Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design is an Australian digital cinema company and manufacturer based in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It designs and manufactures broadcast and cinema hardware, most notably digital movie cameras, and also develops video editing software, such as the DaVinci Resolve application.
Blackmagic Design film production equipment has been used in 20 of the 30 highest-grossing movies of all time. Blackmagic Design software and hardware has also been used on many Academy Award-winning films and Best Picture films such as Green Book and Moonlight. Additionally, Blackmagic Design software has been leveraged on popular television shows such as the Emmy Award-winning Game of Thrones and Modern Family.
History
The company was founded in 2001 by Grant Petty and produced their first product in 2002, a capture card for macOS called DeckLink that was the first to offer uncompressed 10-bit video. The company later released new versions of the card and added color correction capabilities, support for Microsoft Windows, and full support for Adobe Premiere Pro and Microsoft DirectShow.In 2005 the company released several products, including the Multibridge family of PCIe bi-directional converters and the FrameLink family of DPX-based software. In 2006 the company released Blackmagic On-Air television production software.
At the 2012 NAB Show Blackmagic announced their first Cinema Camera. In 2018, Blackmagic Design also partnered with Apple to create the Blackmagic eGPU which was sold exclusively through the Apple Store for its first 6 months upon release. This was followed by the Blackmagic eGPU Pro which was also solely sold through the Apple Store.
In 2018, Blackmagic also became a participant in Netflix's all four categories for its Post Technology Alliance which includes both URSA cinema cameras and Davinci Resolve.
Acquisitions
- 2009: Da Vinci Systems, a company that had won Emmy Awards for film colouring and restoration equipment
- 2010: Echolab, a manufacturer of vision mixers
- 2011: Teranex, a developer of video processing products
- 2012: Cintel
- 2015: eyeon Software, the original authors of Blackmagic Fusion, previously named eyeon Fusion
- 2016: Fairlight
Products
Broadcast Hardware
Blackmagic's first and main products have been broadcast video hardware, including live production switchers, real-time compositing processors, Cintel scanners, signal converters, and video monitors. The company then began producing similar products for the filmmaking industry, including cinema cameras and video monitors with integrated recording options.Cameras
Blackmagic Design offer two lines of cameras: Digital Film and Live Production.- Digital Film Camera family: cinema cameras with internal recording ranging from 1080p to 6k, up to 60fps, and 13 stops of dynamic range
- Live Production Camera family: cameras designed for live broadcast, all the models are able to record up to 30fps at 4K, 60fps at 1080p and deliver 12 stops of DR.
- URSA family: professional upgradeable cameras capable of both cinema and broadcast recordings, different models ranging from 4K to 4.6K, up to 60 fps at native resolution, and from 12 to 15 stops of DR. The latest URSA Mini Pro now handles 12K/8K/6K/4K formats in a single camera. It was introduced July 2020.
| Name | Image | Intro. | Disc. | Sensor Size | Max. Resolution | FPS | Lens Mounts | Notes | Ref. |
| Cinema Camera | 2013 | 2017 | 1.1" | 2432×1366 | 24, 30p | EF, M4/3 | |||
| URSA | 2014 | 2017 | Super35 | 3840×2160 | 24, 30, 50, 60p | EF, PL | Same chassis available with smaller sensor and B4 lens mount for live production work as URSA Broadcast and URSA HDMI. Sensor upgrade starting in 2015, using the 4K and 4.6K sensors from the URSA Mini line. | ||
| Pocket Cinema Camera | 2014 | 2018 | Super16 | 1920×1080 | 24, 30p | M4/3 | |||
| Micro Cinema Camera | 2015 | — | Super16 | 1920×1080 | 24, 30, 50, 60p | M4/3 | |||
| URSA Mini 4K | 2015 | 2017 | Super35 | 4000×2160 | 24, 30, 50, 60p | EF, PL | A lens mount converter to use B4 lenses was available for the URSA Mini 4K PL and URSA Mini 4.6K PL. | ||
| URSA Mini 4.6K | 2015 | 2017 | Super35 | 4608×2592 | 24, 30, 50, 60p | EF, PL | A lens mount converter to use B4 lenses was available for the URSA Mini 4K PL and URSA Mini 4.6K PL. | ||
| URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 | 2017 | — | Super35 | 4608×2592 | 24, 30, 50, 60p | EF, PL, B4, F | |||
| Pocket Cinema Camera 4K | 2017 | — | 4/3rds | 4096×2160 | 24, 30, 50, 60p | M4/3 | |||
| Pocket Cinema Camera 6K | 2019 | — | Super35 | 6144×3456 | 24, 30, 50, 60p | EF | |||
| URSA Mini Pro 12K | 2020 | — | Super35 | 12,288 x 6480 | 24, 25, 30, 50, 60p | PL, EF, F |
| Name | Image | Intro. | Disc. | Sensor Size | Max. Resolution | FPS | Lens Mounts | Notes | Ref. |
| Production Camera 4K | 2013 | 2015 | Super35 | 3840×2160 | 24, 30p | EF | Same chassis as Cinema Camera. | ||
| Studio Camera HD | 2014 | — | Super16 | 1920×1080 | 24, 30p | M4/3 | The two Studio Cameras use the same chassis with different sensors. | ||
| Studio Camera 4K | 2014 | — | Super16+ | 3840×2160 | 24, 30p | M4/3 | The two Studio Cameras use the same chassis with different sensors. | ||
| Micro Studio Camera 4K | 2015 | — | Super16+ | 3840×2160 | 24, 30p | M4/3 | Same chassis as Micro Cinema Camera. | ||
| URSA Broadcast | 2016 | — | Super16+ | 3840×2160 | 24, 30p | B4, EF, PL, F | Same chassis as URSA. |
;Notes
Editing software
- DaVinci Resolve: Non-linear editing system originally developed by Da Vinci Systems. Although the latest versions are fully featured for video editing it's still better known by its original capabilities in color correction and grading. Blackmagic distributes both a free and paid version of the software. The cost for the paid version of DaVinci Resolve is $299.
- Fusion: fully featured compositing software, originally developed by eyeon Software. Blackmagic distributes both a free and paid version of the software.
Blackmagic RAW is a free and modern codec that combines the quality and benefits of RAW with the ease of use, speed and file sizes of traditional video formats. The advanced technology also won Blackmagic Design Cinema5D's IBC 2018 Technological Innovation Award. The company has a Blackmagic RAW video player application for macOS and the file format is compatible with Davinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Media Composer, Assimilate Scratch, Edius, Lightworks and Colorfront Transkoder. Blackmagic RAW is currently available internally on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4k, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6k, URSA Broadcast cameras, URSA Mini Pro G1 and G2. Blackmagic RAW is also compatible with the Panasonic EVA1 and Canon C300 MkII cameras via external recording through a Blackmagic Video Assist 12G HDR monitor. The format is intended to be supported by a broader number of cameras utilising the Blackmagic Video Assist 12G HDR monitors for recording.
Blackmagic also offers a free mobile camera control application as well as widely used Blackmagic Disk Speed Test and Blackmagic RAW Speed Test applications.