looks nice. The grain looks a bit heavy, but won't know till I see it move. But the DR in that wide shot is evident, nice retention in the blacks while holding the highlights.

So far, so good.

@shian They've come a long way in a very short amount of time. I really like the way their colour off the sensor is sitting. Noise is the main thing they've been working on reducing. When you look at the RAW though, you do realise it's a very honest camera. For better or worse. Like the way some high end speakers let you hear everything....including the stuff you don't want to hear !

I think he meant to say "when WE look at RAW--like some high end speakers that aren't plugged in" In all seriousness, I think it is terrific that this cam was made, and I will definitely buy one if it works for long takes (and it is better than the JVC 4K, of course). I just don't want to see processed samples from a RAW cam. If part of the selling point is RAW, then l want some RAW bits to download and start color grading.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev I would like to be able to share some RAW's. But BMD aren't ready for that yet. There are also other reasons why footage might not be able to be released. Apple Certification on ProRes and Thunderbolt for example....

I have been shooting with the camera. There are now a few shot's that are "good enough" to go into a TV series I shot that just wrapped a couple of weeks ago.

I think the camera is good enough for a lot of the kinds of work I do with a C300 right now. BMD have really come a long way in a crazy amount of time. But this is their MO. They are high speed development company. This is how they are used to working.

There will be CinemaDNG's when they start to ship.

jb

@Vitaliy_Kiselev You're fishing for information I'm not able to give.

jb

I agree with @shian - those are some really nice images there. This could be the deal, but I want to see motion on this bad boy. I'm interested and hopeful. This thing must be scaring the bejeez outta RED and to a point, Alexa owners.

Is it me or those sample pics look very aliasing or over sharpened? Like if you look carefully, those line look blocky and not smooth like gh2. I'm excited with this new camera. I hope it deliver. Once the test is out and the forum think it is ok, I will buy one no doubt. Another thing is I think we all should give BM a break on release date and such. This is their first step into camera market so there got to be some error.

@peaceonearth I think technically they aren't really offering pre-order. They sell to retailers who are the ones that offer a pre-order. It's not like RED where they're taking deposits. The deposit is with the re-seller in your country not with BMD direct.

Obviously people can make up their own minds but c'mon...BMD don't HAVE to show anything if they don't want to. They can start shipping the cameras when they want with out any demo footage. You as a consumer can choose to pre-order one or not with a reseller of the cameras (not BMD). If you're worried, wait till the camera ships and then make up your mind.

@Vitaliy_Kiselev You're trying to get me to discuss the shipping date but I can't. You can ask, but I can't answer.

jb

@johnbrawley c'mon this is splitting hairs. BMD promotes this camera, they list all the dealers on their website, dealers offer pre-order with advance payment. They give everybody the impression the camera is ready to ship which is obviously not. For customers this is one chain and BMD is imho the responsible intitial point. Yes, they can start shipping the cameras when they want with out any demo footage but I doubt this will be a benefit for their high reputation.

It's not like RED where they're taking deposits.

Is it the only one difference between BM and RED? :-)

You're trying to get me to discuss the shipping date but I can't. You can ask, but I can't answer.

Last time I checked it had been public.
I asked if company will keep the promises. If you can't talk, just get any BM official here who can.
As I am sure many guys who preordered cameras want to know that is happening.
And preferebly not in the form "something fucked up, but we won't tell you as if we say that this is secret no one will notice" :-)

It's not uncommon for ship dates to change or even have the whole product be cancelled.

Can you give a hit, if we are here more close to first variant or to the latter one? :-)

They don't have their own forum

I already invited them here to answer questions.

If something changes substantially from what they've said I'm sure they will communicate it.

Something already changed. I mean quite important thing here - shipping data.
As if all had been normal cameras must be already on the way to dealers.

I mean they CHOOSE not to have a forum or engage in this way.

I have big problems understanding the point.

If they choose to not tell anything to guys who preordered cameras about delays just because they CHOOSE, it is called shitty behaviour incompatible with any serious company image.

I will preface this by saying that I was working off jpegs and not actual raw footage, so this is not in anyway indicative of the true grain coming off the footage. The jpeg compression may be amplifying the grain that is there.

I took the stills of the RAW versions posted by @johnbrawley into After Effects, and used ColorGHear on them just to see what was doing with the stills and how they grade out compared to other types of footage. And in some ways I'm impressed. Despite the 2nd image being pretty under exposed, it holds up very well. The grain is pretty heavy, but depending on how it moves, this may be a desirable attribute as it reminds me of 16mm film. Original stills and notes are here http://johnbrawley.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/a-little-tease

** Pretty straight forward grade. I graded it as if it were R3D RAW footage. No power windows, except a slight exposure window on her face on "casey 1-13-2", only one secondary correction on her red jacket which also brought out her lips. and I used GHrain Killer to smooth out her skin**

Included are the graded results, wfm analysis, and each RGB LUT screen cap.

RAW

CGT Grade