Blackmagic announces new 4k and Pocketi cameras at NAB

Wow the $4k 4K one looks super interesting. I was beginning to settle on the PMW 200 as the next camera, but now I'm all confused again!!

Factor in cost of accessories then its more than 4K. There is the post production gear to think about too.There is a reason why the first one did not make it into an UW housing. Lanc is not like the Sony lanc of the TRV900 days. It is limited. Touch screen is not easy to resolve for a housing. Just look at the iphone casings. Control will be limited if a housing is made. Think 6 months and maybe a year before seeing a housing ready if there is inventive to reverse engineer into BMDCC control protocol. I even saw a surf housing made last year for the first BMDCC. Just a prototype and all the issues described above has basically made it impractical. I could be wrong. Someone somewhere could be riding the tube and splashing about with one. If I want to shoot factual documentary style video and have everything in one kit then PMW200 is still a good option. although considering the NAB offerings price seems higher now. It was reasonable before new gadgets pops up. I would just get a good system that is ready now and go shoot something and perhaps sell some footage and paid it off. Or wait and wait and wait.I am sure better and better things will come along...LOL

Yes, the BMPC 4k is S35. The lanc is standard Sony/canon, which works for all lanc controls like the RC heads from Manfrotto etc. Problem with housings is that no one ever tried to control IRIS through lanc. Even with RC heads only a handful have IRIS control.

I'm sure shooters can live with no shutter controL, BUT exposure control with IRIS and ISO is going to be problematic to say the least. This is obviously about the BMPC and BMCC.

The BMPCC should be a no brainer for housing manufacturers. However, things like RAW processing and storage for the DNG files isn't for the budding amateur with a macbook air.

I posted this last time the BMCC was discussed. It is one possible but messy solution to overcoming the touch screen interface.

http://www.dive-xtras.com/pages/accessories/underwater_tablet.asp

Yes messy. One solution used on the Iphone cases is to have special capacitative buttons at specific functions on the touch screen. Did not catch on. No idea why.

Looking at the BMCC right now, it's actually not that hard for manual housing manufacturers to make the housing controls. The only touchscreen controls needed are for SHUTTER and ISO arrow keys. IRIS can be controlled from the < and > buttons and FOCUS is a physical button as well . As can REC. It's actually doable.

Well the next few months will tell if any housing manufacturers will adopt either of these 2 cameras.

Heck I have just pre-ordered the "PocketRocket" from Black Magic Design, Singapore. I will hack one of the housings for the MFT cameras and see how this baby performs. Can't wait for months on housing manufacturer's decisions.

Cheers
David

I like the way you think David. Keep us posted I understand they expect to start shipping in July. It will be interesting to see if they have sorted out there supply issues with the sensors.

If the BMPCC camera is half decent it may well do some damage to the DSLR market on film sets. These guys view DSLR's to be disposible and put them in harms way to get certain shots.

Good luck

Just ordered a couple of BMDCC - here we go again.

I was at NAB these past few days and spent some time at the BM booth. The dynamic range on the pocket camera (not to mention size) is something of SERIOUS interest to me (and i'm sure other underwater cinematographers).

I previously worked at my fathers CNC machine shop for 7 years and have quite a bit of resources available to me (along with the design background). I've already pre-ordered the pocket camera and have the design specs of the camera coming to me in a few weeks directly from Blackmagic. I'm traveling for the next 2 weeks, but then will start working on the design of the housing. I've never designed one before, but I'm doing a fair amount of research. Sealing of buttons and focus options are the two things that I'm looking into. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.

I've been looking into lens options as well (I'm a Canon shooter, and just now finally looking into MFT options). I'd really like to have one good wide and one good macro.

The thread is now split since there is a housing for the Black Magic Cinema Camera and Professional Cinema Camera 4k. So please post BMCC/4k questions @:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=50103

I'll start a thread on the BMPCC as manufacturers announce housings for it.