Blackmagic Cinema Camera cons, another point of view to add to the discussion.

[jgharding]

Some of the cons pointed out for Blackmagic Camera come from the point of view of casual DSLR shooting, not compared to other cinema cameras, which is what it's intended to compete with in a more budget-conscious manner. This was my thinking when pre-ordering the new Quad HD model.

 

A practical example:

 

The other day we were shooting an internal film for a client on Alexa Plus 4:3. Hey, if they can afford it...

 

The camera weighs 7KG (15lbs), that's just the body. Then you hang a Cooke prime on the front, a pair of Anton Bauers on the back and that's up to 10kg (22lbs) or so. Swap that for an Angeniuex or Arri Allura zoom for exmaple and you're up to 13KG (28lbs). That's before rigging, which needs to be heavy duty enough to hold such weight. As does your tripod.

 

We ate through eight big batteries in one day shoot, and they are bloody big expensive batteries. Also it wasn't really a full day in shoot terms. For day two we went to a an external tethered battery that was like a massive block of lead, so you have a person carrying that behind.

 

Does it look beautiful? Hell yeah! But it's not very easy...

 

The 4K (or Quad HD) BMD has an S35 sensor (it's actually smaller than S35 as most would think of it, but not enough to bother with, and not much more than the F55)  and you should be able to power it for a long time off of a chunky V-lok on a rig. You can then downscale the image in post or in camera to HD. You lose a few stops to the Alexa, but you can buy it for the price of a few days Alexa hire and use it every day til you know it like the back of your hand and you fill up your hard drive. And you can actually run and gun relatively stealthily due to global shutter and light weight. Seeing what could be done with the previous model of cinema camera actually made me think it wouldn't cut to bad with the Arri either.

 

Compared to picking up a 550D and shooting a friend or the trees outside, sure, Blackmagic cameras seem annoying, but compared to setting up a cinema camera? All the evidence so far from their previous camera suggests you'll get a long way to the wonderful look for less money, weight and hassle. Same for the pocket version, even if you have to rig it for batteries for some projects, I mean look at it, it's the size of a f***ing phone!

 

If you want to make narrative drama or blocked-out promo that is an amazing thought... you don't need to budget in a load of camera hire... just buy one of these, and that's all your films for the next three years sorted.

 

Now the new Red may have 6K, but I can't remember looking at a film shot on the old Red and thinking "oh that's not very detailed", quite the opposite, so it's quite excessive right now, and the cost is so high.

 

Let's just hope the new Cinema Cameras turn up in good time with no issues, after last year's debacle, all of those who have pre-ordered are rather nervous. There's quite a bit riding on these two models...

 

Now I just have to have a good idea... I knew there was a catch... ;)

[mtheory]

What is unprecedented is 4K global shutter in such a small body. Even at $15k+ this camera would be a winner for high-budget action sequences, nevermind $4K. 

[Ben Prater]

Not entirely clear what your point is.

 

The BMCC needs to be rigged -- that's pretty much what everyone is saying these days. It has a strange form factor. Is having an internal battery a pro or a con? I guess it depends on your shoot. If you need to stuff a camera in the trunk to shoot a kidnapping scene for feature film, you can un-rig a BMCC and toss it in. Much harder with Alexa and friends.

 

"Quad HD" -- I've never heard anyone call it that. Cool!

[jgharding]

Not entirely clear what your point is.

 

The BMCC needs to be rigged -- that's pretty much what everyone is saying these days. It has a strange form factor. Is having an internal battery a pro or a con? I guess it depends on your shoot. If you need to stuff a camera in the trunk to shoot a kidnapping scene for feature film, you can un-rig a BMCC and toss it in. Much harder with Alexa and friends.

 

"Quad HD" -- I've never heard anyone call it that. Cool!

 

Just that people are thinking "I can't handle the hassle", but very high quality rarely comes without hassle of one kind or another.

 

Quad HD is probably one of those terms that's been dropped, I think they say Ultra HD for marketing now, but that's 3840 x 2160, while 4K was supposed to be 4096 across. But I don't think many of us are that fussed!

 

Yes that's the bonus, you can pluck the BMD out of the middle of its srig, put a tiny prime on it and run about! Bonkers... I just hope they arrive on time and work properly.

[andy lee]

The BlackMagic works great on the Tecnoir Rig we built for it

I used it rigged all the time no problems - shoulder mounted with Cineroid retina evf was amazing !

 

http://www.eoshd.com/comments/gallery/image/180-tecnoir-blackmagic-anamorphic-cinema-rig-lores/