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The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K shook things up when it was announced earlier this year thanks to a competitive price and a comprehensive feature set. On paper, yes it does. Delivering a huge amount of film-making clout in a package that undercuts the rest, this Micro Four Thirds camera packs a huge 5-inch touch screen, external SSD recording capabilities and shoots pin sharp 4K raw footage.

Price and availability

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera should be available globally now, and will set you back around £1,034 in the UK, $1,295 and AU$1,815 in Australia. Stock issues are rearing their heads though, so if you’re unable to pick one up right now, availability should improve throughout the rest of 2018 and the first few months of 2019.

Design

This bulbous camera looks playful and, truth be told, a touch dated, but the combi-polycarbonate/fibreglass body feels well weighted and solid in the hand. Its bulbous shape also ensures it is comfortable to hold and not too angular, with easy to access buttons, a dial, some bold air vents and a huge, huge screen on the back vying for your attention.

The grip is ribbed and has a secure tactility, with a new improved dual microphone set-up to the right of it. There’s also a front-mounted record button and an LED light as well. the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has a standard tripod thread mount at the base with an additional mount where the hot shoe might be on a stills camera, perfect for an external monitor or LED light.

At the base is a slightly flimsy battery door which is removable so the potential for third party battery grips is a reality, while to the left you’ve got a dual card slot which feels a bit more sturdy. The camera takes SD and CFast cards, with the CFast cards required for the highest quality raw 4K video. 

Ports

Easily the best kitted out camera for the price when it comes to connectivity, the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has a full sized HDMI port, which is significantly more secure than the flimsy mini or micro HDMIs of old. 

There’s also a USB-C port, supporting data transfer and slow charging. A point to note - this won’t keep the camera alive while shooting, just supplement the battery power to ease the load.If you want to film plugged in, you’ll need to go for a DC connector that plugs into the lockable 2-pin port. This will set you back around $65 (£49), and as we will cover when we talk about battery life, will be a worthwhile investment.Speaking of optional extras, you can also pick up a mini XLR to XLR adaptor for roughly $30 (£25), which plugs into the mini XLR port to give you audio capabilities usually reserved for pro-grade shooters like the Canon C100. 

Screen

If the best thing about the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K’s body are the ports, the second best thing has got to be the screen, or is it the other way round?Clocking in at 5-inches and with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, the LCD display is about as sharp as an iPhone X’s screen and thankfully, it bright too, helping out in sunny conditions. 

Bigger than anything you’ll get from a competing device from Canon, Nikon, Panasonic or Sony, for video, it’s a blessing to have a 16:9 aspect ratio display. That it’s so big and optimised for video means you can check your focus with reliable accuracy while simultaneously framing up without black borders, potentially saving you buying a monitor to hook up to it.We found when we relied on the display exclusively when setting exposure, we had a tendency to overexpose slightly, so if you’re anything like us, underexposing by half a stop should save your highlights. 

Glass

The Micro Four Thirds mount system means that the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K supports an excellent range of glass at launch. If you plan on shooting any handheld video, make sure you opt for stabilisation in the lens, as it’s absent from the body, and results should be stunning. We used the 12-35mm lens for the most part, benefiting from the versatility of some zoom coupled with a very helpful wide aperture.

Battery

Using Canon LP-E6 batteries, it shouldn’t be too costly to pick up a few extra for shoots - and boy will you need them. The quoted 50-minutes of battery life out of a single charge was very optimistic, with real world results closer to 35-40 mins. This isn’t surprising, not only does the Pocket Cinema Camera have a giant screen to power, it’s also got a air vents to keep things cool - and even so, it gets hot.In addition, and probably the most unforgivable thing about the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K - it can die without warning. You can be on a shoot, happily filming with what looks like a quarter of the battery meter full, only to have the camera power down and take the footage you were capturing with it. This should be addressable in a software update, and we really hope Blackmagic is able to do something about it.

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