@mintcheerios: phil bloom is a decent film maker. but perhaps he is scared that more people will have access to good cameras and 4k :)

that letter of his is neither witty nore funny. on behalf what fukkin community is he talkin? so selfaware so full of...

I think Phillip Bloom is a talented guy that tells us things as he feels them and seems to be sharing his thinking process as it happens on this. I get the whole does this make the current BMC obsolete thinking and one of the arguments against was made by John Brawley who brings up the DR of the current model as being a plus in it's column. I think if they give the current model compressed RAW it will continue to have a niche.

As for the letter, I also get the gut feeling of there being too many cameras coming out too fast or half coming out or whatever. I'm very surprised by the young hungry wannabe filmmakers and photographers around me that are still barely figuring out how to put an ND on their 60Ds, let alone realizing how everything that is on the market fits together. Or the opposite route, (as in a recent case when a candidate for Mayor I'm doing a campaign for asked if we shouldn't have this guy she knows DP the spot because he just got a BMC). There will be confusion, there will be chaos, there will be angry customers and people not using whats best for them and a whole lot of external hard-drives sold as the world collapses under petabytes of bullshit video.

So, yeah, I get the tongue in cheek sentiment of the open letter, but I disagree with slowing down actually being better. The more options, the fiercer the competition, the more complex knife fighting these guys do in a race to the bottom price wise...I think it is all only good for the content creators. The fat-chick in Ohio of Coppola legend. She won't be up on everything, but Lena style, somebody she knows will have a thousand dollar camera, and someone else a five hundred dollar tripod and someone else a five hundred dollar robot stabilizer and they will make images of high enough quality to be able to stand on the merits of their story. And the percentage amateur geniuses will not be higher than we see in other Arts, but it will become higher than it has been in Cinema. And only the corporate dogfighting can get us to that camera as a pencil point, I believe.

If the technology is available, i do wish to see the cameras made. We need BMC and others like them to ship the better tech as it is available. Yes, there will be imperfections. But let that be ironed out in v2 or v2.5, etc. So, thats the only area where i would have to disagree with in what was said. Love the boldness and forward-thinking of BM instead of the antiquated approach in minute updates with older tech. Slowing down is not better. Keep it going naturally. Its just a faster-pace and times now.

I cancelled my Cinema Camera order, and ordered the Production Camera 4K.
I've waited 12 months, another 18 won't matter.

I just called into BHphoto and already they have around 100+ orders. That make me not in the first batch of camera for sure. big bummer.

I don't know what PB is smoking on. I remember buying a DV camcorder back in the 90s, CCD was the new advertise thing that replaced over cmos. Not until HDV kicked in and used CMOS. This is because CMOS is more affortable and consume less energy. What CMOS created was over 10 years of rolling shutter, alias, and moire. I welcome CCD back anytime.

I agree, bring it on, and I look forward to 60p next year

Yea. +1 here. If the 4k Blackmagic had 60fps (even with rolling shutter) I'd sell one of my testicles and buy 4 of them. Hell, I would have actually rather seen a 2.5k "extended" model with 60fps in Prores and a few other options for the $3995 price. Either way, I'm SO GLAD they are actually selling 4k at a reasonable price... way to go!!! but I personally need a good 60fps option this year. Seriously though, still a great job on Blackmagic's part... nearly every-other camera of the last few years looks like a joke now. I can't believe how pissed off those "pro camera" fanatics who swear by over-priced antiques like the C300 are feeling right now. Did they really think 8-bit compressed garbage at cell-phone data rates was worth the $16,000 investment? My God, what a joke Canon's C-series is now...

Just wait for the barrage of excuses to NOT use the 4k Blackmagic to begin. They are coming. And it's going to be both sad and hilarious to watch people desperately trying to hold their old "pro camera" ways. Gear won't get you jobs anymore. Finally. Good riddance!

They really did hit the nail on the head with the Pocket Cinema Cam. Looks amazing! Definitely getting one of those, or just the original BMCC, to go with a GH3 now... both great options though! Prores on a SD card?!! Holy crap! I want to just go outside and smash my 7D... but I can probably still get $700 for it. :)

Hmmm, interesting... Blackmagic's site says that 1920 x 1080p50i and 1920 x 1080p59.94i are both available frame-rates. Some form of over-cranking should be possible with that interlaced-to-progressive interpolation method. You'll only get 1920x540 worth of real-resolution... but it's an option!

@driftwood

that looks WAYYYYYY better than the current.

I just did the math in case anyone is interested. The sensor size equivalent of the BMCC MFT with the Metabones Speedbooster is actually bigger than the BMPC EF 4K.

BMCC sensor size equivalent with Speedbooster: 22.27mm x 12.51mm

BMPC sensor size: 21.12mm x 11.88mm

Apologies if this was already posted:

John Brawley said that the BMPC-4K uses "... a CMOS with global shutter from a different company ..." (e.g.: not a CCD, and not from the company that makes the CMOS sensor for the BMCC-EF & BMCC-MFT cams).

@kavadni

Me too! :-)