contentsfull screen
printcontentsfull screenprint4 VIDEOMAKER >>> APRIL 2019
T
he Blackmagic Pocket Cinema
Camera 4K is a fantastic camera.
It shoots beautiful DCI 4K RAW video,
has an easy to use menu and costs
only $1,300.
With the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K,
you can record in either CinemaDNG
RAW or ProRes to SD, Cfast 2.0 or
external media. The camera offers dual
native ISO for less noise at higher ISOs,
and it can capture up to 120 frames per
second in windowed HD mode.
If you’re not blown away at those
specs, your expectations are too high.
The camera isn’t perfect, but what can
you expect for a $1,300 camera? Re-
member that mantra, “What can you
expect for $1,300?”
It’s a common re-
action to its flaws.
The Pocket Cin-
ema Camera 4K is
the second cam-
era in the Pocket
Cinema line. The
original Pocket
Cinema Camera
shoots resolu-
tions up to HD in
RAW or ProRes
and did actually
fit in some larger
pockets, though
not with a lensby Chris MonluxValue, flaws and
4K RAW
Blackmagic
Pocket Cinema
Camera 4K
Blackmagic Design
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/STRENGTHS- Extremely Affordable DCI 4K
CinemaDNG Raw at 24fps - Simple Menu operation
WEAKNESSES- Short Battery Life
- High Cost of Media
- Clunky Exterior Design
SUMMARY
The Blackmagic Design Pocket Cin-
ema 4K shoots 4K RAW and costs
$1,300. But the cost of accessories
and some major flaws might out-
weigh its good value.RECOMMENDED USERS- Narrative Filmmaking
- Corporate and Event Videography
- Marketing Video Production
attached. This new camera, on the
other hand, wouldn’t fit in a giant’s
pocket. It’s a big, clunky camera.
The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has
a 5-inch touchscreen and the industry-
leading menu and operating system,
the Blackmagic OS. Its form-factor is
that of a mirrorless hybrid video/photo
camera, but, ironically, it doesn’t shoot
photos. The first reaction from this re-
viewer is that it’s just plain ugly. Luck-
ily, the picture quality is much prettier
than the physical design.The Hard Truths
The long list of amazing features on
this camera is matched with a list of$1,
REVIEW
flaws that is just as mind-blowing,
from the poor design of the battery
door — which could leave the battery
on the floor — to the port covers that
are a fight to replace once uncovered.
Add in its abysmal battery life, and
you have a camera that’s more diffi-
cult to operate that you would expect.
The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K‘s
biggest flaw, however, is its inability
to actually capture the top resolution
and frame rate of DCI 4K at 60fps in
CinemaDNG RAW, which Blackmagic
Design touts at the top of the camera’s
spec sheet. There is no media cur-
rently available that can keep up with
the data rate. Despite this, you can
still select the record mode — it just
won’t work. The fact that it can even
be selected is a significant oversight
from Blackmagic Design. It begs the
question: If the camera can’t capture
it, why is it offered in the first place? Is
this a case of future-proofing or pad-
ding the spec sheet?
Another thing to note is that the
camera will try to capture to any media
you put in it. Using slower-than-rec-
ommended media can lead to dropped
frames, but on the other hand, older
and more affordable media can be used
at settings with lower data rates.
If you plan to shoot in RAW, the
data rate can be up to 272 megabytes
per second. That’s some serious
data creation, working out to over
16 gigabytes per minute. At that data
rate, a 64GB card will capture just 4
minutes of video. Looking at the list
of supported media, 4 minutes of
capture will cost a minimum of $
for an SDXC card or $155 for a Cfast
2.0 card. A 512 GB Cfast 2.0 card will
set you back at least $530 and will get
you a little over 31 minutes of record
time in RAW.
The lowest cost per gig is a larger
capacity SSD. For about $150, you
can get an SSD that will capture for 15
minutes at the highest data rate. Outside
of having to secure the media, external
SSDs are a great lower cost option. All
you do is plug them in via USB 3.1 and
you are ready to format and shoot; it’s
really easy.Large rear display383 R02 BMD Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.indd 4 2/19/19 2:36 PMVIDEOMAKER >>> APRIL 2019 5
attached. This new camera, on the
other hand, wouldn’t fit in a giant’s
pocket. It’s a big, clunky camera.
The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has
a 5-inch touchscreen and the industry-
leading menu and operating system,
the Blackmagic OS. Its form-factor is
that of a mirrorless hybrid video/photo
camera, but, ironically, it doesn’t shoot
photos. The first reaction from this re-
viewer is that it’s just plain ugly. Luck-
ily, the picture quality is much prettier
than the physical design.The Hard Truths
The long list of amazing features on
this camera is matched with a list ofcamera affordable. If you want a larger
sensor, this isn’t the camera for you.
With the right lenses, however, there
isn’t much lost from the sensor size.
Consider this: MFT lenses will set you
back about half of what you would
pay for a similar full frame lens.
Moving on, the camera has a deep
grip, but the form factor wants to be
used with two hands at all times. If it
had in body image stabilization, the
camera could be used handheld, but
because it’s $1300, this is not a fea-
ture we would expect.
The camera’s also missing continu-
ous autofocus, offering only single
point AF. You can use the monitor
to set your focus, but it won’t move
off that point unless you focus it on
something else. Depending on the
conditions, it can focus quickly, but
we saw some hunting while shooting
a dark subject on a dark background.
But the monitor is good for more
than just touch focus. It’s also how
you can interface with the camera.
The menu is operated by touch,
although there are buttons for the
things you use the most often, like ISO
and shutter speed.
The Blackmagic OS is one of the
best things about Blackmagic Design
cameras. You can quickly find the
features you need without the menu
getting in the way. We all want other
camera manufacturers to match theflaws that is just as mind-blowing,
from the poor design of the battery
door — which could leave the battery
on the floor — to the port covers that
are a fight to replace once uncovered.
Add in its abysmal battery life, and
you have a camera that’s more diffi-
cult to operate that you would expect.
The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K‘s
biggest flaw, however, is its inability
to actually capture the top resolution
and frame rate of DCI 4K at 60fps in
CinemaDNG RAW, which Blackmagic
Design touts at the top of the camera’s
spec sheet. There is no media cur-
rently available that can keep up with
the data rate. Despite this, you can
still select the record mode — it just
won’t work. The fact that it can even
be selected is a significant oversight
from Blackmagic Design. It begs the
question: If the camera can’t capture
it, why is it offered in the first place? Is
this a case of future-proofing or pad-
ding the spec sheet?
Another thing to note is that the
camera will try to capture to any media
you put in it. Using slower-than-rec-
ommended media can lead to dropped
frames, but on the other hand, older
and more affordable media can be used
at settings with lower data rates.
If you plan to shoot in RAW, the
data rate can be up to 272 megabytes
per second. That’s some serious
data creation, working out to over
16 gigabytes per minute. At that data
rate, a 64GB card will capture just 4
minutes of video. Looking at the list
of supported media, 4 minutes of
capture will cost a minimum of $
for an SDXC card or $155 for a Cfast
2.0 card. A 512 GB Cfast 2.0 card will
set you back at least $530 and will get
you a little over 31 minutes of record
time in RAW.
The lowest cost per gig is a larger
capacity SSD. For about $150, you
can get an SSD that will capture for 15
minutes at the highest data rate. Outside
of having to secure the media, external
SSDs are a great lower cost option. All
you do is plug them in via USB 3.1 and
you are ready to format and shoot; it’s
really easy.Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
REVIEWRegardless, if you need to shoot
for hours in 4K RAW, expect to shell
out more for media than you did
for the camera.That’s where having
ProRes is handy. You will get double
the capacity of your media just switch-
ing to ProRes 422 HQ. That also opens
up the options for recording media.
We mentioned before the battery
door has been known to fail. It’s not
likely you will see this happen to a
brand new camera, but we suspect
the door won’t hold up to normal
wear and tear. Lens Rentals saw the
problem quickly as their gear gets an
unusual amount of hard use. We did
not experience this problem during
normal shooting, but we were able
to get the door to open on its own
by shaking the camera a bit. But hey,
what can you expect for $1,300?
Speaking of the battery, it’s a very
common Canon EP-L6. We noticed
during testing that the battery per-
centage went down very rapidly. Our
suspicions were confirmed when we
tested the battery life. Across a few
different batteries and tests, we saw
a relatively consistent battery life of
about 40 minutes. The camera did
get hot during our tests but never hot
enough to affect performance.
In use, a 40-minute battery life
means that, on top of needing to swap
out the media often, you’ll also need
to replace the battery quite frequently.
Our last major frustration with the
Pocket Cinema Camera 4K is its port
covers. Three hunks of rubber cover
the mic input, headphone output,
HDMI out, 12v power, USB-C port and
mini XLR port. Once you pull them
out, the covers are difficult to put
back. In fact, we were unable to get
the top cover back in place unless we
started at the top and worked our way
down. We ended up leaving the covers
open while testing. This is another
one of those “What do you expect for
$1,300” features.Digging into the details
The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K’s Four
Thirds sensor offers a 1.9 times crop
factor. The smaller sensor makes thisFour Third image sensor383 R02 BMD Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.indd 5 2/19/19 2:36 PM