Blackmagic Design has always pushed the boundaries, both with the design of and the technology found within their cameras and the new Pocket Cinema Camera 4K announced at NAB Show this week continues this trend.
Looking like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (PCC-4K) features a stunning all black, carbon fibre poly-carbonate composite body that quite simply put, looks like nothing else currently on the market.
The PCC-4K is still small when compared to other cinema cameras, but with the redesigned body it’s larger than the original and that’s a good thing.
The Micro Four Thirds lens mount, means that the PPC4K can accommodate any existing Blackmagic lenses they may have. It also allows for different lens adapters for PL, C and EF mount lenses from manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Leica and Panavision.
On the outside, the reconfigured body features a larger 5-inch touchscreen display than the originals 3.5-Inch one, making it easier to frame your shots and more accurately focus.
The touchscreen utilizes the same Blackmagic OS as found on the URSA Mini and using simple taps and swipes allows you to adjust settings, add metadata and view the recording status. On-screen overlays will also display recording parameters, status, histogram, focus and peaking indicators as well as playback controls.
On the side, you have a full-sized HDMI port, mini-XLR input with 48 volts of phantom power for connecting pro microphones, a 3.5mm audio jack, headphone jack and locking DC 12 volt power connection and a new USB-C expansion port allowing for direct recording to an external SSD or flash disk. There are also 4 built in low noise floor microphones placed around the camera body.
Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty…
The PCC4K features a full-sized Four Thirds HDR sensor with a native 4096 x 2160 resolution capable of 13-stops of dynamic range and dual native ISO up to 25600 ISO for better low light performance.
The PCC4K also supports 10-bit ProRes or 12-bit RAW recording, 3D LUTs can also be applied for both monitoring and recording and it uses Blackmagic’s fourth generation colour science allowing users to shot HDR images in film, video and new extended video modes.
Images are recorded onto standard SD cards, faster UHS-II cards or CFast 2.0 cards in either ProRes of RAW formats. 4K footage is recorded at up to 60 fps and windowed HD footage can be captured at up to 120fps.
If so inclined, you can also record your footage to an external USB-C connected drive which eliminates the need to transfer files to another device before editing.
One feature that the PCC4K does lack is in-body stabilization. Now this probably isn’t a big deal for most as you can stick a lens with built-in stabilization on it, or simply mount the body on a stabilizing gimbal or tripod, but it might be a deal breaker for some who like to shoot with as little gear as possible.
In conclusion, we ask, is this camera for everyone?
No, probably not. But it will be appealing to those who are looking for an ultra portable, 4K camera with a ton of features that won’t necessarily break their bank accounts.
