Blackmagic has just announced its next-generation cinema camera for “high-end digital film”, titled Cinema Camera 6K which is armed with a full-frame sensor. Many independent shooters have been waiting for an FF announcement from Blackmagic. So there it is. And with a great price too (as usual) which transforms it into the most affordable full-frame camera in the market.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K with a full-frame sensor
As stated by Blackmagic Design: “Introducing a new generation in cinematography! The new Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is an extremely high-end digital film camera that produces precise skin tones and rich organic colors. The camera features a massive full-frame 24 x 36mm 6K sensor with a wide dynamic range, a very flexible L-Mount for lenses, and a built-in optical low pass filter that’s custom-designed to match the sensor. You also get fast CFexpress media and the camera can even use Pocket Cinema Camera accessories! When you are doing cloud and mobile work, the camera records both deep bit depth Blackmagic RAW and H.264 proxies at the same time! No other camera includes this level of technology, image quality, and portability!”.
The highest DR from all Blackmagic cameras
The new Cinema Camera 6K’s sensor allows the capture of deeper colors, higher image detail, and a wider dynamic range between the brightest highlights and deepest shadows. “It’s the reason why feature films look so amazing and now you can get the same high-end production values for any kind of work. Imagine shooting with large format digital film on low-budget independent films, TV commercials, or even corporate video!” Blackmagic adds.
Full Frame Flexibility
The large full-frame sensor in Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K lets you work in a variety of film formats and aspect ratios without sacrificing quality! Using the full area of the sensor gives you a unique open gate 3:2 image which also lets you reframe your shots in post-production. The large sensor also lets you work in true 6:5 anamorphic without cropping, making widescreen cinematic images more detailed and in higher resolution than previously possible. You can even use the classic Super 35-sized window on the sensor to create an instant ‘close-up’ version of your shot that fits seamlessly with open gate footage. All of this lets you create distinctive cinematic content of the highest quality.
Next Generation L‑Mount
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K features an L-Mount, an advanced lens mount designed to accommodate full-frame sensors while ensuring compatibility with new and vintage lenses. With a large diameter of 51.6mm, L-Mount works with the latest full-frame lenses from manufacturers such as Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma. Plus, a very short flange distance of only 20mm means you can easily add adapters for a variety of lens mounts without impacting image quality.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) imagery
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K owns a 13 stops of dynamic range which means it preserves more detail in the lightest and darkest areas of an image than simple video cameras can. This allows you to set exposure for an indoor scene such as a cafe and still retain the details of bright outdoor light coming through a window. You also get more colors than the standard DCI-P3 colorspace used for feature films.
Dual Gain ISO
The Cinema Camera 6K features dual native ISO up to 25,600, which means it’s optimized to minimize grain or noise in images while maintaining the full dynamic range of the sensor. The native ISO of 400 is ideal for scenes with on-set lighting. The secondary high base ISO of 3200 is perfect when shooting in dimly lit environments. The gain is set automatically as you adjust the ISO setting, so it’s easy to capture great images when you don’t have time to set up lights.
Resolutions and frame rates
The camera can shoot in all standard resolutions and frame rates from HD up to DCI 4K and even 6K. You can even shoot stills at 24.6 megapixels! Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K will shoot up to 36 fps at 6048 x 4032 3:2 open gate or 60 fps at 6048 x 2520 2.4:1 and 60 fps at 4096 x 2160 4K DCI. For higher frame rates you can window the sensor and shoot up to 100 fps at 2112 x 1184 Super 16. You can even work in true anamorphic 6:5 at much higher resolutions than other cameras using anamorphic lenses in 4.8K 24 fps at 4838 x 4032. You can even shoot 120 fps in 1080HD.
Lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite
The elegant design of Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K packs an incredible number of high-end digital film features into a miniaturized, handheld design based on the Pocket Cinema Camera platform. Made from lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite, the camera has a multifunction handgrip with all controls for recording, ISO, WB, and shutter angle right at your fingertips. Because it’s an advanced digital film camera, the sensor is designed to reduce thermal noise allowing cleaner shadows and higher ISO. Plus the large 5″ LCD makes it possible to get perfect focus at 6K resolution. You also get a removable battery door, 4 shockproof microphones, a heavy-duty lens mount, and a built-in speaker.
Post-production-friendly file formats
Blackmagic Cinema Camera records in Blackmagic RAW to preserve control of detail, exposure, and color during post-production. It also records HD H.264 proxies in real time making it easy to share media. Blackmagic RAW is highly optimized, multi‑threaded, works across multiple CPU cores, and is also GPU accelerated to work with Apple Metal, CUDA, and OpenCL. Media files work on all operating systems plus you can format media cards and disks in HFS+ for Mac and ExFAT for Windows. Furthermore, the camera features a built-in CFexpress card recorder and a USB-C expansion port for recording directly to external flash media disks or an SSD. CFexpress media are more durable and faster than even older media so are perfect for recording full-resolution, 12-bit Blackmagic RAW files. You can capture over an hour of full-resolution 6K images on a single 256GB CFexpress card.
Wireless Bluetooth Camera Remote Control
If you’re positioning the camera on the end of a boom, or in another hard-to-reach location, you can get full control via Bluetooth from up to 30 feet away. You can download the Blackmagic Camera Control app for your iPad or use third-party apps such as Bluetooth+ or tRigger on your iOS and Android devices. There’s even a free developer SDK with sample code available from the Blackmagic Design developer website, so you can create your own remote camera control and digital slate solutions! Imagine building an app that can jam-sync timecode and trigger all cameras to record at the same time.
Price and availability
The price of the Cinema Camera 6K is $2,595 USD. We’ll post Product Buy links when it will become available for preorder.
Initial thoughts
Many filmmakers and video enthusiasts have been expecting this. A full-frame pocket-style camera from Blackmagic was a matter of time. Indeed, Grant Petty has stated that the company is working on something, and many readers assume that this is a full-frame camera. Well, here it is. And as usual, with a fantastic price tag. Now take that exceptional imagery of Blackmagic cameras, and imagine what the FF sensor can do with that excellent color science. The downside is that it has no NDs, still-style form factor, and only 13 stops of DR. Of course we’ll continue to write about this fascinating camera for sure as more films shot on it will pop up, so stay tuned. One more thing: This is the most affordable full-frame camera on the market. Just saying.
Product List
Here are the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera 6K
I can’t wait to get this camera. One thing I have noticed from shooting and coloring is that while some cameras get firmware boosts that add in camera functionality, however, Blackmagic is the only company that has the power to add image quality continually through resolve. I opened and re-graded some stuff I had shot 4.6 g2, there was considerably more control over braw, powerful gyro data stabilization, and new sliders for highlight and shadow roll-off. No other camera company has anything close to Resolve and thus the ability to squeeze every last drop of Image quality, I don’t think too many people who strictly shoot and don’t color appreciate this.