Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro Review: Worth the Weight

There is no reason to criticize the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Pro 6K. If you can get past its hefty weight and mediocre battery life, it's the perfect stepping stone between traditional shooters and high-end movie cameras.

An affordable package.

One of the most popular sensor formats for filmmakers for decades has been the Super 35-mm sensor. It is comparable to theAPS-C sensors you will find in many photography cameras, though it is a bit wider. The camera has access to a wide range of popular lenses thanks to the lens mount.

This camera can shoot up to 6K footage, which is hard to find at this price point. Why would you want 6K footage? If your editing rig can handle it, you can crop, zoom, and motion-track footage in postproduction without sacrificing picture quality. For low-to-no budget productions, a common way to get this flexibility is to shoot in 4K and distribute in1080p, but 6K allows you to keep that power while still outputting the highest resolution most people can watch right now.

The camera supports shooting in both Apple's ProRes RAW and Blackmagic RAW formats, but only up to 4K. Both formats are great for taking as much detail as possible. DaVinci Resolve is an entire video editing package that can sometimes give Adobe a run for its money. The camera comes with a free copy of the $300 studio version of the app.

Most cinema cameras that push into the 6K range are a bit more expensive than the BMPCC 6K Pro. If you want to get your foot in the door on pro-level filmmaking, it is hard to find a cheaper entry point.

The Bod of chonky.

I pulled the 6K Pro out of the box. The screen is crisp and the camera dominates. Unlike most competing cameras, the buttons on the body are the ones that have earned their place. A dial on the right side lets you adjust settings without having to go through the interface.

On the back of the camera, there are buttons that you can use to adjust the camera's settings. The False Color feature, a default LUT, and frame guides are mapped to the three buttons along the top. You can change these to any function you want.