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The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera is a wake-up call to the bigger manufacturers and their afterthought video modes. [url=http://www.eoshd.com/content/11256/open-letter-japanese-manufacturers-regarding-enthusiast-video-market-improve-lose]Read the full article here[/url]

    I suggest, you pick up a pair of Zoom H1 ($99) or Tascam DR-05 ($99), and get a pair of Giant Squid Lapel Mics ($40) (get 3, just in case 1 has any issues). You land up spending about $198 + $120 = $318   You could add an opteka shotgun mic VM100 ($80) for reference sound, and you have brilliant quality audio, at a fraction of the cost of Sennheisers.

cool.. contact vamp camp ask him if it will work with his clamps also ask him if he can make a helmet mount cos you want to go skydiving with your tushinsky.. get a friend to film from the ground as you make you way down to earth : ) just had an idea for the sky diving movie name.. DEEEEP IMPACT

i am sure these new lens will be great compared too the century and the panasonic as all the design work was done years ago,just a question of figuring out what panasonic and century did wrong. and engraving a new logo on .   1700 -2000 for the letus is gonna be an interesting sell in the age of pocket cameras.. an interesting test will be century with achromat against slr magic at f2.8 and f4. i did a test close up lens at  mag power +0.12 and it was way to mild and subtle waste of time. tokina magnification is great but as i had a few left i thought i would go milder at 0.25 many people even dp's still say single element is all you need and mild magnification does not generate any chromatic shit but i can see it on a battered old gh1 screen zoomed in. i have some old angenieux single element i have tested the new doublet against and it beats the single element angenieux.

I do not understand your obsession with video on stills cameras. Video is an added feature on a stills camera so how can you compare them to a BMCC that is made purely for video? Stills cameras will always be stills cameras, the video will get better as the tech gets cheaper but it will never be the main focus. We are a small market and will be treated as such.

Take the following recommendations with a grain of salt.  I started out self-financing my own film career, so a whole set of L-glass was out o the picture.   I've thought of going to the BMPCC, but as attractive as the camera is physically including raw and 422, the odds that lower priced m43 and APS-C (semi-super-35) sensors will begin providing raw and 422 out of the box are good.   I've already tried competing with others for the rare old glass.  For example, really good examples of anamorphic glass (without even single focus) such as the Bolex Moeller 16/32 are going for over $2000.   That's just crazy when you can rent a set of Oct 19/P2 Lomo's for 2 weeks for $2000.   At some point you realize you just have to pay a little extra to get what you want now and move on.  The BMCC is getting discounted to a reasonable price.  Get one (if you can) for M43.   (Really wish some company would take a Bolex Moller 16/32 to an optical engineer and just copy the design -- except include focus servos for those that want single focus as an option.)   As far as your other questions: My experience has taught me to buy the lenses and fit the right camera to them.   The half life of a decent digital camera these days is a about 2 years.   Good lenses last for a lifetime.   I'm still running with my set of manual DSLR lenses plus a Tokina 11-16 and a Minolta Macro Zoom for special occasions.  I'm betting on micro 4/3 and larger sensors in the future.  For what it's worth, here's my current lens list:   Pentax/Asahi:   Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 35mm f2   Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm f1.4 Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 (first production series)   All the Takumars are super high precision, buttery focus, have generally excellent bokeh and are inexpensive.  Huge bang for the buck.  The 35mm gives a relatively normal field of view for crop sensors and the 50 becomes nice for short portaits.   Good for multitude of purposes.  The first gen Super Tak is beautiful and very nice as an anamorphic taking lens.  It's not too wide and it's single coated so it doesn't filter anamorphic flare.   Minolta:   Rokkor-PG 58mm f1.2 Rokkor Zoom Macro 35-70mm   The right Minolta manual can be very useful.  We shot a lot of our first film on the f1.2 Rokkor.  On a crop sensor it becomes an almost magical short portrait lens, isn't too "analytical" and yields just gorgeous natural light results with the best bokeh in the business.  Sort of a legendary bokeh monster lens.  Just be prepared for razor thin DOF at f1.2.  Don't overuse the f1.2 in natural light *instead* of proper lighting.   The Rokkor Zoom Macro is a incredibly precise Zoom that rivals most primes.  On crop sensors it covers short portrait to normal telephoto.   It has a 1.5x light macro mode that allows very close focus which is great for super-closeups (rare in a zoom).  This is the lens that Leica liked so much they re-badged it as their own.  If you wait a week or so on ebay you can usually find a nice example that not too expensive.  I think I got mine for $200.   Zeiss Jena:   35mm f2.4 Flektogon 80mm f2.8 Biometar Zebra (Medium Format)   Zeiss Jena is the original Zeiss factory that the Russians captured and move to the homelad after WWII (which resulted in the Helios 44-2 and others). When Jena recovered they continued making mostly comparable glass into the 60s and early 70s until the warped communist economy finally screwed up their production capabilities.   The 35mm f2.4 Flektogon is a wonderful little lens.  It's precise, not too large, has a normal field of view for crop sensors and great bokeh.  Oh yeah -- it has the standard Zeiss mechanical and optical precision and punchy contrast.   It also focuses down to 3 inches. :-)   The 80mm Biometar is an interesting lens.  I found it while searching for a good long focal length anamorphic taking lens.  It had to have single coating so as not to unduly filter out anamorphic flare (thus the 1960s Zebra version).  It had to have good precision and optics.   It's Zeiss Jena and the overall optical quality is only slightly less than the equivalent West German Zeiss of the time.  In any case its optical performance in the center is second to none and that's what the m43 and APS-C sensors are going to be looking through.   I have noticed *no* aberations when looking through the center -- first time I've heard that.   Any imperfections in the center would either be eliminated by Zeiss QC or not generally in the field of focus.   The wierd thing is (not sure how this works) is that while it's rated at f2.8, it lets almost as much light through at f2.8 as my f1.4 takumars -- but without the accompanying razor thin DOF.   Early anamorphic tests are very positive with LED point sources throwing super punchy and sharp anamorphic flare (right out of Alien :-), while the increased focal length and DOF makes for some very nice cinematic footage.  Mechanical design is typical Zeiss precision, but the Zebra Biometars are now almost 50 years old and the focus helical can get a little stiff.  Suggest you have it serviced at a reputable rebuilder for best performance.  These were the default lens on the old Pentacon Six cameras so there are a fair number of good examples left.   Expect to pay around $200 for a good copy.   Nikon: Ai-s 24mm f2   The Nikon used to be my go-to lens for slightly wider FOV with crop sensors.  Typical Nikon quality but I don't use it as much as I used to.  If I need to go wide-wide I usually use the excellent Tokina 11-16mm.   Helios: 44-2 58mm f2   The Helios is a Russian copy of the Zeiss Biotar.   It's used a lot as an anamorphic taking lens.  While it is single coated and a generally nice lens (fun bokeh, good flare, moderately precise), my copy (new old stock) had oil on the aperture blades and a pretty stiff focus ring.  There are rebuild videos by a cool Austrian dude on YouTube.  I might get around to it or just buy another.   Sankor 16-D 2x Anamorphic   Entry level, but beautiful Anamorphic.   My copy was in prettty fine physical shape.   I shot some fun test footage in Boulder CO on Pearl St Mall which I'll hopefully post some time soon.  The Sankor may not be the most precise anamorphic but it does throw beautiful anamorphic flares.  Good for understanding how anamorphics work even though it's dual focus.  You can get one for about $200 - $300 and pick up an adapter for about $50 - $100.   My only major issue is that, even though I swear I have it properly aligned, It's bokeh are oval but tilted slightly to the left and I can't figure out why.   It probably needs re-collimation, but I'm just guessing.   Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Autofocus (either Nikon or Canon mount)   This is a great constant focal length uber-wide zoom.  I recommend the Nikon mount for anything other than Canon as the Canon version doesn't have an easy way to manually adjust aperture.  Mines a canon mount and I just set and leave it at f2.8.  On a 2x crop the 11mm is still pretty wide.  Not sure how useful it would be adapted to a BMPCC.   It would be somewhere around 33mm which is wide, but not Quentin Tarantino wide (usually 24-28mm).  I bought this new at B&H for around $700 when it was hard to get.  My most expensive lens so far and I know that's not saying much.   All in all I love my lens collection.    Good luck to you.