Blackmagic Design launches two new full-frame cine cameras at NAB 2024
Blackmagic Design is announcing its new line-up of products for ahead of the NAB trade show - and we are here to report on what the Australian professional video gear specialists have in store. You can watch the whole presentation, which lasted over two hours, on the YouTube link below.
Key announcements were:
• A new flagship cinema camera - the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K. This has been built from the ground up with a new full-frame sensor offering 16-stops of dynamic range, and offers much more adaptability than has been possible with previous Ursa model. It uses an Arri PL mount - but ships with a Canon EF mount if that's what you prefer. It has 8 terabytes built-in as standards. It will cost $14,995.
• A new box camera - the Blackmagic PYXIS 6K. An interesting thing about this full-frame cine camera is that it is available with three different lens mounts - L-mount, Canon EF mount, or the industry-standard PL mount. It has dual CFexpress Type B card slots, and can record in Blackmagic RAW. It will cost $2,995, including DaVinci Resolve 19.
• Major updates to the DaVinci Resolve 19 video-editing software. A summary of the main ones is:
Ability to edit timeline content based on source clip transcription.
AI-powered UltraNR noise reduction for spatial denoising
Film Look Creator
AI Defocus Background isolates foreground with blur
Also , dropped in almost as an aside in the 20 new hardware products announcements, Grant Petty told us that they are working on an URSA Cine 17K - which will have a massive 65mm sensor with 17,520x8,040 pixels designed for shooting IMAX. The camera would use the larger LPL and Hasselblad lens mounts.
The live stream of the press conference started for those in Los Angeles at 9 AM PDT, in New York at 12 PM EDT, in London at 5 PM BST on April 12 – and in Sydney at 2 AM AEST on April 13.
The NAB 2024 exhibition kicks off in Las Vegas this weekend - running from April 13-17 - and as usual we expect Blackmagic Design to bring us a range of product announcements. In its teaser, it says, "Join us to learn what's new in broadcast, post-production, and cameras!".
Blackmagic is highly secretive, and unlike most other camera manufacturers, new products rarely leak ahead of its online press conferences—and as such, we don't really know what we have in store. But let's hope for new additions to its Ursa and Pocket Cinema Camera ranges and to its highly regarded video editing software, DaVinci Resolve.
Last year, the company announced its first full-frame L-mount camera the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K - and as a member of the L-mount Alliance, it will be interesting if it launches more camera using this lens mount that it also used by Panasonic, Leica and Sigma for some of its cameras.
Are you all set for the Blackmagic announcements - the music is playing, and the YouTube link (above) is now live…
Sadly, Blackmagic has disable comments on the YouTube page - so we can't report on what everyone is wanting to see. However, over 2,500 viewers are currently online, and that is going up as we type...
And we are off… with a rundown of some of the movies Blackmagic gear has been involved with. So great films there…
Some big camera news! So that will be the highlight - as we had hoped... But that will doubtlessly come at the end of the video, so stay patient
First up a new VideoHub router using 12G SDI
$12,995
Shipping in about five weeks
Next up...
ATEM 2 M/E Constellation 4K - adds an Ultra HD model to Blackmagic's range of video production switchers.
$3,795
Next…
ATEM 1 M/E Constellation 4K
Another switcher - for HD and Ultra HD
$1,795 and available now
New low-cost studio switcher is up next for desktop use with software control…
ATEM Micro Panel
$675
Available in July
Blackmagic says it want SMPE 2110 to be available to more people...
so has come up with a new codec Blackmagic IP10 Codec to make it easier for use
But also has a family of converters so that you can bring 2110 into your workflow
Now a studio monitor with 2110 compatibility, for use in rack systems.
$1265 - same price as previous model, coming in next few weeks
Next some news on DaVinci Resolve 19
AI tools
There's a really neat audio editing feature where the speech is captured as text, and then you can edit the video by simply removing that section of dialogue
7 channel color mixing
Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Skintone - each color can be adjusted individually
New film look creator panel
A defocus background feature uses AI to throw things in the distance out of focus
AI Music Remixer allows you to change music to mke it fit your video better - turning a song into an instrumental
Another neat effect is being demonstrated that makes it easier to pan the audio across the sound field to match the action.
New features in the Cut page - allowing it to catch up with advances Blackmagic has made to live video capture that are made possible with Blackmagic Cloud. This work was apparently slowed down by having to rewrite DaVinci to allow for Apple's M1, M2, and M3 chips.
DaVinci Resolve Replay Editor
costs $495
New live video editing console for DaVinci, offering improvements over the existing Speed Editor
Allows you to synchronize two videos you are using using the timecode, putting them in the right relative position on the editing timeline
We are an hour into the presentation now - and we are still expecting a big camera announcement (in fact, that's what we have been promised).
Lots of new DaVinci Resolve 19 updates - all available for free, which is pretty good news
At last the cameras…
First, we get the Ursa Cine 12.
This is an money-no-object version of the existing Ursa Mini Pro 12K - but with a totally redesigned body to make it more suitable to high-end movie makers, who need a fully-modifiable set-up.
Most importantly, it has a newly designed - and bigger - 12K full-frame sensor.
It has a PL-mount as standard, but comes supplied with a Canon EF-mount plate.
This is a serious beast - and apologetically they say that its price is to match. But for what we can see, we think the $14,995 asking price is pretty reasonable - and comes supplied in a Peli case. It will be available from April - but only to selected partners, so not expect to see it available online for a while.
A kit with the new electronic viewfinder (one of a number of accessories that are being made for this camera) will cost $16,500.
Next it is more portable models, and it is a box camera
The PYXIS 6k camera has a full-frame open-gate. sensor, with a 13-stop dynamic range. Made from aircraft-grade aluminum. Records to two hot-swappable CFexpress Type B memory cards.
The asking price starts at $2,995. There are three different models - L-mount, EF-mount or (the more expensive) PL-mount. It will go on sale from June.
Next, we get the DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel with three trackballs that can connect to your computer via Bluetooth, and has a slot to hold an iPad, if you are editing on a tablet. It costs $495 and is available now.
And now we get the news that Blackmagic gets an immediate $200 dollar price reduction on both the 3G and 12G Blackmagic Video Assist lineup. So that makes the 5inch 3G model just $325 - which is pretty impressive for a on-camera monitor.
