Finalist 2022

Blackmagic Studio Camera

Blackmagic Design

The world’s most advanced, self-contained broadcast camera designed specifically for live concerts, sporting events and television.

The Blackmagic Studio Camera is the world’s most advanced, self-contained broadcast camera designed specifically for live concerts, sporting events and television. For $1795 - a tenth of traditional systems – it empowers web broadcasters, small businesses and independent studios with a complete suite of professional video imaging, monitoring and production tools.

Design Brief:

A major barrier to multi-camera live production is the incredibly high cost and impractical nature of traditional broadcast equipment. Cumbersome, complex, and inflexible, typical cameras weigh over 20kg and cost up to $50,000, making them unattainable for most independent broadcasters. Increasingly, live programs are produced by people outside of traditional broadcasting mediums. From basements, warehouses, bedrooms and offices countless innovative new ideas are being expressed to a rapidly growing, and evermore discerning audience. The challenge was to create a camera that would allow these creative people to achieve professional outcomes in a manner indistinguishable from a large scale television studio.


This project was developed by:

Design Process

For less than the cost of a mid-range DSLR, the Blackmagic Studio Camera integrates professional image quality, cutting edge professional broadcast technology into an ultra-compact, durable, all-in-one design. Combining 4K cinematic image sensor, high-end connections and HDR viewfinder, its approachable and highly portable design empowers creative people to achieve professional outcomes regardless of financial constraints or technical expertise.

Made from just three major parts, the advanced Carbon Fiber Polycarbonate composite body is 50% lighter than die-cast metal, possessing comparable strength, rigidity and finish for a fraction of the cost. Accessible to almost anyone the Blackmagic Studio Camera is easy to use, with an intuitive touchscreen interface that requires little technical experience to start shooting. Apart from a common DLSR lens it demands little additional investment to produce professional quality live footage.

This has significant cultural benefits. With booming global streaming services like Netflix, Apple and Amazon, preserving cultural diversity is increasingly important. The affordable Blackmagic Studio Camera allows smaller broadcasters to tell stories that celebrate their local communities to a global audience; stories that may otherwise be forgotten.

Design Excellence

Form: Aesthetics and form are a pivotal means of forming meaningful connections between Blackmagic Design products and their professional users. The Blackmagic Studio Camera is a purposeful response to the ergonomic, functional and contextual requirements of live broadcasting. Simple yet unapologetically professional, it inspires trust and confidence in novice and experienced users alike.

Function: Integrated studio monitor with large, high brightness 7” LCD enables precise framing and focus. The discrete HUD and dynamic touchscreen GUI allow quick adjustment of deeper functions, while ergonomic dials and customizable buttons ensure accurate monitoring and error-free adjustment of critical settings, allowing users to remain focused on the subject at hand. A collapsible, spring-loaded anti-glare sunshade can be deployed or closed with a touch, protecting the display during transportation.

Quality: Featuring generation five Blackmagic color science, the 4K image sensor offers the same imaging technology found in professional digital film cameras. With 13 stops of dynamic range, detail is preserved in the lightest and darkest limits of an image. Paired with the built-in DaVinci Resolve primary color corrector for real-time, remote color balancing and correction, live productions can now have the same cinematic qualities as a Hollywood film.

Commerciality: Embedded with intuitive live production, audio and post-production tools, the Studio Camera introduces users to other areas of the Blackmagic Design ecosystem, driving growth and diversification through discovery and experimentation. Safety Exported to 87 countries, the Blackmagic Studio Camera complies with all relevant safety standards and regulations, including AS/NZS 60950, FCC, CE, RCM, WEE & ROHS

Design Innovation

For less than the cost of a mid-range DSLR, the Blackmagic Studio Camera integrates professional image quality and a cutting edge suite of professional broadcast tools into an ultra-compact, all-in-one enclosure. Approachable to new users and highly portable, the unique design empowers creative people toward professional outcomes regardless of location, financial constraints or technical expertise.

Made from just three major parts, the advanced Carbon Fiber Polycarbonate composite body of the Studio Camera is the result of a careful rationalisation of mechanical engineering, materials and production processes. The central chassis forms the structural foundation of the camera, providing a precise and consistently repeatable datum on which to mount sensitive camera optics, critical components and sub-assemblies. 50% lighter than die-cast metal, it possesses comparable strength, rigidity and finish for half the cost, and has led to drastically reduced part count, simplified assembly and improved manufacturing efficiency.

This in turn safeguards the image quality, performance and reliability expected by industry professionals, despite lower BOM costs and increased production volumes.

Design Impact

Enhancing the workflows of creative people with accessible, professional video technology remains central to Blackmagic Design’s ethos. This is underpinned by a holistic, multi-disciplinary strategy of diversification and customer engagement driven by products and software that connect seamlessly and intuitively to other categories in the Blackmagic ecosystem.

Embedded with DaVinci Resolve post-production and ATEM live broadcast features, the Blackmagic Studio Camera encourages users to be self-reliant, arming themselves with the professional end-to-end tools to realise their creative goals independently. ATEM Paired with a ATEM Mini Extreme switcher, up to eight Blackmagic Studio Cameras can be controlled remotely for professional multi camera live streaming productions on services like YouTube, Facebook live and Skype.

DaVinci Resolve Utilising embedded color correction features, users can balance color between multiple cameras simultaneously, executing precise real-time RGB adjustments to blacks, mid-tones and highlights along with contrast, hue and saturation. Blackmagic OS The approachable design of the Blackmagic OS interface offers visual and functional consistency between a range of Blackmagic Design products. With enhanced familiarity across the entire product range users are able to switch easily from one to the other with minimal acclimatization.

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