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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
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  • Hello @johnbrawley, could you clarify the crop factor of BMPCC?? There are so many misconceptions out there.

  • There is no image stabiliser in bmpcc. active mft doesn't support Panasonic lens optical stabilisers mega ois and power ois.it has no details on any option other than electronic Apature control

  • @Maya

    John has a BPC, I think he would know..

  • @john please explain us about this mount? does it supports the Lumix lens power ois option?

  • Why so many people refuse to believe the BMPC has IS? :) It's one of the funniest little disputes i've seen. It's like we keep going back and forth over IS on this camera. I do hope that one day they can add Auto Focus, tho I have no idea whether the camera has the processing to make that happen. I'm so used to shooting Manual that It almost doesn't matter, but there are times when it could be convenient.

  • COME ON @Maya, John is the official BMC representative, he knows this camera because he tested one.

  • For the third time in this thread....

    The pocket supports lens IS. If the lens has IS then it will have IS.

    JB.

  • @Aria, you can control the autofocus using external controller. "1 x 2.5mm LANC for Rec Start/Stop, Iris Control and Focus." Quote from BMC pocket webpage under tech spec http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicpocketcinemacamera/techspecs But Im not sure where we can buy the LANC.

  • @double_vision, I do know of a LANC for Panasonic that controls the Focus. The Manfrotto 521PFI

  • @johnbrawley thank you for confirmation. Could you advice one or two lenses with IS and wide (not too narrow) field. So I can see a final budget more or less. Thank you.

  • The shortest with IS is the Panny 12-35.

    Regarding remote focus I'd not bet on it. Controlling it with LANC shows massive lag and lack of precision on other cameras.

  • Adding LANC means adding bulk and budget. Thus, defeat the purpose of the pocket cinema camera (affordable and portable). Yes 12-35mm 2.8 is the shortest Pana lens with IS, but the price is around 1k, but the image quality is crips and sharp. I would suggest pana 14-140mm for low budget people. Used is only around usd400 and I heard good review about this lens. Pairing this with slr magic 12mm 1.6, you will get a nice combo of low light, and range. Suitable for traveling and minimalist like me.

  • let's wait whether in practice it's only for fun. I used the GH2 for some commercial videos as testimonial, tutorials and even image films. In practice I had two handicaps: beeing taken seriously by clients when you set up this tiny camera for the first time. Having a request for 25p and shooting in HBR not with maximum quality.

    Being taken serously will increase with the BMPCC ;-) but I dont see too much handicaps with the small sensor.There are a lot of amazing films shot on S16.

    edit: if it's "only" fun.. well, I already spent some more money for useless things

  • Of course nothing will stop you from doing this. It's just probably not the most ideal camera for a lot of studio style shooting.

    jb

  • it would be cool if a third-party company makes a pro-body case for the BMPCC. you could easily snap the camera into the case that would provide more conventional placement of connections, have space for a longer life battery, and give the camera a more ergonomic and professional-looking form factor. sort of like a cage, but with more features than just additional mounting points.

  • @double_vision, adding a LANC or Follow Focus or short rails or LED or LCD etc is simply an option. Like all cameras it's flexible. Why should I be limited to only one use of the BMPC as if some sort of usage purity has to be maintained. If larger cameras can be outfitted to enhance functionality then there's no reason why someone can't do the same with the BMPC. I actually think it's going to be quite common to see rigged up BMPC's. I'm already thinking of finding the smallest possible gear to outfit the BMPC. I think it's going to be fun.

  • Here's a short movie using GOLGOP3-13 that shows a Cosmicar TV 8.5mm f1.5 lens on a GH2. I have overlaid an approximate crop that I think the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera will look like when using C-mount lenses. I had to take a file to the lens mount as it wouldn't focus to infinity but it works now. Considering this is a very wide lens it's safe to say we won't be seeing much fisheye on Blackmagics little baby. But this is surprising good and sharp considering the cost.

  • Nice coverage indeed

  • @odessa hey what lens is this?

  • See post before my from @rsquires I just cut a frame from his video )

  • @johnbrawley, have you heard of any attempts to synchronize the sensors of two Pocket bodies for 3D capture? Would triggering capture via the Lanc port allow this?

    Note I'm not talking about loosely starting capture at the same time, or even starting at the same frame. With 3D you need sub-frame accurate capture, with synchronisation preferably at the scanline level, else any motion looks terrible. It doesn't matter if both bodies start several whole frames apart (that can be corrected in post), but that the sensors start scanning from the top at the same time.

    Usually that is done with Genlock, but you only ever see it on high-end cameras. With the GH1/GH2 you can get a reasonable amount of initial synchronisation by powering both bodies simultaneously (I use a dual GH2 rig with a custom circuit to do that). The downside is that the sensors then gradually start to drift apart, so it's only suitable for short takes (depending on how closely matched any two bodies are) and you have to keep power-cycling.

    A real on-going electrical sync like Genlock is a much better solution for 3D, but the powerup-sync workaround would still be useful if it works on the Pocket. Would love to hear some feedback from BlackMagic on either method.

  • @Aria, yes you can do whatever you like, it's your money :) I was giving the advice to other people.

  • These wide C-mount Lenses will full cover the S16-Sensor ! The first is a Cosmicar TV lens Silver 12,5mm f1.4 without c-mount thread modification, the second Cosmicar TV lens Black 12,5mm f1.9 without c-mount thread modification, the third one is Fujinon 9mm f1.3 with c-mount thread modification. Im so lucky that i have 5 of them ;)

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/76135655@N07/8399279500/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/76135655@N07/8596673591/in/photostream/<img

  • if there are speedbooster my choice is tokina 11-16 2.8. As far as I know is parfocal, no? Sorry for my english.