New Blackmagic VR Camera teased by Apple

Apple just briefly showed off a new VR camera designed by Blackmagic during their WWDC livestream. Looks like they are partnering to create a new VR editing workflow using Final Cut Pro.

They teased the new process a bit, coming later this year. Capture with the new BMD Immersive camera (8K at least I'd assume for dual 4K eyes?), edit in DaVinci Resolve and format in Apple Compressor.

More concretely, Canon is releasing a new EOS R7 lens for making Apple Vision Pro content.

Another well-kept secret to surprise us.

For me the most exciting announcement at WWDC was that, 14 years after launch, the iPad will finally now come with a calculator app.

For me the most exciting announcement at WWDC was that, 14 years after launch, the iPad will finally now come with a calculator app.

Very cool the way it works with Apple Pencil

Worldwide, probably the single biggest tech event of the year.

Shot on iPhone. Edited on Mac.
All presenters, locations and drone footage shot on iPhone.

wwdc end title.jpg (72.23 KiB) Viewed 7492 times

More concretely, Canon is releasing a new EOS R7 lens for making Apple Vision Pro content.

Only Spacial Video from what it mentioned (like the AVP and iPhone 15 Pro can shoot). They already have that 180º lens, but it makes sense they make another, less-wide lens for that type of content. But we all want to shoot immersive though, right?

Here is a brief article.

https://nofilmschool.com/blackmagic-urs ... ive-camera

Blackmagic officially spilled the beans.

https://www.facebook.com/BlackmagicDesignOfficial/posts/pfbid02ShS7cjoUHBUpvPKeyFcZM35fPDRZfwUMznqreMY8nwenPGdHdfB4dMjjaNR3bpiUl

Today at WWDC, Apple referred to a new camera we’ve been developing called Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive. This camera is still in development, but we wanted to share some more details here.
However it’s not just Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive we have been working on, as we are developing a full end-to-end workflow with DaVinci Resolve to produce cinematic Apple Immersive Video on Vision Pro. Together, we think Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive and DaVinci Resolve will give filmmakers the workflow to be able to shoot, edit and deliver Apple Immersive Video. It's quite exciting and the future of entertainment.
Based on the new Blackmagic URSA Cine platform, the new Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive model features a fixed, custom lens system with a sensor that features 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye with pixel level synchronization. It has an extremely wide 16 stops of dynamic range, and shoots at 90 fps stereoscopic into a Blackmagic RAW Immersive file. The new Blackmagic RAW Immersive file format is an enhanced version of Blackmagic RAW that's been designed to make immersive video simple to use through the post production workflow.
The Blackmagic URSA Cine also features a custom lens system designed specifically for Blackmagic URSA Cine’s large format image sensors with extremely accurate positional data which is calibrated at the time of manufacturing. Plus the immersive lens data is mapped, calibrated and stored per eye into the Blackmagic RAW file so it travels through the post production process in the Blackmagic RAW Immersive file itself. That eliminates the need for multiple files to capture an immersive scene.
The new updates to DaVinci Resolve make it the world’s first immersive video editor.
There are a lot of updates and changes to support immersive workflows including a new immersive video viewer which will let editors pan, tilt and roll clips for viewing on 2D monitors. But what's most exciting is we can even allow clips to be adjusted and monitored on Apple Vision Pro itself for a complete immersive editing experience. This is a very nice feature.
Transitions rendered by Vision Pro will also be able to be bypassed using XML metadata, giving editors clean master files where the transitions are rendered in the Vision Pro. Export presets will enable output into a package which can be viewed directly on Apple Vision Pro.
We are working hard on the new Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive and the new version of DaVinci Resolve, which will be released later this year. We have also included some photos so you can see more details of the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive hardware.

I was on a shoot today. What?!!! I think my mind is blown!

As neat as all this is I’d have settled for Prores Raw in Resolve.

Good Luck

Its quite a risk making a camera probably over $20k dedicated to a tech product that is likely to evolve or at worse completely trashed.

3D came and went over the past 100 years.
I think VR will stay niche for quite some time, too.

Good on BMD to be involved in these things though.

As neat as all this is I’d have settled for Prores Raw in Resolve.

Good Luck

Apple love Blackmagic. This AVP camera, the App that is now used to shoot all their content, the constant demonstration of Resolve running on Mac hardware at launch events, the eGPU they built a few years ago.

Apple and BMD are tight.

The FCP team within Apple who control FCP and ProRes do not like Blackmagic because they directly compete.

ProRes RAW = Atomos. It was released at the same time as BRAW. Read between the lines….

I don’t think this gets resolved until a grown up at Apple makes it happen.

JB

Its quite a risk making a camera probably over $20k dedicated to a tech product that is likely to evolve or at worse completely trashed.

I’m confident this risk is a calculated risk similar to the seed funding of a startup by a venture capitalist. It’s not like the small risk of wagering a bet on the horse favoured to win the Kentucky Derby. And it’s not as risky as a hedged bet where you win only when everyone else loses. It’s somewhere in between, but, until we know the status of patents related to immersive technology, we can’t assume if BMD carries this risk or if Apple does or if it’s a handshake partnership or a marriage contract with a prenuptial agreement.

Remember how Bill Gates and Microsoft got its start. The world’s most successful digital company created an amusing toy called the personal computer, but they didn’t want to use their resources to develop or own the operating system and user interface for it because it was just a toy. Bill Gates stuck up his hand and said he’d take care of that for IBM and Big Blue could license it from Microsoft eventually for a few dollars a copy. I’ll spare you the sordid details of how Bill did that. The rest is history.

The lesson learned by now, and history has a way of repeating itself. The East India Company 1600 where a handful of people in a tiny London office eventually controlled a huge area in Asia including India, Hudson’s Bay Company 1670 controlled about half the area of Canada because England thought it insignificant, UNIVAC 1951 launched commercial mainframe computing.

Risk today is balanced by tomorrow’s rewards.

My first impressions of Apple’s Vision initiative was the same as IBM’s board’s view of PC: interesting but clunky and who needs it? Definitely an overly expensive niche product. And then PC launched in 1981, like a rocket that ever so slowly lifts off the ground but eventually becomes the fastest piloted craft ever created.

“Where have all the flowers gone… Long time passing… When will they ever learn?”

It could be Apple financed development so BMD don't mind making this camera if someone is paying

I don't think this camera is going to be a mass market product. Likely a specialized, possibly rental only device. The R&D costs are likely offset by the marketing value of the collaboration. Maybe in a few years, IF the Apple Vision goggles take off I can see some interest for the larger market.

Good Luck

I would imagine it being rental only for a while. One of the biggest downsides is it is for only one form of distribution, which is the Apple Vision Pro. And, I had no interest in buying one of those devices. Even if I love 3D and believed it was the best way to view Stereoscopic 3D content.

The only thing I have issue with regarding the URSA Cine Immersive is that it is side-by-side only, which means a fixed interocular distance. This will limit your close distance. Also, you cannot adjust the convergence from what I can tell. This is why I would still prefer shooting with a Beamsplitter Rig for Stereo 3D.

The idea is great! And, I'd want to get more details and do more tests with the camera before I make any conclusive assertions. However, I would also say that shooting with two URSA Cine 12K cameras with each having the same lens in a Stereoscopic Beamsplitter Rig would be very ideal. I may suggest Blackmagic add a Left Eye & Right Eye Metadata Tag to the camera system in the event you want to do that. I feel a Beamsplitter will still give you more control over the 3D.

This is my dream camera, please take my money The 180 3D footage should also be viewable on other devices such as the Meta Quest series.

Apple love Blackmagic. ... the App that is now used to shoot all their content...

Where does that come from? This is the first and only time that I’ve seen that assertion. Everything that I’ve seen says that the demonstration films for the iPhone 15 - Little Garlic, Usher Behind the Scenes, Midnight - were shot with Apple’s own app. The exception is some shots where Tilta’s Nucleus Nano was used, and presumably the Blackmagic app that supports it. As far as I know, Apple’s own app was also used to shoot the October and May Apple events, and yesterday’s WWDC Keynote.

The Backmagic Camera app is a work in progress. At least, that’s how I respond to the criticisms, which are numerous enough, including on this forum.

Apple can work with whoever it wants on cameras that are suitable for Vision Pro content. As announced yesterday, Canon is already making one. Good to see Blackmagic throw its hat in the ring. It’s a big opportunity. Maybe not with the first iteration, but it may result in a camera that’s less expensive than what other manufacturers would make. Not hard to see how Apple would find that attractive. Its means more people making more Vision Pro content.

There was a time when the general public considered the phone an expensive toy for the rich without any practical use in everyday life.

Apple love Blackmagic. ... the App that is now used to shoot all their content...

Where does that come from? This is the first and only time that I’ve seen that assertion..

Ahhh maybe Apple themselves?

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/10/ ... on-iphone/

“ Capturing footage with multiple iPhone 15 Pro Max devices, the team utilized the integration between iPhone 15 Pro, the Blackmagic Camera app, and Tentacle Sync, showcasing the true power of the Apple ecosystem. ”

And everytime you see a behind the scenes on these events it’s the BMD app on the phone.

JB

I can imagine Apple issue a challenge to BMD to make a camera that can make their product shine. If successful even on just the technology side it may open more doors for BMD in its collaboration with Apple.

If the two companies are such buddies maybe Apple will give Prores to BMD so it can have them in all their recent cameras in all different crops and frame rates?

little bit more in german
https://www.film-tv-video.de/equipment/ ... immersive/

Apple love Blackmagic. ... the App that is now used to shoot all their content...

Where does that come from? This is the first and only time that I’ve seen that assertion..

Ahhh maybe Apple themselves?

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/10/ ... on-iphone/

“ Capturing footage with multiple iPhone 15 Pro Max devices, the team utilized the integration between iPhone 15 Pro, the Blackmagic Camera app, and Tentacle Sync, showcasing the true power of the Apple ecosystem. ”

And everytime you see a behind the scenes on these events it’s the BMD app on the phone.

Your claim that the Blackmagic app is used to shoot all of Apple’s content is just plain wrong,

The Blackmagic app’s support of Tentacle Sync timecode would be a good reason for your statement to be true, but it isn’t. Your Apple quote was made in relation to the Hallowe’en event. The behind the scenes videos for Little Garlic and Midnight show clearly that the filmmakers used Apple’s own app.

There are two behind the scenes videos for Little Garlic and one for Midnight. They each contain dozens of clips demonstrating this. Between the three videos, there appears to be only one clip showing use of the Blackmagic app.

Apple gave the London based, but Mandarin, channel Mediastorm liberal access to the Little Garlic set. Its behind the scenes, with excellent English subtitles, deals specifically with the question of app use. As I said above, filmmakers are using Tilta’s follow focus, which the Blackmagic app supports:

Regarding software, most of the film’s footage was shot in the iPhone’s native camera app. Surprisingly, a significant portion of the material used the [Apple] cinematic mode for its shallow depth of field, enhancing the atmosphere and cinematic feel. … We also saw that for some shots, the crew used the Blackmagic Camera, a free shooting app mainly to connect a physical follow focus.

The above quote is at 8:22 (CNY = Chinese New Year):

Exclusive Reveal! How Did Apple Shoot CNY Ads？

Tentacle Sync’s timecode, and Tilta’s follow focus, are good reasons to use the Blackmagic app. However, the Blackmagic app is a work in progress and has a ways to go before it’s superior as a camera control app to others. At the moment, and in my view understandably, it doesn’t live up to the hype. One big question is how the Blackmagic app will work with Final Cut Camera, the app for filming with up to four iPhones that Apple should release in the next week.

Further to the above post, there are also dozens of clips in the following videos showing that the filmmakers were using Apple’s own app:

Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max | Chinese New Year - The Making of Little Garlic | Apple

Shot on iPhone 15 Pro | The Making of Midnight | Apple

Director Marc Webb behind the camera for Little Garlic:

Webb.jpg (112.6 KiB) Viewed 6235 times

One of the modes of the Apple app that the Blackmagic app lacks:

webb 2.jpg (158.47 KiB) Viewed 6228 times

If the two companies are such buddies maybe Apple will give Prores to BMD so it can have them in all their recent cameras in all different crops and frame rates?

Can’t happen, compressed raw is owned by Red/Nikon. Braw on the other hand could be “given” to other mfrs.

Good Luck

From Marques Brownlee today. He interviewed Cook on Monday, when the WWDC opened:

Talking Tech and AI with Tim Cook!

Rob, I said Apple use BMDs app to shoot their own content.

You said they don’t.

I pointed you to the largest public facing event that Apple have done recently and demonstrated that Apple did indeed use the BMD app to shoot all that content.

You also missed the point.

They were using the App before you knew that this app existed.

Apple are close collaborators with BMD. Read between the lines.

JB

Rob, I said Apple use BMDs app to shoot their own content.

You said they don’t.
...

They were using the App before you knew that this app existed.

Apple are close collaborators with BMD. Read between the lines.

Actually, you said that the Blackmagic app "is now used to shoot all their content...”

If you want to pretend that Little Garlic and Midnight aren’t Apple content, you go right ahead I’m sure that would amuse Joz Joswiak, Apple’s head of marketing.

Those are Apple’s principle demonstration films for the capabilities of the iPhone 15. Apple paid for them and hired the filmmakers, crew and actors. Apple made the decision to release the films, and it shows them exclusively on outlets that it controls.

The behind the scenes videos make it crystal clear the those films were shot using Apple’s own app.

Not sure what to make of your last three sentences. I trust that you aren’t suggesting that Apple, everybody involved in those films and London-based Mediastorm are lying. That would be quite a conspiracy, with Blackmagic itself a member. To what purpose, I have no idea.

I pointed you to the largest public facing event that Apple have done recently and demonstrated that Apple did indeed use the BMD app to shoot all that content.

Contrary to what you suggested earlier, there is only one behind the scenes film for an Apple event. It was for the Hallowe’en event. You are simply wrong that that event is "the largest public facing event that Apple have done recently”.

We don’t know which app or apps Apple used for May’s iPad event or two days ago for WWDC. However, I think that Tentacle Sync timecode is a strong argument for using the Blackmagic app for these kinds of events. Also, given the talking head content, the current absence in the Blackmagic app of certain Apple app features is probably not problematic.

Connect the dots Rob. I can’t explicitly tell you.

Scary fast. The launch of the M3 platform.

Did you even read the linked Apple press release?

https://www.apple.com/jo/newsroom/2023/ ... on-iphone/

“ Using the Blackmagic Camera app designed exclusively for iOS users, the crew was able to leverage the same interface as Blackmagic Design’s award-winning digital film cameras, which provided the same tools used in feature films, television shows, and documentaries. ”

Connect the dots Rob. I can’t explicitly tell you.

Scary fast. The launch of the M3 platform.

Did you even read the linked Apple press release?

https://www.apple.com/jo/newsroom/2023/ ... on-iphone/

“ Using the Blackmagic Camera app designed exclusively for iOS users, the crew was able to leverage the same interface as Blackmagic Design’s award-winning digital film cameras, which provided the same tools used in feature films, television shows, and documentaries. ”

Why do you think it was called Scary Fast (see what I’ve bolded in your post).

The event was held on October 30th aka the day before Hallowe’en. I’ve already said that Apple used the Blackmagic app for the Hallowe’en event,

Sorry if you watched the event and/or the behind the scenes for the event, and missed the Hallowe’en theme

If the two companies are such buddies maybe Apple will give Prores to BMD so it can have them in all their recent cameras in all different crops and frame rates?

Can’t happen, compressed raw is owned by Red/Nikon. Braw on the other hand could be “given” to other mfrs.

Good Luck

I said nothing about RAW. You think Prores own by RED/Nikon?

Right.

So Rob, Apple used the BMD app to do a major platform launch before the app was known to exist.

JB

Connect the dots Rob. I can’t explicitly tell you.

Did you even read the linked Apple press release?

https://www.apple.com/jo/newsroom/2023/ ... on-iphone/

“ Using the Blackmagic Camera app designed exclusively for iOS users, the crew was able to leverage the same interface as Blackmagic Design’s award-winning digital film cameras, which provided the same tools used in feature films, television shows, and documentaries. ”

Are we back to the conspiracy theory?

Which is it:

1. The Apple films Little Garlic and Midnight aren’t Apple content, as you remarkably claim above;

OR

2. Everybody involved in these films is part of a conspiracy to prevent iPhone users from knowing that they were actually shot with the Blackmagic app, a conspiracy so successful that only you know the truth?

I’ve got it. Grant Petty made Little Garlic and Midnight and put Apple’s name on them, of course including dozens of fake shots in the behind the scenes videos showing the Apple app

And you were the cinematographer, right?

You’re all over it Rob.

Take it away.

JB

Further to the above post, there are also dozens of clips in the following videos showing that the filmmakers were using Apple’s own app:

Shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max | Chinese New Year - The Making of Little Garlic | Apple

Shot on iPhone 15 Pro | The Making of Midnight | Apple

Director Marc Webb behind the camera for Little Garlic:

Webb.jpg

One of the modes of the Apple app that the Blackmagic app lacks:

webb 2.jpg

The Blackmagic app does have a stabilizing mode —you can choose from multiple options as well


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Blackmagic app does have a stabilizing mode —you can choose from multiple options as well

It does not have the mode that Marc Webb was using.

The Blackmagic app does have a stabilizing mode —you can choose from multiple options as well

It does not have the mode under discussion.

Do you mean the exact action mode or some form of stabilization for recording?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Blackmagic app does have a stabilizing mode —you can choose from multiple options as well

It does not have the mode that Marc Webb was using.

The app doesn’t call it an action mode but it does do the same/very similar thing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you mean the exact action mode or some form of stabilization for recording?

I mean the Action mode that’s referred to in the screen capture from the linked video, where it’s discussed.

This is probably not the best thread to get into a discussion about Apple Camera vs Blackmagic Camera stabilization, which is not why it came up here. The moderators started another thread on this forum specifically for that kind of discussion.

Please, John and Note, remember that Rob is always right.
I have accepted this long ago and now I only recommend software he hates in personal conversations, including software that offers several modes of stabilization.
Nevertheless, I'd like to warn everybody here that Kurt Friis found out by careful research that the iPhone may introduce massive variations in VFR with active stabilization. When we don't use any in-camera stabilization, the variations are extremely small.
I agree with Rob, though, that this deserves a separate thread.

Please, John and Note, remember that Rob is always right.
I have accepted this long ago and now I only recommend software he hates in personal conversations.

Now this is getting weird

What you dislike, Uli, is that I have disagreed with your constant criticisms of the Blackmagic Camera app and have questioned your proselytizing, at every opportunity, for a competing app. You aren’t even subtle about it. Your basic line is “Dump the Blackmagic Camera app and buy XYZ app instead”. You even have an entire thread here dedicated to XYZ app. Thankfully, the proselytizing appears to have stopped in the last couple of weeks.

If you are now suggesting that I have it in for the Blackmagic Camera app, we are on another planet. I started, and have been a significant contributor to, a 11 page thread on this forum that is focused entirely on the iPhone 15 and the Blackmagic app: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=191338

According to the forum, that thread has had 345,000 views. Although we know that that number is almost certainly inflated, it does appear that the thread is fairly popular. The thread is strongly supportive of the Blackmagic app, and is seen on related Facebook Groups as a resource. That doesn’t change the fact that the Blackmagic app was only launched eight months ago and is a work in progress.

None of this has anything to do with the subject matter of this thread, or with the above discussion about how Apple’s demonstration films were made.

If the two companies are such buddies maybe Apple will give Prores to BMD so it can have them in all their recent cameras in all different crops and frame rates?

Can’t happen, compressed raw is owned by Red/Nikon. Braw on the other hand could be “given” to other mfrs.

Good Luck

I said nothing about RAW. You think Prores own by RED/Nikon?

Sorry, forgot where I was. BM has had Prores on their cams since literally day 1 if they want it they can have it, for a price, same as Praw, nobody is giving away their IP.

Good Luck

Sorry, forgot where I was. BM has had Prores on their cams since literally day 1 if they want it they can have it, for a price, same as Praw, nobody is giving away their IP.

Good Luck

That was before we know Apple loves BMD. If you have an affair there are compromise made. We see it all the time in the tech world with technology exchange so surely "nobody is giving away their IP" is incorrect.

Also I was referring to recent BMD cameras BMCC6K, Ursa 12k/OLPF and the soon to be released Pyxis and the Ursa Cine line which will be BRAW only but could do with having Prores.

Got my post up for MarketSaw, and I have to say it's a little fitting considering a decade ago I first wrote about how the URSA was 3D capable. We've kind of come full circle: http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2024/06/b ... orlds.html

OG URSA Post: http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2014/04/b ... 0-per.html