Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, Pro Video Creation!

Blackmagic, as a company that has been running for about 19 years, is doing pretty good and produces products that are at least trying to answer the latest demands of the professionals. That’s why they produced a 4k camera for professional 4k videos and now a 6k one with a price of around 2500$ that has come to videographers’ attention largely.

So as a videographer, I thought it would be useful to break it down to see what this camera has to offer for me and my peer videographers. let’s get down to the features directly.

The Sensor

As resolution matters for us videographers, the most noticeable capability of Pocket 6k is its 6144 x 3456 Super 35 sensor that is more than good for shooting a lot of projects. By using that you can have a 6k footage that allows you to choose your intended frame and edit it in many ways as its high quality lets you to. You can also shoot at 6k RAW and turn it to 4k in the post or shoot at 4k ProRes and still have that nice resolution that you needed. What Blackmagic claims is that you will get the same Hollywood cinematic look using your 6k camera and that’s something! It’s been mentioned in their website that by using Pocket 6k “You get the same features found on expensive digital film cameras, allowing capture of deeper colors, higher image detail and a wider dynamic range between the brightest highlights and deepest shadows”. Well, This means you can use a cinematic lense like anamorphic ones on Pocket 6k to even produce high-quality films let alone getting cinematic footage for your other projects without having to buy those expensive cameras.

The Lens

Talking about lenses, this Pocket 6k is EF lens mount that enables you to use EF photographic lenses that create pro images with shallower depth of field. Using the right lenses you can get nice and clean bokeh effects or use anamorphic lenses to get that wider cinematic shots and many other professional effects that need a pro camera can be done using this budget camera. But let’s not forget that there are a number of users who prefer to work with other types of lenses and see EF mount as a negative point for the camera. Personally, I think there are no good or bad lenses, it’s just suitable or not based on your style and needs.

High Dynamic Range (HDR)

As you know dynamic range determines how well your camera is going to distinguish the darkest parts out of the lightest ones. It’s important for us because of the details it creates in an image and this is another feature that Blackmagic claims will get you closer to the feature film quality. Pocket 6k -like its 4k brother- has 13 stops of dynamic range which is really acceptable and helps you have a very good balance between the light parts and the dark parts and capture both in a nice way. Now that we’ve talked about capturing blacks and whites, let’s see how Pocket 6k presents other colors.

Resolutions and Frame Rates

Being able to shoot in all standard resolutions and frame rates is also a matter of importance for videographers. As mentioned on their website “The new 6K model will shoot up to 50 fps at 6144 x 3456 16:9 or 60 fps at 6144 x 2560 2.4:1 and 60 fps at 5744 x 3024 17:9. For higher frame rates you can window the sensor and shoot up to 120 fps at 2.8K 2868 x 1512 17:9”. In terms of still images, the Pocket 6K is able to shoot photos at 21.2 megapixels which is pretty good to work with. Still images will be saved as a fully uncompressed DNG frame that is considered the maximum image quality and suitable for making prints.

Color

Pocket 6k as the company intended, represents colors even more than the standard DCI-P3 color space which is used for feature films. This camera uses the generation 4 color science which enables you to get better colors out of shadows and highlights. This color technology has a complex dynamic 12‑bit gamma curve that not only helps you to get better color data in your shots but also gives you the possibility of doing some beautiful adjustments to the colors and giving your video a cinematic look.

ISO

Another aspect of a camera that matters to us is the ISO that tells us how a camera will work in different light conditions. With the Pocket 6k’s dual ISO you’ll be able to capture shots with good quality both in low light and the well-lit locations. You can do daylight or on-set lighting shots by setting the ISO to 4oo to get enough light through your lens and the secondary 3200 ISO for low light conditions to get the most camera sensitivity to light and capture clear images even in low light. The gain will also be set automatically in response to ISO settings to save you time and ease the process.

Ergonomics

The Pocket 6k is a camera made of lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate which makes it easier to carry and play with. The handgrip you’ll see on the camera gives you control over ISO, shutter angle, WB and a scroll wheel for iris adjustments. And also a large 5 inch LCD of the Pocket 6k is great to see what’s going on in your shots in an acceptable resolution with a touch screen that makes it easier for you to focus and do many more. 

Connections

In order to help you get your custom rig, Pocket 6k has handy connection possibilities to help you out. Connections like a full-size HDMI connector, a mini XLR connection with 48-volt phantom power for attaching professional microphones, a 3.5 mm video camera style microphone input, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a locking DC power connector. It also has four built-in microphones that are resistant to shock and wind and a speaker for playback. Let’s not forget that it has a USB‑C connection to record directly to external media disks for long videos.

Storage

In terms of storage, Pocket 6k has SD Cards, UHS‑II, and CFast 2.0 Media alongside the previously mentioned USB‑C capability. This is how the company suggests using these possibilities, “You can use regular SD cards for HD or higher performance UHS‑II and CFast cards for native 4K or 6K when using Blackmagic RAW”. so you don’t have to be worried about the storage you’re going to use to collect your heavy high-quality video while filming.

Battery

As many projects need a long run of shooting, battery life will be taken into consideration about every camera. About Pocket 6k it is a removable LP‑E6 battery that keeps the camera alive and a locking DC power connector. But it can only last for about 40 minutes, which is a big flaw so in order to fix this, Blackmagic has an AC plug pack that is able to charge the camera while powering it or you can also use the USB-C port to connect the camera to a battery source like a portable battery pack. So keep in mind that you can do anything with Pocket 6k’s battery and you need an external battery or a number of batteries carrying with you.

Built‑In Timecode Generator

The ability to sync multi-camera shots is dependant on having a timecode generator and this is why Blackmagic has done something dope about it. by using the Pocket 6k, you’ll get a built-in timecode generator, that can be used for projects that need shooting with more than one camera without thinking about synchronization. Here’s their suggestion; “Simply plug in an external timecode generator such as Tentacle Sync into the 3.5 mm audio jack and the camera will automatically detect timecode and lock the internal generator”. Using this capability allows you to have thousand shots that have the same matched timecode ready to be synced.

Price

In comparison with other 6k cameras, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6k is truly an affordable low price option with features that are worth more than its price. As mentioned in the topic, you can buy Pocket 6k by only spending 2495$, but this is the price of the camera body and you need to pay more to get other equipment, same as every other camera in the market.

Conclusion

To put it in a nutshell, the process of choosing a camera and decide which is better for you is completely based on your conditions. Whether you create interviews, low budget commercials or wedding videos or any other project, you should consider the technical aspect that is going to be helpful for you and also check your budget and then choose the camera. A camera that will be your friend throughout your work. Each of the cameras in the market -even those similar ones- has got their own pros and cons so there is no such thing as the better camera. But keep in mind that reading and researching is not enough for choosing the right camera, so give a try to each camera a couple of times if you can, to experience its workflow and efficiency. Good luck!