Blackmagic 4K Cinema Camera Drops $1,000!

As I said, Blackmagic has been doing a damn fine job of competing with itself. The Cinema Camera, the Pocket CC, and the 4K CC are amazing products with amazing abilities at amazing prices. Have I mentioned how amazing they are?

But true competition is always good. It keeps markets active and alive. So it goes with the GH4. If everything holds up, the GH4 will be Panasonic's best camera since the GF1, released those many moons ago. It is competitive. And boy howdy, has Blackmagic responded. They have officially launched and priced the 4K Cinema Camera and it comes in a full $1,000 lower than it was originally set, at a drool-worthy $3,000.

I doubt that this is because of efficiencies in manufacturing. I think that is because the GH4 is a good product. Indeed, we can take this as an endorsement from Panasonic's direct competition that the GH4 is a good product and one worthy of our attention.

The videography market just got real exciting, real quick.

Blackmagic Blows Away Everyone Else... AGAIN

I haven't had much time to write recently, but this could not be passed up.

About a year ago, Blackmagic announced the Cinema Camera. It offered unparalleled technology for one-fifth what other companies were charging. It was a game-changing camera and even now, Blackmagic corp. is unable to meet demand for its wonder-product.

Well, right after Panasonic decided to charge far more than it should have for the GH3; right after Canon released even more wildly overpriced crap; right after Nikon released a camera with awful video yet again; right after all of that, Blackmagic has done it again. Twice.

Blackmagic is releasing the not-unexpected 4K camera. What was a surprise was the time -- less than a year after the first camera -- and the global shutter. A 4K, global shutter, for $3999. Holy. Fucking. Shit. Canon can take its hyper-expensive C-Series of cameras and shove them were the sun don't shine.

The camera does lose a stop of dynamic range in the switch to the new shutter, but I remember reading that global shutter designs had a number of significant considerations that negatively affected other elements of the sensor, most notably in noise. I'm assuming that this is the reason for the loss. Frankly, it doesn't matter. One could purchase both cameras for less than the cost of a RED or Arri camera.

Perhaps the more exciting revelation is Blackmagic's compact, 1080p video camera undoubtedly aimed at competing with the Panasonic GH3. It has an active Micro 4/3 mount, does ProRes, and uses the same sensor as the original BMCC but employs a crop.

I say that this is the more exciting announcement because it appeals to a far larger demographic and is, I think, the more disruptive piece of technology. Currently, all camera companies are desperate to keep anything high-end away from their more entry-level pieces of technology, no matter how easy it would be to implement. They're doing this to service what's know as artificial segmentation.

There are many aspects to this process, but the end result as far as the consumer is concerned is that companies do not make the best product they can make. They make a product that fits into their catalog of products and thus forces customers to spend more than they should for certain features.

Blackmagic has come out of nowhere and completely schooled the entire industry in less than a year. This is what happens when an industry ossifies and becomes conservative and greedy. When true innovation comes along, it is such a stunning breath of fresh air that it creates an instant star. And that's what we have here -- a star. Blackmagic is going to be one of the industry's biggest players in the next five years. I guarantee it.

Trust Me, You Want The Blackmagic Cinema Camera

One River Media has produced a stunning example of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera's abilities. It's going up against the Canon 5D Mark III, which in comparison to most of today's digital cameras comes out looking pretty poorly, but even in the ways the the Canon is usually very strong, the BMCC comes out on top. In low-light performance, the BMCC does very well, and its dynamic range leaves the large-chipped Canon in the freaking dust. Truly, the stunning clarity of the sensor makes me want to write a movie and film it just so I have an excuse to use this camera.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what innovation looks like.


Comparing the Cinema Camera & 5D Mk III from OneRiver Media on Vimeo.

Blackmagic Shows How It's Done

Blackmagic, a company of which I knew nothing until this morning, has dropped an absolute BOMB onto the world of video production. There is no way to say this without sounding like hyperbole, but the entire video production industry, both pro and amateur, has just been turned on its head. This is bigger than the release of the 5D Mark II. This is a paradigm shift.

How can I possibly justify the exaltation? Well just look at what this is. It is a camera, capable of true 2.5K resolution, with a global shutter, a gargantuan dynamic range, and connectivity and design aimed squarely at the professional... for $3,000. It leaves everyone else at that price so far behind as to make them seem like toys. Even cameras that cost two, three, four times as much do not have what this camera has.

After Canon disappointed with its arrogant and cynical creation of its Cinema cameras, I had grown despondent at the thought that the next few years of video cameras were going to be stagnant, held down by corporate arrogance and greed.

But no. I should have had confidence. Like so many areas in the world of technology, a company comes out of nowhere to drive innovation forward, and drive the stagnant, grotesque, old guard out of business. It is a revolution.

I think that Panasonic could have been this revolution with their GH2 and FS100, but like so many big companies, they didn't just drop the ball, they actively chose to not even pick it up. For amateur video, the GH2 remains my hands-down favorite, but for a step up, ignore everything that Canon is making. Ignore RED. Ignore Sony. This is your camera.

As EOS-HD posted a few days ago,

This camera will be hot… It will sell out instantly. It will get hyped to death.

Boy, will it.