Personal View site logo
Make sure to join PV on Telegram or Facebook! Perfect to keep up with community on your smartphone.
Please, support PV!
It allows to keep PV going, with more focus towards AI, but keeping be one of the few truly independent places.
BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
  • 497 Replies sorted by
  • @eatstoomuchjam the more I look, the more I think this is the status light from the Terradek transmitter I had on the camera.

    So for those saying it was overlit and there was too much light and it wasn't a real low light test.....ummmm...

    Light level was low enough a single LED on camera to shows up ??? (I normally have them taped up because of showing up in reflections anyway !)

    Oh well !

    JB

  • John thanks for these tests, for what it’s worth - I think this is beautiful stuff. Would love to see some behind the scenes shots of how your rig was set up if they will let you share.

  • I believe that! I've had to do similar things on low-light shoots due to light pollution from a single LED!

    If this footage is any indication, I'll almost certainly be a customer when the time comes!

  • Back to The Future: Covering LED monitor and LED lights!

    image

    Dark-Cloth2.jpg
    640 x 811 - 234K
  • bugs. good, but not attenborough.

  • @DrDave

    You mean that you need better narration? :-) As all he does is exactly this.

  • @johnbrawley

    Critical Questions I hoped to answer but delayed shipping news is botching:

    Does the camera natively support HDR workflow- HLG or other forms- if so, can you test it or request an HDR grade thru the backchannels for us patient customers? What happens to the camera display, does it emulate HDR in that case?

    How's the fan noise (does it cycle on and off audibly) and audio preamps- useable?

    Did you try it on a gimbal or put it up on a drone-if not, do you plan on it any time soon?

    Did you test any generic USB-C to SSD adapters for external SSD recording? (I am scratching my head why this doesn't simply record to SSD internally)

    Can you turn off the rear display to conserve power?

    Is it hardy enough to be used outdoors in foggy fall or brutal Winter months, or will freezing condensation form/affect the fan and impact the large display?

    Can it timelapse & did you take any stills?

    Did you try or briefly use it for greenscreen, if so which settings and did it hold up...

    Unfortunately for me, my 1st Day, first batch preorder status from the Big Retailer is set to "arrive at our warehouse early October", while one month ago, I was assured it would ship tomorrow / the Only other camera I waited so long to receive was a Red on a first day preorder...

    I would never preorder a new release camera shipping in October, dumb as it sounds, because my local region turns barren and brown in October, and am thinking of cancelling my preorder after 6 months because I have too many options available and was hoping to put it thru it's paces this month to get a feel if I should order a second one, which may now fall into a spring order all else considered

    We do appreciate your feedback and in being a guinea pig, as I'll never understand why you can not be given sufficient time to truly explore it's capabilities over a week while also doing their bidding...

  • Out of camera files released for the sample videos: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera/gallery

    Grade them yourself and see how disappointed / appointed you are with the camera.

  • @Firworks

    I just imagine this on radio hobby forum:

    Look, Fluke finally released sample voltage measurements Excel file. You can grade values to your liking and tell us how disappointed / appointed you are with multimeter.

    :-)

  • @Vitaliy If you are going to film bugs, there's focus and DOF to get the right percentage of the bug in view. Both were spotty. It's pretty amazing how well Attenborough gets the follow focus with moving bugs.
    OTOH, the parts that were in focus looked really very good on my 4K screen. I definitely have added this cam to to my buy list.

  • @DrDave

    It's pretty amazing how well Attenborough gets the follow focus with moving bugs.

    As I understand last years all he is doing is narration, plus some directing may be.

  • Pretty much none of his credits are for cinematography or camera operator.

    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041003/

  • The producer is the star in this case and gets credit for his top notch crew.

  • Many nature documentaries fake outdoor shots in the studio where they have greater control over the image and activity of animals. Disney did it, so does Attenborough!

    David Attenborough BBC Earth

    Macro filming techniques have been used in wildlife films for more than a century. The laws of physics demand a lot of light and perfectly calm conditions, but macro photography also requires a huge amount of patience. As a consequence, macro filming is sometimes undertaken in controlled environments like a studio, where lights can be used safely.

    http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160314-life-in-miniature-wildlife-macro-filming


    It’s about time we recognised that nature documentary makers regularly deceive us – and we’re partly to blame

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/bbc-david-attenborough-nature-documentaries-fake-a8291961.html

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/23/captive-wildlife-footage-blue-planet-2-bbc1-totally-true-to-nature-say-producers

  • I am grateful that Blackmagic Design has made original, OOC clips available. So, we can see what can be done with them ourselves, not putting up with the grading of others.

    I downloaded the 'balloons' clip, shot by Andreas Neuman. It is a brilliant shot, at dawn, into the sun, but the grade is dull and in fact the camera appears to have had the wrong WB, since, as you will see, the original clip is very blue (it is not a RAW image). But with a 10bit 422 image, one can do a lot.

    The video starts with the original, ungraded clip followed by MY grade. When I think of sunrise and balloons, I think of color, so what I went for is a look with color!

    Anyway, whether you like my grade or not you can see what one can pull out of the image in this very high DR scene.

  • The first unboxing video;;; in thai:

  • An other video:

  • So, all the formats are REC709 color, right? Thus, no ability to make HDR (REC2020 color) videos with this camera, right?

  • Why not ? Mark, I believe you can load your own BT2020 LUT which can be rolled into a file directly, or you could grade the raw or prores 10 bit log and output HDR files.

  • If you're interested solely in video, doesn't seem worth it to even consider any of the new mirrorless cameras. This thing with a Speedbooster XL crushes them. So if it actually comes out within the next year, just buy it.

    Also, it looks like a Sega Game Gear.

  • @bandindv Loading a REC202 LUT does not magically increase the REC709 color space. You do understand that REC709 is a small part (proper subset) of the REC2020 color space, right? And the wider REC2020 color space is what is required to meet HDR standards."Grading" a 10bit REC709 clip also does not also increase the color gamut. HDR specs include wide color, specifically REC2020 wide color. So no matter what LUT or transform you use, if you start with REC709 color, which is what this camera produces, you cannot meet HDR standards.

    Sony offers SGamut varieties; Panasonic offers Vlog color - these are wide gamuts, exceeding the REC709 color gamut. Sony and Panasonic also offer REC2020 color gamuts to go along with HLG gammas. I see no options for wide color from Blackmagic, just REC709 color, let alone HLG gammas. [Note: Sony offers only 8bit REC2020 color, which does not technically meet the HDR standard either, which is 10bit REC2020, but the difference for the most part is not great].

  • @markr041

    I think you told lot of strange things, Let's clear them out.

    Actual Rec 2020 make sense only if sensor sensitivity curves allow going our of Rec 709 primaries. For most cameras put good sensitivity in priority so they ever barely touch Rec 709 or go slightly more.

    Good editor if you import Rec 709 clip in the Rec 2020 project will do all for you. And yes, grading Rec 709 in Rec 2020 project does increase color gamut (of course it won't be true colors camera saw), it is just math.

  • I think you are adding to confusion. Nothing I said was "strange" or misleading or false.

    Your first statement is a claim that the cameras I mentioned do not actually "see" the full REC2020 color space. I am sure that is partly true, but they sure see more than the REC709 color space than is recorded by the camera that is the subject of this thread. Which is the point.

    Your second statement adds to confusion. Let's try to be clear: There are colors in the REC2020 space that are simply not included in REC709, right? So the REC709 clips are missing colors in the REC2020 gamut. So the math transform makes up colors that are not included? And you think that is perfectly fine?

    "It is just math" is irrelevant. We are talking about recreating accurately the colors that exist in the world. Making up colors that are not recorded using math or using black magic (hah!) does not achieve that end.

    We observe in the real world more colors than the REC709 color space. REC2020 allows us to reproduce more of the colors we see than REC709. We do not see math transforms of REC709 color, anywhere in the real world.

    The increase in the color gamut from the math transform is fake color. I assumed in my statements it is understood we want actual color not fake color. So, as I said, the math does not "magically" turn REC709 color to (true) REC202 color - it does not widen the gamut other than by creating false colors.

  • Your first statement is a claim that the cameras I mentioned do not actually "see" the full REC2020 color space. I am sure that is partly true, but they sure see more than the REC709 color space than is recorded by the camera that is the subject of this thread.

    No cameras had been mentioned (except it is in BM topic). To make your statement you need to know spectral sensitivity curves, that you don't.

    There are colors in the REC2020 space that are simply not included in REC709, right? So the REC709 clips are missing colors in the REC2020 gamut. So the math transform makes up colors that are not included? And you think that is perfectly fine?

    Yes, it is all fine. Math transform moves point in 3D space.

    You'll be surprised that almost all cameras actually "make up" colors in their JPEG engine to make picture look better, and this includes playing with saturation.

    We are talking about recreating accurately the colors that exist in the world. Making up colors that are not recorded using math or using black magic (hah!) does not achieve that end.

    Actually it does. If camera is unable (due to sensitivity curves) to instantly accurately get the color, but is able to do same or even more saturated colors via complex algorithm (even using scene or object recognition) - it makes no difference for viewer. And most cameras work such way now.

    The increase in the color gamut from the math transform is fake color. I assumed in my statements it is understood we want actual color not fake color. So, as I said, the math does not "magically" turn REC709 color to (true) REC202 color - it does not widen the gamut other than by creating false colors.

    No such thing as "fake color" exist.

    To repeat again - you can perfectly get Rec 709 clip and grade it in Rec 2020 space in any good modern editor, most of the time it will be very little difference with Rec 2020 output by same camera. As in reality for most cameras you need to give up in sensitivity and hence - get big sales hit, to be able to go much wider than Rec 709.