Black Magic Cinema Camera

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Panagiotis Raris

its mostly the sensor size that kills it for me. Ill keep shooting with cheap T2i's, and maybe wait for the Kinefinity S35 Mini.

Just wondering, do you have the bmc and have you shot any footage with it? Not so sure this is the right camera to shoot fast action auto events with in raw though.

[Panagiotis Raris]

no, i do not have one, i would like to play with some footage though when i return.

You can shoot auto events with practically any camera; back out and zoom in so you dont have to whip pan, which would introduce CMOS issues. I've used the T2i's for interior/ride-a-long cams as well as following the action from a distance with a zoom lens while focusing.

Normally i photograph from right on the track; usually drifting or rallying competitions as they are challenging and get me right in the action. I also sometimes drive my track/sunday car in some of the events.

Some old shots from Nikon D300 and D50, colors are way overprocessed as thats what client (magazine) wanted. I shot with both at the same time, D300 left handed prefocused with a remote trigger and custom made left handed bracket assembly, D50 in my right hand. TONS of fun. I was shooting at 18mm on crop sensors; the cars were 10-15 feet away, sliding at 35-55mph.

[Murray Christian]

I guess it's still a problem since it's not really shipping yet.

[Adrian Frearson]

. It seems like a few of these are arriving now and are being put to use. I'd still like to see some updates on the m43 version. Once these start shipping, I might be interested, probably Summer is my guess.

[Larry Secrest]

I'm going to shock everybody here or maybe sound like an idiot, but I truly hated that footage. So saturated, over the top. We've never seen film footage like that, and frankly some bad soap operas I've seen shot in Latin America can't come close to being that saturated. So what's the deal with that shooter? Does he thinks more is always better?
It's called Black Magic Cinema Camera.
Did he see the "Cinema" in the name?
If he had any talent, what he should done would have been to make his footage as close as film as he could, instead of playing with mascs and saturation.
Not impressed at all. I hope I see somebody's footage soon.

Sorry about all the negativity, but I like subtle stuff.
L.

[John McCully]

You didn’t shock me Larry though the word hate is perhaps a bit strong, in my opinion, but understandable I have to admit. And you certainly don’t sound like an idiot; far from it. But you know, even as his treatment is not to our liking we, in all fairness, must concede ‘artistic choice’ is the shooter’s prerogative. So my response is to say that his approach, his treatment, his artistic choice is just not my cup of tea.

I believe the camera is a great tool and I have viewed some nice footage shot with it. I would like to see more. In due course I might acquire one, perhaps...

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Larry Secrest

I'm going to shock everybody here or maybe sound like an idiot, but I truly hated that footage. So saturated, over the top. We've never seen film footage like that, and frankly some bad soap operas I've seen shot in Latin America can't come close to being that saturated. So what's the deal with that shooter? Does he thinks more is always better?
It's called Black Magic Cinema Camera.
Did he see the "Cinema" in the name?

Considering the "average" film these days has WAY over the top pseudo bleach bypass and the obligatory Magic Bullet Preset blue and orange colour grade on it, I'm happy to see someone willing to push in the other direction.

What I saw was something that looked like "epic" BBC documentary or the photos in a National Geographic magazine come to life.

Cinematic? The content certainly was. A little like a scaled down Baraka or Samsara.

I'm not a fan boy but I appreciate SEEING colour for a change.

Just my opinion.

[Murray Christian]

I know of someone who calls the recent past the Red Era, in terms of how things look on TV, music vids and ads and so on: all foggy mids and dusky hues. We were speculating that it's not even all that intentional a lot of the time. It's a matter of people not having the time and/or skill to really pull much else out of the flat raw (finding during the grade it wasn't exposed as well as they'd like, but this look works etc). Which is fine. I like it. I'd certainly do no better. But its interesting seeing periods defined by their technology (film stocks and processes certainly produced their own looks and fashions too, of course)
Part of the argument for me was the Wallander series; The first few were shot by Antony Dodd Mantle, who is quite good with digital and daring with colour. Once he left you can see the series fall into a sort of more conservative 'Red look'.

In any case, as this stuff trickles down and different cameras get into the mix we should see more variety

[Larry Secrest]

Interesting comments, I must admit.
Sure, i'll take that, the guy has different tastes than mine.

[John McCully]

Yes, I would support a forum here. The more footage I view the closer I am to placing an order. I reckon perhaps $5000.00 US by the time I get it functional and for the stunning image quality I'm seeing that's not at all out of the way. If anyone has a better suggestion I'm all ears...

Here's Grant's update posted at Facebook:

Blackmagic Cinema Camera
January 14

Hi,

Wanted to send out a quick update on camera shipments. The production lines have been up and running with sensors coming in. We have been sending out regular shipments of EF model cameras each week to all of our offices around the world, and each week we are getting cameras out at a faster rate. We are still not at full volume shipping though, because sensors are not quite getting to us at a pace that I could say was full volume. But each day I am seeing the volume get better from the sensor company. I am happy with the quality of the sensors.

For the MFT model, we want to get through some more of the EF orders before I give a date on when we will start getting the MFT orders out. They are ready to go, but we need to get through most of the early EF pre-orders first.

I have been blown away seeing all the footage coming from people with their cameras around the world. It's been very exciting to watch the camera doing such fantastic creative work!


Regards,

Grant
Blackmagic Design:

[Ted Ramasola]

Shane Hurlbut ASC, is putting together a test/shootout.
The cameras are:
Sony F65
Sony F5
Arri Alexa
Red Epic
Canon 1DC
Canon C500
Black Magic
GoPro Hero 3
35mm Film

Exciting to watch how this shootout comes out. They said they will start posting results from the black magic camera first in the coming weeks.

Link to his blog:

Digital Cinematography vs Film: Tides are Turning | Hurlbut Visuals

Love the shot of the GoPro mounted on a oconnor head! LOL!

[Manish Pandit]

Hi,

I've now had my Blackmagic cinema cam delivered and would definitely support a forum here.

Saraswati Films | Movies | Krishna - History or Myth

[Chris Hurd]

Thank you Manish, and others -- we'll have the forum then. Will advise shortly. Much appreciated,

[John Richard]

Thanks Chris for the upcoming forum for the BMCC here.
The expertise and insights of the folks that frequent this community are valued much.
From my perception, they also appear to tend toward the more positive and helpful versus the negative.

[Mark Koha]

Agreed. It's weird being on a forum that is not just filled with trash talkers.