Blackmagic Re-Releases Studio Cameras at Lower Price Points

New Models, Sans Battery, Are Meant to Appeal to Live Productions for Traditional Broadcast and Online Media

Blackmagic Design is giving its studio cameras a shot in the arm by lowering prices. In a move the company said was partly influenced by the increasing importance of streaming media in the overall broadcast market, the company has removed the internal batteries from its Studio Camera HD and Studio Camera 4K.

The price of the HD model has been reduced $200 to $1,495. The UHD model has been discounted even more, with an $800 price cut from $2,495 to $1,695. Blackmagic said the HD version is essentially the same camera as its predecessor except for the elimination of the battery; some unspecified tweaks were made to the 4K version to more dramatically reduce the price of production.

Blackmagic positioned the missing battery as an advantage in two ways. First, it eliminates an unwanted expense, since most users in live production environments have access to AC power outlets. Second, it makes the cameras both lighter and easier to ship via air freight. Both of the cameras support talkback, tally, lens control, built-in color correction, and are remote-controllable via Blackmagic's ATEM switchers — which got an upgrade this week with the release of the new ATEM Television Studio HD, a slimmed-down version of the previous model that boasts a built-in talkback converter.

Blackmagic's Studio Cameras feature large, 10-inch screens, MFT lens mounts, and 3G-SDI or 12G-SDI (on the 4K version) connectivity.