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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
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  • @shaveblog, if the S16 BMC is as successful as I believe it's gonna be, there will be new lenses aimed directly at it. Besides you forget all the S16 Film Lenses out there already. It wouldn't take much for someone to go back to those designs. It's gonna fit the bill for a lot of people out there.

  • @Shaveblog Your attitude made an otherwise misleading rant, somewhat enjoyable.

    You seem to be critiquing this camera on two fronts: the sensor size, and its inability to shoot higher resolution stills. A "real" cinema camera in a professional environment should not need to shoot stills. The advent of DSLR filmmaking seems to have brought with it some expectation that one camera should be capable of both high-quality still photography and high-quality video, but that's an artifact of a specific market development, and not something that I or many others take for granted. I do not generally shoot stills, and when I do, I make sure that I have a DSLR with me. Yes, one camera that can do both well is a nice idea. That is not what this camera is, no one is saying that it is, so forget about it if that's a higher priority to you than exceptional video quality.

    Regarding the sensor size. Super-16 is a well established format, with a history far longer than your own as a self-styled pundit on internet forums. Again, the advent of DSLR filmmaking has given a lot of people a false understanding of the relationship between lens families and sensor sizes, most evident in the endless misinformation about "crop factors", "full frame", etc.

    I'm so tired of dealing with clients and colleagues who don't understand that lenses are designed and optimized for specific film back / sensor sizes. To complain about the "crop factor" of this camera as if it were an insurmountable limitation, is as absurd as if a large format photographer complained that his 190mm wide angle lens became a long telephoto lens when he attached it to a 5D. He's just using the wrong damn lenses. There are plenty of serious wide-angle Super-16 lenses available (e.g. ARRI/Zeiss Ultra-16 primes, Angenieux zooms). Those are obviously out of reach for most people that will buy this camera, but there are plenty of other Super-16mm lenses that are not. Moreover, the MFT version of Metabones' Speedbooster, which is coming out this month, will effectively create many more wide-angle lenses.

    Do not think of this camera as a DSLR that is well suited for standard DSLR lenses. Think of it as a digital Super-16mm cinema camera. Be grateful that Metabones is making some of those DSLR lenses more useful, but definitely count on using Super-16mm and MFT lenses primarily.

  • Any specs on the audio?

  • Just Pre-Ordered @ B&H from @Vitaliy_Kiselev link looking forward for more updates..

  • Actually, this season we're gonna use small Sony CX Camcorders for the majority of our weddings. Clients love deep DOF! Go figure :-)

  • @Shaveblog +1. Not a really good option for run-n-gun style.

    I was hoping BM Pocket fever kills GH3 demand so that I can pick up GH3 at dirt cheap price. Oh well you just killed it. I hate you.

  • @Paddy @mpgxsvcd - "electronic control of focus" does not mean it will AF yet. They are just saying that they support focus by wire, like that 14mm they showcased on it. To be honest I'll be surprised if it has AF at all.

  • @ Shaveblog Most of us here have a nice collection of lens already for MFT and this body gives us even more options and some more abilities.. I work as a internal media shop in a larger company , we don't get huge budgets and a $999 body we can easily pass through the bean counters far easier than a 4k or 13k camera body.. if we need that well rent it or hire it out.

    We have a GoPro and use it maybe 3 times a year .. but its the tool we need for those particular shots.. it is a tool to get what we need done.. nothing more nothing less. This camera is no different, It is yet another tool to get the job done and hopefully it will meet the expectations BMD has put out for this camera. I can see a number of uses for this new body mainly because of the smaller sensor size and DR the camera is stated to have.. you may not need these things, but others do. We shall see how people are using these once it is out in the wild.

  • @Sangye @Aria Nicely said.. since the 5D2 DOF became a trend having that full frame field view for me it's a none issue. I use to own a T2i which has real nice DOF sold it purchased a GH2 why? cause the GH2 has better resolution the images were more filmic thanks to @Vitaliy_Kiselev. To tell you the truth the GH2 has way more DOF than needed, Super 16mm size sensor is not far off from the gh2 for me it works. For soo.. long users on this forum been asking a solution for a not soo.. expensive ProRes 422 / Raw 1080p camera this is it people, what more can you ask at $1,000 price point. Let's not focus on the negative, we all know that every camera has it's strong points, for example Shane Hurlbut from ASC Pick the Canon C500 for his new movie "Need For Speed" he could of picked the Alexa which is a go to camera for most DP's like they say it's a tool use it for what it's good for, and create some great contant with it..

  • So all these kind of lenses would work well on the BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera?

    http://mkoptics.net/m/index.php?cPath=22

  • @manstok Yes. Great find!!!

    edit - you'll just need an Arriflex to MFT adapter. These run for $100-$150 or so on eBay.

  • Does anybody know if the metabones speed booster M/43 will mount EOS lenses?

  • Nice link, many of those lenses at 150-250 Euros are $800-$1,000 on ebay.

  • Forget the Pocket Cam... Just preordered the Black Magic Personal 4K Keychain Cinema Camera..... Although the rattling keys might interfere with sound aquisition!

  • Well, I preordered. I can always convert my prepayment at B&H to a gift cert and use it for other things, as I did with the original BMCC, lol. We'll see what happens. I do nature work. Gh3 for 1080p60 and autofocus, bmpc for hdr situations like nature beauties. In a weird way, Panasonic should be grateful as this will do more to breath life into M43 than pretty much anything -- you buy this camera and a 12-35 and 35-100 and you're basically set for most amateur to semi-pro situations and a good chuck of corporate and event work. (same could be said for gh2/3 of course, but the 8-bit banding issue is just a real issue -- moon has knocked out out a lot of it, but on wide skies, no way around it).

  • ...change of tone to a serious question ....any ideas who will make a loupe that fits the 3.5" screen ?

    Also ...about those 16mm lenses from the netherlands.....simple 16mm lenses might vignette on the s16 sized sensor. I'd wait for some tests before I jumped .

  • those kowa lenses are really beautiful but I'd send the specs to black magic and see what they think - not all c-mount lenses are made the same i.e. distance of flange to image plane. If so, that solves the wide/fast side of things .

  • Does anybody know what "Type 15x6 B" or "type 10x12A" in these descriptions mean?

  • @eyeiaye

    Does anybody know if the metabones speed booster M/43 will mount EOS lenses?

    Yea, that's the idea. Hopefully Nikon too. The speed booster requires lenses that cover a greater area than the sensor they're being projected to, as it shrinks the image circle down. Native m4/3 lenses and a speed booster wouldn't even be possible for use...

    Stills? Forget it. Yes you can pull a 2MP frame and call it a still, but your phone takes better stills than this thing no matter what lens you stick on it.

    Well, besides the latitude and color rendition on a phone completely sucking balls. The Pocket Cinema Camera will spank any phone in that area for a while. Obviously, just getting a cheap DSLR for stills is the best... BUT, the majority of stills that end up on the web are around 1k or below of resolution, and people are more responsive to color/DR than resolution. Also, it's interesting that the 13 stops of DR is still greater than even a 11 or 12 Canon DSLRS have even in RAW stills mode. So I could see stills maybe pulled for web use and such. But yea, this ain't a still camera.

  • Totally agree. The color depth and DR will blow any phone image away.

  • I've pre-ordered one. Nothing wrong with S16 sensor size at all. I'm a film maker, a relatively bad one, an amateur and hobbyist and I want to grade. I don't need low light, I'm not even 'that' fussed about rolling shutter, I've got lights, use natural and I'm stabilised.

    Give me 13 stops DR (yeah, I know, only 8 are probably fully usable), give me ProRes 422 and 10-bit colour, give me HDMI connections to connect to my shitty Chinese HDMI monitors, record to SD and all under $1000.

    With a £120 deposit, yeah I'll wait for it.

  • Any space phone alien technology that is! ;)

    @JDN yes!the banding nightmare...resolving of the f&£king banding issue of the gh2(3 i imagine?) is already enough to be wanting one of these pocket wonders. I am sorry but I cannot just keep my eyes on the sharp face of the subject enough even if it is a damn masterpiece of actors work...i am still seeing the whole picture and am truly bothered by it and people that pretend this banding is not there. And this is (personally speaking) the worst short fall of the gh2. I can live with aliasing and other little "thingies", but banding, hell no! its plain ugly. If i can have a banding free image for 1000bucks, well they got mine(not that i have it;) but if i did, it won't go to panasonic's gh3 that's for sure.

  • Does anybody know what "Type 15x6 B" or "type 10x12A" in these descriptions mean?

    those are reg 16mm zooms ....starts at 15mm x 6 ....B refers to the mount type ....Bayonet

    they won't cover the s16 frame