4K BM “pocket” camera for weddings

[Noa Put]

John Brawley has started to release several short BM 4K pocket camera films, any M4/3 shooters out there considering this camera for weddings? I have heared that when you buy resolve studio you get the camera for free :)

I probably will get one as i had some intentions to use Davinci resolve more and instead of paying for the studio version I might as well Pay 1K extra and get the camera.

I”m surprised how little attention the camera gets now that finally some footage is being released. Now we only have to wait another year or so to get it in our own hands.

YouTube (Short URL)

[John McCully]

Ha ha, your cynicism is well-founded. I watch this development with interest too and all else being equal I might get one just for the hell of it. I still have the original sitting in a cupboard somewhere unused and definitely unloved.

Yes, probably lots of time to save the pennies…

Cheers...

[Steve Burkett]

I have one on order since it was announced. Though I had the original on order but cancelled as I got fed up waiting. Still I'll hold out here as it does as Noa points out include the software that I was thinking of buying anyway.

I'm not sure it's suited to Wedding work, but that won't stop people using it. Though for my kind of Wedding work, it would be impractical. If I was more Wedding Highlights delivery rather than Full Length....

However I do several Promos a year and in this, I think this camera would be ideal. For Weddings, the need for handheld is too important. Even my GH5s gets only used as a B camera and Gimbal footage. I wonder how well the BM Pocket will work with my Ronin S. Not sure how easy it'll be to balance on it or if an update will allow control of focus. That will be a clincher in some Wedding use at least. Otherwise it's tripod shots and I hardly ever use these in Weddings except for static cameras.

[Noa Put]

I traded my pocket cam for a zacuto monitor, considering that the monitor is stil just over 1K and I only paid 500euro for the pocketcam that was a good deal :)

The new 4K pocketcam is a totally different camera then the original one, while the original one was just a sensor in a box this one offers a lot more for less money. As I believe it shares the same sensor as the gh5s so the low light capability has been dramatically improved and while still far from perfect it looks like a much easier camera to handle then the orignal one.
On another forum I allready see them complaining that the image doesn’t have the same “cinematic” mojo as the original one but at least 90% of the films I saw shot with the first pocket cam looked like crap because of bad colorcorrection.

[Ron Evans]

To take advantage of the camera I think one would need a battery solution and an external SSD too so a rig would be needed. It may then start to cost close to the GH5S but would give higher quality file or RAW.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

On another forum I allready see them complaining that the image doesn’t have the same “cinematic” mojo as the original one

"Cinematic mojo" is primarily lighting and set design and with the current crop of cameras that are out there right now, from the A7 III to the Red, you can achieve roughly similar results.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

To take advantage of the camera I think one would need a battery solution and an external SSD too so a rig would be needed. It may then start to cost close to the GH5S but would give higher quality file or RAW.

On my pocketcam I was able to record raw onto plain sandisk extreme pro cards that had around 90mbs write.read speed. I guess it should be able to do the same on the new version?

[Ron Evans]

I have the BM Video Assist 5 " that I think may be the screen and recording section of the camera. It eats batteries when recording. One battery may last 35 mins recording at best. I could not depend on it to record 1 hour with 2 batteries so now just use as a monitor. Even with just the screen on and no recording I use 3 batteries to cover a 2 hour show just using it as a 5" monitor. If you are going to use for an extended period I think an external battery will be essential. I do not think it is by accident that the camera has provision for external battery supply and also recording media.

[Cary Knoop]

Originally Posted by Gary Huff

"Cinematic mojo" is primarily lighting and set design and with the current crop of cameras that are out there right now, from the A7 III to the Red, you can achieve roughly similar results.

Right!

A camera simply records a scene like an audio recorder records music.

Sure a camera has to be of a good quality but the "magic" comes from the performance, the setting, the lights, the makeup, the camera movements, lenses, zoom etc not from the camera itself!

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

I have the BM Video Assist 5 " that I think may be the screen and recording section of the camera. It eats batteries when recording.

That still remains to be seen but you might be right, from what I have seen the new screen is much brighter, the old one was unusable in sunlight and I had to use a loupe.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

On my pocketcam I was able to record raw onto plain sandisk extreme pro cards that had around 90mbs write.read speed. I guess it should be able to do the same on the new version?

The write speed of SanDisk Extreme Pro is 90MB/s i.e. way more than the bit rate of RAW video. I have some Lexar Professional 128 GB Class 10 UHS-II SDXC cards rated at 150 MB/s.

[Cary Knoop]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

The write speed of SanDisk Extreme Pro is 90MB/s i.e. way more than the bit rate of RAW video.

The new BM Pocket camera is 4K.
Even 4:1 compressed 4K raw would already require 97 MB/s.

[Ron Evans]

I think that is why it has a CFast slot. And for more economic recording the USB C for external SSD. We will have to wait and see what each slot is able to record but I expect the SD slot even with a V90 card will be limited in its recording.

Found this on the site https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/ca/...specs/W-CIN-12. So SD V90 cards will be needed for most of the recordings, limit Prores 422 for UHD other than HD. CFast will be need for most RAW at UHD. Not sure I would even trust a V90 being so close to its limit so ProRes LT is more in line for V90 I think.

[Nigel Barker]

I'm surprised that BM bothered with the CFast slot when they provide the facility to write direct to an SSD via a USB-C socket. Considering a 128GB CFast card is more than double the price of a 1TB SSD it would have made more sense just to have a slot for a 2.5" SSD.

[Noa Put]

BM makes more weird design decissions, like having a record button on the front of the camera and a red light so you know you are recording youself :)