Black Magic Cinema Camera

Whoever eventually makes a housing for it should keep in mind that the internal battery is non-interchangeable and provide enough room in the housing to use an external battery. Even a welded flat-pack of 10 AA NiMH cells should be enough to make it a viable in-field camera.

Looking forward to trying one as soon as it's released...

Philip Bloom finally got a preproduction camera for testing:

http://philipbloom.n.../24/bmd-camera/

For now he posted just the unboxing but in next few weeks a proper test is expected.

Bye

I am not aware of any company looking to make a housing for it and I have contacted a couple of them. One representative said that it is rather poor in low light. I wouldn't know myself tho

Steve

Prblem is that you need an external battery because the internal one is just a backup.

One representative said that it is rather poor in low light.

Strange sentence, first real world shoot are just coming out in these days...

I found this:

[vimeo]48085024[/vimeo]

Descripton says:

Vimeo doesn't support 2.5k streaming playback yet so DOWNLOAD THE ORIGINAL FILE!!

You will be amazed at the quality. Check out EOSHD for the full Blackmagic CInema Camera Premiere CS5.5 / CS6 workflow. eoshd.com/content/8822/lossless-blackmagic-cinema-dng-2-5k-workflow-for-adobe-premiere-cs5-5-with-smooth-playback-and-editing

Huge thanks to: John Brawley, KJ Halverson and James Miller.

Hey Davide,

Not sure what is so strange about the sentence. I respected the individual's anonymity and reported on what he said which was that it wasn't too good in low light. Without mentioning his name, be assured that he is a major player when it comes to underwater housings and cams. I do have a friend in Arizona who just bought one. He is not an underwater shooter and I am waiting to hear what he thinks of it.

Steve

Hi Steve, don't misunderstand me.

I respect your source. I meant that really few people had the opportunity to play with this camera until now. Various testers said that has an impressive DR so it seem strange to me that it would be a poor performer in low light.

Let's see what Bloom has to say.

Regarding the opportunity to see a uw housing I agree with you

Hey All,

Just received this url from Ken Stone. Rick Young, a working producer in the UK, gets to test almost every cam that ever comes out. I have reviewed a few of his books as well. He is an extraodinarily knowledgeable guy. I wish I received all the cams he gets sent to him from almost every company out there. I respect his many reviews very much. At any rate, I thought you might be interested in his review of the Black Magic cam. http://www.moviemachine.tv/video/shooting-with-the-blackmagic-cinema-camera/48431007/

After seeing this, and tho I have never used Da Vinci, if they made a housing, I would be strongly tempted.

Steve

A few select DNG RAW clips from John Brawley's Afterglow is available for download (for now!):

Shot 1

Shot 2

Shot 4 @ ISO1600

Shot 5 @ ISO1600

You will need BlackMagic's Resolve (Pro or the free Lite) to work with these files natively. Resolve supports CUDA and runs very smoothly if you have a supported card. Otherwise, Adobe CS5.5/6 Photoshop will also work with these files in RAW. All you need to do is process 1 file in the image sequence and batch process as a sequence for the other DNG frames for the look, then output to Premiere Pro. One can also transcode via Media Encoder or After Effects to Pro Res or something else that runs faster natively.

I checked these files out last week and it is impressive. Looking at the clips on a 4k screen, the resolution is very nice for a $3k price tag. The latitude of the files is pretty darn excellent since it's 12 bit and RAW. White balance and color is very adjustable. The clean noise is kinda deceiving in John's video since all shots were lit artificially. I'm very impressed so far. There is the issue of the touch screen but all of the basic functions are physical buttons, and Shutter Angle can be preset to 180°. There is a Sony Lanc connector and works with Sony/Canon video camera protocols (tested with Manfrotto RC), so the electronic control housing manufacturers should be in a good position to jump in.

For super wide, the Canon 8-15 fisheye, Sigma 8-16 and Tokina 11-16 will work well with the 2.3x crop. At $3000, I think this camera will do well and I hope housing manufacturers will take a serious look. The price tag will mean that serious amateurs/prosumers will look at this camera, broadening the market beyond the usual production crowd.

Here is the graded video, done with Resolve:

[vimeohd]47933090[/vimeohd]

Question, what is the actual frame size of both the raw and pro res? They should be the same but I was asked to check. Drew, are you saying that one could bring the raw footage directly into CS6AE and work in there before exporting to your NLE?

I was also just told that the battery is internal so I wonder what the run and recharge times would be. There is supposed to be an external battery that can be bought but if it needs an AC outlet, that would be kind of screwy.

Just received this url from Ken Stone. Rick Young, a working producer in the UK, gets to test almost every cam that ever comes out. I have reviewed a few of his books as well. He is an extraodinarily knowledgeable guy. I wish I received all the cams he gets sent to him from almost every company out there. I respect his many reviews very much. At any rate, I thought you might be interested in his review of the Black Magic cam.

You should tell Mr Young that ISO settings are not "optional" with DNG/RAW and is part of every camera's exposure settings, regardless whether shooting RAW or not!!

I read on several comments that the internal battery is just for jocking. Any serious shot needs an external one or ac outlet.

Hi steve as usual the cove of the gh2ers contains a lot of info

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4372/blackmagic-official-2995-raw-cinema-camera-topic-series-2

Thanks for the url Davide.

Steve

Drew, are you saying that one could bring the raw footage directly into CS6AE and work in there before exporting to your NLE?

Yes, for both PS and AE, the files are imported as a Camera RAW sequence, complete with Camera RAW processing abilities. Premiere Pro can't use Camera RAW yet, but an update should fix that. Just download it and try.

You should tell Mr Young that ISO settings are not "optional" with DNG/RAW and is part of every camera's exposure settings, regardless whether shooting RAW or not!!

Rick mentioned this in his video.

Also, no hot shoe so where do you mount your XLR Mics and lights. Battery run time is 90 minutes and recharge is a bit more than 2 hours. The optional battery is cable connected which would be awkward even for topside field work.

No audio meters, just a volume control which you would have to adjust via your headphones.

Some spam:

http://nofilmschool.com/2012/08/how-far-can-you-push-blackmagic-cinema-camera-in-low-light

Frankenstain vs Dracula (FS100 vs BMCC)

http://nofilmschool.com/2012/08/sony-fs100-vs-blackmagic-cinema-camera-low-light-showdown

Instead of risking misinformation by all sorts of "reviewers", I suggest people read up on the manual for the BMCC for specs:

Download

In there, it explains all the camera functions and even workflow. And further information can be gleaned from BlackMagic's own new forum, where they have support staff for issues.

Here's a DNG frame (open in Photoshop) of a dark scene with lights.

Download 1

One can see the latitude of the frame by playing with exposure. Pretty impressive.

Here's a DNG frame (open in Photoshop) of a dark scene with lights.

I really don't get you.

At first, you suggest us to not hang out with all sort of reviewers but to stick with the official site and then you link the chief of all sort of reviewers gang!

It's the same old story...

Davide, I'm sorry you don't understand what I meant, but it's very simple actually. My apologies if I was too subtle and unclear.

For clarification, I encourage people not to watch the reviews where there's a big chance for bad information. For instance, the reviewer doesn't even know what the relationship of RAW and ISO is. Instead learn about the camera from official specs and the official manual on the workings of the camera. Less chance of bad information since it's the manufacturer's play book.

Furthermore, the files are samples from a working BMCC, open for people to see what the camera can do and what sort of latitude there is, via using Adobe Camera RAW or any other RAw converter. There's no attached opinion other than the frame. You yourself encouraged people to download the original files. I merely linked them for ease of access for WP members.