Blackmagic Pocket 6K Camera Review

So how is the new Pocket 6K camera from Blackmagic? It’s actually very similar to the older Pocket 4K camera yet it has a few key differences that make it stand out.

Overall the image quality is almost identical in both the 6K and 4K versions of the pocket cinema cameras. I say almost because even though the colors and dynamic range is identical the resolution alone does make a difference. The 6k sensor creates noticeably sharper and more detailed images. It also helps a bit in hiding the noise when shooting at higher ISO and low light situations.

➡Get the Blackmagic Pocket 6K camera here:
Amazon https://amzn.to/2H3KijP
B&H https://bhpho.to/2KuPWh4
Adorama https://adorama.rfvk.net/055E3
eBay https://ebay.to/2N3AREL

I do like however that aside from the slightly bigger sensor and resolution I didn’t notice a difference in using the camera. When shooting with it over the last 3 days I at times forgot which camera I was holding because it felt so similar to the Pocket 4K. I say that as a good thing. The ergonomics, overall weight and size is great and of course the menu system is so fluid. Working with both the 4K and 6K pocket cameras is easy. It lets me concentrate on getting the right shots instead of worrying about the gear. That’s what a good camera is supposed to do. The only odd thing I noticed was with the optically stabilized lenses. When the camera was on as I was composing my shots, I could see that the image stabilization was not active in the lenses. But once I pressed record button it would suddenly activate. I am guessing it has something to do with power consumption. Afterall the battery life in this camera is similar or even a little worse than the Pocket 4K. That’s not a good thing. Of course there are work arounds to this as I have shown in my post about different battery solutions. I also noticed that once I powered the camera via the 12volt plug on the side then the image stabilization in the lenses would always stay on regardless if I was recording or not. Again I am assuming the engineers figured that once you are plugged into the AC adapter or an external battery bank, then you don’t need to worry about battery life as much.

➡Microphone I use is from Azden
Amazon https://amzn.to/2Z3p8Zk
B&H https://bhpho.to/2KymvuC
Adorama https://adorama.rfvk.net/QXXVY
eBay https://ebay.to/2TDiYOB

➡Monitor I use is PortKeys BM5
Amazon https://amzn.to/2yUXCCB
B&H https://bhpho.to/2ZYUzoJ
Adorama https://adorama.rfvk.net/NJym2
eBay https://ebay.to/2Mf1vuU

Here are the low light tests I did of both the Pocket 4K and 6K cameras in 5K resolution. The reason why it’s still not in 6K because YouTube limits the 6K uploads and converts it automatically to 5K. If you want to see the original 6K file of this along with the RAW files then please click HERE.

Another minor thing I noticed is the limitations of the codecs. For example when shooting in either of the two versions of 6K (16:9 or 2.4:1 aspects) or in 5.7K or 2.8K resolutions plus Anamorphic, you are limited to only the BRAW (Blackmagic RAW) codec. Once you switch the resolution to 4K or HD it then defaults to Apple ProRes. I wonder if Blackmagic will be addressing that in a future firmware. For me personally this wasn’t a problem since I always shot in 6K and I also prefer BRAW format. Also if you are wondering about the 4K Apple ProRes format, it does actually use the whole sensor, so no cropping happening there.

➡Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K is here:
Amazon https://amzn.to/2T1YFJU
eBay https://ebay.to/2ATt1XM
B&H https://bhpho.to/2r87V2O
Adorama http://bit.ly/2JNJobr

➡Lens Adapter I use is Metabones T Speed Booster Ultra 0.71x
B&H https://bhpho.to/2Ft8A7P
Amazon https://amzn.to/2ErYReY

Aside from that, the camera works as beautifully as the 4K version. I will be doing more tests as time goes on and I will let you guys know what other things I discover. If you have any questions for me or things you would like me to test out then please let me know by leaving a comment below. Thanks!

You can download some of the RAW video files to play with HERE.

Also I took some photos with the Pocket 6K camera which you can download HERE.

Here are some more sample shots I got with the Pocket 6K

9 thoughts on “Blackmagic Pocket 6K Camera Review”

  1. Hi Tom, you up for upgrading your BMPCC 6K to almost full frame (1.1 crop factor) in the future? A Magicbooster by LucAdapters, specifically made for the BMPCC 6K will hopefully be out in November this year. Plus it gives an additional stop as well, so better at low lights for sure. Just that it won’t support exclusive EF-S lenses like the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 completely (vignetting). We will have to use full frame EF lenses. Link: https://www.newsshooter.com/2019/08/13/lucadapters-magicbooster-for-the-bmpcc-6k

    1. I wonder about the optical performance of that speedbooster. It can not just be changed like a Metabones on MFT, but knowing, how good the Metabones SB are, it is worth to try out.

    1. Nope, sorry but still testing the PortKeys BM5 Monitor… so far I like it except when the high-brightness is on then the fan in the monitor gets loud.

  2. Hi Tom, thanks for the review. Have you found any way to record full 6k 3:1 50fps without dropping frames? By my calculations those settings would produce a data rate of around 540MB/s. Fastest CFast 2.0 cards can write at around 490MB/s, and the 5Gb/s USB-C port probably has a max real-world speed of around 430MB/s. I was surprised that you were able to record with those settings at all. Any insights? Thanks.

    1. Hi John,
      USB-2 speeds are what you are seeing there, I have seen speeds of 40Gb/s over usb-c but all should be capable of a min of 5Gb/s or a now ‘normal’ speed of 10Gb/s, this would obviously depend on the drive you are connecting to, the cable doing the connecting (as some may ‘look’ like usb 2-3 to the device) and the main device itself.

      I took a quick look around and it looks like USB 3.1 on the BMPCC6k which is 5Gb/s, you can get these speeds with some drives but most like samsung will cap out at around 2GB/s as a max speed, often far lower IRL over extended time. You could use a usb-c Nvme drive and get nearer to 5GB/s. Adata have some 3GB/s nvme drives that are very good prices and have stable speeds. This way the limit is the cable and standard used, unless there are hardware or firmware issues in the blackmagic then it should get up to around the max 5Gb/s.

  3. So I’m wondering now – how would you shoulder rig this and be able to quickly start/stop record and change iris? and wondering now what the 5.7K crop factor works out to be, 6k is 1.6 as its super35 (roughly aps-c) but what is 5.7K

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