If you’re looking for a deal on an affordable, compact cinema camera the time may well have come.
Blackmagic is now discounting its relatively new Cinema Camera 6K by a whopping 40%. That translates into a savings of $1,020 from the original launch price of $2,595 bringing it down to $1,575 USD retail.
And this is not a B&H or Adorama or even an Amazon thing. This promotion is being organized by Blackmagic Design themselves. CEO Grant Petty and team even issued a press release today with all the details.
“The Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, with its flexible L-mount and massive full frame sensor, has been very popular with customers since its launch,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “Customers have been very excited to be able to capture amazing large format images in an extremely portable design that also works with new and vintage lenses they already own, in an entirely new way. We’re excited to make these creative options more widely available to our customers for a limited time.”
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Features
- 36 x 24mm full frame 6K 6048 x 4032 sensor
- Open gate 3:2, full height 6:5 anamorphic and Super 35 for creating cinematic content
- L-Mount compatible with a wide range of still photography and cinema lenses
- Records full resolution up to 36 fps or 120 fps windowed
- Extremely fast CFexpress card recording
- Adjustable, HDR 1500 nit LCD screen
- Optional Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Pro EVF
- Larger NP-F570 battery, optional Blackmagic Pocket Camera Battery Pro Grip
- MSRP: $2,595, now on sale for $1,575
Note that this is likely a “limited time” opportunity so if you’re in the market for a pocketable cinema camera with a full-frame sensor and BRAW (and no ProRes fyi) then this is definitely worth short-listing. There really isn’t much else at this price point with these kinds of specs. Keep in mind too that the recently announced PYXIS 6K box camera will be retailing for around $3,000 and up depending on the lens mount when it ships this summer (though, that price could change). Also, unlike the PYXIX and its fixed side monitor, the Cinema 6K features an adjustable built-in monitor which will be suitable for many solo operators and require less potential rigging — depending on the project.
Why the Price Drop?
Typically products aren’t discounted when they’re selling like hotcakes. So we can likely assume this one too isn’t selling well.
My guess is this is consistent with what we’re seeing broadly across the interchangeable lens camera market: a slow death.
Blame the iPhone. Or phones in general. But having a highly capable 4K+ camera in your pocket wherever you happen to be is perfectly fine for most shooters, especially ones that are out there on social media like TikTok, X Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others, and need to be connected to post 24/7.
I tried shooting projects for Stark Insider on my iPhone and it was just too limiting in so many ways: storage, lenses, image quality, etc. Then again, I’m clearly in the minority. Folks like us who prefer purpose built cameras with convenient lens, battery and storage options will become, by my estimation, an increasing smaller niche market. The good news for us? Well, one thing could be massive price drops like we’re seeing on the Cinema 6K, making these sorts of high performance cameras really affordable.
In my brief time with the Blackmagic Cinema 6K camera I came away impressed. With one caveat.
As always I found the built to be solid enough. It’s well made for the price. Not a brick like a RED, for sure, but absolutely fine.
Having the newer, more modern CFexpress Type B cards is appreciated — they’re inexpensive as well!
The 5″ screen is fantastic in combination with that touch-based OS that Blackmagic does so well. Really intuitive. Everything easy to see and highly responsive. It’s probably not hyperbole to suggest no one else comes close in this regard (well, except perhaps for the iPhone).
I really like that there’s options for Super 35 mode and even a Super 16 mode. Fantastic. Really opens up so much opportunity to shoot with vintage lenses and also maintain proper fov for your existing Super 35 glass. At first I wasn’t sure I’d like the L-mount (maybe Canon RF instead?) then I realized it provides a lot of flexibility. Passive low cost adapters can readily be sued to use all sorts of other lenses, including Canon EF/RF, C mount, etc.
As for a downside: I did notice some banding in low light. It’s negligible. But it’s there. In comparison to my aging, but rocksteady Nikon RED Dragon (Scarlet-W 5K) had none when shooting the same scene. There’s ways to get around this. One is to bring lots of light and then in post, bring it down or add contrast, etc. In any case, it’s a minor thing to be aware of in case shooting in low light is a consideration. Aside from that, the image is, predictably, very pretty and very Blackmagic in the best possible way.
Now I wonder if the camera market is set for a re-calibration. For instance, the RED Komodo-X retails for $9,995 USD. I wonder if it selling well, or if it too is due for a price adjustment.
Of course, this particular limited deal is just one data point. However, I can’t but think it portends bigger things around the corner for many companies and products… ones not made by Apple.
