Jim Giberti

If there were endemic issues with this camera, the professionals using it would be talking about them. Using youtube vids that earn for clicks as a guide, is like using them for any other serious information. Some guy had an issue with his battery door. I did get a battery stuck on a mountain side with an Olympic rider cued up and I had it out in 10 seconds (with the leatherman we all carry on location because shit happens) and it's never happened again. In the meantime I simply ensured that we only used original Canons going forward. Anyway, we've been abusing a pair of them for several weeks in a lot of remote, challenging conditions and again - for us it's the best small camera available. It's size, interface and features have allowed for a lot more acquisition in these real time situations than we'd have gotten with any other camera. And shooting ProRes HQ UHD direct to SD cards with tiny batterries is just a great thing.

What kinks are you talking about? We're producing with them daily and haven't had any issues. It's the most advanced small camera I've ever worked with. Incredible image, interface and features. The rest is all internet speculation.

With the new NR it makes FCPX pretty ideal with the P4K if you're shooting ProRes. BM has done a great job with Resolve, but with the new demosaicing in ProRes HQ in the P4K, there's no practical compromise in IQ or DR vs raw for most production - and actual advantages with moire. Since the last upgrade adding color wheels and curves and with ProRes as the native codec, it's really solidly integrated.

I've been impressed at how much I've been able to lift the blacks and mids with no noise on a number of challenging scenes. One shoot was brilliant bright fall light streaming through an autumn canopy for an all day mountain bike segment. The light and contrast changed constantly with no time to adjust even with a couple of grips with bounces. Bottom line, I don't even think about ETTR with this. It's a totally different image/negative. Very clean very gradeable - and all we've shot so far is in ProRes HQ UHD.

Honestly I've been too busy setting it up and incorporating it into our workflow to do direct comparisons but we've been shooting all Blackmagic for a few years including Pockets and Micros. I have personally shot it on three client films in two weeks and it's definitely not lacking in mojo. What I think people are dealing with is the new color science which is a big deal - and like the original BMCC and Pocket it took a little time for people to learn how to get the best from it. And because so few of us have them there isn't any reall workflow buzz and discussion moving things forward. I've gotten great footage from day one but I'm still tweaking the post process and getting comfortable with it. I'm thinking of it as a lens with great micro contrast where the image has that presence and 3D pop without being too sharp/contrasty. But it depends on who's shooting it and how they're posting it and once you start seeeing numbers of good creatives working with it you'll see how it's next level IQ but in a good way.

Thanks. That was in the first hour or so after the Micro arrived. I was still charging the battery and looked out the studio window at the farm and saw the snow falling so I stuck the battery in and ran out to the pasture to grab a few shots of some of our critters. Still love the image from the Micro. Think of the P4K as that on steroids as far as a camera is concerned. The image itself is a bit more detailed (in 1080). I would have gladly paid the same to have the Micro sensor with the new P4k body/interface.

Actually they're not.

Don't you have that plugin?

I don't think it's a binary choice like that at all. We have the Pocket, Micro, UMP and new P4k. Always loved the look of the original Pocket. The Micro while a bit different is very similar and a bit better over all in noise, moire and detail I can make the P4k look exactly like the pocket/Micro in a minute in post but I could never make the original Pocket look as good as the P4k. The P4k is a totally next level camera and image.

It's very easy footage to grade thanks to the new color science.

Yes. It's the next generation color science - Gen 4. The "negative" coming out of the new camera in Film log is a lot easier to grade than from older cameras. I dial in the EV LUT at 30% or so after basic color balance and it looks great.

Not referring to the red clipping. Just offering general advice regarding shooting in EV.

FWIW, especially shooting in ProRes, I'd avoid shooting in Extended Video. I did extensive testing with EV vs Film log and there's no reason to take the hit on DR...especially baking it in. Monitor in EV if you like while shooting FIlm and then it's simply one step to apply EV in post which will look identical on scopes to EV in camera but with the latitide to get the full DR of the new camera. Also, when shooting ProRes I don't bother with Resolve as FCPX is optimized for it and really fast - even UHD, even on a MB pro. Also, if using the EV LUT in FCPX, I've found dialing in to around 30% after balancing initially with the scopes is the sweet spot.

FWIW I've been shooting this for 2 days and one of the great things vs previous BM cams is the ability to control exposure using ISO on the fly. Having ISO in small increments starting at ISO100 is a big change and there's virtually no degradation. Clean, very 3D image in UHD and 4K. HD looks beautiful as well.

There are 3 programable and 3 dedicated (ISO, Shuuter, WB) all right around your index finger along with the recird and still record buttons. I've got the 3 prog dedicated to false color, peaking and LUT. The touch screen interface is really great and fast and the screen is great too. Recording UHD 24p to SD card with no issues.

B&H went out of their way to make sure ours got shipped next day to get here tomorrow - in time for the long weekend. It's why i always do biz with them. They're not going to answer questions like that. But they had a lot of preorders and certainly got a bunch out in the last 24 hours.

We use both, Resolve and FCPX, and it would be great if X incorporated Braw. It's a great app for less involved post work and faster edits. But one of the great benefits is shooting in ProRes HQ as it's optimized codec. We'll see, but it would be great. Also - just got notified that my P4ks have shipped.

The first half is all full motion.

13 stops.

I think it goes pretty far beyond "not bad". And yes it's "missing something colorwise" - the grade.

I'm really impressed with the "filmic/cinematic" quality the camera can produce. I've got a pair of P4ks coming and with the impending Braw those will be in their own league. But I could defintely see producing with one of these little units.

A dignified and reflective response Andrew. We all act small too often. Acting big is what we need more of. My unsolicited advice: Delete the anti BM article - it doesn't reflect your intellect but, as you say above, it's the result of a perfect emotional storm. I'd offer JB an olive branch privately - he's a good man and a valuable voice for any creative community. A lot of your members look up to you and it's a good opportunity to show them the value of thoughtfulness. IMHO.

Really great to read all of this John. And I'm really glad you feel the way you do about Gen 4 and specifically extended video mode. Really looking forward to producing with both. Did you use the new Gen 4 LUT for viewing? And if so, how accurate was it? Tanx

Again, I was part of the blind test. I've built several recording studios and produced thousands of cuts. It's more than belief.

Gut reactions are by definition spontaneous...not based on actual experience of the thing effecting your gut. There are always quick and emotional responses online to pretty much everything, and definitely in this field. My head tells me to trust the team that got us here and the pros who are speaking with confidence and praise regarding their hands on experiences. As a music producer I was part of a blind test of engineers that tried to differentiate, also a similar test with dozens of engineers who swore by analog tube preamps versus digital. I'll let you guess what the blind tests proved. Hint, some of the analog manufacturers were present for the test and not only couldn't they guess what was recorded on analog vs digital - they couldn't idenitfy their own (very expensive) tube preamps. A lot like Coppola choosing the GH2 over the Alexa in the Zacuto shoot out.