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Milestone for Raw as Blackmagic goes all in
The Blackmagic Camera ProDock transforms Apple’s latest iPhones into production-ready cameras. The £270/$295 dock adds connections including external audio inputs, HDMI, genlock, timecode, USB-C expansion ports and SSD recording. Designed to be able to integrate with the Blackmagic Camera app, the ProDock enables the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max to sync multiple phones with external gear, record directly to external SSDs and monitor via HDMI – all while powering the device. ProDock’s genlock support ensures frame-accurate sync for multicam shoots or LED wall production, while timecode input makes post-production alignment automatic in DaVinci Resolve. PRODOCK BRINGS TIMECODE TO NEW IPHONE 17 RANGE Finally, Apple ProRes Raw comes to DaVinci Resolve as BRAW heads to Sony cameras T he future is Raw capture, according to Blackmagic, which has not only opened its software and hardware to Apple ProRes Raw, but also expanded Blackmagic Raw to third-party cameras, including Sony’s FX line. It means that Sony – the last major manufacturer to omit in-camera Raw
files – will now be able to output Blackmagic Raw files to a Video Assist monitor-recorder in its FX3 and FX30 this autumn, followed by the FX6 and FX9 cinema cameras before the year’s end. Sony released firmware for the FX3 in August to enable external BRAW files, but there’s been no way of recording and viewing the footage as Blackmagic’s Video Assist monitors haven’t been upgraded. Blackmagic had a Sony FX3 running a beta version of the software in September at the IBC Show in Amsterdam. While Blackmagic already offers this option in some Nikon, Panasonic and Sigma cameras, Sony is the biggest brand to have hopped on the BRAW bandwagon. A free update, launched as DaVinci Resolve 20.2 and Blackmagic Camera 9.8 Public Beta, adds full compatibility with both ProRes Raw and ProRes Raw HQ formats. The rollout extends to DaVinci Resolve, DaVinci Resolve Studio and the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, with support for Blackmagic Video Assist 12G HDR arriving in an upcoming update soon. Footage shot on Apple’s new iPhone 17 Pro in ProRes Raw can now be edited natively in Resolve, making the codec more accessible across a range of productions.
WORK LIKE MAGIC Apple ProRes Raw finally comes to Blackmagic’s monitors and Resolve software
As Sony cameras already output ProRes Raw, it gives users a choice of Raw formats when using DaVinci Resolve. ProRes Raw is based on the Raw data from the sensor before debayering, while BRAW partially debayers the signal and then compresses it. Both have pros and cons, but it means users will have a wider choice. “With the new addition of ProRes Raw formats, we’re continuing our commitment to updates for existing products,” said Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic Design. “Pocket Cinema Camera 4K customers have always been able to record in compressed ProRes 422 formats, but now they will have the ability to record ProRes Raw and natively play back the files in DaVinci Resolve.” blackmagicdesign.com
SONY CHIEF TALKS CODECS
blockbuster films find the quality of the X-AVC and ProRes formats to be more than satisfactory, even though the Venice can output Raw X-OCN files. Takahashi showed a prototype box-style mini-camera that Sony made especially for the movie F1 , which is linked by a cable to a separate recorder unit. He said it recorded in X-AVC, which was used in the movie, and the camera could be put into production in the future.
Nobutatsu Takahashi, the general manager of professional imaging technology at Sony, explained that Sony can bring internal Raw recording to its cameras when customers demand it. As the head of the Sony Cinema Line series, he denied the reason Sony has not yet offered internal Raw is a much-rumoured patent issue with Red over compressed Raw video formats. He is unconvinced professional filmmakers actually use Raw, citing that even Hollywood
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