A 6K, Super 35, BRAW, EF lens mount, tiny little powerhouse.
Last April, Blackmagic Design announced the 4K Micro 4/3″ update to their popular Super 16 Pocket Cinema Camera. This month, Blackmagic has announced the 6K version upgraded with a Super 35 sensor and a bayonet EF lens mount. The new camera records Blackmagic RAW for full sensor and windowed sensor formats, as well as different flavors of ProRes for scaled formats. Using BRAW the Pocket 6K records 6K, 6K 2.40:1 (Cinemascope), 5.7K and 2.8K 17:9, plus 3.7K anamorphic.
My gripe is with the EF mount. Sure, we’re stuck with EF because that’s the mount of choice for a lot of photographers-turned-cinematographers and the Pocket Cinema Camera line is directly aimed at that demographic. Why use your Canon DSLR when you can use a proper video camera? It makes business sense, and I get it. It’s just too bad because I would have preferred at least a locking-lever EF mount to prevent wobble whilst racking focus or zoom. Of course, a user-replaceable mount would have been ideal, but I’m sure Blackmagic doesn’t want the Pocket to compete with their own Ursa Mini line.
I opined that the Pocket 4K was a winner last year. My thoughts on the upgraded 6K version are the same, albeit with shallower depth of field. I wound up not purchasing a Pocket 4K, and I might not purchase a 6K, either, but I do think Blackmagic aiming for an affordable, tiny, 6K Super 35 camera that records raw internally, priced around $2,500 USD, is one hell of an industry-disrupting move. This will undoubtedly force the other digital motion picture camera manufacturers to change some of their upcoming plans.