Black Magic: Official $1,995 raw cinema camera topic, series 2

Wilbo

@kholi @johnbrawley @vicharris @belfryman

Okay, I think I have my consensus... sell the Kingston drive and get a couple of Sandisk 240GB Extreme SSDs. Thanks guys!!!

@belfryman - Eventually I will test and compare my BMCC with a juicedlink preamp and oktava mk012 (all I got!) vs. the camera mic. I'm hoping for the best!

@kazuo The Intel SSDs look pretty good but they're a little more expensive than the Sandisks in my rudimentary cost comparison and the Sandisks just seems to have a higher volume to positive reviews. Thanks for welcoming me to the BMCC club :)

Hopefully I get my storage solution settled in the next week. Then I can finally start shooting some bushes and cats :)

-Will

kholi

@Wilbo

I lol'd at the bushes and cats thing. I dunno, I appreciate pipes, old cars, bushes and trees a lot more these days!

Also, check Amazon for your sandisk, like refresh until you're ready to buy because the prices flux hourly.

Wilbo

Hey guys, check out this pic of my camera with a Computar 12.5mm f1.3 c-mount lens!

It's actually kind of sharp @ f3.5-f4.

Looks cute but somehow makes me feel less as a man. Feel free to kick me out of the Blackmagic club now :)

@kholi - The rusty metal gate, chicken wire, vegetation, and plywood on my BMCC lcd is only a taste of what is to come... this is sad, I know :)

-w

plasmasmp

I got the no ssd problem today. Seems to be new with the latest firmware? . Has to be the single most frustrating issue I've ever had with a camera. Felt like just punting it out the window.

True it is a Crucial M500 (480GB), but it has more than enough bandwith to record RAW 30p, and I've recorded several hours without an issue up to this point.

I was using my internal hotswap bay for the ssd and the only way I could get the camera to see the ssd again was to buy a USB 3 external adapter and reformat it again. However, now it will see the drive on first power up, record for however long, but if I power it down and restart it no ssd again until it is reformatted.

I'm doing a full manual trim on freshly formatted drive to see if it makes a difference. No format in camera, no audio meters, and no histogram makes this feel like camera software is barely above alpha level.

Great image though!

kholi

@Plasmasmp

Yup, this is what happened to other people's Crucial's. Same thing . After a while it just goes caput.

I think it actually has to do with the SSD firmware and the Controller used. Sandisk 240 looks to have the perfect combo, I've never had to trim or anything like that: I just format in OSX after each offload and keep going.

plasmasmp

Whelp, I guess I'll buy one. Might as well go with the only approved one and get the first Extreme and not the Extreme II

kholi

I bet Sandisk is like "what the heck is going on right now?"

Sudden surge in their 240gb SSD, first version.

feonn

@kholi @wilbo @vicharris

I just got my bmcc, unfortunately still waiting for the ssds, so no pictures yet. All seemed fine, then I noticed quiet a bit hot pixels (mostly blue and less red) when underexposing or with closed cap. Some of them seem to be fixed, some not. Is this normal? Can you check if you have the same behaviour? I've seem some footage shot in low light and it was fine - dark, but without hot pixels. I've read the topics regarding that, but still will appreciate your experience.

kholi

@Feonn

My EF Camera had them when I first got them, but they either disappeared after a while or did not show up in the footage. It only happens with severe underexposure. Probably fine.

feonn

@kholi

Unfortunately not. I can see some of them in normal exposure on medium dark and black background. I just updated to 1.4.1 and after restart they got 5 times more. I'll try to capture some frames on a normal 2.5 hdd in order to send it back and get a replacement sooner.

vicharris

Footage?

feonn

I don't know really what happened.. after a while the pixels disappeared form the screen except some blue which I still can see with the zoom option on the screen when on dark background. Then on the downloaded footage I saw only some red hot pixels on another place :) I'm showing some footage...

Red pixel(s):

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_2010_C0002_000008.jpg DNG: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_2010_C0002_000008.dng

With closed cap: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_1908_C0002_000006.jpg DNG: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_1908_C0002_000006.dng

Then I saw some banding in dark areas :)

Shot at evening: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_2015_C0004_000011.jpg DNG: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_2015_C0004_000011.dng

Prores: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_2015_C0000.mov

closed cap: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_1908_C0000.mov https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3055676/bmcc_test/Blackmagic%20Cinema%20Camera_1_2013-08-29_1908_C0001.mov

What do you thing? Is there any issue with the camera or it's paranoia? Is there any better way to test the camera?

The thing is that soon I'll need the camera for a two month shooting in a remote area in India. And I want to get a replacement ASAP if anything is not ok with the camera... Any opinion is much appreciated.

debinatx

Kingston 120GB works perfectly for me.

vicharris

Pixel stuff doesn't look normal but again, you can't underexpose this camera like that.

feonn

@vicharris

When shooting available light at this time you can't always ETTR and expose for the shadows. And I haven't pushed anything. Here for example (ignore compression) BMCC is pretty ok, no banding etc.

And available light is much less.

I could be the contra light, don't know... So does that mean that you also get this banding in underexposed areas or with closed cap?

vicharris

I've seen banding in under exposed ProRes footage for sure. I'm no expert but the camera just likes light. The pixel thing, like I said is odd. Did you let the camera warm up first?

feonn

Yes, I was playing through the menufor a while checking different lenses. Does it matter how warm it is?

Wilbo

@feonn I don't think I see any dead pixels on my camera, but I'm still waiting for the right SSDs to arrive in the mail.

Maybe I missed this but are those raw screen grabs? @vicharris is probably right about the exposure thing and needing more light. I'm not sure this big little guy is that much more sensitive than the Gh2

plasmasmp

The SanDisk Exterme 240GB fixed the problem. Still seems crazy to me that I can fill the full 480GB of my m500 without dropping a frame at 30p, but if I shut off the camera after inserting it, the camera will display No SSD.

Also, the SanDisk fits in the slot much better due to it being a thicker drive. Hopefully these will stay available even though they are discontinued.

kholi

Sentiment shared. I'm about to get two more asap, that'll make six, but I still hope that I can find them even second hand to be honest. I do not want to be the test dummy for Extreme IIs.

jrd

Sorry, I haven't read the entire thread, but per dropped frames, are you guys regularly "trimming" these SSD drives? For this to work on Windows, I believe you need a sata or e-sata connection (and AHCI must be enabled). USB3 boxes won't do it.

plasmasmp

Manual trimming works fine in Windows with a USB3 to sata adapter.

Use this utility, format the drive and run the trim. The program wont respond until the trim is finished (you'll see the drive activity light stop) and you should be good to go.

http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/SSD-Tool-free-space-trimmer/td-p/51198

jrd

Are you seeing dropped frames, despite trimming?

kholi

I'm not trimming at all, but I'm also Lion-based.

ahbleza

Just thought I'd share a frame from a music video that I shot yesterday with my BMCC. This is using a Sigma 50mm f1.8 with variable ND filter (which is why it's a little soft.) Light grade with Da Vinci. ProRes 4:2:2, not raw.

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