Blackmagic pocket any one ?

[Franklin Bencosme]

Hello folks since today BH have the Blackmagic pocket in SPECIAL price,my question is YES or NO to get one,any experience ?

thanks in advance.

[Chris Hurd]

Already posted in our News forum and BlackMagic Cameras forum, but here are the full details with ordering info:

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera for US$495 at DV Info Net

[Max Palmer]

I would have seriously thought about getting one at that price to play with, but I decided the storage factor (100-200mbps clips as opposed to 25-35mbps with what I'm shooting currently) and workflow was just too much to bear to make it practical for me. I've also read battery life was a concern. I also would have had to invest either in new lenses, or a speedbooster to adapt to my EF mount lenses. At $500 it sure looks attractive for film making, but for run-and-gun weddings it didn't make sense for me at the time.

The biggest reason I really wanted to play with one though, was the dynamic range and ability to push the image farther in post would be great for those bright sunny days with blown-out wedding dresses.

[Dave Partington]

They are super cheap all over right now. My guess is they haven't sold as well as they were expecting and they reduced the price in the hope of either kick starting things or clearing inventory before they kill it / replace it.

While the camera itself has some interesting capabilities for the price, it's not a camera I could see myself using professionally on a day to day basis.

It has some major issues with bright highlights (black sun spots is one example), even in raw mode.

It's audio capabilities are not good at all, some people are even having problems with dual audio because the internal audio is so bad.

Like any camera, there are some excellent examples of what can be achieved by the passionate few, but it's rare to see anyone working with them on a day to day basis. It seems more of a "hey that would be neat to play with" kind of thing, and most people's cheap entry to raw, only to find that the workflow is too cumbersome for most types of shooting.

If you're already invested in lots of M43 glass then it's a great play thing. If not then you're in to lots of adapters etc.

They're also pretty picky about the cards they can use, so that may be an additional investment you need to consider.

[Noa Put]

Eventhough I do have a collection of m4/3 glass I"m not getting it, even at this cheap price, I have seen enough user videos to know it's not the easiest camera to get the most from it, I see a lot of weird color, like some yellow/reddish with weird looking skintones as well. many call it "cinematic" but I must have been looking at the wrong movies the past years because none of them had this kind of look.
I have seen much better looking footage from the 2.5k bmc camera though, but again from just from a handful of people that seem to have mastered the coloring techniques, that would be a camera I would get as a play around thing, if I didn't know what to do with my money.

[John McCully]

Noa, in as much as you have lots of m4/3 glass and a vacation coming up why don't you get one while the price is right. It is possible to obtain very nice footage with the thing and the plethora of garbage you have seen out there is not the best way to judge what can be done with it. You will have some fun and my bet is that you will make it sing. But as Dave said it's hardly a production tool.

Mine mostly sits on the back burner but there are times when I play around and enjoy doing so. If you offered me new retail that I paid for it (plus the 14 140 lens) I would say no thanks, and I'm far from loaded with coin, let me tell you.

Go on, give it a go; I bet you will be glad you did given the price. If not then pop on down here and I'll apologize and buy you a couple of beers.:-)

Franklin, I agree with Dave totally. Nice toy.

[Noa Put]

I blew all my money on two 4K cams and it will take me some time to recover, also, if you have to think what camera you should be taking with you on holiday is enough proof that you actually have too many camera's already. I"ll just let this offer pass, how tempting it might look. :)

Edit: just had a look out of curiosity as last time i looked there where 3 Belgian store offering the camera at the reduced price, currently only one is doing that, the other 2 are back to the old price even though Blackmagic promised a reduced price until end of august.

[Leon Bailey]

I really thought about getting it, but after reading everything that I would need to get to have it where I need it to be, I ultimately decided to pass on it.

[Dave Partington]

All the suppliers emailing me the offer seem to be back up at the regular pricing now with long lead times for new product. It seems that the low price must have shifted quite a few units.