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some digicam producers Blackmagic has equally managed to face out in terms of capturing high-quality video on mirrorless cameras. The Pocket Cinema Digicam 6K Professional (known as the PCC6K Professional) impressed me once I reviewed it a number of years in the past, however in some way the corporate's new Cinema Digicam 6K has topped it. With a full-frame sensor, new L mount, and the identical $2,600 value, it's getting my consideration once more.
The Cinema Digicam 6K is essentially similar to its predecessor, with practically similar battery life (about an hour on a 3,500-mAh battery), and it retains extra intuitive controls than {most professional} cameras. It lacks the built-in impartial density filter that I beloved within the PCC6K Professional, however the brand new options are well worth the trade-off.
Full-frame sensor expertise
The most important improve to the Cinema Digicam 6K is one which's so essential they've put it proper on the entrance of the casing: a full-frame, 36 x 24-millimeter sensor. In comparison with the earlier mannequin's Tremendous 35-mm sensor – which, regardless of its identify, measures 23 x 13 mm – the brand new mannequin's sensor is a big improve.
The total-frame sensor is equal in dimension to 35-mm movie. Its most outstanding benefit is that there isn’t any crop issue when utilizing most lenses. Cropped sensors end in a smaller area of view, that means you’ll be able to match much less of a scene into the body than a digicam with a full-frame sensor. Merely put, to get the identical picture you must keep farther away, use a smaller lens, or each. This may usually come on the expense of issues like shallow depth of area or poor efficiency in low gentle.
Placing a full-frame sensor inside one in all Blackmagic's cameras might be the perfect improve I might have requested for. I usually shoot video in my house, and getting good wanting photographs could be troublesome as a result of there isn't sufficient room within the body to get the view I would like. For instance, under are two photographs taken with a 50-mm lens, the primary with the PCC6K Professional and the second with the brand new Cinema Digicam 6K; I used to be standing in the identical place in my small lounge. Full-frame sensor can seize Sufficient Extra of my dwelling area. For some folks like me who usually must shoot in tight areas, that is a minimum of a boon.
{Photograph}: Eric Ravenscraft
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Digicam 6K Professional
The brand new mannequin feels simply as comfy to make use of as Blackmagic's different cinema cameras. It might be somewhat heavy, however its chassis feels wonderful, whether or not you maintain it with one or two arms. Autofocus is impeccable; There's nonetheless no autofocus monitoring nor in-body picture stabilization (IBIS), however with the handy focus button subsequent to the left thumbstick, I discover it straightforward to focus straight on my topic. The entire thing could be heavy, particularly should you use it with Blackmagic's non-obligatory battery grip, nevertheless it's nonetheless my favourite design for all the things from studio to run-and-gun shoots.
low gentle efficiency
With bigger sensors come bigger pixels that may seize extra gentle. In comparison with the earlier 6K Professional's sensor, the full-frame sensor has nearly 3 times the floor space, however the decision is identical 6K. Which means that every pixel is capturing roughly 3 times as a lot gentle as each different pixel within the picture.
The result’s that the brand new Cinema Digicam 6K performs even higher in low-light circumstances than the spectacular mannequin that got here earlier than it. Listed below are two photographs, one with the earlier 6K Professional, and one with the brand new Cinema Digicam 6K. Each cameras had been set at an ISO of 400, /3 aperture and 1/30 shutter velocity. They had been additionally captured from the identical place, though I cropped the full-frame photographs to an space similar to the 6K Professional.