Which Blackmagic camera models output live native progressive 1080p, and when? This situation is a bit confusing, and hasn’t been completely revealed publicly so far. It varies among specific Blackmagic camera models, which framerate is selected, and whether or not you have the overlays turned on or off. It took several days for me to get even the partial answers from Blackmagic, and I expect one of the answers to change again in the near future. Ahead you’ll see how it stands as of publication time of this article.

• When the original 2.5K Blackmagic Cinema Camera (with either of the two possible lens mounts) is set to include overlays over the HD-SDI output, the signal over HD-SDI is native progressive whether the camera is set to 1080/23.976p, 1080/24.000p, 1080/25p, 1080/29.97p and 1080/30.000p.
• If you shut off the overlays, the original 2.5K Blackmagic Cinema Camera (with either of the two possible lens mounts), the output over HD-SDI remains native progressive as long as you are in 1080/23.976p or 1080/24.000p. However, if you are in 25p with overlays off, the live output becomes 1080/25PsF (which appears to be 1080i50), and if you are at 1080/29.97p with overlays off, the output will become 1080/29.97PsF (which appears to be 1080i59.94).
• With the Pocket Cinema Camera, the Micro HDMI output is exclusively native progressive, regardless of selected framerate or overlay status.
• There is still no word about the 4K camera’s output behavior when set to 1080p mode.

I expect the situation to change with the original 2.5K Blackmagic Cinema Camera (with either of the two possible lens mounts), given that the ATEM 4K mixer demands native progressive 1080p when in 1080p mode, as I covered in this recent article. Presently, this will work directly at 23.976p and 24.000p with the ATEM 4K mixer in 1080p mode. However, if the producer wants to use the original 2.5K Blackmagic Cinema Camera (with either of the two possible lens mounts) with the ATEM 4K mixer at either 1080p25 or 1080p29.97, s/he will have to purchase both an H2S and an S2H from Átomos to remove the 2:2 pulldown, make the signals native 1080p25 or 1080p29.97 and make it work. On the other hand, the current behavior of these cameras at 25p and 29.97p will be fine with traditional video mixers that can only accept interlaced 1080i. (It will need to be dealt with after the mixer in that case, if desired.) I expect Blackmagic to add a separate menu item to set how the output to native or otherwise. If you are interested in this topic, you’ll want to read my upcoming ebook:

How to build a progressive 1080p multicam studio in the age of malignant PsF

…since this book will cover many different camera behaviors and how to deal with them with different video mixers from different manufacturers, together with how to pick the ideal framerate for various situations and applications.

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