Blackmagic Design today announced new lower prices for Blackmagic Video Assist 3G and 12G models. Customers can save US$200 on all models. These lower prices make it easier than ever for customers to add professional monitoring and Blackmagic RAW recording to SDI or HDMI cameras. The new prices are listed below.
- Blackmagic Video Assist 5″ 3G was $525 and is now $325.
- Blackmagic Video Assist 7″ 3G was $765 and is now $565.
- Blackmagic Video Assist 5″ 12G HDR was $795 and is now $595.
- Blackmagic Video Assist 7″ 12G HDR was $995 and is now $795.
- Blackmagic Video Assist will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design NAB 2024 booth #SL5005.
Blackmagic Video Assist is a portable monitor, a professional recorder, a portable scope and a fantastic camera viewfinder solution. It also lets customers add better quality record codecs and a larger monitor to any SDI or HDMI camera. The design includes 4 built in scopes, enhanced focus assist features, a tally indicator and built in 3D LUTs. The 3G models support formats up to 1080p60 and the 12G HDR models up to 2160p60. The 12G HDR models have a brighter touchscreen for shooting HDR digital film and for outdoor shooting in sunlight. Plus the 12G HDR models support Blackmagic RAW recording from supported cameras.
Video Assist has a large LCD touchscreen with controls for recording, playback of clips, viewing scopes and setting focus assist features. Both 7″ models are large enough to include analog inputs for audio and two SD card slots so customers get continuous recording, with automatic recording to the second card. Both of the 12G models include 12G-SDI and Ultra HD HDMI connections and USB-C for recording direct to external flash media disks. All models include a rear tally light, a front panel speaker for clip playback and a headphone jack! Video Assist uses Sony L-Series batteries, and with 2 battery slots, customers can change batteries without interrupting recording!
The LCD display makes Video Assist a great monitor as it lets customers easily and accurately focus and frame shots. The LCD displays critical information for shooting including timecode, transport control, audio meters and a histogram for exposure. Customers can also customize the LCD to add or remove overlays such as current filename, focus peaking, zebra, false color, frame guides, 3D LUTs and more. 3D LUT support allows monitoring shots with the desired color and look, plus customers can even “bake in” the LUT if customers want to record it into the file. When using Blackmagic RAW, the 3D LUT is only added into the metadata so it can be disabled in post production.
Video Assist features scopes for accurate exposure on cameras and compliance to broadcast standards. That means it’s also a great portable waveform monitoring solution! The waveform display provides a traditional luminance level view of the video inputs or the playback signal. The vectorscope allows customers to see the intensity of color at 100% SDI reference levels. You also get a RGB parade display which is ideal for color correction. Histogram shows the distribution of white to black detail in your images and highlights or shadows clipping. The built in scopes can even be overlaid on live video, or as a small picture in picture view at the top right of the scope!
Blackmagic RAW is a revolutionary format designed to capture the quality of sensor data from cameras. Video Assist supports Blackmagic RAW recording from all Blackmagic cameras including Blackmagic URSA Cine and Blackmagic PYXIS. It also supports Blackmagic RAW recording from Leica, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Nikon, Canon and Sigma cameras. Popular camera formats such as H.264 are highly compressed resulting in noise and processing artifacts. Blackmagic RAW eliminates these problems so customers get incredible detail and color throughout the production pipeline from camera to edit, color and mastering. It also saves camera settings in metadata so customers can set ISO, white balance and exposure, then override them later while editing.
“Blackmagic Video Assist has been very popular with customers and we’ve been working hard to make improvements in our manufacturing process to reduce the cost of building them,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “The feedback we consistently receive from customers is that they really like being able to add Blackmagic RAW to their workflow by simply adding a Video Assist. There are so many different cameras that work with Blackmagic RAW, we think reducing the price of our Video Assist models will help make professional monitoring and recording available to even more of our customers!”
lackmagic Video Assist Features
- Supports live production, digital signage and archive use.
- SD/USH-II card support for commonly available media.
- Upgrades cameras to better monitoring and better record codecs.
- Standard open file formats compatible with popular software.
- Records direct to external USB-C media disks.
- USB output operates as a webcam and supports all video software.
- Built in scopes include waveform, vector, parade and histogram.
- 3D LUTs can be applied for both monitoring and recording.
- Professional multi channel digital and analog audio.
Availability and Price
Blackmagic Video Assist 3G and 12G are available immediately from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide. All prices exclude local duties and taxes.
