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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
  • 4493 Replies sorted by
  • @glopro

    Could you tell us which the UK source was? Thanks!

  • @roly

    Just look at post above.

  • bh is on board .... with the new firmware and af upgraded , this is a steal !

  • Literally just chose the Gh3 over the bmpcc because of the price difference last week! Now this happens, my luck.

  • I am gonna buy this now cuz this price is just way too good. @kurth, where is the new firmware, I don't seem to find anything about it. I have not been following black magic cameras but can someone advice me on what additional add one I should definitely consider with the BMCC?

  • @HillTop1

    About firmware - just check previous pages.

  • Just a quick note for UK readers: the price has now also been reduced to 295GBP+VAT at cvp.com as well as at proav

  • I'm buying just for the heck of it I think. Hopefully they give it away for free soon just like Resolve Lite.

  • "Soooo, what's the catch? No catch, just smaller firm use vacations time and lack of announcements of big guys. Good timing."

    Don't you think the catch is that they will announce a newer version at the IBC tradeshow in Amsterdam in early September ? Just a guess...

  • The new model seems obvious. Except according to the press release, the price will go back up to the $995 after August. If a new model comes out, that wouldn't make sense.

    Well realistically, they will announce a new model but only ship it months later. So they can return the price to normal for a while, giving everyone an incentive to jump now.

  • Don't you think the catch is that they will announce a newer version at the IBC tradeshow in Amsterdam in early September ? Just a guess...

    Even if they will, it is not a catch, You still have same camera for the price you could not dream about.

  • It's still overpriced, if you ask me.

    Here's my ranting review:

    The BMPCC records 14 stops, but the bottom few stops are noisy, noisy, noisy. You're not getting anything close to 14 usable stops. No histagram and a washed-out display means it's very hard to get the exposure right, and if you don't get it within a narrow range, you can't get realistic looking colors from the camera. The sensor's ISO is fixed at 800, meaning low light performance is pretty terrible. Raw workflow is nasty: you need to develop your DNGs in something like Lightroom, or round trip through Resolve. The BMDFilm (log) color space is worthless because Blackmagic doesn't provide the formulas to map that back to linear. They only provide a LUT to map it to rec.709, and it only works if the footage is exposed a certain way. You can't properly shift exposure or adjust color balance on log footage like you can on raw footage and other scene-referenced linear footage. The rec.709 output of the BMPCC looks not so great and is really only useful for a quick preview. Battery life is poor, the controls are clunky, peaking is not as good as it should be, and the range of shutter speeds is very limiting.

    I had high hopes for the BMPCC, but in the end it was a half-baked product that was more frustration than anything.

    I bought the BMPCC because I expected it to be able to deliver the same quality as the BMCC. It can, but only if used expertly and with a lot of supporting equipment like an external monitor with a histogram, external audio, and a painful workflow. It's a toy, for people with more time than sense. You'd better love to do color correction in Resolve, because that's what you'll have to do on every single shot to try to get something close to natural color. That's not how a camera should be. A good camera starts with good and natural color, and gives you the freedom to alter it and create the look you want.

  • "Don't you think the catch is that they will announce a newer version at the IBC tradeshow in Amsterdam in early September ? Just a guess...

    Even if they will, it is not a catch, You still have same camera for the price you could not dream about."

    Agreed - and I would guess the significant feature of the new one is that it will do 4K rez (another guess) while I personally would have no problem being limited to 2K for the lower price if I needed another camera right now (which I do not)

  • It can, but only if used expertly and with a lot of supporting equipment like an external monitor with a histogram, external audio, and a painful workflow. It's a toy, for people with more time than sense.

    It is clearly not ideal, but proper external monitor, proper external audio is the things you need anyway with any camera for any serious work.

  • I'd say external mics are always a must for serious work, but I have cameras with internal audio recording from external mics that is more than sufficient for a lot of tasks, with clean inputs, level meters, and gain adjustment.

    I absolutely disagree that an external monitor is required for serious work. There are millions of examples of serious work done without external monitors.

  • Personally, I just went ahead and ordered a second one, and a third one. At that price, it's ridiculous. These shortcomings are minor. Not the ideal run & gun camera for sure, but I'm not using it for that. In proper setups, the camera shines.

  • It's still overpriced, if you ask me.

    Well, the beta testers have already paid full price - so at this point, it's just clearing out inventory to work out the product's balance sheet. ;)

  • so at this point, it's just clearing out inventory to work out the product's balance sheet. ;)

    I wish some big Japanese monsters wanted to work out balance sheet. :-) For now ProRes in m43 cameras for them is something similar to second coming.

  • So considering picking up 4 of them for use with a new ATEM 2 M/E. From what I read they will output 1080p25 from their hdmi output, which I will couple with a HDMI/SDI converter. I'm mainly planning on shooting green screen and keying in the ATEM, anyone seeing any issues with using these cameras? I mean 4 for $2000. Its like a steal.

  • Prores - nice. Huge crop factor, stabilization issues, screen issues, battery life - plus the sub-par historical record of BM - not so much.

  • I just sold mine 2 days ago...phew!!

  • I just sold mine 2 days ago...phew!!

    Who knew that you could soon buy used camera with such DR and raw for the price of new GF3.

  • For the use i'm considering, it'll be a controlled lighting setup, locked off cameras. Still I have it in the budget to be able to go for 4xGH4's so maybe I should just stick to that. Was considering saving some dosh though, although GH4's become more practical for multi cam on location, due to much better internal recording times and 4K.

    Still GH4 can't output 1080p25 at the moment at 10bit from HDMI, which is frustrating. Have to go 1080p24 and convert to 25p when I stream it live.

  • Australians: RRP in Oz is $AU589 but I just picked up one for AU$563 delivered from http://www.videocraft.com.au/blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera.

    Very Happy Jan.

  • After reading around, my guess is this is a response to the 1" sensor cameras coming to market, rather than a new pocket camera on the horizon. Or maybe some other camera release blackmagic got wind of, like possibly also shooting raw and internal prores. The drastic nature of the cut makes me suspicious they know something we don't !

    And regardless of it's beautiful footage, I'd still prefer an rx100lll or possibly an lx8. But that's only because I prefer a swiss army knife to a switchblade ! Of course if they cut another 50% , I could change my mind !