CineD IBC 2023 Best-of-Show Awards – Blackmagic Camera App, Sony BURANO, ARRI SkyPanel X, LC-Tec

AwardIBC 2023

by Nino LeitnerSeptember 18^th, 2023

IBC 2023 is coming to an end and it’s time to take a step back and announce our CineD IBC 2023 Award recipients: Blackmagic Design for their Blackmagic Camera App, Sony for their Sony BURANO CineAlta cinema camera, ARRI for the ARRI SkyPanel X, and LC-Tec for their liquid crystal filter technology. Let’s take a closer look at the winners.

It’s been an unusually busy early September in terms of camera releases, which pushed the interest for IBC 2023 in Amsterdam quite significantly. It also is the first sold-out IBC since 2019 (in terms of show floor space – last year’s IBC was about half the size), and it seems like conventions are back to normal after COVID-19.

We still have many videos and articles to finish and publish over the next week(s), but it’s time to take a step back and award the most outstanding products we saw at this year’s show. This is never an easy process, and we are aware that we might be missing some products, but here are the four most impressive products we have seen at the show – these are the CineD IBC 2023 Best-of-Show Awards:

Best Software Innovation – Blackmagic Camera iPhone app

Apart from announcing a new cinema camera, Blackmagic Design surprised everyone by announcing an iOS camera app that allows full control of the iPhone’s capabilities in terms of camera settings. (On the new iPhone 15 Pro, the new LOG mode of the camera can also be accessed.) The app is free and remarkably stable and responsive and seems very feature-complete for a v1 release. iPhones as far back as the iPhone SE are supported. What’s more is the support of Blackmagic Cloud and the addition of timecode into the files, which means that a remote workstation running DaVinci Resolve can immediately get the files shot from iPhones in the field and have clips aligned in sync without extra work. This is an incredibly smart and useful integration of Cloud technology for citizen shooters or news reporters covering live events with their phones. We expect a lot of great content produced using the new Blackmagic Camera app, especially in combination with its Blackmagic Cloud integration, and therefore award it our CineD IBC 2023 Best-of-Show prize for Best Software Innovation.

Best Lighting Innovation – ARRI SkyPanel X

It’s been a while since ARRI introduced the original SkyPanel (it was 2015, which feels like a century ago in the lighting technology industry), and in 2023, they finally came out with a new version. ARRI is “all about color” and they pride themselves on having the best color engine in the new version of the SkyPanel. What’s most remarkable about the SkyPanel X for us is the HyPer Optic attachment, which turns the light into a very directional and hard source. Furthermore, an S60 adapter enables the use of the old accessories for the original SkyPanel, like the diffusion dome. The SkyPanel X is IP66-rated, which makes it weatherproof. In addition, the light can be combined with additional fixtures to create a larger source. For ARRI standards, the SkyPanel X is competitively priced as they aim to expand further into the events and stage lighting market. We award the ARRI SkyPanel X our CineD Best-of-Show prize for Best Lighting Innovation.

Best Camera Innovation – Sony BURANO CineAlta Cinema Camera

Sony BURANO is the new CineAlta camera which is positioned below the VENICE 2 (read our coverage here), and it boasts a few innovations we haven’t seen in any other cinema camera – or any camera, for that matter: the combination of in-body stabilization (IBIS) and built-in ND is entirely new and has never been done before because of the mechanical limitations of putting a moving sensor behind a removable filter. Sony somehow found a solution, and it’s a sign of things to come in their smaller camera models, including, hopefully, the Alpha series, which currently lacks built-in ND filters. Secondly, it’s also the first PL-mount camera with a built-in ND. We award the Sony BURANO our CineD Best-of-Show prize for Best Camera Innovation.

Most Innovative Technology – LC-Tec Electronic ND- and diffusion filter technology

Electronic variable ND filters are an incredibly useful technology when shooting under changing lighting conditions, and shooters who used it once (often built into Sony cameras) will miss it as soon as they move on to another camera. To the best of our knowledge, there are only two companies that have similar technology: Sony and LC-Tec (and Panavision, but it’s rental-only). LC-Tec’s technical approach is different from Sony’s, but the effect is the same: the ability to smoothly adjust (step-less) ND strength, and alternatively, diffusion. What’s great about LC-Tec is that they are aiming to make their technology camera-agnostic. More specifically, they are currently looking for a partner to produce drop-in filters with variable ND and variable diffusion technology. The possibilities are endless here and we really look forward to this technology ending up in lots of other cameras and filters. We award LC-Tec our CineD Best-of-Show prize for Most Innovative Technology.

What do you think of this year’s IBC? What did you like, and what didn’t you like so much? Let us know in the comments below.