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Sample footage! You can '>download the full resolution 3840 x 2160 Ultra HD file from Vimeo here if you're a 'Plus member'. Keep an eye open for my Production Camera review in a forthcoming issue of Mac User magazine available at all good newsagents in the UK. I am currently shooting 4K with the Blackmagic Production Camera on loan from their British office which features a global shutter and Super 35mm sensor for $3000. Yesterday I found myself at an aeropark built in 1930's Berlin, thanks to a suggestion from Lars Rehm of DPReview who also finds himself in Berlin for some reason! The girls are shot opposite an old wind tunnel and a giant egg shaped concrete structure which the Germans used to test the aerodynamics of fighter planes in, until the Russians came and nicked the fan. Part of the wind tunnel still has an inscription from the invading Russian forces noting that it's "free of mines" which cleared the way for them to take all the advanced technology back to the Soviet Union with them. Today the aeropark is part of a university campus and parts of the Charlize Theron movie Aeon Flux were shot there. This shoot was my own experiment and not a commercial one. Read the full article here

This is the review I have been waiting anxiously for, checking back every day! It did not disappoint. It's a great balanced review, covering the pros and cons, as well as, the best applications for this camera. Thanks, Andrew! It appears Blackmagic again came up with a camera that is unmatched for a filmic look in this price range, and quite a bit above its price. I really love the look of the footage. As Andrew points out, though, there is a heavy price to pay for using this camera beyond the purchase price, that will have to be weighed by the potential purchaser. Michael

re: stills from video Not all of us need to chase that elusive film look.... We can set our shutter speed higher than 1/48th, in fact, it is essential for certain work. As mentioned, i'm interested because it could be ideal for copter work, which we generally shoot at a faster shutter speed for post stablisation anyway. similarly... ENG shooters who might pull stills for a newspaper while recording video for the media section of that newspaper will not have to go with a 180deg shutter. 180deg is just a creative choice anyway. See saving private ryan... does that look filmic to you?

Very interesting idea, Matt, about a creative site rather than a gear-centric site - there are quite a few of the latter but I haven't found one of the former that I've ever bookmarked. A possible idea I have concerns two distinct areas of creative origination: That which inspires Such as suggested films that have appeared on this thread. Perhaps a list of films could be created with various peoples explanations added about why (from the point of view of story construction, cinematography, characterisation, dramatic situations, etc) people find them inspiring. Could also include painting, music, TV, still photography (other media that inspires), though that might be straying too far. Initial exploitation of ideas There are quite a few "how to write screenplays" sites, with advice about 3 or 9 Act structure, plot points, how many pages a treatment should be, etc, but I think one of the under-reported issues are how you handle the initial ideas before writing really starts. For example, formulating a powerful "what if statement" (to help you focus the key concept which will hook interest). What makes a story alluring; what sort of themes or subjects appeal to you? Discussions about style, ways of seeing and personal ways of showing.

Since I don't always want to fire up my videos in an editing program when I do some quick viewings of the shots, here's how to use VLC for viewing footage in different aspect ratios. On VLC in Windows it is easy: - go to Preferences -> All -> Video and you'll find a field where you can enter custom aspect ratios, separated by commas. Keep in mind that VLC only wants whole numbers without decimals, so to get 2.66:1 and 3.55:1 ratios, you would type in: 266:1,355:100 On VLC in Mac OS X: - There isn't unfortunately not anywhere to input this in the application interface, and I just spent some time figuring this out and I'm sharing the howto for you guys, since I couldn't find this information anywhere else on the net! 1) Locate the VLC preferences file: ~/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc/vlcrc Note: ~ equals your home folder for your user, e.g. /Users/myusername. The preferences file is created the first time you run VLC, like Caleb mentions further down in this forum thread. You might want to make a copy of this file before you edit it, just in case... 2) Look for the line that says (lines marked with a # character in front are comments that are ignored by VLC): # Custom aspect ratios list (string) #custom-aspect-ratios= After that, just add a line that says: custom-aspect-ratios=266:100,300:100,355:100 Then you will get the custom aspect ratios 266:100, 300:100 and 355:100 (2.66:1, 3:1, 3.55:1) to choose from in the VLC interface (Video -> Aspect ratio in the menu). Again, keep in mind that VLC won't accept decimals like 2.35:1 for custom aspect ratios. They must be entered like 235:100.