INDUSTRY NAB SHOW REVIEW
V I VA , LAS VEGAS! Nicola Foley looks back on April’s NAB Show, sharing insights from the event
T he jet lag has eased and the dust has settled on this year’s NAB Show – leaving us all with plenty to chew on. Despite recent challenges in the industry, the energy at the show was palpable – powerfully demonstrating that innovation is alive and kicking in the sector, in some very exciting ways… Nearly 200 exhibitors – including ARRI, Canon and Blackmagic Design – were touting their wares at the Las Vegas Convention Center, showing off new products, next-gen releases and pioneering technologies. Numbers were slightly down – tallying 61,000 compared to last year’s 65,000, but there was a strong showing from first timers, with the event reporting that 54% of attendees hadn’t been to NAB before. Illustrating the show’s global influence, more than a quarter of attendees were international, with representation from 163 countries.
For the uninitiated, the first thing to know is that this show is vast, spanning multiple cavernous exhibition halls traversed via ‘The Loop’ (a futuristic underground track where Teslas swiftly transport attendees between engagements), and nothing comes cheap when you’re there. Expect to pay eye-watering prices for food, drinks and especially Wi-Fi access ($75 a day!) inside the exhibition centre. We mostly spent our time in Central Hall, where the majority of the motion picture and TV production companies congregated – but we made a special effort to seek out Blackmagic Design over in South Hall, where we got a glimpse of the hotly anticipated new URSA Cine 12K camera. Blackmagic Design has been in the camera market now for more than a decade, but this new piece of kit elevates it to a new plane, introducing advanced
digital film technology combined with impressive integration into the post-production workflow. Boasting 16 stops of dynamic range and a completely new generation of large format, cinematic image sensor, this powerhouse cam offers interchangeable mounts for ultimate versatility, and seamless integration into workflows. The $14,995 price tag isn’t too shabby either for what you’re getting – which is everything you need for working in a high-end feature film environment. DaVinci Resolve, Blackmagic’s all-in-one post solution, has also had a substantial update, with more than 100 additions including some nifty AI tools. Highlights include IntelliTrack AI, a film look emulator, ColorSlice six-vector grading and some cool AI-based audio functionality. A stop at Sony’s mega booth really brought home how wide-ranging the
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