footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera at DVinfo.net

Jase Tanner · April 24th, 2013, 12:35 AM

Kevin Duffey · April 24th, 2013, 01:24 PM

That footage looks as good as pretty much any other camera I've seen. Maybe my eyes aren't good enough to compare with top end cameras like red, sony F5, etc.. but it looks great to me. Really, what is the difference between what is here, and what you can get from a 10K, 20K or more camera? In pure quality of image that is.. I know the higher end do slow mo, higher res, etc.. but if for the next many years our target is 1080p, this looks incredible for only $1K. I wish they'd bundle Resolve 10 with it though.

April 24th, 2013, 02:00 PM

That looked really good. I might get one when they start to ship.

Murray Christian · April 25th, 2013, 06:15 AM

For hand held shooting on such a tiny thing this is actually extremely good. Even with IS most DSLRs will get a bit twitchy/jello-y in subtle but annoying ways unless they've got some weight behind them (haven't tried the 5D3 though, so I don't know there). It's edited of course, but there's still some stuff in there that would make such shortcomings quite obvious on a lot of other systems if you were just winging it like that. I'm impressed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Duffey

That footage looks as good as pretty much any other camera I've seen. Maybe my eyes aren't good enough to compare with top end cameras like red, sony F5, etc.. but it looks great to me. Really, what is the difference between what is here, and what you can get from a 10K, 20K or more camera? In pure quality of image that is.. I know the higher end do slow mo, higher res, etc.. but if for the next many years our target is 1080p, this looks incredible for only $1K. I wish they'd bundle Resolve 10 with it though.

You see that sort of thing in the fine details and overall resolution, clarity of motion etc. It's more apparent side by side of course, but it generally makes things that much easier on the eye without any direct comparison.
Since this thing is 1080 and not Raw the free Resolve Lite might serve just as well, so maybe that's why no bundle (that and price). I don't know though.

Michael Wisniewski · April 25th, 2013, 06:33 AM

The thing that stands out for me is the dynamic range. You can see clearly in the shadow areas without totally blowing out the highlights. I know it's been been color corrected, but nicely played!

Chris Joy · April 25th, 2013, 07:13 AM

Looks great. Can't wait for the pre-orders to start shipping so I can get mine. Despite BMD's quirks, they do produce nice images. The pocket cam, the Panny 12-35 (or the rumored Olympus UWA zoom) and my steadicam smoothie will make this a great run-and-gun documentary camera.

I have a Canon 9-143mm/1.8 B4 broadcast lens that I'm hoping will cover the S16 sensor without vignetting. I get a slight vignette at the wide end on a M43 sensor, I'm reasonably confident it'll be good on the BMPCC. Its very sharp, stepless aperture, nice smooth/long focus throw and with the ~3x crop factor I'll have a 27-429mm zoom. Nice.

Ben Denham · April 25th, 2013, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Wisniewski

The thing that stands out for me is the dynamic range. You can see clearly in the shadow areas without totally blowing out the highlights. I know it's been been color corrected, but nicely played!

Yes, and its fairly harsh, overhead sunlight. You should be able to get some really nice shots with this camera when the sun is a little lower in the sky.

Kevin Duffey · April 25th, 2013, 09:14 PM

It will be amazing once it can record to RAW. Anyone guess what sort of SD card will be needed for that to work right? I see SDXC cards with 600x speed, wondering if that is good enough. They aren't cheap, similar in price to SSDs for the 600x speeds, even more actually for the size. I'd like to grab a couple 256GB SDXC 600x cards and record RAW with this cam.

Kevin Duffey · April 25th, 2013, 09:17 PM

Incidentally.. I was looking around for a way to offload an SD card to a portable HD, can't really seem to find something that is worthwhile and not too crazy in price. I'd love to find a small laptop with esata port on it and USB 3.. so I could plug in my esata dock and usb3 card reader... then use it to copy contents on a shoot.. assuming I had an AC plug to plug things in to (primarily the esata dock needs it).

Jon Fairhurst · April 26th, 2013, 10:55 AM

The lack of rolling shutter jello is what impressed me. And, yes, the highlight handling was really nice. Where it does blow out, it does so gracefully. (This is important. Some cams give hard lines or yellow highlights where it hits the ceiling. That's one of the reasons the 5D looks so good. When it blows out, it's not unattractive.)

This will be an excellent doc cam with the right lens - assuming it's good in low light. Then again, it's not too expensive to tote a DSLR with a fast 50 to cover night shots.

Jace Ross · April 26th, 2013, 06:53 PM

This may seem a little ridiculous but I'll be going from an XL2 to this pocket cam for obvious reasons. Aside from the obvious advantages how will the sensor in this compare in low-light to the 3CCD 1/3" of the XL2 as that cam was mainly used for its low light capabilities. I'm just curious what makes a larger impact really, more sensors (in CCD) or size.

Ben Denham · April 26th, 2013, 08:59 PM

Aside from anything else mentioned in this thread its the 10 (or even 12) bit codec that is most appealing for me with this camera. I've recently hit on some situations where I'm getting some rather ugly banding and macro-blocking when I've started doing any CC and grading on DSLR footage. Extra bit depth and a higher bit rate are going to make post work much more pleasurable.

Philip Lipetz · April 27th, 2013, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jace Ross

This may seem a little ridiculous but I'll be going from an XL2 to this pocket cam for obvious reasons. Aside from the obvious advantages how will the sensor in this compare in low-light to the 3CCD 1/3" of the XL2 as that cam was mainly used for its low light capabilities. I'm just curious what makes a larger impact really, more sensors (in CCD) or size.

It is not a low light camera, for low light get a Canon C100.

Jace Ross · April 27th, 2013, 08:31 AM

For only 4.5k more... I wasn't asking for a low light camera just how this should compare to my previous cam.

Kevin Duffey · April 27th, 2013, 10:36 AM

I disagree that it couldn't be used in low-light. The current 2.5K Cinema Camera does decent in low light from what I've seen with a good lens, and the sensor on the pocket is only slightly smaller if I read correctly, which means it won't be as good as a DSLR with a good lens, but it should be pretty good. I wouldn't use it at night without lighting or the understanding that it may be grainy (with high ISO).

I am thinking this camera with the Rokinon cine lens will be a fantastic affordable indie camera, which I am guessing is what most people buying this would use it for, or as a b-roll camera or backup. I am sure we'll have some using it for weddings and such (I don't know that I would given the weight of a rig wrapped around this.. but you know someone will).

April 24th, 2013, 12:35 AM	#1
Jase Tanner Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 346	footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Footage in your pocket. \| johnbrawley Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera - Market on Vimeo

April 24th, 2013, 01:24 PM	#2
Kevin Duffey Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: California Posts: 206	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera That footage looks as good as pretty much any other camera I've seen. Maybe my eyes aren't good enough to compare with top end cameras like red, sony F5, etc.. but it looks great to me. Really, what is the difference between what is here, and what you can get from a 10K, 20K or more camera? In pure quality of image that is.. I know the higher end do slow mo, higher res, etc.. but if for the next many years our target is 1080p, this looks incredible for only $1K. I wish they'd bundle Resolve 10 with it though.

April 24th, 2013, 02:00 PM	#3
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera That looked really good. I might get one when they start to ship.

April 25th, 2013, 06:33 AM	#5
Michael Wisniewski Wrangler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Makati, Metro Manila Posts: 2,706 Images: 32	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera The thing that stands out for me is the dynamic range. You can see clearly in the shadow areas without totally blowing out the highlights. I know it's been been color corrected, but nicely played! __________________ "Ultimately, the most extraordinary thing, in a frame, is a human being." - Martin Scorsese

April 25th, 2013, 07:13 AM	#6
Chris Joy Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Tampa Posts: 220	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Looks great. Can't wait for the pre-orders to start shipping so I can get mine. Despite BMD's quirks, they do produce nice images. The pocket cam, the Panny 12-35 (or the rumored Olympus UWA zoom) and my steadicam smoothie will make this a great run-and-gun documentary camera. I have a Canon 9-143mm/1.8 B4 broadcast lens that I'm hoping will cover the S16 sensor without vignetting. I get a slight vignette at the wide end on a M43 sensor, I'm reasonably confident it'll be good on the BMPCC. Its very sharp, stepless aperture, nice smooth/long focus throw and with the ~3x crop factor I'll have a 27-429mm zoom. Nice.

April 25th, 2013, 09:14 PM	#8
Kevin Duffey Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: California Posts: 206	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera It will be amazing once it can record to RAW. Anyone guess what sort of SD card will be needed for that to work right? I see SDXC cards with 600x speed, wondering if that is good enough. They aren't cheap, similar in price to SSDs for the 600x speeds, even more actually for the size. I'd like to grab a couple 256GB SDXC 600x cards and record RAW with this cam.

April 25th, 2013, 09:17 PM	#9
Kevin Duffey Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: California Posts: 206	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Incidentally.. I was looking around for a way to offload an SD card to a portable HD, can't really seem to find something that is worthwhile and not too crazy in price. I'd love to find a small laptop with esata port on it and USB 3.. so I could plug in my esata dock and usb3 card reader... then use it to copy contents on a shoot.. assuming I had an AC plug to plug things in to (primarily the esata dock needs it).

April 26th, 2013, 10:55 AM	#10
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera The lack of rolling shutter jello is what impressed me. And, yes, the highlight handling was really nice. Where it does blow out, it does so gracefully. (This is important. Some cams give hard lines or yellow highlights where it hits the ceiling. That's one of the reasons the 5D looks so good. When it blows out, it's not unattractive.) This will be an excellent doc cam with the right lens - assuming it's good in low light. Then again, it's not too expensive to tote a DSLR with a fast 50 to cover night shots. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

April 26th, 2013, 06:53 PM	#11
Jace Ross Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 35	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera This may seem a little ridiculous but I'll be going from an XL2 to this pocket cam for obvious reasons. Aside from the obvious advantages how will the sensor in this compare in low-light to the 3CCD 1/3" of the XL2 as that cam was mainly used for its low light capabilities. I'm just curious what makes a larger impact really, more sensors (in CCD) or size. __________________ Panasonic GF2 \| BlackMagic Pocket Cinema (waiting): Rode VideoMic \|

April 26th, 2013, 08:59 PM	#12
Ben Denham Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: NSW Australia Posts: 149	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Aside from anything else mentioned in this thread its the 10 (or even 12) bit codec that is most appealing for me with this camera. I've recently hit on some situations where I'm getting some rather ugly banding and macro-blocking when I've started doing any CC and grading on DSLR footage. Extra bit depth and a higher bit rate are going to make post work much more pleasurable.

April 27th, 2013, 08:31 AM	#14
Jace Ross Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 35	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera For only 4.5k more... I wasn't asking for a low light camera just how this should compare to my previous cam. __________________ Panasonic GF2 \| BlackMagic Pocket Cinema (waiting): Rode VideoMic \|

April 27th, 2013, 10:36 AM	#15
Kevin Duffey Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: California Posts: 206	Re: footage from the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera I disagree that it couldn't be used in low-light. The current 2.5K Cinema Camera does decent in low light from what I've seen with a good lens, and the sensor on the pocket is only slightly smaller if I read correctly, which means it won't be as good as a DSLR with a good lens, but it should be pretty good. I wouldn't use it at night without lighting or the understanding that it may be grainy (with high ISO). I am thinking this camera with the Rokinon cine lens will be a fantastic affordable indie camera, which I am guessing is what most people buying this would use it for, or as a b-roll camera or backup. I am sure we'll have some using it for weddings and such (I don't know that I would given the weight of a rig wrapped around this.. but you know someone will).