Good news for Z CAM E2 camera owners: the team at Z CAM released a new firmware update that unleashes ZRAW capabilities for various E2 camera models. Let’s take a closer look at it! Z CAM E2 – Firmware 0.88 Includes ZRAW Following our Z CAM E2 hands-on review, the team at Z CAM launched a new firmware (version 0.88) for their E2 and E2c cameras. This firmware – and future firmware versions – should also be compatible with the upcoming E2 S6/F6/F8 cameras that are expected to launch later this year. Here is the complete list of the new features of this 0.88 firmware version: Addition of ZRAW (partial-debayer), supports up to 4096×[email protected] initially. 4K 60fps will be supported later. No proxy recording is allowed when ZRAW is selected. You have to use an iOS device or the HDMI output to record proxy files. Monitor preview LUT, x33 cube format. Pre-rolling. Possibility to capture still images (JPEG only). VFR fine control, one frame per step. Native ISO toggle control. Parade view. They also improved and corrected some bugs: Card formatting compatibility. AWB always use a white priority in Z-Log2. Performance optimization. Bugs fixed: Time Code sync to an external device and other minor bug fixes. It’s always nice to see a manufacturer bringing new functionalities and long-awaited features to a product. Otherwise, there would be very little information about this new RAW format. You can download this new firmware directly on Z CAM’s website. ZRAW VideoSuite At the moment, one of the only things we know is that any NLE does not support this new Z CAM RAW format. To play and convert ZRAW footage, you have to use Z CAM’s new ZRAW VideoSuite software. This software is available on Windows 10 only. Hopefully, a Mac version will come out soon. ZRAW VideoSuite allows you to output your files in either DNxHR, H.265 or uncompressed YUV in 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 color sampling (H.265 is 4:2:2 only). Also, various DeNoise levels are available, as well as some essential color grading tools. To me, having to use another piece of software – only Windows compatible – is a bummer. It reminds me of the early days of the Canon C200’s Cinema Raw Light. Usually, these “conversion” software are poorly optimized, and they take a lot of time to render your footage. It’s just another step in the post-production workflow that slows you down in the creative process. I hope that ZRAW will be supported by other NLEs soon. The ZRAW VideoSuite is also available on the Z CAM website. What do you think of this new firmware version and the addition of ZRAW? Let us know in the comments below!

Blackmagic just announced the final release of DaVinci Resolve 16.0 and the new Resolve 16.1 public beta, which includes major updates to the new Cut Page, to help create the “world’s fastest editor”. There are new features like smart indicator, cut clip icon, boring detector, sync bin, and more. Blackmagic has also announced the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test – a new performance measurement tool for Mac OS X that tests a computer’s CPU and GPU speeds using full resolution Blackmagic RAW image decoding. Blackmagic releases DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Beta and Blackmagic RAW Speed Test Blackmagic Design shared some exciting news today: Apart from the new Pocket Cinema Camera 6K which we just reported about here, they announced the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, DaVinci Resolve 16.0 final and 16.1 public beta, and a new performance measurement tool, the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test. DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Public Beta DaVinci Resolve version 16 was first announced during this year’s NAB. Since then, Blackmagic’s team has worked on its stability, fixed minor bugs and added some features. Today, they announced the final release of version 16.0. Blackmagic, however, also announced the release of the new Resolve 16.1 public beta, which includes major updates to the new cut page to help create the “world’s fastest editor”, according to the manufacturer. This way, Blackmagic Design offers a stable and well-tested version for large studios using Resolve, while at the same time, the company can develop new ideas with the 16.1 beta. Blackmagic’s goal with the new Cut Page is to allow users to dramatically speed up the turn-around time for even complex work. Blackmagic releases DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Beta Bin Changes, Cut Page, Smart Indicator, Cut Clip, Editor Keyboard, Transition Window Changes in the bin now allow users to place media in various folders and isolate clips from being used when viewing clips in the source tape, sync bin or sync window. Clips will be seen in all folders below the current level and, as customers navigate around the levels in the bin, the source tape will reconfigure in real time. There’s even a menu for directly selecting folders in a customer’s project. The new Cut Page in DaVinci Resolve 16 introduced multiple new smart features, which work by estimating where the editor wants to add an edit or transition and then allowing it to be applied, without “wasting” any time by placing in and out points on the exact locations of the clips. This is fast because the software estimates what the editor wants to do, and simply does it by adding the insert edit, or adding a transition to the edit closest to where the editor has placed the CTI. A new feature added to the public beta in the Cut Page is the Smart Indicator. It provides a small marker in the timeline, so users get constant feedback on where DaVinci Resolve will place edits and transitions. The new Smart Indicator constantly updates live as the editor moves around the timeline. It is supposed to help with automation of complex edits. One of the most common requests was a faster way to cut clips in the timeline, and now DaVinci Resolve 16.1 includes a Cut Clip icon in the user interface. Simply clicking on it will slice the clips in the timeline at the CTI point, then, with one button click, the clips are cut immediately. Multiple changes have also been made to the new DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, including a new adaptive scroll feature on the search dial, which will slow down when editors hunt for an in point, all automatically. The live trimming buttons have been renamed to the same labels as the functions in the Edit Page, and they have been changed to Trim In, Trim Out, Transition Duration, Slip In and Slip Out. The function keys along the top of the keyboard have now been assigned to various editing functions. There are additional edit modes on the function keys, allowing more types of editing directly accessed from dedicated keys on the keyboard. Blackmagic releases DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Beta – improvements to the cut page There’s also a new Transition Window that uses the F4 key, and pressing and rotating the search dial allows instant selection from all the transition types in DaVinci Resolve. Users who need quick picture in picture effects can use F5 and apply them instantly. Boring Detector, Sync Bin, Close-Up Edits DaVinci Resolve 16.1 introduces a new “Boring Detector” that allows the whole timeline to be highlighting any shots that are too long and would be boring for a viewer to watch. The Boring Detector can also show jump cuts, where shots are too short, as well. The analysis is constantly showing which parts of the timeline are boring, so as editors work and add shots to their edit, they can see the remaining parts of the edit which are considered boring. Thanks to the Boring Detector, editors can perform a lot of edits without playing the timeline. It will be interesting to see how well this works in practice. One of the most powerful features of DaVinci Resolve 16.1 is the new Sync Bin. The sync bin is a digital assistant editor who constantly sorts through thousands of clips, finds only the clips users need and displays them synced to the point in the timeline users are on. The Sync Bin will show the clips from the cameras on a shoot all stacked by camera number and the viewer will transform into a multi-view, so users can see what options they have for clips that sync to the shot in the timeline. The Sync Bin uses date and timecode from metadata to find and sync clips. The Sync Bin speeds up multi-camera editing significantly. When scrolling along the timeline, the Sync Bin will display only shots that are related to the timeline clips. When using the DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, users can simply hold the camera number and rotate the search dial to “live overwrite” the clip into the timeline, making editing even faster. The Close-Up Edit feature has been enhanced in DaVinci Resolve 16.1 – it now does face detection and analysis, and will zoom the shot based on the positioning of the face of the person in frame. If users are using shots from cameras without a timecode, the new Sync Window lets them sort and sync clips from multiple cameras. The Sync Window supports sync by timecode and can also detect audio and sync clips by sound. All clips that have been synced will display a sync icon in the media pool, so users can tell which clips are synced and ready for use. There are also multiple smaller improvements in editing, color, Fusion and Fairlight audio pages. DaVinci Resolve 16.1 public beta is available now for download from the Blackmagic Design website. Blackmagic RAW Speed Test Blackmagic RAW Speed Test Another announcement from today is the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test, a new performance measurement tool for Mac OS X that tests a computer’s CPU and GPU speed, using full resolution Blackmagic RAW image decoding. Multiple CPU cores and GPUs are automatically detected and used during the test, so that users get accurate and realistic results. First, users need to select the Blackmagic RAW constant bitrate 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 or 12:1 and the desired resolution to perform the test. Although the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test will run multiple resolution and frame rate tests on their system, customers can also select a specific test resolution to run on the main meters and the test will continue to run constantly, allowing stress testing of host computers. Blackmagic RAW Speed Test Results are displayed in an easy to read table that shows customers how many frames per second their computer can decode for all supported resolutions. The Blackmagic RAW Speed Test is available now as a free download from the Blackmagic Design website. What do you think of the new DaVinci Resolve 16.1 public beta? Do you already use Resolve for your work? Are you going to try the Blackmagic RAW Speed Test to benchmark your computer? Let us know in the comments below the article.

Recently, SIGMA Japan held an event in Tokyo during which new lenses were announced, though the highlight of the evening was – with no doubt – the introduction of the new fp camera (fp stands for “Fortissimo Pianissimo” – strong and light at the same time). Yamaki-san presenting the new fp camera Kazuto Yamaki-san of SIGMA was extremely proud to present the newly developed full-frame pocket-sized cinema camera (and when I write “pocket-sized”, you really have to hold the camera in your hands in order to believe and appreciate how compact it is). Please head over to our article, where we’ve covered the launch event of the camera. You can find many more details about it in there. At the factory – Housing for fp cameras A day after the event, cinema5D was invited to travel to Aizu, where the SIGMA factory is situated. A bit over a year ago, I’ve visited this place already (see my factory tour video by clicking here), but, it is always nice to be back. The idea was to see how the new fp camera is being made, and also have the opportunity to test any of the new full-frame E-mount lenses (14-24mm f2.8, 45mm f2.8, 35mm f1.2) “on the way”. As I had the Sony a7 III with me, I chose to film with the new 35mm lens – my reasons being the following: In order to shoot video on a proper shutter speed, and at S-Log 2, the new 14-24mm zoom lens would have to be equipped with an ND filter. Now, the lens has a rear filter holder, but unfortunately, I did not have such a filter (ND) with me so I had to skip using that lens. The 45mm lens is truly compact and nice to hold, but for the scenery I wanted to film, the field of view would have been too narrow. So here I was, left with the SIGMA 35mm f1.2 DG DN Art Lens. All in all, from my quick observation, the lens is nice to work with, and I also like the fact that the aperture ring can be operated smoothly if wanted. (There is a way to choose between smooth and clicked aperture rotation). Maybe the only thing needing some extra attention was the manual focus. It seemed to me, as if there was a “micro drift”  right after stoping the focus ring on the focus point I wanted, so practically, I always had to “go back”  a bit with the focus ring, in oder to achieve perfect focus. As this lens was a pre-production model, it will be interesting to see how the final model will behave. SIGMA new full frame E-mount lenses Back to the factory tour itself – unfortunately, at this time it was not possible to film more than the camera body assembly line. I truly hope to be back in the near future and complete what I have started, being able to document more of this process. The new SIGMA 35mm lens on a Sony a7 III- Image credit: Carey Rose I would like to thank the SIGMA team for having us and supporting the making of this short film. I also want to thank Dave Etchells from Imaging Resource and Carey Rose from DPreview for being great press colleagues to travel with! Music is courtesy of MusicVine. Get 25% off your next music license with code C5D25 (valid for one use per customer). Footage at the Tsuruga-jō Castle was graded with Lutify.me If you would like to see more factory tours like this one, let us know in the comment section below. Full disclosure: Johnnie and other media representatives were guests at SIGMA Japan for the fp camera launch event in Tokyo, Japan, and the Aizu factory tour. SIGMA paid for the transport and accommodation of this trip, but there was no other payment involved whatsoever. Equipment used for making this short documentary: (Support us by buying your goods from our site sponsors) Video shot on FUJIFILM X-T3 (B&H, Amazon UK) Tripod used: Gitzo GT1545T (B&H, CVP) Rhino Evo slider: (B&H) Sennheiser AVX-ME2: (B&H CVP) Sony a7 III: The castle video (B&H, CVP) SIGMA35mm f/1.2 DG DN Art Lens for Sony E (B&H, CVP)

RED digital cinema announced the release of SDK for NVIDIA CUDA R3D decoding as well as new version of the REDCINE-X for Windows. These new updates should significantly improve 8K real-time playback and editing by utilising the power of GPU. The new version of REDCINE-X PRO (for Windows) will decode and debayer 8K RED RAW footage much faster. New Solutions for 8K Workflow. Source: RED Back in August 2018 NVIDIA announced their newly developed GPU architecture called Turing and new NVIDIA Quadro RTX graphic cards. NVIDIA worked closely with RED to optimize and test the results with the REDCODE RAW file format. The new Quadro RTX GPUs with Turing architecture promised editing and playing back 8K footage in full resolution, in real time. Now RED made an announcement in their unique way when Jarred Land posted a short comment on REDuser.net: He announced that RED is releasing the SDK (software development kit) for NVIDIA CUDA R3D decode as well as V. 51.0.47404 of REDCINE-X for Windows. What does this mean? To explain the updates, RED also released a short YouTube video: Generally, the idea behind this whole cooperation is to move the decoding from the CPU to the GPU, thus providing a real-time 8K workflow. The release of the SDK for NVIDIA CUDA R3D decode means that the improved GPU acceleration for R3D RAW files can now be implemented into various applications. It is therefore only a question of time when this technology will be implemented into NLEs like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci. Let’s hope this will happen soon. GPU Acceleration On/Off Comparison. Source: RED RED already incorporated the new technology in the new version of their REDCINE-X PRO software, which now features accelerated decode and debayering of R3D files on NVIDIA CUDA platforms. By offloading the compute-intensive decoding and debayering of RED R3D files onto one or more NVIDIA GPUs, real-time playback, edit and color grade of 8K footage is now possible. Benefits and efficiencies of this new software-hardware combination during the post-production process include: 8K real-time 30 fps or greater playback performance Up to 10x faster transcoding, depending on the format and content Improved efficiencies and quality control within the content review process Creative freedom using flexible R3D files instead of proxy files 8K performance is available with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 and 8000, GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and TITAN RTX GPUs when coupled with a moderately configured PC. There are also additional performance improvements with multi-GPU configurations. The GPU acceleration got improved even with older NVIDIA GPUs. GPU does most of the processing. Source: RED There are also already some new laptops with NVIDIA RTX GPU, which will now provide real-time playback at up to 8K. Those are for instance laptops from manufacturers like Razer, Acer, Alienware, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI and Samsung. Summary In a nutshell, the new announcement from RED is supposed to make the 8K production pipeline accessible to more filmmakers by saving time and cost. (Provided the production is working on a Windows-based system). The download link for the free R3D SDK can be found here. The new version of REDCINE-X PRO for Windows can be downloaded for free from here. Just like in my previous article from last year, I am asking myself once again – how will Apple react to this technological advancement? Are they also going to introduce some kind of powerful GPU acceleration in their new Mac Pro, which should be finally released this year? Are you working with 8K RED RAW files? What do you think of the new RED announcement? Let us know in the comments underneath the article. Source: REDuser.net

Just 6 weeks ago, Blackmagic Design’s CEO Grant Petty introduced a bunch of updates to their lineup including a new generation of the popular URSA Mini Pro camera, called G2 (read: generation 2). As you can tell from its name this is not a completely new camera but an update to the existing URSA Mini Pro, which will be replaced by the URSA Mini Pro G2. Watch our interview with Blackmagic’s Craig Heffernan for all the details. Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro G2 This camera is labeled G2, so what’s new here? Well, sometimes when it’s about updating software features, the hardware needs to be upgraded as well to do justice to these improvements and that’s exactly the case with the URSA Mini Pro G2. In order to enable higher fps recording Blackmagic engineers have deployed an updated 4.6K sensor (a different build of the same sensor, as Craig Heffernan puts it). It comes with advanced processing and a streamlined image pipeline throughout the camera. This enables for higher frame rates and faster sensor read-out (less rolling shutter). Furthermore the camera now supports Blackmagic Color Science 4 and it also can handle 3D LUTs now. All the accessories of the original URSA Mini Pro will fit the G2 model, it simply replaces the original model in that respect. Same goes for pricing, the G2 comes in at exactly the same price as the original URSA Mini Pro. Improved High-Speed Recording The new high frame rates include the following modes, depending on which format you’re recording to: Frame rates in Blackmagic RAW: 120 fps in 4.6K in Blackmagic RAW 150 fps in 4K DCI in Blackmagic RAW (windowed) 150 fps in UHD 4K in Blackmagic RAW (windowed) 300 fps in HD in Blackmagic RAW (windowed) Frame rates in ProRes: 80 fps in 4.6K in ProRes 120 fps in UHD in ProRes (windowed) 240fps in HD in ProRes (windowed) There’s already some sample footage to see for yourself, hop over to our article here. Audio Enhancements Blackmagic also worked on the audio section of the camera. The URSA Mini Pro G2 now offers an enhanced audio processing and hopefully the dreaded (and audible) delay when monitoring the audio through the camera is now a thing of the past. Blackmagic RAW vs ProRes RAW Yes, the URSA Mini Pro can record straight to ProRes. But no, it can’t do ProRes RAW. That’s the way things stand at the moment. Blackmagic are quite happy with their own RAW format since it integrates seamlessly with their cameras and their post production tools, namely DaVinci Resolve 16. So there are no current plans to implement ProRes RAW but of course that could change any minute, who knows what the future holds. If you’re in the market for a new camera, this might be worth a ver close look. The URSA Mini Pro G2 is a significant update to the original camera and establishes a base for further firmware updates in the future. Link: Blackmagic Design What do you think about the URSA Mini Pro G2? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

As Nikon and Atomos have announced, the Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 full-frame mirrorless cameras will output RAW video signal via HDMI and the Atomos Ninja V will record it in high-quality ProRes RAW format. During CP+ we spoke with Shoji-san from Nikon, about this new capability. Please note that CP+ is a local show taking place in Japan and as such, most Japanese company representatives speak Japanese only. We chose to highlight this subject and bring you the video in Japanese with English subtitles. (Please turn CC on if needed) As you might already know, in January 2019 Nikon and Atomos have announced that the Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 full-frame mirrorless cameras will be able to output RAW signal through HDMI and the Atomos Ninja V recorder will be able to record that stream as a high-quality ProRes RAW video. My colleague Olaf wrote a nice article about the announcement titled “Why Atomos ProRes RAW Recording for Nikon Z7 and Z6 Could Change our Industry”. Give it a read if you haven’t already. Shoji-san states that Nikon received feedback from their pro photographers, who are being asked to also shoot video next to photo, by their clients, nowadays. That’s why Nikon decided to include pro video features in their cameras. As the company does not have any cinema cameras range to protect, they can include whatever innovative feature they can, in their mirrorless cameras. At the moment, both Nikon cameras record in 8-bit H.264 internally and up to 10-bit with N-log externally in ProRes 4:2:2. Soon, these cameras will be able to output 12-bit RAW signal and the Atomos Ninja V will record the footage into ProRes RAW. The function was developed together with Atomos. We didn’t get any information on when exactly the RAW output will be available, yet. One important piece of information Shoji-san did share with us (without disclosing too much about future plans), is that Nikon is closely looking at the possibility of including high-quality internal recording in their future cameras. Reading between the lines, we won’t be surprised if some sort of internal high quality recording will be available within a reasonable timeframe… What do you think of Nikon cameras outputting high-quality RAW signal? Would you consider buying one of their cameras because of the new feature? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

Blackmagic Design just announced the URSA Mini Pro G2, the second generation of its flagship shoulder camera, plus the long sought-after Blackmagic RAW update to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. To get an extensive run-down of all the new products and features that Blackmagic Design introduced today, watch CEO Grant Petty in this 35 minute video below: But if you want to save some time, you can also read my summary here: Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro G2 This is the new second generation of the popular URSA Mini Pro. It replaces the previous model and while it looks similar, Blackmagic have redesigned all the electronics inside the camera and it includes a new generation 4.6K sensor. Blackmagic claims that this camera has 15 stops of dynamic range. (Here’s our dynamic range test of Blackmagic RAW on the original URSA Mini Pro in case you missed it.) The new electronics allowed them to ramp up the camera frame rates. They have doubled the frame rate in Blackmagic RAW and in ProRes. Frame rates in Blackmagic RAW: 120 fps in 4.6K in Blackmagic RAW 150 fps in 4K DCI in Blackmagic RAW (windowed) 150 fps in UHD 4K in Blackmagic RAW (windowed) 300 fps in HD in Blackmagic RAW (windowed) For the higher frame rates, you will need 12:1 compression. Frame rates in ProRes: 80 fps in 4.6K in ProRes 120 fps in UHD in ProRes (windowed) 240fps in HD in ProRes (windowed) The read-out from the sensor is faster which results in less rolling shutter. Image calibration on the camera was upgraded: new black calibration, improvement to the Version 4 Color Science and 3D LUTs are now integrated. The camera already runs Blackmagic RAW 1.3. This version integrated 3D LUTs into the Blackmagic RAW footage itself, which can be read out by the latest version of DaVinci Resolve. It’s in the file, but it’s not burned in, it can be switched on and off. This feature can be accessed by any software that uses the Blackmagic RAW SDK 1.3. Blackmagic have also improved the audio circuitry for quad-XLR audio inputs. I really hope that means that also audio monitoring will be improved with this new camera because I think one of the biggest downsides of the original URSA Mini Pro was the noticeable lag in audio monitoring through the mini jack, which made monitoring audio on this camera (while recording) a quite jarring experience. The URSA Mini Pro G2 can also do USB-C recoding to flash disks now, just like the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. With regards to lenses, the EF Mount is interchangeable to PL (optional purchase mount) and even B4 broadcast lenses. In addition to the improvements above, Blackmagic has enhanced the displayed information on heads-up display (like for example ND status), and it’s now also easier to format media. Here’s my review of the original Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro, in case you missed it: Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K goes Blackmagic RAW When first introduced in September last year, Blackmagic RAW was only made available for the URSA Mini Pro. It’s a compressed 12-bit RAW format that’s easier to use than traditional RAW formats – footage comes in a single file and it uses about as much (constant) data as a ProRes 422 HQ file (which is only 10-bit and a much older format). Of course, everyone wanted to see Blackmagic RAW on the long-anticipated Pocket Cinema Camera 4K as well, and now is the time that Blackmagic is introducing it to that camera. The Blackmagic RAW update for the Pocket 4K comes as part of the Blackmagic Camera 6.2 update which is freely available from their website. The new format means that you can record the highest available quality and resolution on that camera at a lower data rate – for example, you can fit 2 hours of Blackmagic RAW footage in 4K on one 256GB SD UHS-II card. Blackmagic RAW 12:1 makes it even possible to record 4K DCI images to an SD card, which wasn’t possible before. The RAW compression rates that are available in the camera are 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 and 12:1 in constant bit rates, or alternatively you chose constant quality between “Q0” and “Q5” settings. That means that you can prioritize either image quality or file size by choosing one of the two options to set your quality – essentially toggling between a constant and a variable bitrate mode, while still remaining in the (supposedly) superior Blackmagic RAW codec. Here’s our initial video about Blackmagic RAW from IBC 2018: Blackmagic Design Generation 4 Color Science The update also introduces Blackmagic Design Generation 4 Color Science into the camera, which, according to the company, “is used for superior imaging that results in extremely accurate skin tones and gorgeous, lifelike colors”. We’ll take a look at how it compares to prior versions, but I personally was pretty happy about Blackmagic skin tones all along. If you haven’t seen our full extensive Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K video review before, please watch it below! No More DNG RAW on URSA Mini Pro G2 and Pocket 4K What comes as a bit of a surprise is that Blackmagic will no longer offer cinema DNG recording on the new URSA Mini Pro G2, the Pocket 4K or the original URSA Mini Pro, with the new camera update. Grant Petty mentions some patent issues in the video above, but quickly moves on to say that cDNG is an obsolete format anyway, considering the file size of the individual DNG files that are generated. While he might be right (DNG is eating up storage in no time which makes it really hard to shoot even for a lot of professional productions), there certainly will be a considerable disappointment by many users who have had to rely on this feature in the past. After all, the USP of Blackmagic cameras has been their ability to record RAW footage at a very low hardware cost … and while it’s true that now we have Blackmagic RAW as the new codec, some people might still prefer the individual still photo file structure of DNG files for their workflow, especially when we are talking about CGI intense post-production workflows. We’ll see how the market and the communities react to this announcement. Are you a Blackmagic camera user? Do you have or plan to own a Pocket 4K or URSA Mini Pro G2 in the future? What do you think about their discontinuation of DNG in their cameras? Let us know in the comments below!

A seemingly small announcement by Atomos and Nikon during this years CES show could generate enough impact to affect future roadmaps of other mirrorless camera manufacturers: The Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 will be able to output a RAW video stream to the Atomos Ninja V which will record that stream as high-quality ProRes RAW. That’s the news and the development is still in progress so it’s just that: an announcement. Time to move on then? Not so fast: This collaboration marks the point in time when RAW recording (internal or external) in a mirrorless camera has become a de facto standard! Filmmakers always strive for maximum quality. SD, HD, 4K.. 8K? 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit.. 16-bit? Sure, bigger is better. Why should one compromise on quality if the other make and model has it? Do you always need RAW? Of course not but isn’t it nice to have it handy if you need it? Yes, sir! Atomos Ninja V & Nikon Z: ProRes RAW The Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (BMPCC4K) does record RAW internally or externally already (cDNG now, Blackmagic RAW later). Even the original BMPCC did cDNG but both cameras sport comparably small sensors. The Nikon Z 6 and Z 7 feature full frame sensors. In order to accurately judge critical focus, an external monitor seems appropriate. If you happen to choose the Atomos Ninja V monitor/recorder you end up with this: A full-frame camera which records ProRes RAW, in a nearly pocket-sized package. For Nikon this business move should have been relatively straightforward: They don’t have a cinema line of cameras they have to protect. They are free to boost the still fresh Z line of mirrorless cameras as far as possible. Things are different with Canon, Panasonic or Blackmagic. But since this Nikon/Atomos collaboration is happening, the other manufacturers will have to make a move. Let’s see what the upcoming Panasonic S1(R) has up its sleeve. The EVA1 does sport RAW recording for quite some time now so Panasonic knows how to do it. Canon has Cinema RAW light in their C200 cameras, so plenty of know-how there. Will they do it? That’s the big question here. How Does it Work? The Nikon Z 7 or Z 6 camera outputs a stream of RAW data to the Ninja V using a 4K HDMI cable. Since RAW data just contains the unprocessed sensor read out, it’s all about transfer speeds and not so much about processing horsepower. Incoming data is repacked into the ProRes RAW format by the Ninja V. From there the resulting video stream is recorded to the removable SSD drive just as any other video stream. The heavy lifting of debayering and processing is outsourced to the editing computer, which usually has a lot of processing power both in terms of CPU and GPU. Furthermore, ProRes RAW helps to keep file sizes reasonable – uncompressed RAW results in lots of SSDs in no time. What’s up, 2019? A mirrorless camera with a full-frame sensor, recording RAW? Back in the days, Magic Lantern laid the foundation with their Canon 5D mk.II hack, enabling RAW recording. It wasn’t perfect but it worked (still does). Now, in 2019, RAW recording becomes mainstream. Other manufacturers will have a hard time explaining why any of their upcoming cameras won’t have RAW capabilities and as always this competitive pressure is to the benefit of us, the indie filmmaking community. Sure, we don’t need every feature all the time but for me personally, RAW is more important than –let’s say– 8K. Quality over quantity (of pixels). RAW for the masses is a welcomed improvement, at least to me. I’m very curious how all this will impact the higher-end market of (proper) cinema cameras. Features like an interchangeable lens mount, internal ND filters, modular design or a variety of powering options are still a thing for bigger and more expensive cameras and sometimes there are very good reasons not to use a tiny mirrorless camera. However, the gap becomes smaller and that’s probably a good thing! Protecting their higher end models and still deliver satisfying (smaller) mirrorless cameras is a huge challenge for most manufacturers, let’s hope they get it right. Prices will drop, higher end features will trickle down the line, the possibilities will grow. We still have to wait for that perfect camera because there is no such thing as the perfect camera but we’re heading in the right direction, I’m sure. links: Atomos | Nikon What do you think? How does RAW in every mirrorless camera sound to you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!