BlackMagic was the favorite Cinemaca Camera brand for drone photographers for many years. OCTOPUS CINEMA‘s upcoming Pocket Sized Super 16 Cinema Camera, called the OCTOPUS16, measures 80x80x50mm (3.14 x 3.14 x 1.96″) and weighs less than 400g (0.88 lb). With these physical parameters, it can be installed on four-rotor 10″+ FPV drones and smaller eight-rotor CineWhoops.
Hollywood needs better quality than a GoPro action camera can deliver for aerial footage, but studio cinema cameras are pretty heavy and require powerful and expensive drones to lift them. For under $1000, the OCTOPUS16 seems to be an accessible solution for aerial content creators.
The OCTOPUS16 features a true 16-bit image sensor, and it is capable of recording internally in 4K RAW (CDNG). They have managed to overclock a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 to handle 12-bit 4K RAW with liquid heat pipes for silent, efficient cooling.
The cubic-shaped camera has a built-in LCD screen with touchscreen controls. It has an interchangeable lens mount that also supports MFT lenses with the use of an adapter, but the native mount is a CS-mount, so you can use very readily available and affordable small-sized lenses. The OCTOPUS16 is intended to be powered via a USB-C power bank, but it is possible to power it directly from the drone’s main battery.
OCTOPUS16 prototype footage (true 16bit sensor readout)
Stay tuned for news about this existing 4K cinema drone camera!