BlackMagic Micro Cinema Update?

[Ed_David]

On 5/15/2016 at 4:17 PM, mercer said:

Is there a world of difference in quality between the Raw 3:1 and ProRes HQ?

Yea, with raw compressed you can tweak the Whitebalance and tint later and also tweak exposure in post if you mess up.  Whenever I have the choice, I always choose raw, especially in mixed lighting conditions and when I'm shooting exteriors.

[mercer]

1 hour ago, Ed_David said:

Yea, with raw compressed you can tweak the Whitebalance and tint later and also tweak exposure in post if you mess up.  Whenever I have the choice, I always choose raw, especially in mixed lighting conditions and when I'm shooting exteriors.

Thanks Ed. It looks like I should be getting my micro in a week or two, so I'll be sure to check it out. Hopefully my weak Mac can handle the Raw. 

[mercer]

So, I'm slowly collecting the peripherals needed to shoot with the BMMCC. So far, I have lenses, a cage coming in the mail, a 5" monitor, a theory for a good way to mount it, and SD cards. My monitor takes the same batteries as the camera, but I'd rather not shell out the 60 bucks for the official Canon batteries. So I was wondering what aftermarket batteries everyone is using with the Micro? I saw a decent deal on Amazon for the Wasabi batteries but I have read some mixed reviews over the years about their quality control. 

[Zak Forsman]

I'm happy with the Wasabi brand LP-E6 batts. Of 20 I've bought, 1 has prematurely lost its charge capacity. At $15 each, I don't mind if I have to occasionally get new ones.

[andrew berekdar]

1 hour ago, mercer said:

I saw a decent deal on Amazon for the Wasabi batteries but I have read some mixed reviews over the years about their quality control. 

Everyone has their own opinion on 3rd party parties, but when it comes to relatively inexpensive ones like LP-E6 I prefer to save myself the hassle of not being able to charge knock-offs in my original charger, reduced lifespan, reduced operating time, inability to register battery and get accurate info (like % of battery life remaining) 

If you're investing in Sony NPF batteries then that's another matter. A tenth of the price for half the quality I can accept.

[mercer]

Thanks @Zak Forsman good to hear the Wasabi's work well. My goal with the BMMCC is to create the smallest, cheapest footprint possible, so your tips are priceless. 

[John Emery]

4 hours ago, mercer said:

My monitor takes the same batteries as the camera, but I'd rather not shell out the 60 bucks for the official Canon batteries. So I was wondering what aftermarket batteries everyone is using with the Micro? I saw a decent deal on Amazon for the Wasabi batteries but I have read some mixed reviews over the years about their quality control. 

It's hard to find aftermarket batteries without mixed reviews. But I've got 6 "Chillipower" bats and they all work fine...

http://www.amazon.com/ChiliPower-2600mAh-Battery-2-Pack-Charger/dp/B00HRXSJG0/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463770511&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=chillipower

When it comes to chargers I love these little guys, small and quite fast...

http://www.amazon.com/Newmowa-Charger-Canon-LP-E6-LP-E6N/dp/B00QGJ91A4/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1463770745&sr=8-9&keywords=newmowa

You can buy a cheap external battery and charge your LP-E6s anywhere...

http://www.amazon.com/EC-Technology-22400mAh-External-Smartphones/dp/B00GBTX1S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463770936&sr=8-1&keywords=external+battery+ec+technology

[mercer]

@John Emery nice finds! Those little USB chargers look excellent. How many batteries can you charge with portable charger fully charged?

[John Emery]

2 hours ago, mercer said:

@John Emery nice finds! Those little USB chargers look excellent. How many batteries can you charge with portable charger fully charged?

I don't really know, but today I charged around 9 LP-E6s (don't know if they were all completely empty), and it's still got 1/4 of it's charge left. So it's more than enough as a backup.

[mercer]

23 minutes ago, John Emery said:

I don't really know, but today I charged around 9 LP-E6s (don't know if they were all completely empty), and it's still got 1/4 of it's charge left. So it's more than enough as a backup.

That's pretty impressive. Thanks for the heads up... It's in my cart. 

[The Chris]

Question for Micro owners, how flat is the image on a monitor? Can I get away with an external monitor that doesn't have LUT support or do I need to spring for the smallhd 501? Looking for something small/light to rig with this. Thanks. 

Chris

[Zak Forsman]

The Micro, unlike the Pocket, will let you record in "BMD Film" while sending the Rec 709 "Video" signal with increased contrast and saturation over HDMI to your monitor of choice. So no, you do not need a monitor with LUT capabilities.

[Axel]

On 18. Mai 2016 at 1:17 AM, Ed_David said:

Yea, with raw compressed you can tweak the Whitebalance and tint later and also tweak exposure in post if you mess up.  Whenever I have the choice, I always choose raw, especially in mixed lighting conditions and when I'm shooting exteriors.

 

On 19. Mai 2016 at 2:57 AM, mercer said:

Thanks Ed. It looks like I should be getting my micro in a week or two, so I'll be sure to check it out. Hopefully my weak Mac can handle the Raw. 

Imo there are circumstances where raw can be the better choice. Ed mentioned the mixed color temperatures. This is where every average camera fails and where raw cameras shine. Mixed lighting was seldom used before, but with raw it can give your images that special dynamic and depth that make them stand out.

On the other hand, there are disadvantages too. Depending on the lens used, you will get considerably more moire than with ProRes. This is particularly true for the very sharp Sigma 18-35.

And ProRes LOG ("film"), compared to ordinary 8-bit rec709 ("video") and with the latter as your target, ProRes also gives you a lot of freedom with WB and exposure. Make your own tests. In Resolve, both raw and ProRes mix with no issues. 

I don't know your Mac or which other software you use, but if your graphics are too weak (you should have 2GB VRAM) to play back HD CinemaDNG in Resolve in realtime, you can generate ProRes as proxies, either for editing it in Premiere or FCP X or even for Resolve as NLE. A few years ago I used Apples Color, which didn't have RT playback. But for grading, RT isn't mandatory. Not so much as for motion graphics, and AAE users don't have even that these days (this is allegedly going to change now). Otherwise the raw feels like DV in Resolve.

[The Chris]

12 hours ago, Zak Forsman said:

The Micro, unlike the Pocket, will let you record in "BMD Film" while sending the Rec 709 "Video" signal with increased contrast and saturation over HDMI to your monitor of choice. So no, you do not need a monitor with LUT capabilities.

Thanks! If I can find a deal on a used smallhd 501 I'll go that route, otherwise I'll just get one if the $200 7" 1080p panels that runs off canon batteries. 

[Kurtisso]

11 hours ago, Axel said:

On the other hand, there are disadvantages too. Depending on the lens used, you will get considerably more moire than with ProRes. This is particularly true for the very sharp Sigma 18-35.

I feel like this is a debayer thing. For ProRes, it's still taking that same raw sensor data but interpreting in cam and baking it in and making it friendly for you to start. This leads me to believe that there should be a way in post to transcode the raw files in the case where you need to reduce moire/aliasing.

I don't have this camera to test it out, but this is something that I've dealt with in my Kineraw hispeed footage, where that same "orange+teal" aliasing/moire occurs. I used the kinestation software to transcode the compressed raw into formats like cineform 444 or prores 444 with really good results without turning the image to "mush".

those curved lines on the road are naaaasty at first

then a little bit of transcode loving and it's a lot better.

[mercer]

12 hours ago, Axel said:

 

Imo there are circumstances where raw can be the better choice. Ed mentioned the mixed color temperatures. This is where every average camera fails and where raw cameras shine. Mixed lighting was seldom used before, but with raw it can give your images that special dynamic and depth that make them stand out.

On the other hand, there are disadvantages too. Depending on the lens used, you will get considerably more moire than with ProRes. This is particularly true for the very sharp Sigma 18-35.

And ProRes LOG ("film"), compared to ordinary 8-bit rec709 ("video") and with the latter as your target, ProRes also gives you a lot of freedom with WB and exposure. Make your own tests. In Resolve, both raw and ProRes mix with no issues. 

I don't know your Mac or which other software you use, but if your graphics are too weak (you should have 2GB VRAM) to play back HD CinemaDNG in Resolve in realtime, you can generate ProRes as proxies, either for editing it in Premiere or FCP X or even for Resolve as NLE. A few years ago I used Apples Color, which didn't have RT playback. But for grading, RT isn't mandatory. Not so much as for motion graphics, and AAE users don't have even that these days (this is allegedly going to change now). Otherwise the raw feels like DV in Resolve.

Thanks Axel. Interesting. Honestly, I will probably start with ProRes LT, to get a feel of the camera and the workflow, and then I'll work my way up. 

[mercer]

1 hour ago, The Chris said:

Thanks! If I can find a deal on a used smallhd 501 I'll go that route, otherwise I'll just get one if the $200 7" 1080p panels that runs off canon batteries. 

I just picked up a "new" without the box Ikan VL5e for $100. It came in the mail yesterday and everything was perfect with it. I think they may have another one. 

[Cassius McGowan]

Every time I come to this thread makes me want to sale my gh4 and get a bmm

[Zak Forsman]

50 minutes ago, Cassius McGowan said:

Every time I come to this thread makes me want to sale my gh4 and get a bmm

I went from a GH4 to a Pocket and Micro. Very happy to sacrifice 4K for  12-bit RAW and better DR and color rendition. But important to note that one should not expect it to function like a DSLR, if that's what one is used to. it's a no frills, and tiny, cinema camera.

[Cassius McGowan]

9 minutes ago, Zak Forsman said:

I went from a GH4 to a Pocket and Micro. Very happy to sacrifice 4K for  12-bit RAW and better DR and color rendition. But important to note that one should not expect it to function like a DSLR, if that's what one is used to. it's a no frills, and tiny, cinema camera.

Was on cheesycam and he made a diy handle that controlled the iso shutter and ap. I have a GH4 and a GH3. Was looking to sale one and keep the other for taking pics. But was looking to to get 2 Pocket and Mico cams. Was set to shoot a comedy special in September and was thinking would that be a good option.

Oh and what do you recommend on getting first the micro or the pocket?