HARDWARE REVIEW
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro
We explore the latest software and hardware tools to worth your time or money
Adam Duckworth Adam is an awardwinning professional photographer and videographer based in the UK. He was named SWPP UK Commercial Photographer of the Year and has worked for many top magazines and corporate clients for more than 25 years. adamduckworth.com
PRICE £2,090/$2,495 | COMPANY Blackmagic Design | WEBSITE blackmagicdesign.com
AUTHOR PROFILE
PROS
Great value for the spec Built-in ND filters
Blackmagic RAW and ProRes
This is the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro next to a Sony A7S Mark III. You get a lot of camera for your money – in more ways than one!
CONS
It’s not a small camera!
No continuous AF, AE or IBIS
Screen is tilt only
The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro is a development of the original 6K model, which saw the Aussie firm move away from using the small MFT sensor into the big league with a much better Super 35mm sensor, which needed a new lens mount. Blackmagic went for Canon EF, and there are lots of lenses available at all budgets and in all styles, from bargain, AF nifty 50s to premium cinema primes and everything in between.
With its large but fixed fiveinch rear screen, internal 12-bit Blackmagic RAW as well as 10-bit ProRes codecs, the original BMPCC 6K was a fine video camera that went a long way towards being a professional filmmaking tool. It had lots of the bells and whistles that filmmakers like, but a couple of obvious omissions such as built-in ND filters and any sort of EVF. To get a viewfinder to fit meant an investment in an external EVF and some sort of rigging to fasten it to. And you’d have to get the signal to it via HDMI. That adds a lot of expense, hassle and takes up the HDMI output.