Interview with Blackmagic's Dan May plus the BMCC fix for the focus issue

[Heath McKnight]

doddle TALKS Tech - Blackmagic Cinema Camera Update

and

Blackmagic Has a Fix for Infinity Focus Issue on the Cinema Camera

I for one am glad they got the issue resolved; can't wait to get my hands on one to test out.

heath

[Duane Adam]

The laid back comments at 20:00 (doddle interview) about the mft production has caused me to look elsewhere for a camera. I've seen this camera labeled as "Apple like" but one thing Steve Jobs did so well was to manage the supply chain of a product. These guys have a clever product, but how soon until someone bests it with something that is actually available?

[Heath McKnight]

It is finally shipping, but I don't see too many other small companies able to produce a camera like this anymore. The financial burden, relying on suppliers, tech support costs, etc. Look at the growing pains of RED early on (now on fire, which is great), and Digital Bolex's struggles.

heath

[Sabyasachi Patra]

May be the only company that can make an upstream movement is the Go Pro guys after their successful Go Pro 3 launch.

What RED envisioned and ditched (3K for 3K) and BMC still attempting (2.5K RAW), Go Pro with cineform can perhaps do it well, especially with the Go Pro 3 selling very well.

8-9 Go Pros equal one BMC sale. However, I am told people are just tossing Go Pros to their grocery trollies like pop corn. So they should have the financial muscle.

Sony has entered the Go Pro category. Lets see if they have time to focus their energy into the BMC category of small sensor raw camera.

Knowing the electronic manufacturing industry, I had imagined the challenges of BMC to continue till end 2012. However, it seems BMC is still trying to get on top of their act. Lets hope they come out with a stable product soon and are able to make the camera freely available.

[John Richard]

Having a BMCC for 6 weeks to test out I can report the camera does amazing things. I have only been shooting in raw and then working the images in Resolve.

The Positives:
- It is true what is reported about the wide latitude. Shooting private jets at a mountain airport I observed that by setting the aperture to just start to hit 100% zebras, in Resolve I could pull the sky/cloud detail out and still get detail out of the shadows of the surrounding dark forest. In the snow capped mountains, I was able to get detail out of both the snow and bare sections. I remember one shot where I had followed an all white Lear jet as it took off and followed it up into the sky against clouds. In the raw original footage, the white jet was almost totally lost against the white clouds. But a few tweaks to Gain and Gamma in Resolve and magically the jet's details came fully back. Magic!

-It is a simple camera that takes no time at all to get a handle on and capture beautiful images. It does not require drilling down into menu after endless menus. It just sticks to the basics and you get there quickly.

- I now have access to all kinds of great glass at various cost levels. Already had great lens that work. And because of the volume of cameras that will be sold, many folks are planning building lens just for this camera.

Downsides:

-Audio - ok but not great - internal amps are noisy and currently no meters to monitor with. But with a small form factor $400 JuicedLink preamp this all is solved. Great audio now recorded and funky 4 segment monitoring meter. But with the -16db padding on a second channel to save sudden too hot audio from clipping, I don't find myself looking at the meters after the original setup. And headphones are better for one man ops so I can concentrate on the image ops. And I believe we will get meters in camera in future firmware updates. So in my book this downside is already resolved.

-Image monitoring - indoors, the on camera monitor is very usable for pulling focus with both a double tap to magnify and peaking. Very easy and quick. Outdoors, even with the supplied hood, it is just tough. You are going to need a hooded monitor solution or even better an Alphatron EVF (straight SDI but $) or others out there but then you're stuck with HDMI to SDI converter. This downside is fixable with tools most of us already have. We use a SmallHD DP6 or on a bigger project go out to a Panny BTH 17".

- Flange Distance Infinity Focus issue with some lenses - that issue is in the process of BM resolution - send in your camera and 10 days later it's back and fixed. New cameras shipping here on will not have that issue.

Bottom line is this camera is a magic camera. You must play with it yourself and see what you can produce from the images. You won't be disappointed!

[Duane Adam]

I think most will agree this is a cool camera. The problem is they're too hard to get. I've decided to skip the 2.5k mid step and start accumulating 4K footage from my still cameras and the new JVC. That should be good for a year at which time there should be a healthier selection of 4k cameras with better lens options and workflow.

Here's some very good 4K footage shot from a Nikon d800. He did this using mid level JPEG's and the cameras burst function.

ICELAND NIKON D800 4K FOOTAGE - YouTube

[Thomas Smet]

Originally Posted by Duane Adam

The laid back comments at 20:00 (doddle interview) about the mft production has caused me to look elsewhere for a camera. I've seen this camera labeled as "Apple like" but one thing Steve Jobs did so well was to manage the supply chain of a product. These guys have a clever product, but how soon until someone bests it with something that is actually available?

You mean like the horrible inventory and long wait times to get a 27" iMac recently or the fact that for two months you couldn't even buy a 27" iMac since it was in limbo. Apple doesn't usually venture far from their normal product designs which helps. When they change things up just a little bit they suffer some manufacturing issues as well. Blackmagic on the other hand is doing something really revolutionary and not just doing a small variation on an existing product. Heck even a company like Panasonic has trouble keeping the GH3's in regular supply. Pumping out the kind of quality Blackmagic is doing at this insane of a price point is not easy.

Not all 4k is created equal and just because a camera can shoot 4k doesn't mean it will be as good as an awesome 2.5k. Having raw video even at 2.5k will kill a lot of highly compressed or jpeg 8bit compressed 4k video. Resolution is about the least important factor of video quality.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The problem is for the last one year we have been hearing that this is an awesome camera. And we get to hear about the problems like sensor contamination, focusing issues etc. Without these cameras available in the market place in sufficient quantities, it is difficult for us to actually know the reality. I have seen reputed filmmakers toeing the line of corporates and not talking about problems of the equipment at all.

I am heavily invested in canon gear. However, I see potential of the BMC. I will buy this right now if it were available. I hope BMC is able to finally release a camera without any problems, as shipping and customs issues are big hassles.

I hope BMC and some more new guys succeed after all competition is good for the customer.

[Duane Adam]

[QUOTE=
Resolution is about the least important factor of video quality.[/QUOTE]

For my use resolution is one of the most important factors. I often have about 3 minutes to convince a client to sign with me. If I start explaining the benefits of RAW, they'll fall asleep. If I show them a 30 second clip with better resolution than they've seen before, they hire me. Been that way for years so stepping up to 4K is a no brainer. Could probably get similar results with the BMCC but I'd rather shoot 8 bit 4K today than 2.5 RAW at some undetermined future date.

[Jon Fairhurst]

The importance of resolution depends on the context. Documentaries with a slow pan over a wilderness - or about fine lace and textiles - demand it. Romantic shots of a couple by candlelight depend more on lighting, framing, colors, art direction, and acting.

Note that there's also a DOF connection. If your story needs detail and resolution, it probably also has deep focus. If your story is about individuals, it can have shallower focus and resolution has less importance.

That said, false resolution due to aliasing can be bad, even for shallow DOF people shots. Aliasing and compression artifacts can make beard stubble, eyebrows, eyelashes, and skin texture look "dirty" and digital. Too much noise reduction can make people look plastic. I'd rather have slightly less resolution, no aliasing, and less compression than very high resolution, oversharpening, etc.

Of course, we would ideally have it all (resolution, DOF control, great colors, high DR, no artifacts, efficient data rate, easy to edit...), but when you have to live in a budget, choose the gear that matches your style.

[Heath McKnight]

For me, after my HD10 debacle in 2003, I realize that until a camera ships AND I've not only read plenty of user and pro reviews, but also go to my local camera dealer to check it out, THEN I buy the camera.

heath

[Glen Vandermolen]

Duane, do you have the JVC HMQ10?

[Duane Adam]

Originally Posted by Glen Vandermolen

Duane, do you have the JVC HMQ10?

Yes for now.