Blackmagic Design today announced it will make the optical fiber connection on its Blackmagic Studio Camera models a user installed option allowing the company to reduce the retail price of the camera. The HD model will reduce in price by $300 and the Ultra HD model will reduce in price by $500.

Based on user feedback, many customers are not using the optical fiber connection and had asked if a model without this premium and costly option could be released. With the optical fiber now excluded from the camera, the camera can be sold for a lower price. This suits the many customers who simply want to use the camera via its regular BNC SDI connections. The SDI connections on the Blackmagic Studio Cameras feature cutting edge technology and are 12G-SDI for up to 2160p60 on the Ultra HD model.

When a customer decides they want to add optical fiber, they simply purchase any SMPTE standard optical fiber SFP module and plug it into the camera. This then allows extremely long cable lengths which means that cameras can get close to the action and be located as far away from the switcher as required. The HD Blackmagic Studio Camera model is now $1,695 and the Ultra HD Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K model is now $2,495. Both models are available now.