Close Menu
    EOSHD Shooter’s Guides
    • New EOSHD Pro Color 5 is out now, for all Sony mirrorless cameras including the A7S III!
    • EOSHD C-LOG and Film Simulation Picture Profiles for Canon
    X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    EOSHD.com – Filmmaking Gear and Camera Reviews
    STORE
    • Forum
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    • 𝕏
    • PRO COLOR 5
    • EOSHD C-LOG
    • Store
      • The EOSHD 5D Mark III 3.5K RAW Shooter’s Guide
      • The EOSHD 50D Raw Shooter’s Guide
      • The EOSHD Anamorphic Shooter’s Guide 2nd Edition
      • The EOSHD Sony A7 Series Shooter’s Guide to Full Frame Lenses
      • The EOSHD Panasonic GH4 Shooter’s Guide
      • The EOSHD Panasonic GH3 Shooter’s Guide
      • The EOSHD Panasonic GH2 Shooter’s Guide
      • The EOSHD Sony A7R II Setup Guide
      • The EOSHD Samsung NX1 Setup Guide
    • Cart
    • Contact
    • More
      • EOSHD Reviews
      • EOSHD Cinematography
      • About EOSHD / Andrew Reid
      • Blog RSS Feed
      • Facebook
    EOSHD.com – Filmmaking Gear and Camera Reviews
    You are at:Home » Blackmagic Production Camera 4K price drops to $3k and ships

    Blackmagic Production Camera 4K price drops to $3k and ships

    Andrew Reid (EOSHD)By Andrew Reid (EOSHD)February 10, 2014 News 4 Mins Read

    Blackmagic Production Camera 4K

    Blackmagic have today announced a $1000 price drop on the BMPC 4K.

    I am quite surprised how quickly 4K has dropped into consumer electronics territory. You can buy a 4K TV for around $3k, edit 4K on a $1000 laptop and the cameras have not just recently broken the $4k barrier but smashed it to pieces.

    What’s Canon’s consumer 4K strategy? Are they going to capitalise on this like Sony, Panasonic and Blackmagic? Or will they leave 4K as a high end professional Cinema EOS thing? This is a key question and I expect their consumer camcorder division to answer it WAY before their consumer photographic cameras do. Canon don’t have a small chip consumer camcorder like the Sony AX100 that shoots 4K yet. They will need one to compete, so expect this to change in the coming months.

    The new Blackmagic price applies to all existing pre-orders made at the higher price.

    The camera is aimed at the video and TV production market rather than at the cinema crowd although I am sure a lot of filmmakers will want to use it as well. It does however lack the digital cinema standard of 4K at 4096 x 2160, something the GH4 has. The BMPC 4K clocks in at the Ultra HD standard of 3840 x 2160 in 16:9.

    Blackmagic touts the camera as being great for “high resolution music videos, episodic television productions, television commercials, sport and documentaries”. The camera ships with a full license dongle and CD for DaVinci Resolve 10.

    Key Features

    • Ultra HD 3840 x 2160 resolution (note – no DCI 4096 x 2160 cinema standard like the GH4)
    • ProRes 422 (HQ)™ recording (raw is to be added later in firmware update)
    • Super 35 sensor
    • Global shutter
    • EF and ZE compatible lens mount
    • Built-in SSD recorder
    • 5” LCD touchscreen
    • Metadata entry
    • 6G-SDI output for 10-bit HD and Ultra HD

    John Brawley’s Red One comparison

    DP and regular Blackmagic test shooter John Brawley had this to say about the image we can expect from the 4K Blackmagic.

    “I would say they both have a similar base ISO. I have always rated RED / MX and even EPIC at 320, despite the rumours that they’re all 800 ISO. I would say 640 is a sweet spot for the 4K, but that ISO doesn’t exist yet 😉

    “I wouldn’t be surprised if the RED has a slight edge in DR. RED has a very bottom heavy exposure spread. It’s like it only has a couple of stops from middle grey in over exposure and 7 stops of useable shadow exposure. Blackmagic’s cameras tend to be a lot more centred so you initially find have a lot more headroom. I think people might get a little surprised at how fast it runs out of shadow room though. But like I said, only if you’re used the current high DR generation of cameras.

    “Every month there’s a “why is my picture so noisy / what are these vertical lines / what’s this horizontal split line” thread from users underexposing the camera and then lifting it to try and make a useable picture. With even less DR, you’re going to run into those “sensor” level issues more often.”

    Clearly it will be best to expose to the right slightly, with the way Blackmagic have optimised dynamic range on the new 4K sensor.

    I am really looking forward to the Production Camera. It’s the only affordable 4K camera to date that can do 10bit internal recording. That said I am a bit reluctant at this point to lay down money for one. Why? There’s a LOT of new stuff in the pipeline this year and a lot of it will be here rather soon at NAB in April. The GH4 looks more attractive for me and the 4K image looks stunning despite being 8bit 4:2:0 internal. I think it will need the active Micro Four Thirds mount, PL mount compatibility and better low light performance offered by the GH4 more than the Super 35mm sensor and global shutter in the Production Camera, but let’s see how it turns out once I’ve used both.

    Source: Blackmagic Press Release

    4k blackmagic production camera price release date shipping stock
    Andrew Reid (EOSHD)
    • Website

    British filmmaker and editor of EOSHD. On this blog I share my creative and technical knowledge as I shoot.

    Related Posts

    Camera prices – Have the Japanese taken leave of their senses?

    Read More

    What to expect from Nikon’s first RED mirrorless camera, the Nikon Zr

    Read More

    The Panasonic S1 II pricing is wrong – so is the entire product strategy

    Read More

    EOSHD Pro Color 5 for All Sony cameras

    EOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs

    EOSHD Z-LOG for Nikon cameras

    Articles by category
    • Anamorphic
    • Featured
    • Filmmaking
    • Interview
    • Lens
    • News
    • Opinion
    • RAW Video
    • Reviews
    • Rumors
    • Satire/Opinion
    • Shooter's Guides / LUTs / Colour Profiles
    • YouTube
    Blog post archives
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    © 2025 Andrew Reid / EOSHD

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.