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Black Magic: Official $1,995 raw cinema camera topic, series 2
  • 1111 Replies sorted by
  • WilboWilbo

    @kazuo ...envious :) I'm waiting for Texas Media Systems (my BMPC preorder) to reply to an email if they can match either this deal:

    http://www.sharbor.com/products/BMDN5000006.html

    or this deal:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blackmagic-Design-Cinema-Camera-with-MFT-Mount-and-Switronix-Battery-and-Charger-/370873379297?pt=Camcorders_Professional_Video_Cameras&hash=item5659c6a9e1

    ...because I tried to order from TMS first. If they can't I'm just going to jump on one of the deals above :)

  • SuperSetSuperSet

    Does the Voigtlander 25mm not work with the BMCC? I haven't seen anyone mention it.

  • kazuokazuo

    @Wilbo

    Just got my mft today. I now know why pp video tape themselves unboxing, the excitement's like undressing a gal for the first time. Wow, her body is beautiful in this case, made of similar steel from the Mac pro casing. In fact no one would blame you if you thought Steve Jobs had a hand in designing it, right down to the packaging.

    Heavy thing. You wont regret it!

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @matt_gh2 Thanks man and thank Kholi. He lit the set. We thought it was going to be rough but I really like what we captured. And yep, Rokinon needs to make that fucking 50mm! Won't be one till 2014. I understand why but not having a matching 50 is killing me. If anyone knows of one that's close, PLEASE let me know! :)

  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    @vicharris Shots look great. Has a very nice modern cinematic texture/feel to it. Rokinons seem like a good match for BMCC. They should really make that 50mm for complete set.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @jfilmmaker I did a quick and dirty test with it, the new Rokinon 16mm and the SLR12mm looking at edge sharpness since I heard the Tokina wasn't good. The Tokina came in last. The order was Rokinon, SLR then Tokina. It wasn't scientific or anything. When I test items I just shoot everyday objects and see what looks best to my eyes. I shot a huge canvas oil painting so there's tiny detail everywhere. Easy to see where the Tokina falls flat at. Pity. I'll post the grabs somewhere but not sure what topic they should be in. Rokinon 16mm, Tokina 11-16, SLR 12mm or BMCC. Maybe I should just start a new one. Maybe someone will let me know the best place.

  • jfilmmakerjfilmmaker

    @vicharris What's wrong with Tokina 11-16 on BMCC?

  • bwhitzbwhitz

    Just a heads up, you get about 34 min out of that 240 card in RAW. ProRes is hours though and looks great!

    Oh nice! I actually thought I was only going to get 15mins in RAW. Good news!

    Was really only the compatable drive I could find though... think they're getting scarce.

    Hope they test and approve the Extreme II drives soon.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @kholi I'll be out your way in the next day or so. Want be to bring over the ssd's so you can pull whatever you want?

  • kholikholi

    I think it looks fine @vicharris, especially considering being new to it.

    xD Wish I had some of the footage to work on my LUT with! Almost done with it, me thinks.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @Mckinise Well of course Resolve for the grade but I'm cutting footage in FCP7. Sure there's a better option but I don't have the time to learn something new right now. As for my computer, I just built a hackintosh from the pro specs on NoFilmSchools website. Also using an Xstar 27" LPS monitor which is just a rebranded Samsung screen. Really nice though and only $300. I will say though that the wireless card is a p.o.s. at least for me. I'm having horrible problems with wifi.

    But once again I'll add I'm really new to this camera so talk to some of the vets here.

  • MckiniseMckinise

    What are you guys using to edit the footage? What are your machine specs and what editing software? I am running Sony Vegas 12 on a pretty decent PC. Thinking I may have to get something else just to work with the footage. Help me out here.

  • peternappeternap

    @vicharris Thanks! That's looking a lot better than the pocket camera to me. I like the lower right frame better. Stunning image. Now I'm thinking again....do I need it??????

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @driftwood Thanks sir, means alot coming from you but Kholi might cringe! He wanted to help me with the grading after I cut it together so I hope I didn't kill the footage! The hard grade was just for fun. I told him I wanted to go for the Joe Vs the Volcano office scene look and he thought I was joking. :) Can't wait to cut, grade and post it. It's pretty good and for my girlfriends new company.

  • driftwooddriftwood

    Nice screengrabs. This is way better. @vicharris @kholi

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @bwhitz Just a heads up, you get about 34 min out of that 240 card in RAW. ProRes is hours though and looks great!

  • bwhitzbwhitz

    @kazuo

    Finally, i am late to the game, but bit the bullet and got my mft 2.5k.

    Me too... The new $1000 price drop was too much to resist. And the fact that Davinci Resolve is still included with the camera is mind-blowing! Got the MFT mount, Switronics base-mount battery, and 240GB Sandisk Extreme for under $2500. Should be a nice shoot-able package to get started with... :)

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @GravitateMediaGroup I had the 14, got rid of it. If you like the 14 you love the 16. It's faster and you can use it at 2.8 without any problem. It beats the hell out of the 14mm. I'm dumping both my Tokina 11-16 and 12-24 lenses because of it. Though the Tokina11-16 is not good on this camera. Kind of sucks.

  • GravitateMediaGroupGravitateMediaGroup

    @vicharris, I love the 85, but mostly use the 14, I just wish it was a little faster.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @kazuo All Rokinon Cine. 16,24,35 and 85. We really missed having a 50mm. Rokinon really needs to get on it. There were a few times where due to the set and cast, a 50 would have been much better than say the 35 or 85. You can move front or backwards but sometimes not much, or not at all! I think Kholi stayed on the 24mm for the last 3/4 of the day and I bounced back and forth from the 85 to the 35. Did a couple dolly shots with the 16 too.

  • kazuokazuo

    @vicharris

    looking good. What lenses did you use?

  • kazuokazuo

    I have a question. I will be picking up my set tomorrow, and was hoping to use it with the Ninja version 1 so that I could save on SSD (ok, I know I'm cheap, but the HD-SDI to HDMI converter ain't cheap either). I read that the firmware update v1.3.1 allows BMcc to output SDI 1080i now, instead of 1080p, as was originally the case.

    Could anyone who is running on 1.3.1 pl help me check if the SDI signal out is interchangeable between 1080i and 1080p? I was told that it now only outputs interlaced IF you want the overlay off. Damn! Why did BM do that? This camera was never built for broadcast studio work! It's a digital film camera for crying out loud!!!!!

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @GravitateMediaGroup Yep, I've had some bad rolling noise/banding in underexposed ProRes footage. RAW is ok there. That's what I meant by switching to RAW to save your ass a little in the bottom end. But I agree, not a low light camera but I light everything I do. Actually, I probably put WAY too much light in everything I do, which leads to my mentor yelling at me in a drunken rage about how all my footage looks like a fucking Fish n Chips shop! And yep, he's British :)

    One more thing, remember that from all the reports I've read that we really only have 7 or 8 stops to really work with well in this camera. The rest is throw away if it's lite for that...so to speak.

    And yet, again, I could be completely wrong there as well :)

  • GravitateMediaGroupGravitateMediaGroup

    @vicharris I've been spoiled by the 13 stops and it's no longer enough, MORE! MORE!! lol just kidding.

    Anything that needs more than 12-14 stops of dynamic range may just need better lighting conditions, which brings me to my next comment, I have had some clips end up too dark because I expected the DR of the BMCC to bail me out and I was wrong. One thing this camera does require is proper lightning or daylight, it's not a low light life saver by any means, at some point it just becomes a bit noisy (and not the nice "film grain" noise either), even with proper ISO/settings/post corrections.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @Wilbo I agree, I'm not that impressed with the grabs coming out of the Pocket right now. I'm sure they are great but since the price of this camera came down a third, it just didn't make any sense to me. But that's just my opinion and what the hell do I know :)

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