streaming from home broadcast studios, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K makes a perfect studio camera when combined with the recent studio camera software update!’
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The BMPCC6K offers 6K30p recording on its Super 35 sensor (6144 x 3456 pixels), up to 13 stops of dynamic range, built-in SD UHS-II and CFast card slots, HDMI output, an expandable USB-C port, a built-in 5” touchscreen and Blackmagic OS to run it all. All of that is packed inside the carbon fiber polycarbonate composite frame, which comes with a built-in Canon EF mount.
You can find the new price live at retailers around the globe, including Adorama and B&H.
Press release:
Blackmagic Design Announces New Low Price for Pocket Cinema Camera 6K
Fremont, CA, USA – Friday, 24 April 2020 – Blackmagic Design today announced a new lower price for the popular Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K of US$ 1,995. This is a reduction of $ 500 which will help make this camera more affordable for users working on digital film as well as live production with the new ATEM Mini switchers. With the current demand for multi camera live streaming from home broadcast studios, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K makes a perfect studio camera when combined with the recent studio camera software update!
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K is available immediately from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for US$ 1,995.
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera now works as a studio camera for live production when used with ATEM Mini. Video and control is via the HDMI connection, which is available as soon as customers plug the cameras in. The record light becomes a tally light so customers can see which camera is on air. The ATEM Software Control camera page has a camera control unit (CCU) style interface for adjusting and matching their cameras. Move the CCU control vertically for iris and left to right to adjust black level. It’s the same as a broadcast CCU. There are also controls for color tint to balance camera as well as focus, gain and shutter speed. Customers can even ISO record Blackmagic RAW in the camera for editing later.
The elegant design of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera packs an incredible number of high end digital film features into a miniaturized, handheld design. Made from lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite, the camera features a multifunction handgrip with all controls for recording, ISO, WB and shutter angle right at their fingertips.
Featuring a larger 6144 x 3456 Super 35 sensor and EF lens mount, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K model lets customers use larger EF photographic lenses to create cinematic images with shallower depth of field, allowing creative defocussed backgrounds and gorgeous bokeh effects.
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras have an incredible 13 stops of dynamic range which means they preserve more detail in the lightest and darkest areas of an image than simple video cameras can. This allows customers to set exposure for an indoor scene and still retain the details of bright outdoor light coming through a window.
The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera features built in CFast and SD UHS-II card recorders, and a USB-C expansion port for recording direct to an external media disk. Customers can use regular SD cards for HD or higher performance UHS-II and CFast cards for native 4K or 6K when using Blackmagic RAW. Imagine capturing over an hour of full resolution 6K images on a single 256GB SD UHS-II card. The ProRes and Blackmagic RAW files work with all video software.
Blackmagic RAW is a revolutionary new format designed to capture and preserve the quality of the sensor data from their camera. Video formats such as H.264 are highly compressed, plus add noise and artifacts, causing original sensor detail to be lost forever. Blackmagic RAW eliminates this problem and gives customers stunning images with incredible detail and color throughout the production pipeline from camera to edit, color and mastering. It also saves camera settings as metadata so customers can set ISO, white balance and exposure in camera or override them later while editing, all without any loss of quality. Blackmagic RAW files are also small and fast to use making them easy to work with.
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera features a large, bright 5 inch touchscreen that makes it easy for customers to frame shots and accurately focus. The touchscreen displays critical information while users are shooting, menus for setting up the camera and intuitive touch to focus controls. On screen overlays show status, a histogram, focus and peaking indicators, levels, frame guides, playback controls and more.
With the advanced Blackmagic OS, customers get an intuitive and user friendly camera operating system based on the latest technology. The interface uses simple tap and swipe gestures to adjust settings, add metadata and view recording status. Customers also get full control over advanced camera features such as on screen focus and exposure tools, 3D LUTs, HDR, metadata entry, timecode, Blackmagic RAW settings and more.
Both Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera models feature a mini XLR input with 48 volts of phantom power for connecting professional microphones such as lapel mics and booms. The four built in microphones have an extremely low noise floor and are shock and wind resistant, allowing customers to capture great sound in any location. There’s also a 3.5mm audio input for connecting video camera style microphones, along with a built in speaker for playback and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
“We have worked very hard to build this camera at lower cost, and we think even more people will be able to take advantage of this price reduction to move into a more advanced and much higher quality digital film workflow,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “This has become more important with COVID-19. Many broadcasters have been setting up home studios for presenters, which have used ATEM Mini switchers and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras. We think with the recent software updates for switcher control of the Pocket Cinema Cameras from the ATEM Mini switchers, combined with this more affordable price it will greatly help this workflow.”
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Features
- Works as a studio camera when connected to ATEM Mini.
- Designed from carbon fiber polycarbonate composite.
- Wide 13 stops of dynamic range for film looks.
- Built in SD, UHS-II and CFast card recorders.
- Features incredible quality Blackmagic RAW recording.
- Built in 5″ touchscreen allows accurate focus when shooting 6K.
- Blackmagic OS as used in URSA Mini and URSA Broadcast cameras.
- Professional mini XLR input with 48 volt phantom power.
Availability and Price
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K is available now for US$ 1,995, excluding local duties and taxes, from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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