New Cameras from Blackmagic and Z CAM

Blackmagic Design and Z CAM have announced new cinema cameras. While these announcements aren't related, the announcements do fall very close to one another. Both companies compete in similar markets so it's not surprising to see them makes announcments at the same time. Blackmagic and Z CAM showed off their new cameras at IBC in Amsterdam and CineD has posted interview videos.

After years of producing "pocket" cinema cameras that couldn't actually fit in your pocket, Blackmagic has thankfully dropped that silly naming scheme and have simply called this the "Cinema Camera 6K". It has the familiar look and feel of the previous pocket lineup with a plastic-y SLR-shaped body (actually a carbon fiber polycarbonate composite). This means it is compatible with previous accessories such as the battery grip and EVF.

The Cinema Camera 6K features a full frame sensor with a native resolution of 6048 x 4032 pixels. The previous pocket cinema cameras had either Micro Four Thirds or Super 35 sized sensors. It has an open gate aspect ratio of 3:2, making it ideal for anamorphic shooting. This is the first Blackmagic camera to use the Leica L mount. The L-Mount Alliance includes other companies such as Panasonic and Sigma. This mount has a shallow flange-to-sensor distance making it possible to support most lenses via adapters. The camera records primarily in Blackmagic RAW but supports H.264 proxies as well. It records to external SSD drives or to internal cfexpress media, which is a first for Blackmagic. The built-in 5" touchscreen monitor has a whopping 1500 nits of brightness, articulates for better viewing, and uses the intuitive Blackmagic OS interface. It also support vertical and even upside-down shooting by automatically rotating all on-screen information. Camera files are automatically flagged as vertical so they display properly when using DaVinci Resolve.

The Z CAM E2-M5G is a 5k global shutter camera which shares the same body format as previous E2 cameras. It supports up to 5K60 or 4K96. The claimed 16 stops of dynamic range is likely standard marketing speak, but Z CAM promises that the sensor delivers more dynamic range than any of their other cameras. The sensor is micro four thirds size and the body features the Z CAM user-interchangeable mount. This means you can put micro four thirds, Canon EF, PL, LPL, and other camera mounts on this camera. Z CAM also makes a turbo mount which has a 0.7x focal reducer to focus the image onto the sensor, boosting light levels and retaining full frame lens characteristics. The Z CAM E2-M5G retails for $3,999 and is expected to begin shipping at the end of October 2023.