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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
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  • Interesting image comparison between DSLR and POCKET cam in Black Magic Design website.

    In the dslr image there is sun light in the flor and in the mobile/movable and much more sun coming from the window. In the pocket cam image there is not the same amount of sunlight. Wouldn't be better to use the same light in the image to compare?

    http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera/technology/

    In the test below, the Prores does not have the same dynamic range as Raw. Will be possible to work with raw with SDXC cards? Or will Prores with film log deliver same 13 fstops DR as Raw?

    http://cinescopophilia.com/blackmagic-cinema-camera-raw-vs-prores-in-a-minute/

  • _gl are you serious?

    @luxis, very. I shoot 3D with two GH2 bodies, so I need to carry two of everything on foot. I usually like to take stills of the same same scene I've just filmed, in case I need it for high-res artwork later. So being able to do both at the same time from the same setup is hugely convenient.

    Some people might also just want to throw one in a bag with a pancake, so if you can extract decent stills from it, all the better. The pixel quality and colours should be very good, but is 1080p a dealbreaker? Something I'm thinking about ...

    In the dslr image there is sun light in the flor and in the mobile/movable and much more sun coming from the window. In the pocket cam image there is not the same amount of sunlight. Wouldn't be better to use the same light in the image to compare?

    @apefos, that's exactly what I thought when I saw those shots. A lousy comparison that looks like slight of hand, I doubt they need to do that so it's just sloppy.

  • @QuickHitRecord @Vitaliy_Kiselev , wouldn't the strange position (so low), be due to the aspect ratio of the sensor (seems near square), and wanting to start the scan from the actual top of the sensor. if they centered it in the middle it would have to crop the top and the bottom, making for either a more complicated crop/calculation, but also possibly leading to a delayed first line of actual imaging scan. To me it seems like a simpler solution offset the sensor vertically, then to start scan from top of sensor, and not wasting time on initial scan lines that aren't even used in the final image, just to be cropped. Ideally the scan could stop at the end after 1080 lines, so the next scan can start (less rolling shutter), but less ideally, it would be a more simple crop to drop lines after 1080.

  • I think its fair in BMD defense to say that this is just to help better explain how dynamic range and raw shooting is better is than the usual DSLR compression. Obviously these shots arent litteral...its like when the laundry soap commercial shows the batcteria they kill with their better soap. My only gripe with this cam is the sensor size...but I suppose with a speed booster attached maybe that would make up for the crop factor being so bad. Super 16 is too small, IMO and I worry about low light performance as well...

  • @No_SuRReNDeR and others - Low-light performance is going to be pretty much the same as the BMCC. The active pixel density is the same, it's the same generation sensor, so it'll have virtually the same low-light performance. It obviously won't be on par with a 1D, but with fast lenses it'll be quite good.

    Sensor size really doesn't matter as much for low-light performance as everyone seems to think. What matters is active pixel density.

  • Ok let me rephrase....Since I shoot Cinema light isnt REALLY an issue...need light = find a way to add it....however I am worried about 2 things....#1.Having literally no shallow depth of field and just this razor sharp hyperfocal distance due to sensor size and #2 Is the crop factor... wont this be like a 3x crop?

    All those worries aside for that price >>>>>screw it I am getting one regardless.

  • erase double post.

  • This thing is 3.02x crop factor comparing to a dslr film camera 36x24mm negative. (considering the diagonal measurement)

    I understand pixel density and pixel size in microns, and I think low light will not be that bad (1600 iso), but cannot be compared with a fs100 or c100 or 5d3, or even with the D5200 wich has clean 3200 iso after denoise.

    I think this camera will be a Prores camera until the "super fast" SDXC large storage cards come to market (super fast 2TB cards or inexpensive super fast 256GB cards)...

    Speed Booster will be a must for decent shallow dof, but not everybody is worried about shallow dof.

    To be honest... for my low budget indie route, the amount of storage (cards and computer HDD), low light and dof performance, post production workflow, keep me in the GH2 (hacked) / T3i (with VAF and ML) way...

  • Interesting image comparison between DSLR and POCKET cam in Black Magic Design website. In the dslr image there is sun light in the flor and in the mobile/movable and much more sun coming from the window. In the pocket cam image there is not the same amount of sunlight. Wouldn't be better to use the same light in the image to compare?.

    @apefos, they are demonstrating how blown out the image would look in comparison to the ability to capture all the DR with a RAW image. It's a bit exaggerated but basically that's what would happen if you recorded a window with full sun shining thru. 8-10 stops of DR won't be able to capture it. You could expose for the scene but then the interior would be too dark.

  • With a 3x crop the fastest f-stop will be a f2.8 compared to a full frame sensor even with the fastest lenses. Not very attractive but liveable. Less than the focal length tripling I'm more concerned about this f-stop increase.

  • Has anyone found a definition of "Active m4/3s mount"? Does that mean Aperture control and focusing or just aperture control?

  • It has "Focus" button. I will be surprised if it supports AFC flawlessly.

  • -I noticed on a video that it seems to have a built in intervalometer of some kind that a nice add on.

  • Question: will ALL c-mount lenses work with this camera? For example, will this 16-64mm f/1.4 work? Equivalent FOV to 48-192mm on FF, which is a nice telephoto range, at a constant f/1.4 aperture.

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/FUJI-FUJINON-TV-Z-1-4-16-64mm-C4x16-RARE-LENS-C-mount-Filter-67mm-/200912130125?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item2ec74bd04d

  • I might be wrong, but i think that "Focus" button is for focus peaking assistant.

    And I've sold a TV Zoom 11.5-90 f2 for 40 bucks a couple of months ago because it was useless with my GH2 :S

  • @Sangye : C mount was just that, a mount... A C mount lens will only cover this sensor if it has been designed to cover S16, but most C mount lenses were designed for low budget 16mm cameras and video cameras with a 2/3" tube or sensor, so they will vignette on this sensor, particularly the wider ones... You definitely want to look for S16 (and wider formats) lenses.

  • PLEASE help me understand this. I am a run and gun doc filmmaker and will be shooting a fair amount of shots indoors. I was thinking about buying this, and paring it with rokinon cine lenses and a speed booster by meta.

    I have 2 questions for you.

    1. would this setup do well for indoor shots.

    2. would the DOF be shallow if shot at something like 1.4 t with the speed-booster? would it look like an APS-C sensor (7d) at 1.8 or 2?

    Thanks greatly.

    -NP

  • @mpgxsvcd: from the BMC site: "The active MFT mount is powered so is capable of providing electronic control of focus and iris." http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera/technology/

  • I look at this camera and I see a product aimed completely past the bulk of the posters here. It is not an all-purpose camera for high quality stills and stealth prosumer filmic video right off the card. It is essentially a Pro GoPro minus the fisheye and ultrawide FOV. That's what BM's demographic wants, and that's what they're getting. It's a niche pro camera targeted at a specific type of user and a specific type of shot and a specific workflow, and from what I've seen almost nobody here fits that bill including me. I have zero interest in this camera aside from casual curiosity about when some of its tech might trickle down to all-arounders I would actually have use for.

    Stills? Forget it. Yes you can pull a 2MP frame and call it a still, but your phone takes better stills than this thing no matter what lens you stick on it. A frame grab would be appropriate within the context of a 1080p video e.g. a title frame but as a "still" photo you'd want to share/print, no.

    3X crop means this camera is an even bigger bitch than m43 to find usable handheld glass which is how 99% here shoot and don't give me that nonsense about shooting your feature or spec rap video or festival short for the Euro market, the majority here seem to be along the lines of, well, me, who owns tripods sure but mostly shoots handheld with fast wide-to-normal glass. The handful who fall outside this group, save it, we know you're real filmmakers, OK? That one where you shot your new car and we could see your goofy reflection as you jabbered on about god only knows, that was genius stuff. Art even. So you get a free pass. The rest of us who just about manage with the Lumix 14mm and the SLR 12mm will find that those lenses are basically where the BM pocket cam starts looking wider than tele, and if you want to go wide you'll need to experiment and buy a bunch of weird eBay CCTV c-mounts till you find a decent 8mm that doesn't suck too much, or drop a thou on the Pana 7-14mm, or I don't know, wait for Metabones to promise you a BM-compatible SpeedBooster is on its way so find a comfy chair because you're going to be waiting in that chair till the nurse comes around with your pills and some apple sauce.

    I try not to extrapolate my own specific needs/wants to the overall chitchat here because everyone's different and that's special etc. But really, I think the cartwheels and streamers are a bit premature and probably even uncalled for. The real hot tamale is 4K for $4K, but that's too rich for everyone's blood here so it's a non-story. The unicorn for a grand instead of buying a boring old GH3 (fail! it's already months old!) is what gets you all hot and bothered, I know. I understand. But think about it some more before you jerk your cursor over to B&H for a pre-order. As an adjunct to real cams in a pro environment, sure. For the average prosumer run'n'gun chucklefuck with one cam and big dreams, this thing's a grand down the toilet.

  • In this video you can see the peaking function working.

    http://yakyakyak.fr/2013/04/nab2013-la-pocket-cinema-camera/

  • @Shaveblog I hear you. Finally came to my senses and am going to invest in GH3 or NEX5/6/7 instead. My clients couldn't care less about 13 stops.

  • @shaveblog

    This may not be the camera for "you", but this may be the camera a million other people want to own.

    @oscillian

    the gh3 IS a great camera, and it can do things the pocket can't do, and the pocket can do things the GH3 can't, I think owning both would be the logical thing to do.

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev I hear you VK but this time around I hope they get things right..

  • Im sorry for reposting this, but I would love some help as I have the option to get an affordable 5d2 and was wondering if i should turn it down for this. I dont have anything to shoot till late august.

    I am a run and gun doc filmmaker and will be shooting a fair amount of shots indoors. I was thinking about buying this, and paring it with rokinon cine lenses and a speed booster by meta.

    I have 2 questions for you.

    would this setup do well for indoor shots.

    would the DOF be shallow if shot at something like 1.4 t with the speed-booster? would it look like an APS-C sensor (7d) at 1.8 or 2?

  • @GravitateMediaGroup @shaveblog Just like Gravitate said it may not be the camera for "you" having all that power in a pocket size cam is amazing, I call that tech marvel.. So many people want more, more DOF to be honest I don't know the reason why 16mm is more than enough I guess it's all a preference thing just saying.