Blackmagic Design announces camera app for Android
New from Blackmagic Design is the Blackmagic Camera for Android, which adds digital film features and controls to Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones. Said to greatly improve the results customers can get so shots can be used for television and film production, it is based on the same operating system as Blackmagic Design’s digital film cameras. Support for Blackmagic Cloud allows creators to collaborate and share media with multiple editors and colourists around the world instantly. It is now available from Google Play, free of charge.
Blackmagic Camera unlocks the power of the phone by adding digital film camera controls and operating systems. Now customers can create the same cinematic ‘look’ as Hollywood feature films and get the same intuitive and user-friendly interface as Blackmagic Design’s cameras. This means they can adjust settings such as frame rate, shutter angle, white balance and ISO all in a single tap, or record directly to Blackmagic Cloud in industry standard files up to 8K. Recording to Blackmagic Cloud Storage lets customers collaborate on DaVinci Resolve projects with editors anywhere in the world, all at the same time.
Blackmagic Camera has all the controls users need to quickly setup and start shooting. Everything is interactive, so they can tap any item and instantly change settings without searching through confusing menus. The heads up display, or HUD, shows status and record parameters, histogram, focus peaking, levels, frame guides and more. Customers can shoot in 16:9 or vertical aspect ratios, plus they can shoot 16:9 while holding the phone vertically if they want to shoot unobtrusively. There are also tabs for media management including uploading to Blackmagic Cloud, chat and access to advanced menus.
The HUD has the most important camera controls such as lens selection, frame rate, shutter angle, timecode, ISO, white balance, tint, histogram and audio levels. Customers can adjust settings such as exposure by touching the ISO indicator, or they can change the audio levels simply by touching the audio meters. Everything is interactive, so if users tap any item they can instantaneously change its settings without having to search through complex menus.
The settings tab unlocks the full power of the phone’s camera, with quick access to advanced settings such as monitoring, audio, camera setup, recording and more. The record tab allows control over video resolution and recording format including space efficient H.264 and H.265. Professional audio options include VU or PPM audio meters. Blackmagic Camera also includes professional monitoring tools such as zebra settings for checking exposure, focus assist, frame guides and more.
Blackmagic Camera features a built-in chat workspace so Blackmagic Cloud project members can talk about shots and quickly share creative ideas, all without leaving the app. Simply log in to Blackmagic Cloud and select the project customers are working on and start typing a message.
The Blackmagic Camera media tab has all the controls needed to browse or scrub clips for quick review, search and sort and view the upload status of their media. Users can also link to their DCIM folder and select clips to upload to the Blackmagic Cloud. They can even sync media from Blackmagic Camera directly into a DaVinci Resolve project so users are ready to edit and colour grade.
Media management on Blackmagic Camera is said to be easy, with three options depending on location and mobile data coverage. Customers can record to their phone and transfer clips to a computer. This allows them to free up valuable storage space on their phone and share their files later to other users globally. They can also log into Blackmagic Cloud and select a DaVinci Resolve project before recording.
When shooting with Blackmagic Camera, the video captured can be instantly uploaded as a proxy file, followed by the camera originals, and saved to Blackmagic Cloud Storage. These will then automatically sync to all members of the project anywhere in the world. This means customers can start editing quickly using their proxies, speeding up their workflow. Media can be constantly added to the project by multiple cameras in different locations which is automatically synced to other project members via Blackmagic Cloud. Everyone can use the proxy media and the colourist or finisher can download the original high-res camera originals and render. It’s a fast, seamless and automatic way to collaborate.
“The Blackmagic Camera app for iPhone has been incredibly popular since it was launched last year,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “We are excited to be able to give customers with Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel phones the same controls for shooting digital film as our professional cameras. Plus, the Blackmagic Cloud workflow lets customers record to Blackmagic Cloud Storage and automatically sync with DaVinci Resolve. It’s really exciting to be able to give even more customers the ability to get their footage to the newsroom or post production studios in literally seconds.”