At the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) show, postproduction technology company Blackmagic Design made a surprising move into the camera space, releasing the sub-$3,000 Cinema Camera seen here.

We're most impressed with the Teutonic, Rams-like industrial design. The body is constructed from a block of machined aluminum, capped front and back with rubber for grip. Standard cable jacks are located on the left side, while the right consists of a door that opens to reveal the SSD slot. Blackmagic wisely stayed out of the proprietary lens game and designed the Cinema Camera to take Canon or Zeiss glass.

From an interface perspective, the camera has been designed with a large touchscreen intended for the shooter to input metadata on the fly. As someone who manages a photography studio, I can't see some of the more artsy shooters taking the time to do this, but I guess that's what photo assistants are for.

The sensor resolution is 2.5k, which doesn't quite compete with Canon's 1D or Red's Scarlet-X, both of which shoot at 4k; but the latter cameras will run you five figures, making Blackmagic's $2,995 offering seem absurdly inexpensive.