Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera

[mercer]

1 hour ago, TwoScoops said:

 

Found this on vimeo. It's probably been posted before but this is really nice from the BMMCC.

Good find, I’ve never seen this one before but it may just be the best example of what the Pocket and Micro are capable of. If I saw that in a theatre and someone told me it was shot on an Alexa, I would find absolutely no reason to doubt them. The way the contrast was handled, is just gorgeous. Damn. I’ve been searching for a slow motion camera for a while... hmm... I wonder how hard it would be to match it with 5D3 ML Raw footage for slow motion insert shots?

[JordanWright]

the pocket and micro have such incredible images

[mercer]

Yup, if BM would just put the guts of the Micro in a Pocket body with a better screen and a little better battery life and I would preorder it... no question. 

[BTM_Pix]

These adapters can help the battery situation so you can use long run Sony batteries.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Change-Canon-LP-E6-to-SONY-F570-F770-F970-Battery-Pack-Adapter-Holder-to-Sony-/310795410767

As for a monitor, I think BMD are keen on everyone buying their Video Assist for it

The remote control options via the expansion port cable set are very interesting with the BMMCC. I've seen some quite cool home made hardware remotes for it. 

 

[mercer]

I had the Micro and used a 5” monitor with it. The camera is basically the size of a Rubix Cube, so a 5” monitor is ridiculously big for such a tiny camera. They should have either included, or sold, a small monitor that could be powered by the camera or had WiFi so your phone could be used as a monitor.

The batteries for the Micro would last about 45min total... recording or not. A separate monitor’s battery lasts about an hour, so you were constantly changing batteries on either the camera or the monitor.

I suppose if you want to rig up a tiny ass camera to be the size of a traditional cinema camera (I didn’t) you could have tapped the monitor and camera to a single large capacity Sony battery as you suggested.

But if I am supposed to use the BMVA, then they really should have made it possible to control the camera’s menus through the BMVA. As is, working the simple menu interface became a guessing game due to the locations of the button. Eventually you could feel your way around the camera and figure it out but inevitably you would eff up and have to go back into the menu.

The BMMCC has a beautiful image but just a piss poor design. Now there are some newer modifications and configurations that with the use of a cage, a break  out box and a Ursa handle, you could have a tight little set up and if I were to buy one again, that is definitely the route I would go... native Micro 4/3 lens, small rig cage, Ursa handle, small rig top handle with the Ikan VL35 monitor attached to the top on some type of hinge so the monitor could be easily folded down for transport/storage. 

Here’s a picture of the smallest I got the rig. This was before there were any cages available for the camera, so improvised as much as I could for a cheap and inconspicuous run and gun solution. 

Now as you can see, I had a fairly large Minolta lens and adapter. If I were ever going to purchase another one, I would only use small Micro 4/3 lenses... either the Panny 14mm, or Panny 20mm or the Olympus 17mm. With one of those small lenses, the monitor would have dwarfed that rig.

[BTM_Pix]

Yeah, the Video Assist is what they would like you to use with it but, like all the 4K recorder ones for GX80 etc being 7", you end up with a ridiculous situation where its dwarfs, unbalances and generally takes away the point of a compact system.

I've found some 3.5 inch 720p displays that I'm going to pimp my DIY EVF with which would be ideal as they can be powered off a gentle following breeze (well, a credit card thin USB power bank).

LukiLink would be a good solution as well when it ships.

I've no idea what the sales have been like for the micro but I've always expected them to drop in price and they never have as I'd probably be very tempted at a lower price.

It just that little bit too much when I add up all the other bits I'd need to make it complete.

[mercer]

@BTM_Pix how long would a charge on that credit card sized  power bank last? And how long do they take to charge? Because yeah, if it has a full hdmi port (or hardwired cables, plus one of those cases with a tripod thread that little guy could be perfect for the BMMCC. If you get it working and want to make a little cash, I may be interested in buying one from you. If you could come up with a side handle that would work the camera menus and the record button... I’d also be interested... asking too much?

I honestly loved that camera. I finally knew what it was like to film with a real camera, but it was just too cumbersome for my style of shooting. For budgetary and time constraints, I need to drive down the road, get out of the car and get the shot, then move onto the next location as quick as possible... rigging that camera up for shooting and unrigging for safe transport became too much of a chore for my needs. I did get it down pretty good using small Slik quick release plates but it was still way too long and too big. 

[JordanWright]

Could it be powered from a Small HD Focus using the canon bundle? This would allow the cam and monitor to be powered from a single decent battery. 

One of the things that kept me away from the BMMCC is that I don't want to have to wander in to the menus to change WB, ISO and frame rates.
 

[mercer]

9 minutes ago, JordanWright said:

Could it be powered from a Small HD Focus using the canon bundle? This would allow the cam and monitor to be powered from a single decent battery. 

One of the things that kept me away from the BMMCC is that I don't want to have to wander in to the menus to change WB, ISO and frame rates.
 

As soon as that Small HD Focus came out, I thought it would be perfect for the BMPCC, until I saw that it has a Micro hdmi cable on the one end... I guess an adapter wouldn’t be the end of the world but on of the benefits of the Micro is the full sized HDMI.

Once you set the shutter angle you don’t really need to touch it again. So the only reason to go into the menus is for WB... and yes it’s a pain... I ended up setting it at 4400 or 5000 and treating that median number like it was AWB. It requires some correction in post but it was fairly simple... especially in Raw. 

[BTM_Pix]

It depends on the size of the power bank but we are measuring in hours rather than minutes.

I ran that test the other week with a 4000mAh one and got bored after two hours of powering one and it had run down one out of 4 bars on the indicator. They are literally credit card sized but a bit thicker so even carrying a spare isn't going to be a hardship.

Something like this one will work as is and even has the acrylic case which you could store the power bank in (in the space where the raspberry pi would have gone) 

I think @Kisaha has just ordered this one or one near identical to it

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5-HDMI-LCD-1920x1080-Touch-Screen-IPS-Display-Kit-for-Raspberry-Pi-1-2-3-EB/332253259667?epid=24003437661&hash=item4d5bd66793:g:CLQAAOSwH09ZNoG6

The ones I'm sourcing are designed for VR headsets so they're OLED and better native resolution but the price is a fair bit higher.

I've got a 5.5 inch 2K 450Nit one just come in from China to evaluate from the same supplier so I'll see how that goes first.

With regard to the remote control, this is a readily available one that covers most functionality.

https://www.cinegearpro.co.uk/products/cgpro-bmmcc-bmmsc-focus-zoom-record-remote-controller

There is scope to do something like that integrated in a handle for example with a display as well and even an Android remote interface to it.

Basically, these things are all Arduino based boards that talk to the camera so there is no end of things you could attach to it in terms of thumbsticks and switches to have dedicated direct control of all the key functions. It all depends on what someone would want.

That one for £99 is not bad though.

 

[cantsin]

1 hour ago, mercer said:

So the only reason to go into the menus is for WB... and yes it’s a pain... I ended up setting it at 4400 or 5000 and treating that median number like it was AWB. It requires some correction in post but it was fairly simple... especially in Raw. 

With Raw, you can set white balance in post (in the CinemaDNG settings); no need to do this via color correction. 

[mercer]

Yeah I’ve seen them but they’re not really streamlined. A company named Kino... something makes a wooden handle version which looks cool but they’re almost as much as the camera.

Well, either way, I’m not buying one today, so please keep us posted on your progress with the monitor. 

2 minutes ago, cantsin said:

With Raw, you can set white balance in post (in the CinemaDNG settings); no need to do this via color correction. 

Sorry, yes that’s what I meant.

[kuban]

This was shot entirely on the pocket.

 

[Kisaha]

2 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

It depends on the size of the power bank but we are measuring in hours rather than minutes.

I ran that test the other week with a 4000mAh one and got bored after two hours of powering one and it had run down one out of 4 bars on the indicator. They are literally credit card sized but a bit thicker so even carrying a spare isn't going to be a hardship.

Something like this one will work as is and even has the acrylic case which you could store the power bank in (in the space where the raspberry pi would have gone) 

I think @Kisaha has just ordered this one or one near identical to it

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5-HDMI-LCD-1920x1080-Touch-Screen-IPS-Display-Kit-for-Raspberry-Pi-1-2-3-EB/332253259667?epid=24003437661&hash=item4d5bd66793:g:CLQAAOSwH09ZNoG6

This, to be precise, just because it will ship faster (I hope) and I liked the acrylic case better

https://www.amazon.de/Touchscreen-Kuman-Display-Schutzhülle-Audioeingang/dp/B075JBZJDF/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

This is just a silly project for monitoring the NX500 on a silly cage with matte box and everything, just for kicks! 

There is a screen revolution happening in China right now, a lot of cheap products exist, and will appear in the future.

[SR]

12 hours ago, TwoScoops said:

 

Found this on vimeo. It's probably been posted before but this is really nice from the BMMCC.

Beautiful images! Made my day.

[mercer]

I read the comments and it looks like it may have been shot in ProRes. I would have guessed Raw.

[SR]

8 minutes ago, mercer said:

I read the comments and it looks like it may have been shot in ProRes. I would have guessed Raw.

Makes me appreciate the colors all the more. Wish I had the chops to pull off color grades like that. 

[mercer]

4 minutes ago, SR said:

Makes me appreciate the colors all the more. Wish I had the chops to pull off color grades like that. 

Yeah, me too. 

[graphicnatured]

Me as well. That looks wonderful.

[IronFilm]

On 3/31/2018 at 2:37 AM, kuban said:

Hi Andrew and folk on the forum, I thought some comprehensive hands on review on the camera was due a while back, there seems very little in terms of real production work done with the camera out there, I've been mulling the micro studio for it's 4K, and use it as I use the pocket camera. Any leads or ideas out there?

 

The Micro Studio and BMPCC are very different. I wouldn't recommend buying the Studio camera simply on the basis of liking the BMPCC

It is the Micro Cinema and BMPCC that are quite similar to each other.