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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
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  • _gl_gl

    @DocoDocoMan will be interesting, but the problem with the Panny lens is severe resolution loss, very narrow interaxial (good for closeup stuff though) and IIRC F12 widest aperature. It produces a side-by-side image which needs to be additionally cropped, so you already loose more than half the horizontal resolution per view.

    You probably know it has been hacked by others for use in Lumix and other cameras, eg. GH2:

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Unless your shorting the new Avengers movie, 3D is dead.

    Always like guys with smart and non standard thoughts. :-) No it is not dead :-) The most amazing is bunch of people not understanding physics and complaining about glasses, waiting for some magic moment.

  • peaceonearthpeaceonearth

    furthermore it's not a 3D topic..

  • double_visiondouble_vision

    @vicharris how was the event last night? Did you manage to play around with the pocket camera? Any words about the shipping date?

  • vicharrisvicharris

    Afternoon guys. I hate to say but lasts night even was a bit of a let down. It was actually Marco Solorio from One River Media there and he only brought the 4K and wasn't able to answer and of the questions about the BMPC. Sorry about getting everyone worked up but they gave out false info.

  • double_visiondouble_vision

    @vicharris it's alight, no biggie.

    Quick question guys, what is the resolution of the pocket in terms of "K"? is it 1k or 2k???

  • DocoDocoManDocoDocoMan

    Both, it resolves to take 1K from your bank account and then lets you make a 2K movie!

  • DocoDocoManDocoDocoMan

    actually on a technical note as 2k = 2048 the BMPCC shots just below 2k @ 1920 pixels wide x 1080 high.

  • double_visiondouble_vision

    thanks for the clarification, so it's not that far from the 2.5k version. hehehe

  • double_visiondouble_vision

    JULY SHIPPING IS CONFIRMED FTW!!!

  • TronTron

    Sounds like it will ship with RAW capability enabled. Still no word on whether RAW will write to 45Mb/sec cards or require the faster 95Mb/sec Extreme Pro cards. I wouldn't mind higher compression if it allowed for footage to write to slower cards, but I assume encoder throughput could be limited in that regard.

  • neokooneokoo

    I so hope they will get this to shoot 48p, 50p and 60p eventually. Next revision maybe?

  • kevin_kirchmankevin_kirchman

    Ordered mine the day after it was announced from BH, hope I'm on the first batch list. I've got a shoot on August 24-25th and I'd love to have this as an option.

  • sicovdplassicovdplas

    Not gonna happen, they will come with a slowmo cam next NAB, it's the only missing model in their product line atm.

  • TrumpetmanTrumpetman

    Pocket cam as the A camera and GH3 for slo mo, should be a sweet combination.

  • TrackZillasTrackZillas

    @kevin_kirchman Ordered mines on the second day as well from B&H, should be on the first batch..

  • TrackZillasTrackZillas

    @Trumpetman Right on.. or GH2 which most of us already own.

  • double_visiondouble_vision

    I need some advices on which camera should I buy to pair with the pocket for slow motion and photo. I was thinking of buying gh2 and hack it, however, Panasonic G6 came over and offers full manual control for video, and focus peaking. The best slow motion features are 1920×1080, 60p 28Mbps and AVCHD 1920x1080,60p 17Mbps. I came from photography background, so Im not really sure what these numbers stand for.

  • neokooneokoo

    @double_vision

    Why not consider GH3? Its 1080p60 video quality is best Panasonic can offer at the moment.

    GH2 is a compromise because it can only do 720p60. G6 is a compromise because it can only do 28Mbps.

    I've had a G6 (euro version) for a few days now, shot some usual "banal cityscapes and trees" tests and the result is tolerable. Image compression quality is not as good as on hacked GH2, but considering it's 1080p50@28Mbps, not bad either.

    If you will be filming people with good light(ing) and not much movement in frame, G6 might be good enough. But GH3 will likely be better as it has much higher video bitrate and better features overall, except for focus peaking of course.

  • kazuokazuo

    If you buy a Gh3 you might as well wait out a little more for BMPC to be released in July. Between a GH3 and BMPC, the latter wins pants down. You want to talk about photography, then you gotta consider many things, ceteris paribus. But for the similar price points, BMPC's dynamic range is the best at this point money can buy. Add a Schneider Digicon 1/4 filter, you'll get beautiful filmic imagery

  • double_visiondouble_vision

    @kazuo BMPC is my A camera, I pre-ordered on the second day of NAB. Now Im looking for a B camera to compliment my bmpc. Gh3 is a good camera, it's just out of my budget right now.

    @neokoo I normally shot travel video, Im doing this as my hobby, not for a living. So gh3 is out of reach since I already dedicate my money to the pocket. This video below basically will explain 90% of what I normally shot. Do you think G6 can pull this kind of quality shot for the slow motion parts

  • neokooneokoo

    @double_vision

    It says in that video it was shot mostly with GH3, that almost answers your question already.

    As far as I can say (2.5 years of using stock and hacked GH2, and now several days of using G6) the G6 won't be able to give flawless results in all kinds of shots shown in that video. It will be OK for well-lit, low ISO images without much movement. But it will not perform so well on high ISO settings and lots of moving details in the image. This is because long-GOP H.264 compression used by stock G6 works on the assumption that content of picture doesn't change much between consequent frames. If there are many changes from frame to frame (random noise, fast-moving water, street full of people moving in different directions, etc.) higher bitrate is needed to retain all that detail. 28Mbps bitrate limit on G6 is sufficient for many situations, but not enough in some extreme cases. For example, on ISO1600 and with many small details in the image, it is easy to see artifacts in files made by G6.

    Then again, even hacked GH2 can have problems on higher ISO settings as it cannot reliably use highest bitrates for 720p60 mode. Usually it caps somewhere between 66-80Mbps depending on the card and specific patch settings, as far as I know. But for many cases that still gets noticeably better results than what unhacked G6 can do.

    Still, no 100% clear answer on this one. Maybe try to ask a local store for some testing time with a G6, shoot to your own card, and then decide? Or look for some rent-to-own type deal on GH3?

  • kazuokazuo

    I hv been shooting with a hacked GH2 for almost 1.5 years now, and have completed 30 commissioned films/videos / TV programmes with it. It has all the problems documented here, but it's also elevated some aspects of my work. Any camera is but a tool, and in capable hands, it can be optimised to encapsulate any vision. What's most important is that a filmmaker has to have a vision and sense of direction. 13 stops is good to have, but it's pointless if you are using it to pixel peep and not much else.

    I recently bought a Sony VG20 which I have since discovered is a different creature altogether. It has taken some flak (which I feel is rather harsh, or unjustified) but again in capable hands, boy can the camera sing.

    I have also jumped onto the BMPC bandwagon. It'll be an exciting camera to explore. Will I be seeking to sell the other 2 that have served me well?

    Not unless I am desperately strapped for cash.

  • peternappeternap

    @kazuo Excellent post! I have a BMPC on order that I go back and forth on every day. I've read all the tech stuff here and elsewhere and the question isn't if the camera can meet my standards,,,,rather are my skills and shooting style up to the camera.

    In other words, will 13 stops of dynamic range be an advantage to someone that does only "who done it" Doc's, mostly Run N Gun.

    Thanks!

  • double_visiondouble_vision

    @neokoo and @kazuo thanks guys for the advices. I will limit myself with the pocket for now, I believe the joy of coloring and getting all the details with 13 stops is the same as coloring raw photo, which I really enjoy doing. I will wait until the gh3 price goes down, then I'll snatch a used one. I believe slow motion plug in like twixtor will help me a bit with my pocket footage.

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