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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
  • 4493 Replies sorted by
  • theconformisttheconformist

    @jakepowell personally I do not feel the "blooming" is that big of a deal - choose your shots carefully. to claim it makes the camera useless... i don't mean to offend but that's silly. the next cheapest option (BMCC) will cost you over $3k (not including lenses, rig, etc). essentially the Pocket (as far as I've seen) doesn't allow you to shoot in cities at night without "blooming", which only other cinematographers even notice.

    @itimjim Blackmagic Design's behavior regarding the sensor, the delay on shipping, updates, etc is appalling. They came out and made some BIG claims, and now they've disappeared and refuse to offer useful information to their customers. That being said - again - it is unwise to expect (at least) $3k worth of capabilities for $1k without issues. If you would rather have limited DR and more noise over the trade-offs then keep your GH3 or whatever you have.

    The bottom line is that what Blackmagic claimed (or what people believed they were claiming) - a fully-functional, revolutionary camera for $1k offering 13 stops or DR, etc, etc... seems to have been too good to be true. The reality of the camera's abilities and trade-offs make it "better or worse" than other options based solely on the user's priorities and value judgments.

  • RRRRRRRR

    All cameras have issues. Just finished editing a project with 4 different cameras (from cheap to quite expensive ones, w. interchangeable lenses - not going to bother count them all here) and all displayed a variety of different digital symptoms from aliasing to moire and really bad noise and color / shadow / highlight response. Not to mention very sticky / poor encoders / bad scaling..

    bmcc (one of the cams) was by far the nicest although not without issues either.

    Bottomline is: genuinely pristine footage comes at a price that cannot be compared to cams between 0-10k. All have flaws and are not great for everything.

    The pocket cam, just like the bmcc, looks pretty darn good. It may or may not be usable in some contexts. Take it or leave it.

  • theconformisttheconformist

    @mpgxsvcd Huh? The "blooming" does not present itself as "stars" but as circular orbs. It's not the audience's job to determine whether the footage needed more dynamic range - it's the editors, because more dynamic range enables them to do more precise color correction & grading.

  • stipstip

    @theconformist help me...what do you want here?

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    @theconformist

    There was a comparison picture posted between a pocket cam and another BM camera. It was the exact same thing and the biggest difference was the spikes on the circular orbs. I have seen it in almost every piece of footage that has been presented.

    My point is that people don't see the extra dynamic range. They definitely will see the strange, pointy, star like, white orb, thingy though.

  • TrumpetmanTrumpetman

    The pointy star thingy isn't the problem. Take a look at footage from the Red Epic on House of Cards and you will see starry orbs coming off night lights as well. The problem is on the pocket cam these areas are sometimes orbs and sometimes ill defined blobs that bleed over into surrounding pixels and eat into the surrounding image giving a blooming effect when localized to the background image, but looking more like pac man when eating into foreground images.

  • stipstip

    It's starting to get ugly.

    It seems BMD briefed their staff worldwide to never call the blooming issue an issue, defect or fault, to be on the safe side legally. They told several guys who wanted to send their Pocket in for recalibration that it will be a courtesy and that the camera is not defect - they repeatedly mentioned that.

    That means that they might send you your Pocket back, not having fixed the issue to your satisfaction or at all, without being legally bound to further look into it or pay shipping ect.

    Everyone who has or gets a Pocket and wants to send it in, make clear that it's a camera fault everytime you communicate with them.

    I believe they are trying to fix the issue, just make sure to adress this as a camera fault.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    Oh boy. Is going to be a blood bath over there!!!!!

  • peaceonearthpeaceonearth

    ... and "re-calibration" will happen after IBC which is too late for most people who have already one to send it back for 30-days-money-back-garantee.

  • 010101010101

    stip : " It's starting to get ugly. "

    You bought an electronic device, if it is not functioning as described then return it and get your money back. Simple as that.

  • test1test1

    if you dont like it dont buy it… move on it's only a camera? no need to come back and post how shit its bloom is?

  • test1test1

    lots of pixel waddlers afoot - have series comissioned - really like to hear from UK broadcast interaction with BM and end game acceptance?

  • stipstip

    if it is not functioning as described then return it and get your money back. Simple as that.

    if you dont like it dont buy it

    thanks, it's the first time someone is lecturing me this. Maybe you also have some advice on how to live my life?

  • test1test1

    no lecture none intended or offered , why you even answering? advice on life - well… up to you hombre! As far as lecturing - hence the point ? Didn't get the point ?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @test1 @stip

    use PM, it is not personal chat here.

    @test1

    Stop the flame.

  • test1test1

    No probs boss :)

  • kavadnikavadni

    I found this GH3 vs BMPCC I hope it hasn't been posted

  • jakepowelljakepowell

    i personally refuse to give in to this attitude of acceptance that we should deal with these major issues ! NO FUCKING WAY the bmcc does not exhibit these major yes MAJOR issues.... it doesn't meet my expectation and the promises i feel BMD made, simple as. i honestly dont understand why anyone would try to convince me its not a big deal or that i am being silly , how the fuck do you know?! do you shoot what i shoot ? do you know my concerns and do you know my goals?! no . for me it is an issue . for me it is unacceptable. end of.

  • kavadnikavadni

    This one I think is the best (look it's obvious) example of the blooming/orb issue.
    Comparing BMPCC to BMCC

  • caveportcaveport

    Has anyone else noticed that the video levels on some of the test footage made available for download have white clipping at less than 100%? John Brawleys street shots are ok, but some other clips have black levels at 10% and clipped white highlights at 90%. There seems to be quite a variation in the footage I have downloaded and tested. I'm quite happy to keep using the GH2 until someone makes a compact camera that shoots RAW. I think a mass cancellation of orders and returns of the ones that shipped might prompt a bit of action at BMD.

  • EYESOULEYESOUL

    I thinks its a big difference between working around a cameras limitations & altogether getting a defected product.I for one just don't want to buy a broke ass camera at any price.It's not asking or expecting too much to want a proper functioning unit.Hope these issues can be resolved.

  • 010101010101

    I have a special PRIZE for you if you name a perfect camera that came of the gate running perfectly also.

    • RED ONE required ice-packs somedays to run longer than 10 minutes. Crappy tungsten performance
    • Alexa and Skin tones issues - eventually got fixed
    • 5DII line skipping, aliasing, soft details ( no details! ), crap audio, ... 5DIII more or less the same.
    • GH2 needed hack to become a camera
    • Epic and mysterious shutting down. Short Battery life, color issues. A bit expensivish.
    • Scarlet was a $25000 drama story called " Lie to me ". At the end the image quality is almost as good as GH2 hacked.

    BMPCC has a few issues, a couple of major flaws but it is " THE BEST PRO VIDEO CAMERA " under $1000. The little iPhone size camera " IS " functioning near magic in ProRes currently ( with flaws ). Soon will be doing the RAW and hopefully with less flaws. Is it going to be perfect !? NEVER !

    Sorry for being brutally rude, but if you don't like it just return it and get your money back.

  • 010101010101

    I think all the outrage about the BMPCC comes from the fact that almost ALL owners and early adopters of the camera " LOOOVE " everything about it and at the same time these imperfections, flaws, malfunctions ... just pissed them off of a wet dream with an unattainable camera that was out of their wildest dream just a couple of months ago. These excited people just stumping the floors and crying loud at BM to FIX IT NOW !!!

    The reality is as soon as you return that little thing it's going to be back to the good ol' mundane H264 flavours ! Unless you are shooting RED RAW of course.

  • MikhailKMikhailK

    @010101 "BMPCC has a few issues, a couple of major flaws but it is " THE BEST PRO VIDEO CAMERA " under $1000."

    Sorry, no way it is.

    I'd rather have less dynamic range (a-la hacked GH2), than have these blooming issues to appear in my videos. These orbs look like someone's trying to make a cartoon effect inserted into the movie on purpose.

  • philiplipetzphiliplipetz

    @010101

    Our C100s have never had the slightest problem, and we got them the day of launch, and both have serial numbers below 100.

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