The battery is a bummer but it might not be that bad. I think it's quite a smart move on their part.

Creating a whole new proprietary battery format would add much more to their cost of developing this camera, so it does make sense for them to say: okay, let's just put in a small internal battery, since most people will want to use their own V-mount/AB batteries that they've invested in already or invest in their own power solution. This way, they won't have to make their own batteries, chargers, adapters and won't have to market and sell them. If the power cable gets pulled accidentally, then there's the internal battery for backup. If this helped to bring down the cost of the camera to $3k, then I say it's well worth it.

@johnnym

You are looking at very small niche market.
Prices do not correlate with manufacturing cost much here.

May be we can suggest (constructive feedbacks) to Black Magic at NAB to leave the SW interface open or make an open API so third party (like VK) can develop SW for it. It will be hard for a small company to develop everything in house. For money and time to market, it is better for them to leverage external resources. It is just counter nature for big guys like Canon to bring out open interfaces. I also agree that it is best to focus on popular open physical interfaces to minimize hurdles. USB3.0 will be on every PC out there. They have to think beyond early adopters but not get bogged down with too many specs. Keep it simple.

The paper on the SCMOS says it can read out the sensor with global shutter at 52f/s. Nice. At reduced resolutions that should be even more.

@johnnym

Thunderbolt will remain niche interface. It won't be wide spread.

VK: A lot of people here also use Mac computers primarily.. Agree though that usb 3.0 would be a very good and cheap addition.

Isn't thunderbolt the better interface though?

@Vitaliy_Kiselev only question is can internal hardware sustain that data rates.... i think they already talk about 60fps ...

It's a good start to see all these low-price RAW recording cameras (Digital Bolex and BMD Cine Cam) but we still have a while to go. The sensor size of the BMD is gonna mean your FF lenses will be heavily cropped and even more challenging to get a good wide. Will definitely want to see a S35 sensor in the next version. It's price is disturbing the camera technology landscape, more competition will follow :)

For now it poses as a tool for revitalizing 16mm film-making. I also really like how these independent companies are using low-price media storage, an issue I'm concerned over is the battery life on these things. Will there be replaceable batteries? I would think RAW recording would be intensive on the juice.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev

I'm personally very happy with the thunderbolt port.. I could use a macbook pro for monitoring / instant footage transfer. The option for hdmi would have been nice, granted. USB 3.0, why not.. Genlock would also be nice.

@oneday

No. They just wanted ready solution.
And guys who shoot with Canon DSLRs (using Canon glass) are largest niche :-)

All is simple, no conspiracy here.

I'm not really complaining. It is what it is: a camera box. This is a modular approach, so I get it (still 2-3 hours would have been nice for the occasional out and about, all I'm saying). Would also have been nice if they could ship their own nicely designed battery pack that attaches to the bottom, so that it is nice clean design and is convenient. But I'm sure their own battery pack will come out soon, come July.

Don't worry about the internal battery.. there will be packs galore to go with this.

edit: Sorry Vitaliy, you got here first.. ;)

This is just the first of many, RAW, SSD recordable cameras. The SSD technology is out there and mature. Many companies make the Sensors. You just need a company like BM and others to bring the elements together.