That's a crazy looking fish! @rockroadpix Really those screen grabs look super sharp and solid...
Okay quick question for everyone that that has the BMCC EF or MFT already. Does anyone have any regrets thus far?
I'm only asking because I have a BMPCC on preorder and although the videos so far have been promising, nothing has blown my socks off like the BMCC. I'm super duper tempted to drop that little guy and go for the BMCC.
I would really love the non-functional MFT version for the adaptability, but would hate not being able to use my canon lenses with IS. I would love the EF version to use my Canon lenses but then lose the versatility of the mount and won't be able to get a Speedbooster down the line.
The BMPCC would be cheap, and with coming Speedbooster, I will be able to finally use my Canon glass effectively again at an even brighter f-stop... But nothing on the BMPCC seems to look as nice yet.
I am so torn. Help!
@Wilbo - Thanks, I was just trying to grab what I could without a tripod! I had the BMCC4K on order, but dropped it like a rock when the $1995 price was announced. The "news" coming from BM just wasn't sitting right with me. I know they'll produce a nice cam, but if John Brawley is not saying favorable things about the 4k's DR as opposed to the 2.5k's, then... well, you get my drift. My cam is completely kitted out for around $5000. That includes B&H's 2 yr drops/spills warranty. Imagine that price point on top of a $4000 camera. I have no regrets as of yet, as I am still learning the camera, but I love what I see so far.
@rockroadpix Brawley had a preference for more DR over 4k res. I wouldn't mistake that for "unfavourable". Horses for courses. 2k for the BMCC is a steal though, especialy with resolve =)
@rockroadpix - Oh, very good points indeed. Glad to hear you're pretty satisfied with what you have so far. I just may jump ship to the BMCC in the next few days, although I don't think I can afford to drop another $3k to kit it out like yourself :)
Thanks for the input! And your footage stills look even nicer now that I know they were hand held!
-Will
@MRfanny Yeah, the full version of Resolve (+free upgrade to version 10) is also very enticing :)
@vicharris " I actually need to go lower." Vic, what needs to go lower?
Print out the pdf: http://176.32.230.28/ocon.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Rod-Standards.pdf measure the 85mm height markings to make sure your printer hasn't changed the dimensions. cut out the holes and line it up on your rods/lens mount. Then you'll need to see if your rods need to go up or down and by how much.
LWS or light weight support is what every Arri 16mm and Aaton 16mm cam had for "on board rods" and it always worked and lined up, no matter if the matte box was from Chroszeil, Arri or even Petroff. It's the standard. The problem today is most manufacturers have no idea that there even is a standard. A DSLR is not made to this standard and a company making a baseplate doesn't know what camera (lens height) you are going to put on there.
There are a few baseplates that are adjustable (Lanparte makes one) or you could use a small riser (Zacuto makes one or try one of these: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5563-REG/Manfrotto_394_394_Low_Profile_Quick.html ), or if nothing else works and you just always need a battery grip under your DSLR you could look for an adjustable height matte box. Red Rock Micro makes a big one (although is goes lower more than it goes higher), Shoot35 makes one (I believe) and I am sure there are others.
Point is, get your camera and rods to conform to the standard, and any mattebox you buy or rent from Chroszeil, Arri, Petroff (and probably a bunch of others) will work great and I bet your follow focus will reach your lens with a zip gear on it better too.
Possible solutions (I do not have any 1st hand experience with any of these products):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PSPRO-US-Camera-Mount-15mm-Rod-Support-5-Quick-Release-Resettable-Head-Screws-/281148330244?ViewItem=&item=281148330244&nma=true&si=mFvACJgwS9WFJ%252F5cLw566Uw5LRk%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Finally, i am late to the game, but bit the bullet and got my mft 2.5k. Considering everything said here, 2.5k seems the most equitable for the price point. 4k resolution may or may not have the same DR and sharpness as 2.5k, and honestly, for some reason, footage from the Pocket hasn't quite blown me away. I thought I was the only one who saw a difference between the big and small cameras, but apparently, others like @Wilbo have noticed it too. 2.5k BMCC is by no means a perfect camera, but for under $2k, this is probably one of the best things money can buy.
@Wilbo Trash the little guy, go for the real thang!
So we just finished our first commercial shoot with the BMCC. Actually we had 3 of them on set! :) First, I'd just like to thank Kholi and his crew for all the help and showing me the ropes on these cameras. He was my DP and he brought a great swing and sound guy! Here's a couple quick grabs with a couple different looks on them. Nothing fancy or crazy, I just wanted to get a couple stills for some of the actors so they could put them up on whatever social media sites they want to. All I have to say is this camera is a gem to shoot with and even easier to grade. All these were done with tow nodes. First just some gamma, lift, saturation and contrast stuff (very basic) and one of Shians CG luts, the dense one added in another node. Fun times are around us gents.
Shot on ProRes using all Rokinon Cine glass. 16mm(which is better than the Tokina11-16), 24mm, 35mm and 85mm.
@kazuo Awesome, someone agrees with me! Thanks for the advice! I think I'm going to drop my BMPCC preorder and hop on the BMCC mft bandwagon :)
@vicharris Great looking shots (I particularly like the lighter graded shots)! Thanks for keeping us up to date on your early progress with your camera... are there any super secret pointers BMCC newbs should know that @kholi shared with you that you can share with us???
-Will :)
@Wilbo You won't be sorry you dropped your Pocket Cam order for this one I think. If I could have just one, I'd prob have the 2.5 just to have that option if I get in a bad lighting situation. But honestly, the ProResHQ at 13 stops is more than I'll ever need for the time being.
As far as the grades. yeah, the lighter ones are nice. I thought that little girl just looked to pissed off, I wanted to make a darker grade just for shits and giggles. These are me just fooling around. If anything, I imagine the girl with the dark curly hair might be the closest to the look we might want in the end, but I'm not the big boss so what the boss wants, the boss gets! :)
And as for advice, don't trust external monitors on this thing. If you record film log, most external monitors only see Rec709 so all your scopes will be off. I thought I was clipping all over the place and Kholi told me to chill and we were ok. Oh, by the way, it's not like I was using a bottom end monitor. I have a $1000 Ikan monitor with a full range of scopes on it.
@vicharris More reassurance... thank you!
Also I agree, the shot with the girl with the dark curly hair looks about the best to my eyes (but they all look great). And, your prores grabs look head and shoulders better than prores stuff coming out of the small cam right now.
And thanks for the input on the monitioring! I'll keep that in mind and put the advice to good use when I join the BMCC party :)
@Wilbo I agree, I'm not that impressed with the grabs coming out of the Pocket right now. I'm sure they are great but since the price of this camera came down a third, it just didn't make any sense to me. But that's just my opinion and what the hell do I know :)
@vicharris I've been spoiled by the 13 stops and it's no longer enough, MORE! MORE!! lol just kidding.
Anything that needs more than 12-14 stops of dynamic range may just need better lighting conditions, which brings me to my next comment, I have had some clips end up too dark because I expected the DR of the BMCC to bail me out and I was wrong. One thing this camera does require is proper lightning or daylight, it's not a low light life saver by any means, at some point it just becomes a bit noisy (and not the nice "film grain" noise either), even with proper ISO/settings/post corrections.
@GravitateMediaGroup Yep, I've had some bad rolling noise/banding in underexposed ProRes footage. RAW is ok there. That's what I meant by switching to RAW to save your ass a little in the bottom end. But I agree, not a low light camera but I light everything I do. Actually, I probably put WAY too much light in everything I do, which leads to my mentor yelling at me in a drunken rage about how all my footage looks like a fucking Fish n Chips shop! And yep, he's British :)
One more thing, remember that from all the reports I've read that we really only have 7 or 8 stops to really work with well in this camera. The rest is throw away if it's lite for that...so to speak.
And yet, again, I could be completely wrong there as well :)
I have a question. I will be picking up my set tomorrow, and was hoping to use it with the Ninja version 1 so that I could save on SSD (ok, I know I'm cheap, but the HD-SDI to HDMI converter ain't cheap either). I read that the firmware update v1.3.1 allows BMcc to output SDI 1080i now, instead of 1080p, as was originally the case.
Could anyone who is running on 1.3.1 pl help me check if the SDI signal out is interchangeable between 1080i and 1080p? I was told that it now only outputs interlaced IF you want the overlay off. Damn! Why did BM do that? This camera was never built for broadcast studio work! It's a digital film camera for crying out loud!!!!!
looking good. What lenses did you use?
@kazuo All Rokinon Cine. 16,24,35 and 85. We really missed having a 50mm. Rokinon really needs to get on it. There were a few times where due to the set and cast, a 50 would have been much better than say the 35 or 85. You can move front or backwards but sometimes not much, or not at all! I think Kholi stayed on the 24mm for the last 3/4 of the day and I bounced back and forth from the 85 to the 35. Did a couple dolly shots with the 16 too.
@vicharris, I love the 85, but mostly use the 14, I just wish it was a little faster.
@GravitateMediaGroup I had the 14, got rid of it. If you like the 14 you love the 16. It's faster and you can use it at 2.8 without any problem. It beats the hell out of the 14mm. I'm dumping both my Tokina 11-16 and 12-24 lenses because of it. Though the Tokina11-16 is not good on this camera. Kind of sucks.
Finally, i am late to the game, but bit the bullet and got my mft 2.5k.
Me too... The new $1000 price drop was too much to resist. And the fact that Davinci Resolve is still included with the camera is mind-blowing! Got the MFT mount, Switronics base-mount battery, and 240GB Sandisk Extreme for under $2500. Should be a nice shoot-able package to get started with... :)
@bwhitz Just a heads up, you get about 34 min out of that 240 card in RAW. ProRes is hours though and looks great!
Nice screengrabs. This is way better. @vicharris @kholi
@driftwood Thanks sir, means alot coming from you but Kholi might cringe! He wanted to help me with the grading after I cut it together so I hope I didn't kill the footage! The hard grade was just for fun. I told him I wanted to go for the Joe Vs the Volcano office scene look and he thought I was joking. :) Can't wait to cut, grade and post it. It's pretty good and for my girlfriends new company.
@vicharris Thanks! That's looking a lot better than the pocket camera to me. I like the lower right frame better. Stunning image. Now I'm thinking again....do I need it??????
What are you guys using to edit the footage? What are your machine specs and what editing software? I am running Sony Vegas 12 on a pretty decent PC. Thinking I may have to get something else just to work with the footage. Help me out here.
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