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The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K Has Dual ISO, HDR, And Much More For $1295

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I’m currently at Blackmagic’s press conference at NAB 2018, waiting for all of the official new announcements to be made momentarily. As expected, the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K is about to be unveiled, and based on the description and pricing of the product, there is a lot to be excited about.

$1295 for a MFT cinema camera that has dual ISO (up to ISO 25,600) and records to CFast or SD cards, sounds pretty amazing. The built in 5” monitor tells us the camera body will be larger than the previous pocket cam, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to anyone, especially given the larger sensor size in this camera too. I have to wonder if it’s a similar sensor to the original BMCC, as the sensor size and dynamic range (13 stops) sounds quite familiar.

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Noam Kroll is an award-winning Los Angeles based filmmaker, and the founder of the boutique production house, Creative Rebellion. His work can be seen at international film festivals, on network television, and in various publications across the globe. Follow Noam on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more content like this!

18 Comments

  • Oliver Olsen
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    Noam, this is an amazing resource (your blog), thank so much for what you put there! I would get this new Blackmagic right now if it was available – unfortunately only coming out in September here in Toronto. I’m shooting a feature this summer (I’m the director, not the DP) … but wanted to know what camera you would recommend to buy akin to the Blackmagic features. I am looking to do this ultra with ultra small crew, guerilla style: good camera, lav mics, a few flags, practical lights. What do you think?

    Reply
    • Noam Kroll
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      Congrats on getting your feature off the ground, Oliver! Have you considered the original pocket camera? Or the micro cinema camera? They would need to be rigged up a bit, but could work well for your needs.

      Reply
  • Ben
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    This looks like the ideal companion cam to my Ursa mini pro, as it’s light enough to be used with a small gimbal. What I wonder though is if the width and center of gravity would fit a standard gimbal such as my Zhyun Crane 2. Any idea?

    Reply
    • Martin Treacy
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      Ben, I’ve heard from some other online sources that the width could well be a problem with a standard gimbal. Because of the five inch screen (one of the great strengths of this camera – you’re effectively getting a monitor you would previously have to have purchased and attached separately, built in), it is unusually wide. So there could well be issues about which gimbals it will be able to fit in.

      Do we have accurate measurements available for the camera yet? If so, presumably it would be possible to check with the gimbal width requirements. Though also possible I guess they may not quite have finalized the exact measurements, as the final production version will be in a different material from these prototypes.

      I don’t know about centre of gravity – though the point I make above (that the final version will be in a different -lighter- material) means that we probably can’t know for sure at this point.

      Reply
    • Noam Kroll
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      Good question – I haven’t used the Crane 2 myself, but this camera is bigger than you might expect… Especially given it’s name. If you plan to do a lot of gimbal work, I would definitely look into this in more detail before making a purchase.

      Reply
  • Johnny R
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    Could you please explain a little about the loss of quality when recording at 1080p at 120fps?

    This is something I already use a bit with my GH4 and I am looking at this camera as a possible alternative to purchasing a GH5.

    Thank you very much!

    Reply
    • Noam Kroll
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      Hi Johnny – I haven’t shot with the camera yet myself, so it’s hard to comment on the quality from real world experience. That said, I would have to assume 120fps will likely be higher resolution and have fewer artifacts when compared to the GH5… We will see soon enough though!

      Reply
  • Martin Treacy
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    Very much looking forward to hearing your further thoughts on this camera.

    Reply
  • Susan
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    Thank you! Excellent update info!

    Reply
  • david
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    what does dual iso mean for this camera? does it mean less noise even though dynamic range is supposedly the same as the original bmpcc?

    Reply
    • rob
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      dual iso means that it has a native iso in one setting (like 200) and another base iso for lower light perhaps (like 800) like the panny.

      Reply
    • Noam Kroll
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      Exactly. The image qualities should virtually be identical (or very similar), so if you need to shoot at a higher ISO you aren’t losing color information or dynamic range.

      Reply
  • Marty Bleazard
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    They got a lot of things right, especially the price point. This thing could be a killer, I wonder if there are any anamorphic options?

    Reply
    • Noam Kroll
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      Agreed! With respect to anamorphic, I imagine many will use 1.33x lenses with this camera.

      Reply

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