Nexus G1 Introduced – Blackmagic Pocket 6K Soul in a Box Camera

Camera News

by Nick TaylorJanuary 11^th, 2024

There have been waves of Blackmagic camera mods washing over the filmmaking community recently. These customizations put what is considered an industry-best camera into custom bodies for various purposes, some of which are even considered “better” than the stock vessel in which the Australian company chose to house the cameras. Let’s investigate a brand new design that takes the Blackmagic camera back to its roots.

Blackmagic is no stranger to the box camera design. The original Blackmagic Cinema Camera was essentially a box camera. The Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K is also a box camera. But the company struck gold with the “handheld” Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera that premiered roughly 11 years ago. It featured a DSLR-esque body type that was popular at the time with the growing use of the Canon 5D in cinema productions. And ever since, the filmmaking community has clamored for the Pocket Cinema Camera in its various iterations – most notably, the BMPCC 4K, BMPCC 6K, and the brand new Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K (which dropped the “pocket” from the title altogether).

Why a “box” camera?

For the uninitiated, the “box” camera design gives the operator ultimate freedom in camera setup. You can add or take away anything to the camera rig and set it up however you see fit. Larger cameras such as the Arri Alexa are big and bulky, and its parts can usually only be attached in a specific way. Your monitor, your battery, and your wireless transmitter all have to be in a certain spot, in a certain orientation. Utilizing a box camera gives your camera department a lot more say and creative freedom in how to rig out the camera. Or, you can just throw your box camera and a lens onto a jib, techno crane, or vehicle rig and go!

Born out of necessity, the Nexus Project aims to put the world-class imaging power of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6K in a more efficient body. The Nexus Project is run by brothers Thomas & Timothy Boland, with support from industrial designer Brian Boland. Co-creator Thomas Boland states:

The more we rigged the Blackmagic Pocket 6k to fix the problems it had, the more problems the rigging and external accessories caused, which limited creativity in other ways. Such as the need to constantly break down and modify rigs for different movement setups, problems with controlling the camera via the screen blocked by a battery, the weight which makes gimbals impossible to use for long periods without cumbersome support equipment, and the extremely wide body which made the camera hard to mount in tight spaces or on gimbals, to name a few.

Thomas Boland, Avid Nexus

Ladies and gentlemen, the Nexus G1

The first camera planned by the Nexus Project is the Nexus G1: a redesigned Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K (G1). While the Nexus G1 is still in the early design stages, the Bolands intend to provide filmmakers with an optimized professional camera system that leaves little guesswork on the technical side. In hopes of alleviating stresses caused by high-paced production environments, this will allow filmmakers to focus more on the creative aspects of movie making.

Features

The planned features of the Nexus G1 include but are not limited to:

• Body: Made of composite material, combining polymer and machined aluminum elements. Lightweight but high strength.
• Battery: Rear-mounted mini/micro v-mount to allow a longer runtime and balance out lens weight for comfort and stability for handheld use. Other popular types of batteries such as gold mount, full-sized v-mount, and NP-F are also being considered.
• Monitoring: The original touchscreen 5” display from the Blackmagic pocket 6k will be turned into an external display that can be mounted to the top or side. An integrated 3.5” full-color touchscreen display integrated into the top surface of the camera towards the rear, which serves as a control panel to control all the camera settings.
• Built-in Electronic ND filter: Optional internal continuously variable LCD-type Electronic Neutral Density (ND) filter, controlled via side handled control wheel.
• SDI: Optional SDI module, which provides 1x SDI output and 1x SDI input (maintains simultaneous HDMI output also).
• Storage: The USB-C port will remain and work as normal. The Cfast 2.0 port will be relocated to the side of the camera and designed to accept both regular Cfast cards and 1tb Nexus Drive SSDs.
• Lens Mount: The camera will come stock with the original Blackmagic 6k EF mount. An option will be available to unbolt the EF mount and replace it with the Nexus MultiMount.
• Ports: USB-C port, HDMI (1080p60), SDI 3G 1x in 1x out (if SDI module installed), XLR audio input (TBD, considering full-size XLR), Cfast 2.0 (designed to accept Nexus Drives), MicroSD slot, 3.5mm mic jack, 3.5mm headphone jack, Weipu power port, External screen IO port, Nexus Grip side control handle IO port, 3x d-tap power output port (also considering Lemo option).

When and how much?

With research and development ongoing, no specific date has been set yet for the release of the Nexus G1, but Boland hopes to be done by mid to late 2024. However, the price point has been floated at around $3,000, which includes the price of the camera inside the Nexus G1 body. The camera should come ready to go, minus any extra add-ons you may require (ie. handle, battery, etc.). Or you can order a DIY kit if you prefer to build it yourself.

If you’d like to keep apprised of the status of the camera, check out the Nexus camera website here (updates to come). Or there’s a Reddit thread where we first found out about the camera here. A special thank you to Thomas Boland for being so accommodating and answering my questions for this article. The CineD team wishes all of you luck in your innovation on behalf of all filmmakers.

Are you excited at all about the Nexus G1? Do you feel this is a welcome modification to the Blackmagic Design family? Put it in the comments and let’s talk about it!