CCW 2015: Blackmagic Brings NAB, IBC Product Intros to NYC
Story Highlights
Blackmagic will demonstrate a number of products at CCW 2015, including DaVinci Resolve 12. First announced at NAB 2015, the professional editing and color correction software is now available for download from the Blackmagic Design website. The new DaVinci Resolve 12 is the software’s biggest update ever and includes incredible new features, making it both the world’s most powerful editor, as well as the world’s most advanced color grading system.
The free DaVinci Resolve 12 is a complete professional editing and color grading solution for individual editors working on SD, HD and Ultra HD projects. It features a familiar multi track timeline with context sensitive editing tools, realtime multi camera editing, asymmetric and dynamic trimming, a new mixer, audio plug-ins, keyframe animation with on screen motion paths, new media management tools and much more. Customers also get DaVinci’s legendary image processing and color correction which includes advanced primary and secondary color correction, Power Windows™, a new 3D tracker that follows objects as they move and change perspective over time, an incredible new 3D keyer and much more, all absolutely free.
The US$995 DaVinci Resolve 12 Studio includes many additional and powerful features needed by larger facilities. DaVinci Resolve 12 Studio adds temporal and spatial noise reduction, optical quality motion blur effects, support for multiple GPUs, DCI 4K, 3D stereoscopic tools, multi-user collaboration tools, remote rendering and much more.
Customers can get started with DaVinci Resolve 12 today for free and, once they start generating income from their creative work, they can upgrade to the extremely powerful DaVinci Resolve 12 Studio for only $995. Blackmagic Design believes this “free and paid upgrade” model is vastly superior to the “cloud” model for distributing software products because customers get to actually own and control their own systems.
URSA Mini B4 Mount
Introduced at IBC2015, the Blackmagic URSA Mini B4 Mount — a B4 lens mount modification for its new Blackmagic URSA Mini PL camera that lets it use broadcast HD lenses — will also be on display. Since URSA Mini’s launch at NAB, feedback from broadcasters has been overwhelmingly positive, and now they will also be able to use their existing high definition B4 broadcast lenses with Blackmagic URSA Mini.
The Blackmagic URSA Mini B4 Mount is designed to replace the existing PL lens mount on Blackmagic URSA Mini PL, turning it into a B4 camera for HD. To install the B4 mount, customers simply take the PL lens mount off where it is normally removed for shimming PL lenses and bolt on the B4 lens mount.
The Blackmagic URSA Mini B4 Mount is a true lens mount replacement that features precision glass optics specifically designed to match Blackmagic URSA Mini’s sensor with high definition broadcast B4 lenses. The B4 mount also features spherical aberration correction so customers can use their lenses wide open with no blooming effect. The Blackmagic URSA Mini B4 Mount can be used with both 4K and 4.6K PL models of URSA Mini.
Once the mount is installed, B4 lenses can be attached to the camera. Blackmagic URSA Mini PL also includes a new lens control connection that works with both PL and B4 lenses. This new connection supports both analog and digital lens control standards and also provides iris control and power for the lens.
The built in PL lens mount on URSA Mini PL can be changed to the B4 lens mount whenever needed, giving customers the flexibility to use URSA Mini with their existing B4 broadcast lenses for HD today, and with PL cinema lenses for Ultra HD and 4K tomorrow.
The Blackmagic URSA Mini B4 Mount turns URSA Mini PL into an incredible ENG style camera. Crafted from advanced technology magnesium alloy, URSA Mini is a rugged, yet extremely lightweight and well balanced shoulder mount camera that is comfortable enough to be used all day. There’s a 5” fold out monitor, complete technical scopes, professional audio recording, and dual ProRes recorders all built right in as well as the optional URSA Viewfinder and URSA Mini Shoulder Kit. With URSA Mini, news crews can shoot a story, mount the card on a computer in the van and begin editing immediately without having to convert files so they can get stories on air fast.
Blackmagic URSA Mini PL can be purchased with either a 4K or a 4.6K image sensor and features up to 15 stops of dynamic range. When used with high definition B4 lenses, URSA Mini shoots incredibly clear HD images that have massive dynamic range and look far better than the images from a traditional broadcast HD camera. Plus, broadcasters can use their URSA Mini PL with B4 lenses on one job and then switch back to PL lenses for another job.
Micro Studio Camera 4K
Rounding out the company’s CCW offerings is the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K, a tiny Ultra HD and HD studio camera for live production that delivers dramatically better quality than the biggest and most expensive studio cameras used today.
The Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and features an incredible quality, broadcast grade Ultra HD sensor that shoots with amazing clarity so customers can see more texture and detail in their images than ever before.
The new Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K can be used for both HD and Ultra HD production and features a built in color corrector, talkback, tally indicator, PTZ control output, B4 lens control output, and an extremely flexible MFT lens mount that is easily converted to other lens mounts via third party adapters.
When used for regular HD, the extra sensor resolution completely eliminates any color loss from the sensor’s bayer pattern so customers get full bandwidth RGB HD color and superior sub pixel anti-aliasing for amazing, fine detail HD images that look better than most of the bigger, more expensive cameras used in studios today.
The small size and completely open design of the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K makes it perfect for live multi camera production of reality TV shows, news magazines, sporting events, concerts and more. It’s virtually invisible and can be hidden just about anywhere on set, giving customers the ability to have more camera angles than ever before so they can create a more interesting program. They can be hidden on stage to get incredible shots of live performances or, because they’re so small, safely flown overhead during sporting events.
The Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K is engineered with a super tough magnesium alloy core in a body that’s not much larger than the lens mount itself. It’s compatible with affordable, high performance MFT lenses, or customers can add a B4 adapter to work with traditional broadcast lenses. The camera also features 6G-SDI output and a program return input that allows it to be controlled remotely from a switcher using Blackmagic’s SDI control protocol. This lets customers change camera settings, color balance, black levels, gamma, lens focus, iris, zoom and much more from any ATEM switcher.
There’s also a flexible, new expansion port that makes the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K perfect for remote use. The expansion port features multiple control connections such as a PTZ serial output connection that can be used with motorized heads and a B4 data link output for controlling broadcast lenses. Customers can even build their own camera control solutions using the S.Bus input. The expansion port uses a common DB-HD15 connector so customers can easily make their own cables or use the breakout cable that’s included. The expansion port also includes DC camera power in, LANC and reference input.