2024 really blew our minds because some of our favorite brands outdid themselves, and we had our hands full sending out that gear for road tests and reviews. Before we wrap the best tech highlights, we wanted to highlight a few items that left us wondering how anything else could come next.
BlackMagic Design Pyxis 6K Digital Film Camera
This remarkable camera takes new ground for the church-beloved Blackmagic Design. While most of us were more than happy with the image quality and affordability of the Cinema Camera 6K, Blackmagic decided that wasn’t good enough and gave us the Pyxis.
This is a real deal cinema box camera featuring all the bells and whistles you get on much more expensive equipment, and three models offer compatibility for EF, PL, and L-mount lenses. It boasts a full frame sensor and 13 stops of dynamic range with a native ISO of 25,600, capturing 6K footage in 2.4:1 at up to 60fps.
It’s modular as heck, too, so it’s ready to get the SmallRig treatment for a full loadout. You get all that, but what’s easy to overlook is the built-in touchscreen that doubles as a monitor, making it a true out-of-the-box cinema camera, ready for a lens, a card, and recording.
Here's more info on the Pyxis.
Digico Quantum 326Compact Digital Audio Mixing Console
If the Digico Quantum 338 was a bit too much for your church, the Digico engineers have a solution. The new Quantum 326, which was released in September 2024, offers a smaller footprint than its larger brother, and a lower price tag that sits between the Quantum225 and Digico’s other Quantum consoles --- including the mammoth Quantum852. For medium and larger-sized churches, the Quantum 326 may be the touring-grade audio console you’ve been waiting for.
For complete specs on the Quantum326, click here.
MA Lighting’s GrandMA3 command wing XT Lighting Console
To be honest, we’ve been playing around with this thing since 2023, but it’s still sending up so much value that we had to mention it again. The command wing XT simply offers plug-n-play lighting design and control that should cost three or four times as much, all in a volunteer friendly interface.
That’s what really sealed the deal for us—multiple production leaders saying that training their people on this machine was no big deal. Chris Nelson at Providence Community Church said “I was able to set up a show file on the command wing XT and lay it out in a way that was very volunteer friendly where they just had the two screens up and then the layout on the physical console. I walked them through 10 minutes of how to use it, and they were able to run with it.”
Any church looking for a long-term upgrade should really consider the MA Lighting command wing XT.
Want to see the command wing XT in action at a church? Check this out.
BZBGear BG-Adamo-JR & 4K PTZ Cameras
This is a two for one, and the Adamo JR is another holdover from 2023, but it’s just so darn good we can’t leave it alone.
Basically, the Adamo-JR and its big brother, the Adamo-4K, are a one-stop-shop for church live streaming. Each unit is an outstanding PTZ camera with proprietary tracking tech that quickly grabs and then latches onto your subject, following with precision movement in 12x, 20x, or 30x optical zoom on the Adamo-JR, and 12x or 25x on the Adamo-4k. You can send this signal out through SDI, HDMI, USB, NDI|HX3, Dante AV-H, or VoIP (featuring a PoE port for clean cable management).
If a church wants to start live streaming tomorrow, they can order one of these units with rush shipping, open it up, hook it up to a web browser, and be in business because these cameras are encoders, too. The 3.5mm audio jack will grab aux-out audio from your console, and that’s it—you’re up and running.
The value here is unbeatable, with the Adamo-JR and Adamo-4K ringing in under $2,000 and $3,000 respectively. They’re a great buy for any church that needs reliable and flexible streaming gear.
For more info on the BZBGear Adamo PTZ cameras, click here.
Pictured left to right: BZBGear BG-Adamo-JR and Adamo 4K
Tascam SonicView 24XP Digital Recording and Mixing Console
Tascam is known for its legendary recording equipment, but they jumped into the audio console pool and made waves with the Sonic View 24XP. Our friend Shaun Miller at Rolling Hills Community Church said, “Tascam has over-engineered this console. I did not expect to be as impressed as I was.”
The SonicView 24XP brings two value propositions to production leaders. First, it feels familiar. Unlike Digico or the Behringer Wing, the Sonic View hangs on to old-school analog, top-down signal flow, with PFL knobs at the top of each channel, followed by effects editing via knobs, and the built-in touch screens, a smaller screen for level monitoring, and then a fader. Second, the on-board effects pack a wallop with lots of room to add more in the future, and lots of processing headroom so the console doesn’t get bogged down.
Its $6,999 price tag makes a tempting offer for any church in the market for a console upgrade.
Here's more info on the SonicView 24XP Road Test at Rolling Hills Community Church.
Shure Nexadyne Dual Transducer Dynamic Microphone
Shure debuted its Revonic Technology in 2024 with the launch of the Nexadyne line of dual-diaphragm dynamic microphones. The new technology is designed in part to reduce handling noise, but also offers a tight, super-cardioid pick-up pattern to help with sound isolation in live environments. In our Road Test, the engineer found it took far less time to dial in a good mix when compared with typical vocal mics.
Learn more about the Shure Nexadyne evaluation at Elevation Church’s Raleigh, NC campus.
Sony Alpha 9 Mark III Full-Frame Camera with Global Shutter System
We are, as well as many of you, big fans of Sony and how they’ve pushed the edge of budget filmmaking with remarkable units like the FX3, FX6, and the Alpha 7S line. But they’ve really outdone themselves with the Alpha 9 Mark III, a full-frame mirrorless film and photo camera with global shutter, the first of its kind. It will capture 4k up to 120fps. Honestly, there isn’t much more to say because that’s just nuts, but feel free to grab the full details if you’d like.
That’s Almost a Wrap on 2024.
But hit us with comments or emails on gear that really made a difference for you this year. We’d love to hear about it.
