Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera

[richg101]

1 hour ago, Franka Mech T. Lieu said:

I was at first quite excited about this camera, but when its full spec and feature are known, I just shake my head, OK its supposed to be used outdoor, remote , that's what BM try to market it but they leave out the most important part of that, remote control. How hard is it today to put a Wi-Fi in there and write a straight forward iOS / Android App to run the remote monitoring and control. The way BM do it now is in a straightly studio production mindset in their way of implementing it. Even sub $500.00 DC had remote connection capability that do not require rigging this and rigging that .. Panasonic is said to be bringing the GH4 in a form factor that more or less similar but with a full functional Remote solution just by using your mobile device. We will have to wait and see.

wifi doesnt have the range suitable for drone or remote control this unit is envisaged to be used on.  anyone with experience with proper pro level drones can put together a simple off the shelf circuit to control on/off, start/stop, focus, zoom and iris etc via a secondary RC transmitter

[Franka Mech T. Lieu]

25 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

But it won't have Raw, Prores, 13 stop DR, as cinematic colors or a global shutter. 
Quite a few trade of for a remote control, which can be bought third party anyway. 

I just do not think the current way BM do the remote control is anything even matching the need .. Sure if we take the intended for close range 802.11 Wi-Fi standard as a measure, with range roughly around 100m to 300m max it might be stretching things but point to point Wi-Fi and Long Range Wi-Fi is very mature technology and implemented in numerous industrial / military / communication solutions with great capacity, way beyond what this camera asked for .. my take is that, if BM want to market this as something in this field, then they should provide the solution instead of just the camera .. 

[Mattias Burling]

19 minutes ago, Franka Mech T. Lieu said:

 my take is that, if BM want to market this as something in this field, then they should provide the solution instead of just the camera .. 

That goes against their entire philosophy which have always been: a box with the best possible, uncompressed image at a low price, you do the rest.

[MattH]

2 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

That goes against their entire philosophy which have always been: a box with the best possible, uncompressed image at a low price, you do the rest.

Exactly! If they put all that stuff in it would double the price and more importantly it would never be released because they would never finish it.

[TheRenaissanceMan]

2 hours ago, MattH said:

Exactly! If they put all that stuff in it would double the price and more importantly it would never be released because they would never finish it.

Plus you'd be forced to pay for those components, even if you don't need them. With BM, you can shoot as stripped down or as rigged up as you want.

[Jonesy Jones]

1 hour ago, TheRenaissanceMan said:

Plus you'd be forced to pay for those components, even if you don't need them. With BM, you can shoot as stripped down or as rigged up as you want.

Yep. What they are doing is building an ecosystem. Buy it and build it, as you like. I think we are going to see more VA's and EVF's and what nots at the next NAB. Personally I'd like to see them offer their own low flange lens mount. Though for some reason I don't think that's going to happen. But whatever they do bring, it will probably be unique. Gotta love these guys. 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

42 minutes ago, Jonesy Jones said:

Yep. What they are doing is building an ecosystem. Buy it and build it, as you like. I think we are going to see more VA's and EVF's and what nots at the next NAB. Personally I'd like to see them offer their own low flange lens mount. Though for some reason I don't think that's going to happen. But whatever they do bring, it will probably be unique. Gotta love these guys. 

A unique, shallow lens mount would be awesome, but I doubt it considering they already slapped Canon mounts on their high end cameras.

It's a modular system. The central hardware has great longevity, the rest is upgradable, and (unlike RED) none of it's proprietary. 

I'd love to see more first party accessories from BM! They have a nice little array of cameras that cover a range of needs and price points. They should focus on delivering and supporting those. In the meantime, bring out some tools to keep people in the ecosystem. 

A few ideas: 

-a small, cheap Ninja Star-style recorder that uses SD cards. Maybe give it dual SD slots for simultaneous ProRes HQ and Proxy recording.

-an audio preamp/recorder with XLR, phantom power, dedicated volume knobs, and dual headphone jacks

-a battery solution that works like a base plate or battery grip. Include a few different plates for different types of batteries-- LP-E6, Sony BP-U60, Panasonic GH4 batteries, etc. Bonus points if it could plug into the camera and provide dedicated buttons for ISO, WB, REC stop/start, etc. 

-combine the last two ideas--make it like a YAGH box for people who work in real production environments, except with battery plates on one side as well as DC power

-a higher end ~19" production monitor

-4K Video Assist with a 7" screen

Pipe dreams mostly, but wouldn't it be nice? 

[Jonesy Jones]

59 minutes ago, TheRenaissanceMan said:

A unique, shallow lens mount would be awesome, but I doubt it considering they already slapped Canon mounts on their high end cameras.

It's a modular system. The central hardware has great longevity, the rest is upgradable, and (unlike RED) none of it's proprietary. 

I'd love to see more first party accessories from BM! They have a nice little array of cameras that cover a range of needs and price points. They should focus on delivering and supporting those. In the meantime, bring out some tools to keep people in the ecosystem. 

A few ideas: 

-a small, cheap Ninja Star-style recorder that uses SD cards. Maybe give it dual SD slots for simultaneous ProRes HQ and Proxy recording.

-an audio preamp/recorder with XLR, phantom power, dedicated volume knobs, and dual headphone jacks

-a battery solution that works like a base plate or battery grip. Include a few different plates for different types of batteries-- LP-E6, Sony BP-U60, Panasonic GH4 batteries, etc. Bonus points if it could plug into the camera and provide dedicated buttons for ISO, WB, REC stop/start, etc. 

-combine the last two ideas--make it like a YAGH box for people who work in real production environments, except with battery plates on one side as well as DC power

-a higher end ~19" production monitor

-4K Video Assist with a 7" screen

Pipe dreams mostly, but wouldn't it be nice? 

That list sounds very plausible for them actually. I hadn't thought of the audio recorder before, but now I can't imagine them not doing it. Sound Devices quality preamps with H4N price tag, in an ugly black box but who cares. It'll also double as an interface with Resolve. Mark it. It's happening. 

A larger 4K VA is happening too. 

I'd like them to do something interesting with long term storage. They could kill that market with something innovative. 

Something totally unexpected like a gimbal, or hot air balloon drone, or x-Ray machine. 

And much to many's disdain, they'll be bringing another camera too. That 4.6K sensor is going to change the world. They need it in a smaller body. Something in between the BMCC and pocket, probably limited to 30P. 

Mark it. 

[Andrew Reid]

6 hours ago, MattH said:

Exactly! If they put all that stuff in it would double the price and more importantly it would never be released because they would never finish it.

Hardly think Blackmagic Pocket Camera price or release date was too much affected by the screen they put in it.

Stripping down the Micro, based around same sensor, probably pays for the redesign and faster processor for 60fps.

[johnnyd]

9 hours ago, Franka Mech T. Lieu said:

I just do not think the current way BM do the remote control is anything even matching the need .. Sure if we take the intended for close range 802.11 Wi-Fi standard as a measure, with range roughly around 100m to 300m max it might be stretching things but point to point Wi-Fi and Long Range Wi-Fi is very mature technology and implemented in numerous industrial / military / communication solutions with great capacity, way beyond what this camera asked for .. my take is that, if BM want to market this as something in this field, then they should provide the solution instead of just the camera .. 

The camera has 1 S.Bus connection which lets you plug it in to a radio receiver and you can have control over focus, iris, start/stop etc with a much longer range than wi-fi. This way you can control the camera with the same radio controller you use to control the gimbal and that is much better for drone ops than dealing with a phone or a tablet.

[tusoli5]

Damn, you can shoot raw for 1000€... this is insane and the second time Blakc magic produces this opportunity.

They clearly grow much more seriously at each product release... 
This sensor shows beautiful colors and this footage in HD is obviously as beautiful as many 4k try to be. 
The grain is very organic and colors have amazing depth.

Adding a good raw recorder makes this camera the best bang for the bucks (and remember that a good external recorder will work with ALL your cameras pro or dslr in Prores, raw or watever codec, like the odyssey does, so counting the whole price of one external recoder only with one camera is a mistake, this is a good investment when well thought for all your camera range and even for renting camera bodies to come on your professionnal projects).

;-)

If you add the tiny space it takes, the opportunity to stabilize it, even on a handheld one hand gyro stabilizer, for all you shootings, the powerful way it can quickly be put firmly and strongly on any surface like go pro allows you, all of it makes you feel a bit more free to shoot... 
This looks a lot like next gen to me, even if the screen lacks on the back side, when you have an external recorder you just get blown by the opportunities it offers you.

Most of the recent DSLRs are not even close in the way they handle their ingeneering when compared to this thing. Of course A7 xx are beautiful, but their 8bit can't even compare to this thing. 
And most of the time I see people shooting on dslr with rigs and external whatever, so complaining about external modules on this thing is really missing the point here, as most people in the industry, even indie filmmakers, allready have what this beauty needs. Don't you think?

[MattH]

14 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Hardly think Blackmagic Pocket Camera price or release date was too much affected by the screen they put in it.

Stripping down the Micro, based around same sensor, probably pays for the redesign and faster processor for 60fps.

I was talking more about inbuilt wifi remote control functionality.

[Tiago Rosa-Rosso]

Again, how gorgeous is that!

[majoraxis]

I wonder if BM is waiting until April 18th (NAB Exhibits open), to release an updated specification and then ship it.  Would be nice to have global shutter at 60p with no loss of DR (I know I'm dreaming).  I would like to see a BM Micro with 4k internal and global shutter for $1500 or less with the same physically layout. Maybe it would have to record to CF cards and be slightly larger.  Come on Blackmagic, ship this by the first day of NAB 2016.

[The Chris]

I wonder if the new BM cameras that will surely be announced this year will delay the shipping of the Micro. Geez NAB is 5-weeks away. 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

Honestly, I'd be happy with a pocket 2 that just had the BMCC 2.5K sensor and 60p. A better screen would be nice, and a more secure HDMI connection, but otherwise the old body is fine.

[Cinegain]

And an up in battery life. (^^,)

[jase]

To be honest, this thingy looks particular awesome. If it would just have a screen or evf...  There is not something like a small dedicated evf that you mount on the hotshoe that is fed by hdmi?

[Bioskop.Inc]

8 hours ago, TheRenaissanceMan said:

Honestly, I'd be happy with a pocket 2 that just had the BMCC 2.5K sensor and 60p. A better screen would be nice, and a more secure HDMI connection, but otherwise the old body is fine.

There's no doubt that BM's smaller cameras just produce that magic image - the Pocket & now the Micro.

I'd love a Pocket version 2 & would even go so far as to say that it could be a bigger body - same shape just bigger. This would allow them to put all the extras like 60p, a better/bigger battery & screen on it. Not bothered by a 2.5k sensor, as I really do think that the picture quality, which these cameras produce, is completely down to the 16mm sized sensor - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I just hope that the only camera that they announce at NAB is the Pocket V2 or that they just replace their original camera in the form of a bigger pocket. If they wanted to be very clever, then they'd just introduce a BM DSLR that does awesome film & pictures - now that would blow the whole market wide open!

[Cinegain]

I'm slowly forgetting about the A6300. :P And thinking about the BMMCC & G7 with a Pilotfly H2 + handle kit.