Raafi Rivero

The specs on this camera are just ridiculous, and that autofocus feature looks amazing. But the price is high; there's no way around that. The question is deciding whether there's actual value for that price. For instance, based on these specs and the one film we've seen so far, I'd choose to buy this camera over the lesser Reds -- you'd probably be saving a few grand in that case, and gaining a better post workflow. There's a ton of value compared to the FS7, even though you're paying twice as much. But compared to FS7 we get better low-light capability, weather-proofing, color science, lens selection, number of NDs, multiple card/recording options, superior monitoring, and the aforementioned focus options. It pretty much has everything we say we want. The catch is that it comes with a price tag many people will find too high. The Kinefinity cameras are very interesting as well. The footage coming from them is cinematic-looking in a way that the one C300mkII film isn't. But the Kine cameras pose their own set of issues: support and workflow to name two. Most people who've reviewed also say that the Kine system's menus are cumbersome to navigate which is a big strike against if you ever plan to be in a run-and-gun or documentary type situation. Although I've had projects shot on Alexa, S-16mm film, Red, C500, C300, F5, BMPC 4k, etc. on down the line, the only camera I've ever owned is the 5DmkII. Both the C300 MKII and the Ursa Mini (half the cost, once kitted out), have me seriously considering buying one. But the (presumed) low-light deficiencies of the Ursa-mini are a great worry. I rented the BMPC 4k once and the grain on that thing at 800 ISO was a HUGE disappointment -- they have to present some serious improvement there for it to be a consideration. As an independent filmmaker, the simplicity of the system can pay as many dividends as the quality of the image. Add to that the fact that Canon is a reputable company and a worldwide operation. Things like that give me confidence in spending a little more. And keep resale values higher. Kinefinity could close their doors tomorrow and not a single person here would be surprised. Does that make me happy at the idea of spending $16k for something the Kine folks are selling for ~10? Absolutely not! But those are the big-boy decisions we have to make. I once bought one of those Rokinon Cine lenses. And the image quality was an instant boost over my vintage still lenses, comparable to the Canon L series. I considered buying the rest of the set. But then one of the glass elements inside of the lens came loose and the lens is almost never in focus on the outer edges anymore. Well, it's a $350 lens, what did I expect? The next time I spent money on lenses I bought vintage Lecia R series and am adapting them for cine. The metal housings are rock solid in my hands. I can feel where that extra money went. AND it shows up on the screen. The point is that there's a lot of quality packed into places beyond the spec sheet, and we as creators have to decide how much value we place in them.

That seems to be the case. Stephen Mick from DVXUser quoted me a range of 200-1600 ISO from the NAB floor, but says those numbers aren't locked down yet. Hoping for 32- or even 6400.

My guess is that BM is banking on the costs of CFast media coming down dramatically -- Grant Petty said as much in one of the interviews (NFS?) from the NAB floor. His defense of the format was that CFast was built from the ground up for high-volume storage applications like video, and was better spec'ed for cameras than even SSD. But, right now, the media question on this camera is huge. Hope things change soon.

​anamorphic ready means that on the EVF or on the flip-out screen the image will be "unsqueezed" so that it looks normal to your eye as you're shooting. Otherwise you're looking at squeezed stick people while you're filming and it's tougher to judge things like focus.

The problem for Sony with A7s is the same problem with Canon for the 5D series... if they start packing all the features we want into their lowest end cameras the market will disappear for their mid-teir models the F5 and C300. Just look at the F5 with the 4k hack -- it was basically a 4k camera all along but they wanted to protect the pricing of the F55. Blackmagic is changing the game by blowing this whole thing up and driving prices down. I also believe Sony probably has the tech or wherewithal to make 4k work internally in the A7s (even at a slightly higher price point), but from their perspective, why bother?

Well said. That, to me, is the key with Blackmagic. It just passes the eye test right off the bat. FS7 stuff always seems like it needs to get dressed up to look like cinema. Blackmagic stuff just is. The Kinefinity footage has a similar feel to me: right off the bat it feels movie-like. With the total cost of media, batteries etc I wonder which is a better overall value between Kine and the Ursa Mini.

Specs look amazing and the footage looks great as well. A little worried about low light, though. They don't even mention ISO. And the night shots on the sample video were shot on a about as bright-looking a street as you could find. The shot with the toddler in the hallway felt a little muddy in the low light areas. But hey. The images look amazing overall. I want one.