Press Release - Fremont, CA, USA. Thursday, March 5, 2020
Blackmagic Video Assist 3.1 and Blackmagic RAW 1.7 Features
- 3D LUTs can be applied for both monitoring and recording
- Standard open file formats compatible with popular software
- Records Blackmagic RAW from supported third party cameras
Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic Video Assist 3.1 and Blackmagic RAW 1.7 which add support for Blackmagic RAW recording from Panasonic EVA1 and Canon C300 MK II cameras on the new Blackmagic Video Assist 12G models. This update lets customers take advantage of Blackmagic RAW workflows and allows dramatically improved quality and creativity in the post production process. Blackmagic Video Assist 3.1 also adds support for metadata entry allowing shots to be logged and tagged on set for better management of media for large productions.
Blackmagic Video Assist 3.1 and Blackmagic RAW 1.7 are now available for download from the Blackmagic Design web site.
The new Blackmagic Video Assist 12G HDR adds professional monitoring and recording to any SDI or HDMI camera in all HD, Ultra HD, 2K and 4K DCI formats. The new improved design includes innovations such as brighter screens for HDR work, tally indicator, 4 built in scopes, enhanced focus assist features, 3D LUTs and native Blackmagic RAW recording from supported cameras. With 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 on both 5" and 7" models, customers get support for recording from virtually any device in all formats up to 2160p60.
A brighter touch screen ensures a better view of their recording when shooting HDR digital film, or when shooting outdoors in sunlight. The new design also features upgraded batteries and supports two standard Sony L-Series batteries. This means Blackmagic Video Assist 12G is incredibly versatile and is the perfect solution for the next generation of digital cinema shoots, live production mastering, broadcast testing and measurement.
Some cameras can output logarithmic colorspace to preserve the dynamic range, which is great for later post production, however when these files are viewed on a monitor they can look flat and washed out. 3D LUTs solve this problem because they allow customers to apply a "look" to the monitor so customers get an idea of how the finished images will look like when editing. LUTs can be applied temporarily for monitoring only, or they can be burned into files for use in editing when capturing Blackmagic RAW. Video Assist works with industry standard 17 and 33 point 3D LUT files, or customers can work with the built in LUTs such as Extended Video, Film to Video, Film to Rec.2020 and more.
Video Assist records using standard open file formats so customers don’t have to waste time transcoding media. Recording works in industry standard 10-bit ProRes or DNx files in all formats and from all HDMI or SDI cameras, as well as 12-bit Blackmagic RAW when connected to supported cameras. Best of all media files work on all operating systems.
Blackmagic RAW is a revolutionary new format designed to capture and preserve the quality of the sensor data from cameras. Video Assist supports Blackmagic RAW recording from popular cameras such as Panasonic EVA1 and Canon C300 MK II. This eliminates the problems with popular camera formats such as H.264, which are highly compressed resulting in noise and processing artifacts. It also saves camera settings and digital slate information as metadata, giving customers greater control of color and exposure during editing, all without any loss of quality. Blackmagic RAW files are also small and fast to use making them easy to work with. Only Blackmagic RAW gives customers the highest quality, smallest files and fastest performance.
"The new Blackmagic Video Assist 12G monitors and recorders are very popular and have become a great way to upgrade the monitoring and recording quality from a wide range of cameras" said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. "This new Blackmagic RAW recording feature will be welcomed by customers and will dramatically improve the quality of these cameras. We think it will also greatly assist the post production pipeline when used with editing and color correction in DaVinci Resolve."