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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
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  • @johnbrawley Thank you for the explanation. I guessed later that the sun had moved (it keeps doing that during my shoots too!), or that clouds had moved in, and not "flagged". I think my use of the term "lying" may have been a little intemperate, and would perhaps characterize it is "misleading", since the implication is that enhanced DR is going to give the results of bringing down the highlights to the degree suggested.

    I also want to mention that my own BMPCC arrived this morning, and that I am already extremely satisfied with my BMCC MFT, which I've owned for a few months. I think they are fantastic cameras, although the sound and slow firmware updates need attention. I have no regrets buying them, and have already noticed how much better my footage looks.

    As an example, here's a shoot I did in July with two cameras: my BMCC and a Canon 7D. Ignore the interviews, and see if you can tell which shots were done with which cameras. BTW, fantastic work with the Cocorosie shoot. Kudos!

  • FYI, Adorama has the BMPCC in stock with back orders filled.

    Edit: looks like they sold out.

  • @digger Without amplification the audio from the BMPCC is not good enough (massive background noise). You'll need a Juiced Link or something similar if you want the record in camera.

    Sorry to bring bad news, apart from that I'm stunned by this camera at the price point, and i've shot with Alexas, F55 and all REDs…

  • @nomad Do mean using the on board mic, a shotgun mic or both have too much noise?

  • Regarding the comparison shots. I'm not involved in the art of deceiving customers, apparently that type of move is common and accepted. I on the other hand, if I had taken those pics as a comparison, I could not in good conscience post those up as is knowing the huge discrepancy in sunlight. I would feel obligated to be as fair as s possible. I would reshoot. If the camera is as good as I know the bmpcc is, there is no need to allow obvious discrepencies to be passed off as a comparison. The bmpcc can successfully stand on it's own without questionable tatics.

  • @ Stylz It's not the mic, but the internal circuitry. While an external mic will be better, it still has considerable background noise if you don't come in at line levels.

  • @nomad Do you think there's a way then to get quality synced sound from something like the H4N Zoom? So you could put the Zoom in your pocket and keep the small form factor of the BMPCC?

  • @digger Sure. You can use the internal mic for a guide track and sync with tools like DualEyes/PluralEyes, FCP-X or the like.

  • @digger OK, but synced sound in camera would be an issue?

  • One can't help but wonder if this thread would be less active if there were a shit-ton of the cameras in stock worldwide, and one could simply purchase one, shoot with it, and make a decision to either love it and keep it, or hate it and return it (minus the restocking fee)

  • Tonight I went out shooting with my newly acquired BMPCC fitted with an Olympus f2.8 17mm pancake lens (for minimum profile.) I shot entirely handheld. This video has no color grading, and the sound is based on the built-in microphone. The lens has no stabilization.

  • @digger If you mean TC, yes, that's a problem. There is no TC in or out.

  • Anyone update their cam with the newest firmware and not have it fix anything? My black spot is still there. Bummer.

  • The firmware doesn't fix it, recalibration does. You have to contact BM and see where to send your camera back to for the recalibration.

  • @vicharris

    Anyone update their cam with the newest firmware and not have it fix anything? My black spot is still there. Bummer.

    If you don't like the camera, stop bitching and keep filming with whatever you have

    ;-) SCNR

  • @vichriss I can't remember if firmware update fixed the black hole on my old uncalibrated cam. now that you mention it I my replacement cam was all updated but I can't remember if i updated that or the RMA one i got.

    you may be onto something there. i thoughr recalibaration was only for blooming.

  • @ahbleza Do you have a graded version? I would like to see how it turns out.

  • @Stylz I ran into an odd problem with Da Vinci Resolve 10 that I haven't fixed yet. Maybe someone else can help. I import the edit via XML from FCPX. I do my grading, then go into the Delivery tab. I select all my clips, define the output path, add the job to the render queue and clicked on "Start Render" -- it fails with this message:

    Batch item 1 has no record frames.

    Please set at least 1 record frame before continuing.

    This worked fine in Da Vinci 9. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

    Anyway, your suggestion helped. I marked the In/Out for the first and last clips. Now I get the error:

    Recording failed with Error: Codec is not opened yet.

    *** Update: OK, fixed it. Needed to update the scratch disk in the Preferences. thanks!

  • have you checked your in and out markers in delivery if you are selecting all?

  • @Mrfanny I selected all the clips -- that's how I usually render with v9. Something about 10 seems to be different, however. How do you select I/O markers in 10?

    ** Update: fixed it, thanks Mr Fanny.

  • Just for anyone waiting or curious, my BMPC, ordered from b&h the day it was announced at NAB shipped on Wednesday and arrived on Friday. Did a few quick tests at Nuit Blanche on a nice Ai Wei Wei installation and will post when edited. So far it lives up to the hype.

  • @MRfanny Thanks. I couldn't remember what fixed what at this point with these cameras. I feel like I'm going crazy because I plugged my 2.5K in a couple days ago just to test if BM Camera Utility was working and it updated the damn camera. Now it has green peaking like my Pocket and nobody has any idea what I'm talking about! :)

    @peaceonearth You are joking right? I hope you are because I have no bashed this camera nor am I bitching about BM lying or deceiving the public when I don't have the camera or have never touched it like 75% of the people here. So if you're joking...ok. If you're not, then you need to read posts better. I actually love this camera with my 2.5k.

  • @aldolega Thanks, see above post too :)

  • @vicharris I got excited and thought there was a newer update released. Current firmware is 1.4.2, according to BMD website it fixes the black hole issue.