Blackmagic unveils Micro Cinema Camera, a small, RAW-capable action cam for drones

Blackmagic has unveiled its new Micro Cinema Camera, a miniature Super 16 camera capable of shooting RAW 1080p video and designed to work hand-in-hand with the latest drones on the market.

The Micro Cinema Camera comes in at only 10.65 ounces (301 grams), making it more than light enough to work with most quadcopter, including the popular DJI Phantom series. For optics, it uses the increasingly popular Micro Four Thirds mount, which should give you plenty of options.

To further refine its niche as a drone camera, the Micro Cinema Camera features an expansion port that allows you to use PWM- and S.Bus-compatible remotes to control recording, aperture, zoom, focus and more, all from the ground. Securing of the camera is done via a standard 1/4-20 mount.

The 1080p, uncompressed CinemaDNG RAW video from the BMMCC is recorded to and stored on an SD card, with the slot conveniently located on the side of the camera for easy access. The resulting footage might not be 4K quality, but compared to the likes of GoPros and other sports cameras, the lossless 12-bit recordings and 13-stops of dynamic range the BMMCC provides should make up for lack of resolution.

Unfortunately, you won’t be capturing any high-speed footage with this beauty. Frame rates for the camera are 60fps with a rolling shutter and 30fps with a global shutter.

 

The Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera will go on sale in July 2015 with a price tag of $995.