Blackmagic Design announces new family of studio cameras for live production – rAVe [PUBS]

Black magic design announced a new family of Studio Cameras for live production. The new Blackmagic Studio Cameras include design features such as carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate and integrated 7 inch sights. Blackmagic Studio Cameras have the same features as large studio cameras, miniaturized in a compact and portable design. The cameras are equipped with digital camera dynamic range and color science. The sensor has an ISO sensitivity of up to 25,600, allowing customers to create images even in dimly lit locations. Advanced features include talkback, tally, camera control, built-in color corrector, Blackmagic RAW recording to USB drives and more.

While Blackmagic studio camera is designed for live production; it is not limited to use with a live mixer. It records Blackmagic RAW to USB drives, so it can be used in any situation where customers are using a tripod. The 7 inch viewfinder makes it an option for jobs like talk shows, TV production, broadcast news, sports, education, conference presentations, and weddings. The screen also has side handles, a touchscreen, and physical controls.

The cameras feature a lightweight carbon fiber reinforced with a polycarbonate body. The touchscreen has menus for camera settings as well as buttons for brightness, contrast, and focus. A tripod stand with a mounting plate is included.

The Blackmagic Studio Camera offers a gain of -12 dB (ISO 100) to +36 dB (ISO 25,600) and is optimized to reduce image grain and noise while maintaining the full dynamic range of the sensor. Gain can be adjusted from the camera or remotely from a mixer using the SDI or Ethernet remote camera control.

The 4K sensor combined with Blackmagic Generation 5 color science provides customers with the same imaging technology used in digital cameras. The color corrector can be controlled from the mixer. With 13 stops of dynamic range, the camera has darker blacks and brighter whites. The sensor features 4096 x 2160 resolution for HD and Ultra HD work. All models support 23.98 fps to 60 fps.

With the MFT lens mount, the Blackmagic Studio Cameras are compatible with a wide range of photographic lenses. To eliminate the need to move around to adjust the zoom and focus of the lens, optional focus and zoom requests allow customers to adjust the lens from the tripod handles. On-screen overlays show recording status and settings, histogram, focus indicators, levels, field guides, and more. Customers can apply 3D LUTs to monitor shots with desired color and look.

the Blackmagic 4K Pro Studio Camera The model has SDI connections that include talkback so that the mixer operator can communicate with the cameras during live events. The Talkback connector is integrated on the side of the camera and supports standard five-pin XLR broadcast headsets.

All models are equipped with HDMI with tally, camera control and recording trigger. Customers also get headphones, mic connections, and two USB-C expansion ports. The advanced model Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro is designed for broadcast workflows and features 12G-SDI, 10GBASE-T Ethernet, talkback and balanced XLR audio inputs. 10G Ethernet enables all video, tally, talkback and camera power through a single connection.

Some file formats such as H.264 are highly compressed and add noise and artifacts, resulting in the loss of sensor details permanently. Blackmagic RAW claims to eliminate this problem so that customers get stunning images with incredible detail and rich colors throughout the pipeline. Blackmagic RAW also saves camera settings as metadata so customers can change ISO, white balance, and exposure later in DaVinci Resolve. Files are small and fast for quick editing responsiveness.

Blackmagic Studio Cameras include built-in microphones. The built-in microphones claim to be shock and wind resistant, so customers get great sound even under harsh conditions. There is also a 3.5mm audio input for connecting video camera microphones as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. The professional two-channel balanced XLR inputs support a line level of +24 dBu and feature an ultra-low noise microphone preamplifier with P48 phantom power as well as an Equivalent Input Noise (EIN) of – 131 dBV (A). Next are two analog-to-digital converters with high dynamic range of 117 dB. This means that any microphone plugged into the XLR inputs will have a higher noise level than the audio from the camera.

Blackmagic Studio Cameras have many different power options. All models have a common 12 VDC locking power connector to prevent accidental pulling on the cable. If users use a single Ethernet cable to connect to the Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro model, the entire camera and its accessories can be powered through the Ethernet connection. Blackmagic says their Studio Converter has a large power supply that adds PoE power to the Ethernet cable.