Blackmagic Design launches Blackmagic Studio Cameras
Blackmagic Design has unveiled a new family of Blackmagic Studio Cameras for live production. The compact all-in-one design is intended to help live production customers who need cameras with professional features that are also fast to set up on location.
Blackmagic Studio Cameras have the same features as large studio cameras, miniaturised into a single compact and portable design. Plus, with digital film camera dynamic range and colour science, the cameras are said to be able to handle difficult lighting conditions while producing cinematic looking images. The sensor features an ISO up to 25,600 so customers can create images even in dimly lit venues. Advanced features include talkback, tally, camera control, built in colour corrector, Blackmagic RAW recording to USB disks and more.
While the Blackmagic Studio Camera is designed for live production, it’s not limited to use with a live switcher. That’s because it records Blackmagic RAW to USB disks, so it can be used in any situation where customers use a tripod. The 7in viewfinder makes it suitable for work such as chat shows, television production, broadcast news, sports, education and conference presentations. The large bright display with side handles, touchscreen and physical controls is designed to make it easy to track shots while being comfortable to use for long periods of time. The touchscreen has menus for camera settings and there’s knobs for brightness, contrast and focus peaking. A tripod mount with mounting plate is included for fast setup.
The Blackmagic Studio Camera features gain from -12dB (100 ISO) up to +36dB (25,600 ISO) so it’s optimised to reduce grain and noise in images, while maintaining the full dynamic range of the sensor. The gain can be set from the camera or remotely from a switcher using the SDI or Ethernet remote camera control.
The 4K sensor combined with Blackmagic generation 5 colour science gives customers the same imaging technology used in digital film cameras. The colour corrector can even be controlled from the switcher. The sensor features a resolution of 4096 x 2160 which is suitable for both HD and Ultra HD work. Plus, all models support from 23.98fps up to 60fps.
With the MFT lens mount, Blackmagic Studio Cameras are compatible with a wide range of photographic lenses.
The Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro model has SDI connections that include talkback so the switcher operator can communicate with cameras during live events. That means the director can talk to the camera operators to guide shot selection, eliminating the problem where all cameras could have the same shot at the same time. The talkback connector is built into the side of the camera and supports standard 5-pin XLR broadcast headsets.
All models feature HDMI with tally, camera control and record trigger. Customers also get headphone and mic connections, and two USB-C expansion ports. The advanced Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro model is designed for broadcast workflows so has 12G-SDI, 10GBASE-T Ethernet, talkback and balanced XLR audio inputs. The 10G Ethernet allows all video, tally, talkback and camera power via a single connection, so setup is faster. The Blackmagic Studio Converter handles all video conversions at the switcher end plus adds power to the Ethernet cable. That means customers don’t need to connect power to the camera.
The Blackmagic Studio Camera features a high speed USB-C expansion port that allows customers to record to external disks or connect to a wide range of accessories. Plug in an external USB flash disk and the camera can record high quality 12-bit Blackmagic RAW files for later editing and colour correction. That means customers can just move the disk to a computer to work and customers don’t need to waste time with file copying. Plus the USB port will power any phone or disk that’s plugged in.
The cameras also include built in microphones that are shock and wind resistant. There’s also a 3.5mm audio input for connecting video camera microphones as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The Pro model features two-channel balanced XLR inputs that support +24 dBu line level and have an ultra low noise microphone preamplifier with P48 phantom power alongside an equivalent input noise (E.I.N.) of -131 dBV(A). That’s followed by two 117dB high dynamic range analogue to digital converters. This means any microphone plugged into the XLR inputs will have a higher level of noise than the camera’s audio.
“These new studio cameras are built on all the knowledge and customer feedback from the original Blackmagic Studio Cameras,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “These new models are a big step forward and they have been designed to be high-end cameras, not entry-level cameras. They might be small and self contained, but the features such as the built in 10G Ethernet, low light capability and professional viewfinder design make them very high-end cameras for high-end work!”