Review: Blackmagic Design Micro Studio Camera 4K G2
This is a look at the Blackmagic Design Micro Studio Camera 4K Generation 2. This camera was provided to me to review by Blackmagic Design. It is a review unit. It's got scratches that I didn't even put on it. And it will be returned back to Blackmagic when I'm done with the review. They have no say over what I report and they have no monetary connection with this review.
I/O
This is the second iteration of the Micro Studio Camera 4K and there's a couple key changes. Let's look at the ports. On one side you have the HDMI and a USB-C port. The USB-C replaces the multi-pin port which provided LANC control and other features. Now it is a locking USB-C which can now be used to record from the camera, which the studio camera couldn't do before.
The USB-C also provides the connection for the zoom and focus controllers, or "demands" as they say. So if you're using a lens that has an electronic zoom and electronic focus, you can control them from the tripod handles with the Blackmagic zoom and focus accessories. Also on this side of the camera is a 12 volt, threaded input. The opening for the fan vents and your menu control buttons are right on the side of the camera.
Continuing around the bottom you've got three, 1/4-20 threaded holes, probably for balance on a gimbal. On the other side of the camera, you've got Mini SDI out and Mini SDI in bayonet connectors, so you twist and lock just like a full-sized BNC. But these are mini BNC so they take up less space. Looking at the total space on the side of the camera, I really think they could have put the full-sized BNCs here.
Also on the left side, you've got a microphone port. You lose the headphone jack from the previous model, where you could check the audio that is going into the camera, right here, on the camera. You can still do that via the SDI out or the HDMI out to a monitor that has a headphone jack. But the camera now only has the microphone port. It also has stereo microphones on top, as well as a single 1/4-20 threaded hole on top.
Battery and Lens Mounts
On the back you have the Canon-mount battery. The camera won't charge the battery, but the battery can be used as a battery backup. So if there's a dip in the power or something like that, the camera will not go dark on you. It will keep the power going.
On the front of this camera is what I think everybody is interested in: the 4K Micro Four Thirds active lens mount. What that means is you can put any Micro Four Thirds lens on here and you're not just adding a lens; you have electronic control of the focus, and, potentially, electronic control of the zoom.
There are dozens and dozens of Micro Four Thirds lenses that are manual zoom. So you cannot control those through the electronic pins on the camera. There are only four micro four thirds lenses that have electronic zoom. You can only remotely control the zoom on those four lenses that have electronic zoom. But if you need to remotely zoom a camera and change the shot in a discreet location, like behind a basketball net, you can do that with these lenses.
In testing I put a compact, Olympus electronic zoom lens on the Micro Studio Camera. The lens itself is quite small compared to the camera. This is what they call a "pancake" lens. It will extend when the power is applied. Panasonic has a lens like this as well, except the Panasonic lens has a rocker for the zoom and no manual focus. This Olympus lens has a ring for the electronic zoom and a ring for manual focus.
When powered up, it immediately extends the lens. If I use the zoom control on the lens, the power applied from the camera enables me to operate the electronic zoom. There's also manual focus here as well that requires an HDMI cable. I cannot use a touchscreen to access the controls like I can with one of their bigger Studio Cameras.
Adjusting Micro Studio Camera Settings
If you've seen my review of the Blackmagic Design Studio Camera 4K Pro, you know that there's a touchscreen on the back. It is very handy, enabling you to easily adjust frames a second, your shutter, your iris, your white balance, your gain, you can adjust all of that very easily with just a tap on the screen.
The interface on the Micro Studio Camera looks the same but you lack the ability to just touch the one item you want to adjust. You have to cycle through each one, one by one, and then activate that control with the set button so you can make adjustments to that particular item. First, I hit the menu button, and it comes up with the menus similar to other current Blackmagic cameras.
This camera features all of the same interface elements that are on every other current Blackmagic camera running this operating system. With the Set button, you can cycle through the various settings, but it's definitely more laborious using the buttons on the side of the camera, than if I could just touch the item I wanted, and then touch the setting I want.
Adding External USB Storage
Now with the USB, there are lots of external SSD drives that you can use. Blackmagic has a recommended device list. But just because it's USB doesn't necessarily mean you have to use an SSD. For example, I've got a USB 3.0 memory stick that I will plug in here. At the bottom of the screen it tells me that there is a Samsung USB drive and there's 20 minutes of space left to record there.
You can go into the settings of the camera and determine what the compression settings are, the data rate, and that will change your record time on the media. You push the Record button right on the camera and it will record to the USB drive you’ve connected. Now, I don't really recommend doing this. I just wanted to make it clear that it is possible if you had a USB stick that’s fast enough to be able to record the raw footage coming off the camera. But as always, go with the fastest thing available for the most reliable recording.
Using the Micro Studio 4K G2 in a Multi-Camera Kit
These cameras are great to pack along as part of a multi-camera kit. You can have big operated cameras like the Blackmagic Studio Camera or URSA, and the operator can zoom and focus and see everything and follow the action. But there are also times when you want a reverse angle, something small and discreet, say on stage or where it will be seen, but you don't want it to draw attention to itself. That's where these little cameras really pay off. You can drop them in wherever, and remotely control the zoom through the Blackmagic ATEM software.
I tested the Micro Studio Camera with the ATEM software control panel and two cameras connected. In the Camera tab, it shows which camera is on the air. The red tally light on the camera confirms this. The large trackpad-looking area with the red button on it is my exposure. I can see the camera image adjusting as I bring the iris down and back up. Going side to side is my black level.
At the top of the camera control area there is a large circular area for image control. I have color balance for lift (or blacks), gamma (midtones), and gain (whites). If I just want to increase the gain overall, I can pull the Gain slider to the right.
Back down at the bottom, next to the trackpad area, is a button for my focus. I tap on the focus button and the focus indicator appears and the image snaps into focus. Also on the right side I have my zoom control, again for those lenses with electronic zoom. When I zoom it's very dramatic. These electronic zoom still lenses are not studio lenses.
Choosing Lenses
I said this before in my review of the big Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro: I wish these cameras had a native B4 mount. Keep the Micro Four Thirds sensor, keep everything else, but give them a B4 mount for ENG lenses. Then put a powered lens port on the side of the camera to power the iris of those lenses. Even though you can't directly control the zoom on most of them, you could maybe use a USB-C adapter to provide the ability to control the zoom.
B4 "ENG" lenses would give you that smooth zoom that you're used to seeing in video. The downside to the ENG lenses is that they're much larger than these little Micro Four Thirds lenses. Even though I can change the shot with the Micro Four Thirds lens, it's just not something I would do on the air because it is very abrupt. It is herky jerky because that's the way these lenses are. They're photographic lenses. They're meant to get you to the shot so you can take a still picture. They're not designed to provide a smooth zoom between point A and point B for live video.
But you can see the image quality is there, the depth of field is there. You can see how this can give you a shot that you can reframe. Get a shot and then remotely zoom in or out if needed. These are 4K cameras delivering 4K over HDMI, delivering 4K over SDI, giving you the full resolution off the sensor and delivering a really good image.
Accessing Other Controls in the ATEM Control Panel
To access those controls at the top of the touchscreen, that you can't touch, the ATEM Control Panel image controls provide access to adjust the filter, the gain, the shutter, and the color temperature. Interestingly enough, in this demo, the gain on the ATEM Control Panel software says it's at 0dB, but the gain on the actual camera display says it's at 10dB because I changed it on the camera.
I will change this in the ATEM software and, there, it just jumped to a gain setting of 2. So what apparently happened is the software control panel did not update the setting information when I adjusted the camera with the on-camera buttons. That's something they need to address so that the two always match. So if you change it on the camera, then it also changes the display in the control panel.
When I adjust the gain up at the top where the circle is, I'm actually adjusting the image that's coming off of the sensor, not the camera settings. The row of adjustments just under that is adjusting the actual camera settings directly.
Matching Studio Cameras
Also in the control panel, if I had changed my color balance–like if I needed to pull it a little bit to the blue–I still need to make sure both of these cameras match, because these are the two cameras that I have in the studio. I can copy the setting from the one camera using the ATEM Control Panel software, switch to the Studio camera, then paste that setting, so they're identical. This makes it easy to match the Blackmagic Studio Cameras.
One really nice thing about these Blackmagic cameras is that they're part of a larger ecosystem. If you already have big Blackmagic cameras, adding this diminutive little Micro Studio Camera can deliver flexibility as to where you put the camera. The body itself is so small that you can bring multiple bodies in the space that one bigger body would take. These are great for cutaways, like behind the glass on a basketball net, in addition to having operated cameras following the game as your primary cameras.
This has been my look at the Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2. It has nice upgrades, great capability with the USB-C, and high-quality recording to external SSDs. The HDMI out is a welcome feature as well in terms of monitoring and being able to change settings wherever the camera might be used. Plus, being able to use both the HDMI and the SDI at the same time, and being able to have a battery on the back as a battery backup for your power, delivers additional capability. All of this makes the Micro Studio G2 a great little camera that you can use to get those unique angles wherever you might need them.
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