After sleeping on it a few times, I'm going to pull the trigger and today buy a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. My only remaining question now, is from where? After looking around the likely places, it seems like B&H and Adorama are the only remaining options which make sense. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/964117-REG/blackmagic_design_blackmagic_pocket_cinema_camera.html http://www.adorama.com/BMCCP.html

I guess buying it from B&H makes the most sense as they throw in a free hotshoe mount, which would be handy. Any other thoughts or suggestions where to buy a BMPCC instead that I might have overlooked? (is a kinda big purchase for me... want to double check everything! :-P )

Edit: oops... just realised Adorama also offers the same "Wooden Camera 1/4-20 Hot Shoe", which I guess make both Adorama and B&H an equal choice for me once again! (which one is likely to ship it in the smallest sized packaging box? As this does matter to me! As no matter what, I'll need to use a reshipper to then get it to NZ)

And yes, I know they are back ordered currently at both Adorama and B&H.

Edit2: Hmmm.... is it true that if I want to record CinemaDNG RAW then I have no choice but to buy the "SanDisk - 64 GB SDXC Memory Card Extreme Pro Class 10 UHS-I" with it? (& whoa.. I'll only get 15 minutes of recording! Guess I'll need to stock up on a LOT of these $100 cards! lol, but I reckon just one will do for now)

Because it appears nothing slower works, and I can't even save money on buying a smaller sized 32 GB one?

Apparently there is some very minor difference between the "SanDisk - 64 GB SDXC Memory Card Extreme Pro Class 10 UHS-I" and the "SanDisk - 32 GB SDHC Memory Card Extreme Pro Class 10 UHS-I" such that the 32 GB version doesn't work for CinemaDNG RAW without dropping occasional frames. Correct?

@_gl: http://nofilmschool.com/2011/12/set-backfocus-video-camera/

By 'back focus', do you mean infinity focus? Apparently SB's have an adjustment for that: http://www.metabones.com/article/of/infinity-adjustment-speed-booster-only

Obviously doesn't help if you use multiple lenses that all require different settings : ).

@matthere, not come across any issues with the Tokina, anyone?

OK these guys still have it at £354, but they want £7.50 shipping. I can't vouch for the site, it looks a bit thread-bare. I would Google to verify they're legit first: http://www.videogear.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=4789

@HillTop1 You only have WB presets to pick from: 3200, 4500, 5000, 5600, 6500, 7500. There isn't a way to do a custom WB to something white in-shot (although you can approximate this now with Resolve 11's color chart matching).

An external monitor with a proper Rec709 LUT (not the still-way-too-flat "video" mode in the BMPCC) would definitely help sort out white balance issues. It can be very difficult to judge off the LCD; you're better off simply asking yourself if your scene is tungsten, daylight, or something in-between. But you may still be disappointed sometimes in your starting point, at least I was. My idea of a good time is not to start the grading process from a standpoint of having to basically 'rescue' the WB of a shot before you do anything else.

I really was waiting (since I lost my GH2 in Dec) to save up for the GH4. I really like higher FPS, but I couldn't pass up this deal and I'm intrigued by RAW. I still have a couple Panny lenses and the correct adapters for some old glass, so it's really a no brainer.

Already shipped from Andorama, glad I jumped on it quick.

Had a chat with someone from proav today and he told me the price increase was because Blackmagic did not account for import taxes on the price they gave the retailers but that any bmpcc sold last night they would honor the price and blackmagic would take the lose. Proav sold over 35 bmpcc last night and every where in the uk is out of stock but they should get more stock next week sometime

BM has listened to my prayers! Finally they have decent encoding options that do not gobble memory for most of my uses.

I'm considering getting one for shooting concerts to use it as a general wide shot cam. What always stopped me was the ~50min maximum capacity of a regular 64Gb card with Prores. Now they offer options. That's a game changer for me.

But is it still a good idea in terms of sensor noise? I'm currently using one of my GH2s for that purpose and its m43 sensor is struggling hard sometimes in dark venues like clubs. BMPCC's sensor is 1.5 times smaller. Is it a viable option for such a low light task?

@Oedipax I totally agree on your observations, in ProRes I feel insecure whereas in RAW I know that I nailed it after hitting the "record" button. Same like you, on live events I still use my GH2 with Vitaliy's hack ;-). @tinyrobot no, I do not have hot pixels.

@GMC, nice observations on working with the camera. I've never really done much in 1600 but I will give it a go when I feel like I need the extra stop now.

I'm very much in agreement about RAW vs Prores. When I shoot RAW on this camera, I feel very confident I'm going to end up with images I like. In prores, which I only pick when production circumstances dictate it (such as needing to record for a longer period without changing cards, so live events, speakers, etc) I find it very hit and miss, particularly in regards to white balance. I've reverted to the GH2 for most of these instances.

I hope Blackmagic will add more WB increments eventually, or a way to do a custom WB in-camera. Even if people say there ought to be enough information in the prores files to adjust WB in post, I haven't always found that to be the case. The combination of locking in the wrong WB and not being able to judge it very well off the LCD can be deadly!

@GMC, thanks for the post. I am considering the BMPCC after this crazy good price. Nice video bay the way. In that video did you added some film grain to it or just grain from BMPCC? Do you mind sharing your workflow with raw?