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BLACKMAGIC DESIGN PYXIS 6K
Is the affordable full-frame Blackmagic cinema camera good enough to go to the top of the charts?
W henever Blackmagic innovative, capable of creating sublime footage and have some unusual quirks at a surprisingly low price. The new Pyxis 6K definitely ticks all those boxes. We’ll start with the price as, at £2640/$2995 for the cinema camera-style box body, it’s in a different league to anyone else’s full-frame offering. That’s because Blackmagic launches a new camera, you can pretty much guarantee it will be CEO Grant Petty has always said his mission is to allow the highest quality to be affordable to everyone and the Pyxis certainly fits in with that ethos. It even comes with a full copy of DaVinci Resolve Studio, which is usually £222/$235.
camera, it comes with the Leica L-mount, as used in Panasonic, Sigma and Leica cameras. However, the Pyxis is also available with a PL mount or locking EF mount. However, the mounts aren’t interchangeable. If you exclusively use PL or EF lenses then your choice is obvious. However, if you pick up the L-Mount version then you can buy adapters for attaching PL or EF glass, and some of them offer features like built-in ND filters. Sadly, the Pyxis doesn’t have these. That could either be seen as a deal-breaking omission, as they do come on cameras like Sony’s full-frame FX6 cinema cam. Or you could see it as the mark of a camera made for cinema-style shooting, like Red’s Komodo, which doesn’t have them. Either way, you need
This is the first compact, cinema-style modular camera from the Aussie brand to offer a full-frame sensor. The Ursa range is significantly bigger and heavier, and far more costly if you want the full-frame option. More than four times the price, in fact. When the hybrid-style Cinema Camera 6K came out a year ago, it was the first truly affordable full- frame offering from Blackmagic, but uses the oversize, chunky body of the old Pocket Cinema Camera range. It looks like a pro DSLR on steroids – a big change from what many filmmakers are used to. Now, the internals of that camera are in the new Pyxis. So it’s the same 36x24mm 6K sensor with built-in optical low-pass filter to cut down moiré. Like the older
HIT OR MISS? This generously priced cine cam offers tried-and-tested excellence in some areas, but drawbacks in others
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