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Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera c-mount lens compatibility list


Julian
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So I got my pocket this week and got myself some adaptors for my current lens kit (canon, nikon), and while at it I thought I'd throw in a c-mount adaptor so I can try out my trusty Bolex 16mm lens kit, my four lens weren't on this forums list so I thought I'd chip in with my results.

 

Overall I'd say I was pleasantly surprised by the result. Of my four lens only 1 turn out unusable, and I was quite pleased with the image quality I got from the other 3.

 

first the bad one: Som Berthiot Cinor 10mm f1.9, clear vignetting on the edges.

 

 

Next the Som Berthiot Cinor B 25mm f1.9, this one works well, a little soft but not altogether unpleasant... no vignetting.

 

 
I even went out that evening and shot some test footage exclusively with this lens!
 
 
Next is my Kern Paillard Yvar 75mm f2.8, this also works great, shapest of the bunch I think, but I always felt it was sharper even when shooting 16mm ( which I do often with these lenses).
 
 
Finally the zoom, a Som Berthiot Pan-Cinor 12-120mm f3.3, I love this lense, a real cine lens, very nice focus throw, extremely smooth, constant aperture... and it works! well almost... it works great from 20-120mm, anything below 20 shows vignetting. but the results are rather good, altough I think there might be some barrel distortion (see @40mm), which wasn't apparent on the other lenses...
 
here @ 12mm
 
@20mm
 
@40mm

 

And @120mm

 
Conclusion: Maybe I'm crazy, or I'm just lucky to have good glass in a sea of crap, but I'm rather happy with these 16mm lenses on my Pocket. Mind you, I wouldn't have bought these lenses just for the pocket, I don't think 16mm glass is the way to go, even if you're on a budget, unless you really really want that 16mm look, which is what you'll get I'd say. I have these lenses first and foremost because I still use them often to shoot actual 16mm. To have them around also for the pocket is a nice bonus to bona fide my BMPCC kit, and coupling them with my full frame glass it gives me good options to shoot so that I don't have to rush out and buy some new glass right away... for sure I'm likely going to add a lumix zoom with OIS and probably an slrmagic or voigtlaender glass to that kit down the road, but with what I have I can wait a bit before I do that and that's great for my wallet! 
 
Picture of the 3 working lenses with the BMPCC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Just a personal conclusion: I've had the Blackmagic Pocket for two weeks and tested a large number of c-mount lenses from my collection on it, both classical 16mm cine lenses and cctv lenses. 
 
In all cases, I have found the c-mounts to be significantly inferior to native MFT lenses (such as the SLR Magic 12mm, the Voigtländer 25mm, but also the Panasonic 14mm and 20mm primes), even when testing top tier lenses such as the Schneider 25mm/1.4 or the Canon 13mm/1.5. Sharpness/detail is significantly lower, the image gets unsharp in the corners. The only advantage I see in those lenses is their compact size. In some cases, they can be used as speciality lenses (the Ernitec 6.5mm/1.8 as a fix focus fisheye, or a VT 8mm as a psychedelic wide angle with heavy vignetting and color casts); the 16mm/2.0 Tevidon is a decent performer with constant sharpness across the frame, but surely not as a good as an Olympus 17mm/1.8 or Samyang/Rokinon 16mm/2.0.
 
Unlike on the GH2, vintage glass doesn't look good on the Blackmagic Pocket. Since the BM Pocket gives an uncooked, non-artificially sharpened image with true organic color depth, it looks best with a good lens. A bad lens just looks bad.


Can you give more thoughts on the Panny 14mm? This is the one MFT lens I'm considering buying for the Pocket.
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Can you give more thoughts on the Panny 14mm? This is the one MFT lens I'm considering buying for the Pocket.


Aside from size, I don't see much advantage of that lens versus using the Panasonic 14-42mm or 14-45mm kit zoom at 14mm. It's merely a half-stop faster (2.8 vs. 3.5) and distorts as well. I'd rather go for the old Panasonic 14-45mm zoom which works as an optically stabilized lens on the Pocket.
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Kowa LM6HC 6mm f1.8

 

I've already posted these on bmcuser but just adding to the archive since this is a very popular thread.  Nice to find a true wide angle option that doesn't heavily distort and is fast too.  This Kowa lens is great find, it's a machine lens and only closes up to f11 and focuses to about an inch.  Here are two tests to show it in various situations:

 

 

 

Also have two tests for the Switar 16mm and the Schneider Cinegon 10mm in that album - and I believe both have already been confirmed to work perfectly on the pocket previously in this thread.

 

 

post-33352-0-66764400-1381810662_thumb.j

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  • 2 weeks later...

Meopta Largor 1.8/12.5

 

all shots as shot on tripod: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3JX-RohN0

 

handheld, some shots slightly zoomed in due to 3 - 5% warp stabilizer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDmDjD8ffwE

 

 

Vignettes slightly and corner sharpness isn't great. Looks very pleasing to me though!

 

Vignette is a bit unpredictable, usually it is very light.

 

(16mm optics not Super16 I guess.)

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Edit:

 

Schneider Kreuznach Xenon 25mm f1.5; shot under a range of different conditions, it performs excellently with good corner sharpness and no vingette at all aperatures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdzC3qbZD_Q

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XHiR_G58KY

 

 

--

 

Just received Schneider Kreuznach Xenon 25mm f1.5. 

Initial impression is that the lens performs flawlessly on bmpcc. f/1.5 ISO-1600 shutter 360 handheld:

post-33423-0-25297100-1383163208_thumb.j

will update post with better examples later this week.

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I apologize for being late to the game, but if I were to purchase the BM pocket camera from BHPhoto, would this version have the 4k ability/option or something close? In other words, I did see where a certain firmware wasn't offered yet and I was curious if this has been address.

Also, any idea on wait times regarding this camera?

Thanks.

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I apologize for being late to the game, but if I were to purchase the BM pocket camera from BHPhoto, would this version have the 4k ability/option or something close? In other words, I did see where a certain firmware wasn't offered yet and I was curious if this has been address.

Also, any idea on wait times regarding this camera?

Thanks.

Perhaps you have mixed information with the Blackmagic Production Cinema Camera or maybe the FS-700? But the Pocket Camera is only a 1080p camera, there's no firmware that will add 4K resolution to it.

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