Blackmagic
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Progress in Small Steps: Camera and Lighting Technology Trends in 2023
Commercial theatrical projection for most folks is an afterthought. A DCP gets loaded into a playout server, sound levels checked, curtains adjusted, and everything is good to go. This testifies to the efficacy of the two-decade old DCP (Digital Cinema Package) container format. However, DCP adoption was not always smooth sailing. In 2009, a necessary DCP revamp complicated the industry’s transition away from 35mm. The original “Interop” specification, which had only been provisional, was superseded by a set of standardized specifications from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). Interop supported only one frame rate, 24 fps, but […]
by David Leitner on Dec 15, 2023 -
Indie Camera of the Year: Blackmagic Delivers Small in a Big Way
Since forever, I’ve gotten the question, “What camera should I buy?” This always comes from someone not in the market for an Alexa Mini or 8K RED, but instead something recent, capable, and cheap. Did I mention cheap? There’s no slam-dunk answer to this question, obviously, and never will be. No single camera is right for everybody or every situation. But among the wonderments of our 4K moment is the fact that virtually all 4K cameras make good pictures, taking into account their intended markets and price points. To wit, you only have to reach for that iPhone Pro in […]
by David Leitner on Dec 31, 2021 -
Resurrecting Old Films with New Technology Blackmagic Designs Products: The Movie that Wouldn’t Die
I loved shooting on film. Nothing was more exciting than the day of the telecine transfer—I finally got to see how the movie would look—but the day the bill was due, my attitude would always change. I hoped that one day the inflated price of the film transfer would come down to a realistic number that made sense. That day is now! My film making career started in the mid-1990s in Florida, around the same time digital was born. I can remember all my friends shooting on Mini-DV and nudging each other saying, “Check out how great the Canon XL-1 looks on TV. It […]
by Mark Terry on Jul 23, 2019 -
Color Grading with the Blackmagic Micro Panel
I’m a video editor, not a color grader, but for most projects I have to do my own color adjustments, and I’ve been using three-way color correction tools to manipulate video color since the days of Final Cut Pro 5. When you first start playing with a three-way color corrector it can be both fun and very disorienting. Small adjustments in color can look right at first, then look horribly wrong when compared to another scene. It can be easy to know what you want, but very hard sometimes to get “there.” In short, color correction is hard. It’s part […]
by Michael Murie on Aug 10, 2017 -
NAB 2017: The Interesting Stuff
Last week was the annual NAB show. Every year in April the film and television community comes together in Las Vegas to “ooh” and “ah” over the latest technology. With so much announced and demonstrated, here are the most interesting things I heard about: Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve 14. Blackmagic announced several new products, but the most interesting — once again — was a major update to DaVinci Resolve. Version 14, which is available now in beta, claims a number of performance enhancements that make it up to 10 times faster than the previous version. Resolve also has an entirely new audio […]
by Michael Murie on May 1, 2017 -
Blackmagic NYC: Shiny Happy People
My biggest takeaway from this year’s New York Blackmagic Event is that the people at Blackmagic are really, really happy. I could dive into a detailed rundown of all the tech specs of their latest products, most of which are easily available online, but, honestly, having gone to this event for the past three years, the most important thing I got from it all was the tone. After five years of hard work, they know they’re nearing the point where it all comes together. Over the next several months, we’ll see the releases of Da Vinci Resolve 12, Fusion for […]
by Jamie Stuart on Jul 23, 2015 -
Digital Motion Picture Cameras in 2015: The Dust Settles
Have you heard? The United Nations designated 2015 the “International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies,” and cinematography made the cut. But is IYL 2015 finally the year in which the dam burst of innovation subsides, and new digital cameras and techniques no longer threaten to drown us? Surveying the latest advances in large-sensor digital cinema cameras for Filmmaker’s fifth annual round-up — written, as always, on the eve of NAB — gives me pause to consider how far we’ve come in the five years since Sony’s F3 and FS100 were cutting-edge… since Panasonic’s AF100 stirred passions, ARRI’s Alexa represented a bold choice, and RED’s hand-assembled Epic-M […]
by David Leitner on Apr 28, 2015 -
The Blackmagic Production Camera and Pocket Camera: A Review
I’ve been shooting exclusively with Blackmagic cameras for the past year. Their three primary offerings, the 1080p Pocket Cinema Camera, the 2.5K Cinema Camera, and the 4K Production Camera, to my mind, are the most practical low-cost/high-quality cameras currently available for DIY filmmakers. Are they perfect? No. In fact, many people prefer going with the Panasonic GH4, the new low-light sensation Sony a7S, or even the Canon 5D Mark III. The truth is, there is no perfect camera, just personal preference. There’s always been a specific camera at a specific time that works best for me. In the prehistoric age […]
by Jamie Stuart on Sep 2, 2014
