Blackmagic View Assist 4K records 4K ProRes to SD card for just $895

[TheRenaissanceMan]

6 minutes ago, GlueFactoryBJJ said:

Anyone know what the battery life is supposed to be like?  The long recording times don't mean much in the field if you go through batteries like crazy.  Then again, maybe we can get an adapter cable for one of those super high capacity USB batteries that will output 12v (Amazon has at least one that is 30,000+ mah).

I hope their implementation of the focus peaking is good.  Focus peaking in camera is better than not having FP, but external on larger screens is often better.

In most interview situations, you can just plug into AC power. But yes, battery life is a big question mark. Being able to hot swap is a big plus out of the gate. 

[GlueFactoryBJJ]

50 minutes ago, TheRenaissanceMan said:

In most interview situations, you can just plug into AC power. But yes, battery life is a big question mark. Being able to hot swap is a big plus out of the gate. 

Yeah, but I also record sports and other events and don't usually have access to AC power.  If one battery only lasts 30 minutes, then I'm going to go crazy swapping batteries over a 2 hour game.

[IronFilm]

Smart move to make nearly all of their announcements from BMD be available *NOW*!  

 

 

10 hours ago, WyattMaurer said:

I hope LUTs are available at some point :/

In the interview the BMD guy said "not yet", but they hope so and they are working on it to try and make it happen (but it isn't certain).

[marcuswolschon]

so it's a direct competition to the Atomos Ninja Assassin and Shogun (the cheaper, non HDR, calibrated 8bit versions).

* worse recording medium. more expensive, smaller, slower and I have to copy all data over instead of plugging that drive in and starting working. Labeling SD cards is a nightmare.

* no LUT on display, Hdmi-output or sdi output

* can it even downscale?

* how to calibrate that panel? BM is all about color.

* can I add delay to the audio inputs to stay in sync?

* what about start/stop trigger via Hdmi timecode and sdi?

* are there any advantaged in scopes or metadata? (Atomos only tags regions, I want to tag clips)

* advantages in power solution like an xlr/d-tap power output or dual np-f battery slots?

* is it capable of recording raw on non-blackmagic cameras? (no Blackmagic camera can yet output raw on sdi)

[IronFilm]

8 minutes ago, marcuswolschon said:

so it's a direct competition to the Atomos Ninja Assassin and Shogun (the cheaper, non HDR, calibrated 8bit versions).

Not a competitor with the Ninja Assassin, as it has SDI. 
 

[marcuswolschon]

15 hours ago, jpb said:

mirrorless w/Internal 10 bits recording capabilities ? not for a while ! too much heat and battery consumption.
At that price this BMD 10bit recorder/monitor really opens up the doors to a color finesse world
for  mirrorless cameras.

 

mirrorless with internal 10bit? too hot?

How about a Blackmagic pocket cinema camera.

Internal raw. Yes it does get hot but it stays working for hours and hours of continuous recording here.

 

I'm using a 1100eur+sales tax Atomos Ninja Assassin for 4K, Samurai Blade and now also a cheap Ninja 2 for BMPCC. Basically to not have to swap Dozent of SD cards while running a recording all the time.

2 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

Not a competitor with the Ninja Assassin, as it has SDI. 
 

oh it is a competition for all the people who don't need sdi. There is no cheaper version without SDI after all.

Most DSLM/DSLR cameras have no SDI to use.

[IronFilm]

13 minutes ago, marcuswolschon said:

oh it is a competition for all the people who don't need sdi. There is no cheaper version without SDI after all.

Most DSLM/DSLR cameras have no SDI to use.

I have a Sony F3, so this monitor is looking very sweet stuff!

I can keep the Atomos Samurai Blade for when I want smaller size, and use this when I want a bigger monitor or I want 60fps slow motion. 

Hmmm... am tempted!

Could also buy a Sony A7s mk1 cheaply as my B cam and use this on it. 

[marcuswolschon]

8 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

I can keep the Atomos Samurai Blade for when I want smaller size, and use this when I want a bigger monitor or I want 60fps slow motion. 
 

I didn't notice it's bigger.

That's indeed a good point for focusing.

Thanks! Sadly than means choosing between focus and color.

[IronFilm]

Eh? The Samurai Blade is only 5 inches.

The Samurai Blade is the older HD model that is only US$495 now

[Mars]

Would be interesting to see (or hear...) if the preamps are really capable. Saying that it´s just better than "most of DSLR preamps" is not very promising, though...

[TheRenaissanceMan]

11 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Not a competitor with the Ninja Assassin, as it has SDI. 
 

But the Ninja Assassin has LUT support, false color, vector scopes...you know, monitor stuff. The  BM's ability to read an interlaced signal is still a big question mark, too. So it's a horse apiece.

[outerbeat]

So, according to two documents of this product released on BM site, here the deal. It can capture 38 minutes of 4K ProRes 10bit 2160p24 to 256 Gb sd-card (main page of product). In additional spec pdf "Compatible SD Cards" there is only two sd-cards, which can perform such bandwidth for 4K, and both of them only 64 Gb. So, basically you get like 7.5 min 2160p30 files on each card, and they are need to be replaced by anothers. Of course there is growing market of cards but you can't get good option yet, and to be clear - sd cards vendors never release crucial and particular info about this matter, so in most cases we spend our money playing charades with exact performance of SD cards,

I have particular problem with this on my NX1 with bitrate hack (up to 320Mbps), it's very detectable and recurrent. Long story short that Write Speed, UHS-II, Speed Class 10 and so on means nothing in terms of capabilities in real applications, you just need to test this yourself. It's also indirectly confirmed by the "Product Manual" (page 20) on BM site, where you can see that top-speed sd-cards can't perform 4K, but only 1080p or even only 1080i but that cards have all the logos like UHS-II and so on.

So for me it might be good but right now it's very dependable of unknown performance and capabilities of sd-cards. I think that it's easier to rely on SSD-based recorders, which didn't so limited on space, file lenght, bandwidth and also fine ssds cheaper of superfast sd-cards

[independent]

I would like to see this hooked up to a Leica SL, which can actually output 4k 10-bit. 

[Jonesy Jones]

On April 18, 2016 at 11:55 AM, AaronChicago said:

Here's what I think is happening. Blackmagic is definitely working on a new camera, but instead of announcing now and hoping to ship later this year, they'll announce at NAB 2017 and ship immediately.

Definitely. 

[Phil A]

First I thought that it's cool but actually I think that this one is a bit meh except for the price. The closest competitor is the Atomos Shogun and that has SSD instead of SD, it has all the good monitoring features that are still missing on the Video Assists and I heard not so nice things about the display quality of the 5" VA which might or might not repeat itself with the 7" model.

To be honest, I think most people on a budget might actually do better with a Atomos Ninja Assassin. It obviously lacks the SDI but then owner/operator who are on a budget where a few hundred dollar really matter probably won't own a camera that has 4k over SDI.
I feel like the BMD monitor/recorders are too much of a "me too" product with (a bit too many) corners cut for cost saving. I'd rather go Atomos or Video Devices.

[Turboguard]

Ugh, why not just put Ursa mini OS on it?! They would sell like crazy?! I wonder how much more it would cost them per unit to make that a reality, how much processing power does LUT support need?!

[Bkn Soc of Cinematography]

Price is right. 4k and LXR's - Great. But what I'd really love is a 4k recorder that is either a smaller monitor (5" like the pix E5) as well as a recorder with no monitor at all. It'd be great to use whatever monitor you want or go completely stripped down like an Atomos Blade. For aerial work, run n gun, or anytime you want to go super small this would be awesome. When it comes to 7" monitors, Small HD and Atomos have them beat. I find it difficult to have to downgrade to BMC's monitor just to shoot pro rez. So now I'd end up attaching another, better more accurate monitor, and before you know it, you're rig is a pig. Just give us the recorder! 

Also, as someone who uses gimbals all the time, brighter is better. If you're going to build a monitor, make it bright enough to use outside without a hood. In terms of investment, pay 900 USD now for BMC or spend an Xtra 500 for Atomos and get 1500 NITs. After a month or two, tell me which one people want on set and which one pays itself off and then some.

[Don Kotlos]

How great would be a 4K ninja star, or even a 4K ninja blade for run&gun type of shooting. >=5" monitors/recorders are just too big. 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

6 hours ago, Phil A said:

First I thought that it's cool but actually I think that this one is a bit meh except for the price. The closest competitor is the Atomos Shogun and that has SSD instead of SD, it has all the good monitoring features that are still missing on the Video Assists and I heard not so nice things about the display quality of the 5" VA which might or might not repeat itself with the 7" model.

To be honest, I think most people on a budget might actually do better with a Atomos Ninja Assassin. It obviously lacks the SDI but then owner/operator who are on a budget where a few hundred dollar really matter probably won't own a camera that has 4k over SDI.
I feel like the BMD monitor/recorders are too much of a "me too" product with (a bit too many) corners cut for cost saving. I'd rather go Atomos or Video Devices.

And if you need SDI, you can always hook up BM's new HDMI - SDI adapter to your Ninja Assassin.

[marcuswolschon]

26 minutes ago, TheRenaissanceMan said:

And if you need SDI, you can always hook up BM's new HDMI - SDI adapter to your Ninja Assassin.

The cheap ones are FullHD only.

The quad-1.5G that is compatible with the GH4 YAGH is >500€ + tax and doesn't run on batteries like my Atomos H2S (sits between an NP-F battery and any other device that needs such batteries but is limited to FullHD 24/25/30fps).