LEARNING How to BENEFIT FROM EXCITING Features of The Black Magic Cinema Camera Pocket 6K



The Pocket 6K has some great new features once the cinema rig is built up to its full potential and I am going to highlight them here -





(above) A filmmaker shoots the Pocket 6K with a nice rig



The new Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera 6k not only pushes the Pocket 4K concept to new heights, it also solves the problems that many creators had with low-light performance and otherwise on the original Black Magic Cinema 2.5k Camera.

Here is some specs from the Black Magic Design Website also found here:

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera








DUAL NATIVE ISO at 400 ISO & 3200 ISO


What the hell does that mean?  Good question.  

In a camera, ISO is a setting that basically defines the speed of the "film" or really the sensitivity the camera has to light in a shot.  When a camera has a "Native" ISO is just means that you get the BEST or the maximum performance out of the camera when it is set to that ISO number.  In the case of Black Magic Pocket 6K (or even 4K), the Native (or optimal) ISO is 400 which is a great low number and it means you get A LOT out of your scenes even in a GREAT DEAL OF LIGHT like a sunny day or a well lit set.


THAT IS GREAT ALL THE TIME - NOPE!

The reality is that there are times where you are shooting with little (to no) light and you still want your camera to LOOK GREAT.  Here is where the DUAL ISO comes into play...the camera also has a great low-light ISO at up to 3200 and this gives the camera benefits at either end of the low-light / heavy light spectrum.  Some great info and videos below.






Another good video on this.





for a deeper dive here is also a video on the SCIENCE OF FILM EXPOSURE:







Here is the official DYNAMIC RANGE chart of the Black Magic Pocket 6k






13 STOPS OF DYNAMIC RANGE


What is the power of that - well that is better for me to get this guy to explain here:











SUPER 35 SENSOR





Sensor science is complex and explained here:






PHANTOM POWER FOR MORE PROFESSIONAL AUDIO


The Pocket 6K has the ability to run phantom power with a simple mini adapter like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JLGTJ3J/ref=ox_sc_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2STFV8W94B3T7

And by going to the audio menu and select XLR - MIC. If your mic requires phantom power. Turn on +48v on the second page.

A video explaining this here:









USE YOUR OLD BLACK MAGIC CINEMA V-MOUNT BATTERIES WITH IT

Just grab your old v-mount batteries and these two items:

1)   Mount/Lock Battery Adapter Plate




2) CHEESE PLATE



A video explaining this here:








SHOOT STRAIGHT TO PRORES IN 4K

Shooting Prores in 4K is a very valuable feature of the camera and it allows filmmakers greater access to 4K footage for narrative feature filmmaking.  Prores is a beautiful full quality format that is easy to edit with.


So these are just SOME of the great features of the Pocket 6K and its incredible potential.


Here is something for fun, one of my favorite videos testing the 4K capabilities of the Pocket 6K in the woods - watch and enjoy!