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Home » Postproduction Innovator Blackmagic Offers Breakthrough Camera

Postproduction Innovator Blackmagic Offers Breakthrough Camera

In a move that caught show attendees and, we presume, some top camera manufacturers by surprise, Blackmagic Design introduced their new Cinema Camera at NAB 2012. As with many of their other products, Blackmagic stayed true to its past course of upsetting the stuffy approach and high price schemes of the video industry.

The uniquely-shaped Blackmagic Cinema Camera, not looking like any DSLR or camcorder you might have seen, has a sleek, clean design that follows the Australian company’s stylish design approach apparent in so many of their products.

NYCPPNews’ Dan Ochiva, at NAB to cover the show, met with Dan May, president of Blackmagic Design U.S., to learn more about the potentially game changing entry of the company into the camera market.

The sensor captures images at 2.5K via a near micro four-thirds sensor and offers a back panel touch screen for monitoring and control. It’s also the first camera anywhere to offer high-speed Intel Thunderbolt output, something other camera makers are sure to jump on for its 10Gb/s transfer rates.

The Cinema Camera features a built in SSD recorder for capturing uncompressed CinemaDNG RAW 12-bit data, or ProRes or DNxHD formatted data which eat up less storage. These formats are common standards in today’s NLEs.

To make this even more of a deal, the camera ships with a full copy of DaVinci Resolve color grading software (not the lite version). That’s a one thousand dollar value in itself.

To start editing, simply pop the SSD out and stick it into a dock connected to your computer (for more information about recording to SSDs, check out my reviews of related Blackmagic gear, namely the HyperDeck Studio and the HyperDeck Shuttle.

The camera accepts EF and ZF mount lenses from lens makers including Canon and Zeiss. Dynamic range, meanwhile, is an impressive 13 stops, which is almost the equivalent of film. We’ll be offering a review of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera as soon as they’re available in which we’ll be closely examining the image quality of the camera.

Side ports on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera

Creating a camera of their own seems a logical move for Blackmagic who already creates products for acquistion and high end finishing.

The more you learn about the Cinema Camera, the more interesting it gets. Aside from the innovative Thunderbolt port for capture and transport, the camera also includes SDI output, widely used in professional production and post industry. In addition The camera also comes with UltraScope, software that gives you technically accurate scopes on any computer connected by Thunderbolt.

The touch screen on the Cinema Camera

A large 5-inch touch screen on the back of the camera lets you monitor and play back your shots from the SSD using standard VTR-style transport control buttons below the screen. The screen itself, a capacitive touchscreen display, enables you to perform camera functions like focus, shutter angle, ISO as well as display information such as battery level and record time. It also allows you to enter in metadata, which is then stored in the file and is accessible via NLE software.

There is also an optional handle grip to steady the camera when you’re shooting on the move.

The camera will be shipping in July and has a $2,995 price tag.

Dan Ochiva shot the video at NAB and contributed to this report.

About Joe Herman

Joe Herman is a filmmaker, artist and post production specialist and writes often about the industry. You can reach him at joe[at]legendmultimedia[dot]com. Or reach and follow him on Twitter @JoeHermanTweets.

Community & Partner Links

How Sony’s New Virtual Sound Technology Can Change How We Hear Films

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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