Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2

• Incredibly compact and portable studio camera with everything built-in for a professional SDI switcher
• 4K sensor with maximum ISO 25,600, which is perfect for dimly lit venues and even filming at night
• Large 7-inch high resolution daylight viewable screen makes framing shots far easier and offers touchscreen control
• Carbon fibre reinforced polycarbonate body with a wide range of connectivity and power options
• Built-in microphones, ports for external mics and headphones and live streaming ready for placement anywhere

Key Features

• 4K sensor with maximum ISO 25,600 for dimly lit venues
• 13 stops of dynamic range
• 4K to 60 fps for both HD and Ultra HD productions
• MFT lens mount
• HDMI port
• Built-in mics and a 3.5mm audio input
• 7″ LCD with sunshade and built-in side handles
• Built-in colour corrector and USB disk recording
• Large tally light
• 12G-SDI, XLR audio, bright HDR LCD
• 10G Ethernet IP link and HD live streaming
• Talkback for any embedded SDI audio device
• PGM button for monitoring
• Supports 3D LUTs for film looks

Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2 Summary

Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2 Summary

has done it again with a revolutionary studio camera design, which includes this Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2, that sits in the middle of the new range of self-contained studio cameras. With a 4K sensor and  mount, the 4K Pro G2 is designed for professional SDI switchers, adding 12G-SDI, XLR audio, bright HDR LCD, talkback, 10G Ethernet IP link and HD live streaming.

These are miniaturised into a compact and portable  design, which handles extremely difficult lighting conditions while producing cinematic looking footage. This is due to a sensor which offers an ISO up to 25,600 in order to create amazing images, even in dimly lit venues and under moonlight!

Advanced features include talkback, tally lamp, camera control, built in colour corrector, Blackmagic RAW recording to USB disks, live streaming and more. The large LCD and self-contained features make it perfect for chat shows, television productions, broadcast news, sports, education, presentations and even weddings.

Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2 in More Detail

Live production ready

Despite being made for live production, the Studio Camera 4K Pro G2 goes beyond use with a live switcher, thanks to the ability to record Blackmagic RAW to USB disks, in order to be used with a tripod in virtually any situation.

The 7-inch viewfinder offers a large bright display with side handles, touch screen and physical controls, which make it easier to track shots while being comfortable for long periods of use. Because Studio Camera is so lightweight, it’s also perfect when you’re changing locations and shooting different kinds of video.

Large 7″ Viewfinder

A large 7-inch high resolution screen can totally transform how you work with the camera due to being large enough to make framing shots far easier, while the HDR display with high brightness is perfect for outdoors in sunlight. On-screen overlays display status and record parameters, histogram, focus peaking indicators, levels, frame guides and more.

You can even apply 3D LUTs for monitoring shots with the desired colour and look, while the touchscreen menus enable you to load and customise presets for different situations. The included sun shade can be folded to protect the screen for transport, plus it’s compatible with sun shades from the Blackmagic Studio Viewfinder.

Revolutionary compact camera design

Blackmagic Studio Camera has all the benefits of larger studio cameras, with its combination of camera and viewfinder in a single compact design. But it bucks the trend of large broadcasters who use expensive, large studio cameras, though a distinctive lightweight carbon fibre reinforced polycarbonate body with innovative technology in a miniaturised design. The touchscreen has menus for camera settings and there are knobs for brightness, contrast and focus peaking, as well as a tripod mount with mounting plate for fast setup.

Strong low light performance

Blackmagic Studio Camera is optimised to reduce grain and noise in images, while maintaining the full dynamic range of the sensor, between -12dB (100 ISO) up to +36dB (25,600 ISO). This makes possible to shoot in natural light, or even at night.

 The native ISO is 400, which is ideal for use under studio lighting, after which the secondary high base ISO of 3200 is perfect when shooting in dimly lit environments. The gain can be set from the camera, or remotely from a switcher using the SDI or Ethernet remote camera control.

Cinematic images during live productions

Blackmagic’s combination of sensors combined with generation 5 colour science give you the same imaging technology which is used in digital film cameras, so you can now use cinematic images for live production!

Additionally, when combined with the built in DaVinci Resolve primary colour corrector you get much better images than simple broadcast cameras. The colour corrector can even be controlled from the switcher and with 13 stops of dynamic range, the camera has darker blacks and brighter whites, perfect for colour correction. This 4K camera features a resolution of 3840 x 2160 which is great for both HD and Ultra HD production, while the  has a resolution of 6144 x 3456 and both support 23.98 to 60 fps.

Work with a huge range of affordable lenses

With the MFT lens mount, Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2 is compatible with a wide range of affordable . Photographic lenses are incredible quality because they’re designed for use in high resolution photography. Plus, the active lens mount lets you adjust the lens remotely! To eliminate the need to reach around to adjust the lens manually, the optional focus and zoom demands let you adjust the lens from the tripod handles just like a large studio camera! This means you avoid camera shake when adjusting the lens so you can track shots and operate the camera without taking your hands off the tripod! It gives you the same feel as an expensive B4 broadcast lens!

Intuitive use with physical and touchscreen controls

The studio camera features physical buttons and knobs as well as controls on the touchscreen. Knobs on the right side of the camera allow adjustment of brightness, contrast and focus peaking. The focus peaking knob is incredibly useful as it lets you fine tune the detail highlight so you can get perfect focus as you zoom. The 3 function buttons on the left can have functions assigned to them, such as zebra, false colour, focus peaking, LUTs and more! Plus you can change the function assigned to each button in the menus. The touchscreen also includes a heads up display with the most important shooting information, as well as menus for all camera settings, LUTs and custom presets.

Tally for On-Air status built-in

A large tally light illuminates redfor on air, greenfor preview and orangefor ISO recording is built into the studio camera. The tally light also includes clip-on transparent camera numbers, so it’s easy for talent to see camera numbers from up to 20 feet away. The Blackmagic Studio Cameras also support the SDI tally standard used on all ATEM live production switchers and the HDMI tally used on ATEM Mini switchers. This means that the director can cut between cameras and the tally information will be sent back to the cameras via the SDI program return feed, lighting up the tally light on the camera whenever it’s on air. SDI tally eliminates complex wiring so job setup is faster.

Talkback

The Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2 has SDI connections that include talkback so the switcher operator can communicate with cameras during live events. That means the director can talk to the camera operators to guide shot selection, eliminating the problem where all cameras could have the same shot, at the same time! The talkback connector is built into the side of the camera and supports standard 5 pin XLR broadcast headsets. Talkback uses audio channels 15 and 16 in the SDI connection between the camera and the switcher, and in the program return from the switcher to the camera, in order for any embedded SDI audio device can work with talkback.

Versatile broadcast connections

The Blackmagic Studio camera has a versatile range of connections for both consumer and broadcast equipment. All models feature HDMI with tally, camera control and record trigger, which is perfect for ATEM Mini switchers. You also get headphone and mic connections and 2 USB-C expansion ports.

Blackmagic Studio Camera Pro models are designed for broadcast workflows so have 12G-SDI, 10GBASE-T Ethernet, talkback and balanced XLR audio inputs. The 10G Ethernet allows all video, tally, talkback and camera power via a single connection so setup is much faster! That’s just like a SMPTE fibre workflow, but using standard Category 6A copper Ethernet cable so it’s much lower cost.

Low cost camera control via SDI

All Blackmagic Design ATEM switchers can control cameras via a protocol embedded into the camera’s SDI video connections. Setup is easy because all ATEM switchers broadcast control commands from the switcher’s SDI program output to the camera via the SDI program input. The switcher can perform colour correction, tally and lens control and these are sent to all cameras. All you need to do is select the correct camera number and it all works. Even ATEM Mini switchers can control Blackmagic Studio Cameras because the HDMI output to the switcher has return data communication that can send control information back to the camera. All this means the camera operator is free to focus on framing shots.

SMPTE fibre style workflow

Thanks to a single 10G Ethernet connection, the Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2 offers plug-and-play use, which is far cheaper than SMPTE fibre. The Ethernet includes all camera video, program return feeds, tally, talkback, camera control and also power. The Blackmagic Studio Converter handles all video conversions at the switcher end plus adds power to the Ethernet cable. That means you don’t need to connect power to the camera!

Live Streaming for global remote cameras

Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2 and 6K Pro models have built in live streaming, enabling them to be placed virtually anywhere in the world. This means you can place a camera in a remote location while generating a H.264 HD live stream that is sent over the internet back to the studio. Simply connect the camera to the internet using the built in Ethernet connection, or you can connect a 4G or 5G phone to the USB-C port to stream via remote data! The live stream is received in the studio by an  where it’s converted back to video for connection to a switcher. The ATEM Streaming Bridge can even send tally, talkback and camera control back to the camera!

Accessories and USB expansion port

The Blackmagic Studio Camera features a high speed USB-C expansion port that allows you to record to external disks or connect to a wide range of accessories. Plug in an external USB flash disk and the camera can record high quality 12-bit Blackmagic RAW files for later editing and colour correction. That means you can just move the disk to a computer to work, and you don’t need to waste time with file copying. You can even plug in optional focus and zoom demands to allow full lens control. Plus the USB port will power any phone or disk that’s plugged in!

Harness Blackmagic RAW quality

Blackmagic RAW is a revolutionary new format designed to capture and preserve the quality of the sensor data from your camera. Some file formats such as H.264 are highly compressed, so add noise and artefacts, causing sensor detail to be lost forever. Blackmagic RAW eliminates this problem so you get stunning images with incredible detail and rich colour throughout the whole post production pipeline. Blackmagic RAW also saves camera settings as metadata so you can change ISO, white balance and exposure later in DaVinci Resolve. Plus the files are small and fast, so editing responsiveness is incredible. Only Blackmagic RAW gives you the highest quality, smallest files and fastest performance.

Built-in Microphones

With built in microphones set-up is much faster, and the built in microphones are shock and wind resistant, resulting in great sound even during tough conditions! Each microphone is placed at the edges of the screen, which provides the advantage of a studio camera design with better stereo separation compared to a regular video camera. There’s also a 3.5mm audio input for connecting  as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the Blackmagic Studio Camera Pro model you get professional XLR audio inputs and a built in speaker for listening to the program return audio.

The professional 2 channel balanced XLR inputs support +24 dBu line level and have an ultra low noise microphone preamplifier with P48 phantom power alongside an equivalent input noise (E.I.N.) of -131 dBV(A). That’s followed by two 117 dB high dynamic range analog to digital converters, so you get the high end audio demanded by broadcasters and audio engineers. This means any microphone plugged into the XLR inputs will have a higher level of noise than the camera’s audio!

Monitor Program Video

The Blackmagic Studio Camera allows you view program video from the switcher at the press of a button! Simply press the camera’s PGM button and the viewfinder will switch from the camera display to the program return feed from the switcher. Plus the built in speaker lets you monitor the switcher audio. Program return is a fantastic feature as sometimes on large live shows, camera operators can be left waiting a long time for their camera to be used, so program return lets them watch the show while they wait. This means even if the camera operator is a large distance away from the switcher, they can still keep up with what’s happening and remain alert.

Powered by Blackmagic OS

Blackmagic OS is a modern operating system where all camera features run independently for smoother control, plus the camera powers on virtually instantly. It features the same controls and menus as other Blackmagic Design cameras so you can move between cameras on set easily. The interface uses simple tap and swipe gestures to adjust settings, add metadata and view recording status. You also get full control over advanced camera features such as on screen focus and exposure tools, 3D LUTs, HDR, metadata entry, timecode, Blackmagic RAW settings and more.

Supports 3D LUTs for Film Looks

When Blackmagic RAW files use logarithmic film gamma to preserve the camera dynamic range, 3D LUTs can be used to convert the images on the viewfinder display from looking flat and washed out. 3D LUTs solve this problem because they convert the image just before it’s displayed on the LCD. This allows the film gamma images being recorded to be converted to nicer looking images on the LCD. 3D LUTs are also saved into the Blackmagic RAW files so they can be used in later post production, but they are never burned into the Blackmagic RAW image data, so you always have the option to disable them. This means the 3D LUT is transported in the Blackmagic RAW file, but only used when you enable it.

DC or 10G Ethernet power

The camera features a common 12V DC locking power connector so the cable won’t be accidentally pulled out. Plus the camera includes a power supply with 5 different AC socket adapters for different countries. However if you’re using a single Ethernet cable to connect to the Blackmagic Studio Camera Pro models, then the whole camera and its accessories can be powered from the Ethernet connection. The Blackmagic Studio Converter has a large power supply that adds PoE power to the Ethernet cable so you don’t need any power connection to the camera. That’s a great solution when there’s no power available where the cameras are placed.

Focus and zoom demands

Optional zoom and focus demands can be added to turn affordable photography lenses into amazing broadcast lenses! The focus and zoom demands have USB-C connections so they work with all Blackmagic Studio Camera models. Each zoom and focus demand has 2 USB-C ports, so you can daisy chain them then connect to the camera with a single USB connection. The design has an incredibly precise feel and so you get very fine lens control, and you can frame and adjust the lens without taking your hands off the tripod handles. The buttons can be customised so you can assign different camera functions to them! Plus, hardware is included for mounting the focus and zoom demand onto tripod handles.

What’s in the Box

• Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro G2
• Studio Camera Sun Shade
• Tripod Mount compatible with 15mm lightweight rails
• Turret Dust Cap
• External 12V DC power supply with locking connector and international sockets adapters for most countries