Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

[mercer]

@Andrew Reid you should send BM an invoice for the advertising your bandwidth paid for.

[Oliver Daniel]

I’ve been asked many, many times to do blog / Youtuber stuff - I honestly could never find the time or do something that was passionate and different to the rest. So it’s amazing that you’ve kept up a unique blog for this long, without “selling out”. 

FWIW, I filmed consistent videos for a record label for 4-5 years, they were happy with every video, and then stopped sending through treatment calls. I asked “why?” and they said “we can only afford a videographer from now on”. If I never asked I thought I’d been snubbed completely!

You could ask BM their reasons and something may come out of it. 

(If they ignore you, get a BM Pocket 4k, go to the Three Gin bar in Manchester, get absolutely wasted, film a camera test and write your blog. All there and then.?) 

[newfoundmass]

6 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

I don't know... it's like getting pissed at a faint acquaintance that didn't write 'happy birthday' on my FB timeline when I never congratulated them either. But again, that's just me. Sorry you're seeing all of that differently.

How so? He's written a lot about BMD over the years. It was only days ago that he wrote an article about the release of footage to work with, owing to the excitement surrounding the camera. It's not like he has been inattentive to the camera. 

I don't think I'd get as upset if it were me personally, but I can see why Andrew is. A company like BMD was built on sites like this, to put it bluntly.

[majoraxis]

@Andrew Reid I really hope you keep the site going.  It bummed me out when previously took a hiatus.  I know it's selfish of me to ask for something without paying for it, though I believe I purchased one of your guides at one time.  Anyways,  it would be hard to believe Blackmagic does not have eye balls on this tread and I hope they will reach out to you with a review unit ASAP.  I always look forward to your insights and perspective and hope I have the opportunity to read about your hands on experience with and options about the Pocket 4k.

[Tone1k]

Despite you continuing to delete my comments I'll continue...... Because although you may not be able to see it, in the mood you are in, I am trying to help you. 

I work as a freelancer in the broadcast industry as well as film industry.

When it comes to Broadcast... while I'm not the best out there at what I do, I know plenty of freelancers that get work over me despite producers preferring my work. Do you know why they get work over me? It's because they do send those emails (the one you wrote in the childish voice) and it's because they do actively hound the bookings people in the office.

I've never been one to do that and it sounds like you haven't either. 

Sometimes it's not about who's the best but who's been the most persistent at forming relationships with others in the industry. I've never been good at marketing myself or ringing up the people doing the hiring asking for work in the same way that it sounds like you don't do that with camera manufacturers. It means that even though producers tell me I might do a better job of something than the next person, I don't always get the call for work because the communication between producers and those booking crew is not always there. In the same way that while you may have relationships with technical people at BM, the PR people might not get the info. 

Do what you do bacause you enjoy it. If you hate this forum, then yes, stop it or pass it on to someone else. If you still enjoy this forum, if you still enjoy doing reviews, then don't let this one instance ruin everything else. 

[Cinegain]

Nah, he should've just send them a kind e-mail stating his case and being a little perplexed, I bet they would've replied with something along the lines of 'sorry you feel that way, we really don't mean any disrespect, we appreciate what you're doing here. Let us just see if we can get you one early still, how does that sound?'... but he didn't even give them that oppertunity. I think he might just assume the very worst out of them and out of me. Unwarranted so.

Anyways. Much fuzz over nothing. I'm outta here. Gotta finish up that Jack Ryan! Don't forget to have some fun, people.

[Andrew Reid]

17 minutes ago, Oliver Daniel said:

You could ask BM their reasons and something may come out of it. 

(If they ignore you, get a BM Pocket 4k, go to the Three Gin bar in Manchester, get absolutely wasted, film a camera test and write your blog. All there and then.?) 

Haha. Imagine the stuff I could say after a few gins? Then afterwards I could take a leaf out of a forum sniper's strategy and say "oh sorry blackmagic, I said the camera was a piss soaked turd? Ah I think you must just be seeing a negative meaning to that which isn't there. I didn't mean it, you're great really. I love your camera."

Maybe invite Bez and Noel Gallagher as well. By the end of it, the camera will be so soaked in gin it will need an under-the-ocean housing.

Maybe they can hold the next event in my BACK GARDEN. Literally in my back garden. I'll provide the BBQ and cook all the sausages.

340,000 sausages.

[mercer]

I don’t know, I think the only logical reason is that Ebrahim stole your invite and sold it to fund his sisters dental abortion.

But seriously, this site is the best camera forum online. The members don’t always agree on everything, but we call bullshit when we see it. And the complete lack of an invite is total bullshit, especially since there are a few BM insiders posting here to inflate the product. Obviously, I don’t mean John Brawley, his insight is much respected, but there are most likely a few others.

[majoraxis]

It's been said before, but I like to say a huge thank you @John Brawley who chose to spend time here on the forum and give your invaluable information and time.  Your presence here is greatly appreciated and hope you continue to feel welcome here!

[anonim]

58 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

I just think very plainly Blackmagic are using this site for publicity...

I think this is the key and my exact feeling about this thread and - to the much lesser extent - similar at some other forums.

Out of discussion about great qualities of new BMPocket, all BM extended marketing campaign was little bit fishy or childish to me - at any costs keeping attention alive, provoking and warming up discussion about everything and nothing by some connected voices.

You have right to feel hurt, and even it is obviously nothing serious, you have full right to expect little bit of friendly empathy and support at the moment you feel bad even if it is mostly transient  weakness.

I'm decidedly against idea that BM marketing team doesn't know about existence of EOSHD and this exact thread.... and that their behavior is accidentally one...

(Just as I decidedly  protested because of - as I saw it - unnecessary banning of some nice and frankly devoted members because of opposite commenting of some stupid director with stupid pedophile allusions in some space artificial and phony from top to bottom.)

Actually, for me it would be very funny to see this forum closed for a while (not forever)... because I suspect there are а number of visitors here that become so big addicts, that I'm afraid that forum makes bad for their health... or meaning of life

[mercer]

Maybe all the members should donate $1-$5 to fund a z-cam e2 for Andrew to review. Or I bet Kinefinity would love for Andrew to review the Terra 4K.

[Andrew Reid]

If a camera forum was a real life happening (imagine a big dinner party in a house), there would be a bunch of people cornering the host, shouting and spitting at him, while the major camera companies sat round a table eating all the nice cuts of beef that the host laid out, at the same time as selling cameras to his guests. Afterwards, the host picks up the bill for the dinner, and even has to tidy up!

Tidying up as in moderating. Then the fat corporations with their multi-million pound deep pockets and inventory of thousands of cameras leave the table without so much as a thank you for the roast chicken, let alone a look at the camera.

Why am I doing this with my life?

[PannySVHS]

@Andrew Reid

Andrew, what I meant was to express that you would have liked to have been there. No apologetic approach, just the matter of a simple fact. I think that is an honest and confident and proud and relaxed way to go by. The marketing newbies for the event didnt know any better. I based many of my camera and gear purchases on infos from your site. I also recommended a lot of stuff to other people, based on your reviews and forum. The marketing pros of BM know your sites dynamics and influence. They just let the apprentices do the job. It´s common to do so.

9 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

with their multi-million pound deep pockets and inventory of thousands of cameras leave the table without so much as a thank you for the roast chicken, let alone a look at the camera.

Why am I doing this with my life?

If that would be the case. Don´t begin to invite spitters. Keep on inviting the cool cats like you always have been. Don´t start to cook for company execs but for you and your friends. Just the way you always have, Andrew! That´s why your site is so cool. Of course an open house gets to be visited by people who don´t respect the spirit and soul of the house. They will leave soon enough by themselves if you don´t waste your hospitality and attention on them. Put up a pantheon for you and your cool site. Then it´s more fun to buy stuff for testing instead of putting your very own money on the line all the time. best and cheers

[DBounce]

@Andrew Reid perhaps they feared you would be too honest in your review? Who knows? I would not call it quits over this though. Personally, I think you should have been invited to the event in Manchester, but despite this shortfall, I would still hope to see you do an honest review of the camera. 

[anonim]

3 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

Why am I doing this with my life?

If it is not just rhetorically question, I'd dare to guess some possible answer: because you like it.. even if everything you write above is, I think, quite true 

You know, sometimes we all make bad choices because of pure deeper enjoy - as, for example, when Mercer don't ask two whole weeks for buying advice about his next B camera or when Jon Pais falls in profound knights affair with poor unprotected Sony maiden 

[Andrew Reid]

I don't know Panny. I am very close to picking an attitude and sticking to it out of principal. That approach may be the only way this forum and EOSHD will continue with any enthusiasm. It is not nice to be out in the cold and uninvited or watching sycophantic idiots get their hands on a camera first with their glossy BMD-pleasing advertorial, but must accept that is what the world is like, and I must carry on with EOSHD outside it. I love what I do. I love buying new cameras. But because the marketing is getting so cynical, I absolutely HAVE to distance myself form the camera companies and not have them as kingmaker.... and to be absolutely clear and upfront with them about that. No more relationships. No more emails. No more pre-release sessions or free feedback sessions. Nothing.

It all has too many strings attached and you never feel like you can truly be yourself.

In this case, just a hand on a camera in the city I was born was all I hoped for, in return for 5 years of Blackmagic coverage, paid for out of my own pocket, time out of my own work, gear used in my own projects and music videos in Berlin, all that out of loyalty to the company, love of the products, enjoyment in seeing what they were capable of vs Sony and the rest, seems it did not get noticed. Sad situation and a reflection on them, not me.

If I can't let off the steam and frustration, like I am choosing to do here, however unwise it may seem, the pressure builds up and you lose interest in the blog altogether. That would be a disaster for me. I'd lose my life's passion and life's work. Is it worth losing ALL THAT to please a PR team? No.

11 minutes ago, DBounce said:

@Andrew Reid perhaps they feared you would be too honest in your review? Who knows? I would not call it quits over this though. Personally, I think you should have been invited to the event in Manchester, but despite this shortfall, I would still hope to see you do an honest review of the camera. 

In order to do that, I would have to spend £1200. No thanks.

Review is off.

[mercer]

13 minutes ago, anonim said:

You know, sometimes we all make bad choices because of pure deeper enjoy - as, for example, when Mercer don't ask two whole weeks for buying advice about his next B camera

Haha, yeah where else could I change my mind every other day about which camera I should get next. Btw, right now I’m thinking D3400, a6000, M50, or G85... lol. 

[webrunner5]

Well as an old turd that has done a lot more stuff than I have deserved, or ought to have,  and when I look back at it 75% of it was a total F ing waste of time family wise, stress wise, money wise, on and on.

A persons life goes fast as hell, and you never know when you are going to die, or one of your family dies, like my first wife at a young age of cancer did. Hey it happens, but to go thorough all the stress, the shit you put up with in doing it, for really no real gain is pretty disheartening when you look back on it I can tell you that.

You might as well live on a sailboat out on a river or the ocean, in a cabin in the woods and just sit back and enjoy life with not a lot of commitments. All those accomplishments don't amount to shit when you get divorced,  have a heart attack, or wake up one day and your kids are all grown, and it's like man did I waste half my life for What!

I know some of you people make a living doing this stuff, and a hell of a lot as just a hobby. I can see a trend here now in the Video industry that there is NEVER going to be an end to a better toy next year. It is like Smartphones now, You have to have the latest and greatest, and man in the video industry that amounts to a Hell of a lot of money. Tons of money. Is it really worth it. It all goes back to my first sentence. Is it worth all the bullshit? I bet it's not. I am not going to buy anything! I will use what I got, good or bad. A new camera won't make me that much better.

[Andrew Reid]

5 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

Well as an old turd hat has done a lot more stuff than I have deserved, or ought to have,  and when I look back at it 75% of it was a total F ing waste of time family wise, stress wise, money wise, on and on.

A persons life goes fast as hell, and you never know when you are going to die, or one of your family dies, like my first wife at a young age of cancer did. Hey it happens, but to go thorough all the stress, the shit you put up with in doing it, for really no real gain is pretty disheartening when you look back on it I can tell you that.

Sorry to hear that, makes you realise what's really important!

5 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

I know some of you people make a living doing this stuff, and a hell of a lot as just a hobby. I can see a trend here now in the Video industry that there is NEVER going to be an end to a better toy next year.

Very true and it's so relentless, there's a new temptation around the corner every few weeks. Easy to get hooked. These companies are spending millions on getting us hooked. Just like us, they're never satisfied either.

Quote

It is like Smartphones now, You have to have the latest and greatest, and man in the video industry that amounts to a Hell of a lot of money. Tons of money. Is it really worth it. It all goes back to my first sentence. Is it worth all the bullshit? I bet it's not. I am not going to buy anything! I will use what I got, good or bad. A new camera won't make me that much better.

It's like in home audio... Eventually you will end up with an end-game, which is perhaps 5 or 10% better than what you had mid-way through the spending spree.

I am going to review the E-M10 III next. $500 camera. I'm going to use that instead of the Pocket 4K, forget raw. I'm going to go out, have fun with strange Russian lenses, and appreciate how short life is and how the time is better spent with family than with disposable consumer goods.

[John Brawley]

What a shame.

Who are these "deep state" BMD insiders that are here pushing an agenda ? Myself and Hook.  Who else ?  What do you guys think, there's a plot and conspiracy ?  You guys don't wat these contributions I guess ?

I'm here because I've been a member here for years and I'm on many camera forums and this is just another one I like to read and contribute to where I can.

I want to know where all the clowns that were saying on this thread that the world was going to end because BMD didn't have any footage out yet and that definitely meant something was very wrong and the shipping date would be missed.

All I've seen so far is that a planned marketing campaign by BMD that has gone off the way they intended.

They commissioned some actual filmmakers (not bloggers or camera reviewers) that make certain types of film (natural history, action sports, nature) to make some films and then they released them and the camera originals.

Then they gave some cameras, complete with some boxes as if they were new to some secondary users, and whilst having them also under NDA, got them to shoot some test footage and allowed some of them to release that footage.  Again.  Not reviewers.  Not bloggers.

About a thousand reviewers and camera jockeys have done a bunch of made up comparisons and VLOGS based on existing footage. (hey I love seeing my footage being butchered by grading nerds)

Think about it.

No blogger or reviewer ANYWHERE has gotten a functioning camera to shoot with as far as I can tell.  Because that's not what BMD want to do with their marketing of this camera.  This isjust marketing 101. 

They need people using the cameras in the many difference specific sectors of the market will use the camera.  Camera reviews aren't part of that plan. (though it hasn't stopped people doing it based on existing footage)

Until it's shipping, it's their choice to give it to whomever they want.

I'm tired of this entitled bullshit.  

I recently left a few facebook groups I was on for this camera, and I'm doing the same here.  Frankly it's juvenile and I don't need the agro I sure hate explaining what should be obvious.

There's no slight.  

BMD have a marketing department and they have a plan and it doesn't involve forums, bloggers or camera reviewers.  That's not a snub, that's just them marketing the product in the way that they see fit.

JB