Blackmagic Announces Two New Cameras! Texas Media Systems

I almost thought it was April 1st again.

The Studio camera is pretty darn cool if you shoot in that kind of environment. It's like a small form factor m43 camera with a killer built in big display and hood. Pretty darn sweet if you like shooting on a tripod with a 10" screen and hood. Oh yeah and that 10" monitor is 1920x1200.

There has been some massive good news for m43 recently. There is the new studio camera with a native m43 mount and JVC just announced they were joining m43 and will release a 4k m43 camera at NAB. Should really extend the market of m43 lenses.
 
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Interesting that the HD Studio head is already shipping... Blackmagic learned their lesson on shipping dates?
 
Very interesting. What is the workflow with B4 lenses and the studio camera? I did not see a 12 pin power tap for broadcast lenses. I am surprised they went with only m4/3rds mount. Seems like a 2/3" chip and B4 model would be a great play here. Messing with field of view and adapters is kind of hoop jumping in an environment where m4/3rds is not the norm. Interested to know more facts.
 
This also marks a first for Blackmagic being able to shoot higher than 30fps. The Studio camera can shoot 60i or 60p if you need that sort of thing.

While the studio camera is clearly intended for a studio environment I can't help but think this will appeal to any live event type shooter even the wedding market. Yeah the form factor needs a tripod but most corporate events I shoot do use a tripod. That screen would really help in those environments and will be a return to the way I used to shoot with studio grade HDTV cameras. Minus the smooth zoom control of course. I can see this working well with a shoulder rig or even a monopod.
 
Never mind just occurred to me the Studio camera is just a camera head without recording. Still a killer camera once you add an external recorder. Still has a great use in a corporate production environment. We usually fed all our cameras into a production switcher anyway.
 
I still can't understand the m4/3rds mount for the production camera. The design of the camera puts the operator directly behind the camera. How would you operate the mainly stills-designed m4/3rds lenses being so far away from the controls? Maybe a remote follow focus but that is it. Am I missing something?
 
The URSA HDMI is a pretty neat idea. No sensor, just the recording portion of the other Camera units. Would work with the new Panasonic GH4 as it allows for 4K recording through an HDMI connection.

Might be a tad larger than most would want or need but still a cool option nonetheless.
 
The URSA HDMI is a pretty neat idea. No sensor, just the recording portion of the other Camera units. Would work with the new Panasonic GH4 as it allows for 4K recording through an HDMI connection.

Might be a tad larger than most would want or need but still a cool option nonetheless.

Would be fine if you can sync the GH4 to the USRA's touchscreens. Otherwise I don't see how to handle the GH4 without the URSA being in the way.
 
Somehow this smells of a company that is in some pretty serious trouble. They keep rushing stuff out each year for NAB without ever fixing problems with previous years' products.

A built-in 10" screen? Honestly..... Why? Answer: Because.....

Compare to GoPro. This year they've basically announced nothing new. Which is fantastic. Why? Because from 2 of the reps at NAB I learned that... well, I promised not to say.

At the BMD booth this morning I kept hearing people use the words "more vaporware" - but that's not what BMD does. The new gear is more like "Alphaware".
 
they are selling their cameras like hot cakes
the 4K was in the BH best seller list way before availability, and they held another 3 or 4 spots in the top-10
they are running in too many different directions for my taste, but they're doing so with a mission: they have to use their starter advantage to build themselves a strong position in the pro camera market
there are other ways to do that, but I don't think theirs is failing
 
It is an electronic mount and uses auto focus with m43 lenses. Yes manual focus could be a bit interesting but not unheard of. Many of us are already using monster rigs with giant LCD monitors and manual focusing. It isn't impossible. In fact I am starting to only shoot in this way. The days of just grabbing a naked DSLR and shooting video with it are pretty much over for me.

It could also help open up the market for more servo zoomed and focused lenses for m43. The more companies that adopt m43 as a standard lens mount the more development that will go into lenses. As much as I support competition it is ridiculous that every manufacturer has to have a unique lens mount. That just hurts the consumer. Not saying m43 is the best choice for a lens mount but at least it already has use with other companies which is a lot more to say than some other lens mounts out there.
 
Don't know if I'm missing something, but..... errr, isn't the URSA the wrong way round.......?

Like, it's normal to have all the main displays on the left side of the camera as you look from back to front. Here they're on the right?

Or is it something silly like the product photo got flipped between taking and release......? Or maybe it's the first camera specifically for left-handers!?
 
Don't know if I'm missing something, but..... errr, isn't the URSA the wrong way round.......?

Like, it's normal to have all the main displays on the left side of the camera as you look from back to front. Here they're on the right?

Or is it something silly like the product photo got flipped between taking and release......? Or maybe it's the first camera specifically for left-handers!?

It looks like it has integrated LCD displays on both sides of the body as well as the 10" flip out screen.
 
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