Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K
IBC 2023, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Friday, September 15, 2023 – Blackmagic Design today announced the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, a new high end digital film camera with a full frame 6K sensor, 13 stops of dynamic range, L-Mount lens mount and dual native ISO up to 25,600 for incredible low light performance and recording to CFexpress cards. This new model features a massive 24 x 36mm 6K sensor, allowing for large format cinema camera image quality in a portable, lightweight body. Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K also uses an L-Mount for lenses which works with a wide range of new and vintage lenses for a wider range of creative choices. Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is available immediately from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for US$2,595.
The Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design IBC 2023 booth #7.C49.
The new Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is an extremely high end digital film camera that produces precise skin tones and rich organic colors. The camera features a massive full frame 24 x 36mm 6K sensor with wide dynamic range, a very flexible L-Mount for lenses and a built in optical low pass filter that’s custom designed to match the sensor. Customers also get fast CFexpress media and the camera can even use Pocket Cinema Camera accessories. When customers are doing cloud and mobile work, the camera records both deep bit depth Blackmagic RAW and H.264 proxies at the same time. No other camera includes this level of technology, image quality and portability.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K features a massive full frame sensor with a native resolution of 6048 x 4032. That’s almost three times larger than a Super 35 sensor and allows customers to shoot with a shallow depth of field or to use anamorphic lenses uncropped for a true cinematic look. Whether users are shooting in bright sunlight or in almost no light at all, the 13 stops of dynamic range with dual native ISO up to 25,600 provide stunning low noise images in all lighting conditions. Plus customers can shoot up to 36 fps at full sensor resolution or 120 fps windowed.
The large full frame sensor in Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K lets customers work in a variety of film formats and aspect ratios without sacrificing quality. Using the full area of the sensor gives customers a unique open gate 3:2 image which also lets customers reframe their shots in post production. The large sensor also lets customers work in true 6:5 anamorphic without cropping, making widescreen cinematic images more detailed and in higher resolution than previously possible. Customers can even use the classic Super 35 sized window on the sensor to create an instant ‘close up’ version of their shot that fits seamlessly with open gate footage. All this lets customers create distinctive cinematic content in the highest quality.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K can shoot in all standard resolutions and frame rates from HD up to DCI 4K and even 6K. Customers can even shoot stills at 24.6 megapixels. Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K will shoot up to 36 fps at 6048 x 4032 3:2 open gate or 60 fps at 6048 x 2520 2.4:1 and 60 fps at 4096 x 2160 4K DCI. For higher frame rates customers can window the sensor and shoot up to 100 fps at 2112 x 1184 Super 16. Customers can even work in true anamorphic 6:5 at much higher resolutions than other cameras using anamorphic lenses in 4.8K 24 fps at 4838 x 4032. Customers can even shoot 120 fps in 1080HD.
The Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K features a built in CFexpress card recorder, and a USB-C expansion port for recording direct to external flash media disks or an SSD. CFexpress media are more durable and faster than even older media so are perfect for recording full resolution, 12-bit Blackmagic RAW files. Imagine capturing over an hour of full resolution 6K images on a single 256GB CFexpress card.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K features a large, bright 5 inch HDR touchscreen that makes it easy for customers to frame shots and accurately focus, whatever the conditions. On screen overlays show status and record parameters, histogram, focus peaking indicators, levels, frame guides and more. Customers can quickly apply 3D LUTs for monitoring shots with the desired color and look. The LCD monitor can even be tilted up to 180 degrees flat and down to 47 degrees so it’s easy to monitor their shot from virtually any position. Plus, its HDR display features 1500 nits of brightness, so customers can always frame their shot, even in bright sunlight.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K supports an optional viewfinder to make outdoors and handheld shooting accurate and easy. Customers get an integrated high quality 1280 x 960 color OLED display with built in proximity sensor, 4 element glass diopter for incredible accuracy with a wide -4 to +4 focus adjustment. The EVF is extremely easy to connect to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K as it simply mounts on top of the camera with a single screw.
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K uses high capacity NP-F570 batteries. A locking DC power connector is used so customers won’t have to worry about losing power during a shoot. Plus the included AC plug pack can power the camera or charge the battery when the camera is not in use. Even the USB-C expansion port can trickle charge the battery, so customers can use portable battery packs, mobile phone chargers or laptops. The optional battery grip lets customers add extra batteries to dramatically extend the power of the camera so customers can keep shooting all day.
“With the new Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, we wanted to create the most portable camera possible for high end, large format cinematography,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “That’s why we took the Pocket Cinema Camera platform but completely re-engineered the electronics inside around a full frame sensor and L-Mount. This means our customers get amazing large format images in an extremely portable design that also works with the accessories they already own. The L-Mount also opens up some amazing creative options like using the latest Leica lenses or using vintage lenses customers already own in an entirely new way. This is a true high end cinema camera designed for high end work and we think it gives our customers a whole new way to tell their stories!”
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Features
- 36 x 24mm full frame 6K 6048 x 4032 sensor.
- Open gate 3:2, full height 6:5 anamorphic and Super 35 for creating cinematic content.
- L-Mount compatible with a wide range of still photography and cinema lenses.
- Records full resolution up to 36 fps or 120 fps windowed.
- Extremely fast CFexpress card recording.
- Adjustable, HDR 1500 nit LCD screen.
- Optional Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Pro EVF.
- Larger NP-F570 battery, optional Blackmagic Pocket Camera Battery Pro Grip.
Availability and Price
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is available now for US$2,595, excluding local duties and taxes, from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.
Press Photography
Product photos of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, as well as all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images.
