Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

[MattH]

1 hour ago, Anaconda_ said:

@TurboRat and @MattH - I don't have that lens, but I have the Canon 10mm that I've hacked (literally) to work with the Viltrox speedbooster. I imagine this give a similar field of view - although it will be slightly narrower. I'll happily do some tests for you, but can only get to f3.5ish with the booster.

If that's helpful, let me know what formats you'd want tested and I'll upload some stuff.

For a quick sample, here's a grab I just took at it's widest. Handy button that frame grab one ? 

A008_10241448_S001.dng 

Would you mind posting a jpeg?  I cant view that currently.   Is that the 10-18 f4.5- 5.6 ?    I doubt there will be any field curvature visible at that narrow an aperture anyway.   I don't know if speed boosters reduce field curvature or maintain it.  Perhaps they do maintain it.     I have the 7.5mm which is why I'm very interested in the issue.   It does have field curvature, but it that guys pocket4k was massively exaggerating the issue.  The 20mm 1.7 has field curvature wide open too when focused to infinity so I'm worried that will look shit on the pocket4k also.  It would be pointless getting one if all my mft lenses dont work properly.

[Scott_W]

19 minutes ago, MattH said:

Would you mind posting a jpeg.  I cant view that.    Is that the 10-18 f4.5- 5.6 ?    I doubt there will be any field curvature visable at that narrow an aperture anyway.   I dont know if speed boosters reduce field curvature or maintain it.  Perhaps the do maintain it.     I have the 7.5mm which is why im very interested in the issue.   It does have field curvature, but it that guys pocket4k was massively exaggerating the issue.  The 20mm 1.7 has field curvature wide open too when focused to infinity so im worried that will look shit on the pocket4k also.  It would be pointless getting one if all my mft lenses dont work properly.

I have a Samyang 8mm and the Viltrox booster. Happy to try that if it helps?

I shelved the 8mm a few months ago after putting a tiny scratch on the front element. So I’ll need to dig it out later. 

[MattH]

22 minutes ago, Scott_W said:

I have a Samyang 8mm and the Viltrox booster. Happy to try that if it helps?

I shelved the 8mm a few months ago after putting a tiny scratch on the front element. So I’ll need to dig it out later. 

Sure, If you can.  The more tests the better I suppose.  That's the f3.5 EF mount I presume.   Looking at reviews it is supposed to be 'soft' at the edges wide open (soft could just mean field curvature).  So if it is field curvature it would potentially exaggerate if the same thing happens.  So I guess f3.5 focused at infinity at a fairly uniform distance 'landscape' or 'streetscape' would be the test to try.  Ideally It would be good to compare it on a canon (or other camera) from exaclty the same place and same settings.

[Matthew Campbell]

I've got some weird JITTER in my video. I shot this on Sunday, using the Rokinon Cine DS with Viltrox .71x Speedbooster on a Glidecam HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltwGuwZGWJw

I'm going to assume this is because I don't have a Speedbooster support yet, and there's a tiny bit of rotation on the lens mount for it because it's not screwed in to a supprt. The lenses are also a fair amount of weight and I think it might also just be a bit of flex on the camera+mount. 

Has anyone seen this before? I'm going to assume it's a common problem when you don't have your speedbooster/lens supported and screwed in? Or is it potentially something else?

I'm going to try it with the 25mm Panasonic lens (super light) I have and see if there's a similar situation, but thought I'd check in here as well.

Thanks in advance! You are a fantastic community and I'm glad to be here!

[TurboRat]

22 minutes ago, Matthew Campbell said:

I've got some weird JITTER in my video. I shot this on Sunday, using the Rokinon Cine DS with Viltrox .71x Speedbooster on a Glidecam HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltwGuwZGWJw

I'm going to assume this is because I don't have a Speedbooster support yet, and there's a tiny bit of rotation on the lens mount for it because it's not screwed in to a supprt. The lenses are also a fair amount of weight and I think it might also just be a bit of flex on the camera+mount. 

Has anyone seen this before? I'm going to assume it's a common problem when you don't have your speedbooster/lens supported and screwed in? Or is it potentially something else?

I'm going to try it with the 25mm Panasonic lens (super light) I have and see if there's a similar situation, but thought I'd check in here as well.

Thanks in advance! You are a fantastic community and I'm glad to be here!

That's weird.. Maybe with the Glidecam?

[Scott_W]

27 minutes ago, Matthew Campbell said:

I've got some weird JITTER in my video. I shot this on Sunday, using the Rokinon Cine DS with Viltrox .71x Speedbooster on a Glidecam HD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltwGuwZGWJw

I'm going to assume this is because I don't have a Speedbooster support yet, and there's a tiny bit of rotation on the lens mount for it because it's not screwed in to a supprt. The lenses are also a fair amount of weight and I think it might also just be a bit of flex on the camera+mount. 

Has anyone seen this before? I'm going to assume it's a common problem when you don't have your speedbooster/lens supported and screwed in? Or is it potentially something else?

I'm going to try it with the 25mm Panasonic lens (super light) I have and see if there's a similar situation, but thought I'd check in here as well.

Thanks in advance! You are a fantastic community and I'm glad to be here!

It looks like the jitter is from your footsteps, which suggests something is loose in your set up. How are you mounting the camera to the Glidecam? do you have a cage, or is it directly on the bottom of the camera. They do recommend using the mount point on the bottom of the speedbooster, but I'm not sure how this will help. Try a small wedge below the speed booster?

[Matthew Campbell]

22 minutes ago, Scott_W said:

It looks like the jitter is from your footsteps, which suggests something is loose in your set up. How are you mounting the camera to the Glidecam? do you have a cage, or is it directly on the bottom of the camera. They do recommend using the mount point on the bottom of the speedbooster, but I'm not sure how this will help. Try a small wedge below the speed booster?

That's the weird part. I'm using the Glidecam as I normally would, one hand lightly steering, the other taking the weight. I'm fairly light on my feet, so there's no jarring movement like the video shows there is, it should at least be a "floaty" matching my footsteps. This makes me think the bit of play on the adapter and the weight of the metabones is shifting as the camera weight shifts ever so slightly, making it seem like a "hard step". 

I also put my camera on the ground yesterday and gently pushed down on the Rokinon Lens while mounted, there is a bit of flex there too, as I could see my focus points shift. I wonder if the lens mount isn't as secure as thought.

 

I've got my 8Sinn Metabones support coming in this week, fingers crossed that solves the issue. I was thinking maybe this is a common problem for people with a metabones+heavy lens without support. 

[Scott_W]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Campbell said:

That's the weird part. I'm using the Glidecam as I normally would, one hand lightly steering, the other taking the weight. I'm fairly light on my feet, so there's no jarring movement like the video shows there is, it should at least be a "floaty" matching my footsteps. This makes me think the bit of play on the adapter and the weight of the metabones is shifting as the camera weight shifts ever so slightly, making it seem like a "hard step". 

I also put my camera on the ground yesterday and gently pushed down on the Rokinon Lens while mounted, there is a bit of flex there too, as I could see my focus points shift. I wonder if the lens mount isn't as secure as thought.

 

I've got my 8Sinn Metabones support coming in this week, fingers crossed that solves the issue. I was thinking maybe this is a common problem for people with a metabones+heavy lens without support. 

I mounted a 300mm prime on the front of my P4k the other night - it was rock solid. I did use the collar sleeve to mount it on the tripod though. Not sure I'd have fancied that much weight on the adapter and camera. 

 

[tonysss]

1 hour ago, Scott_W said:

 

I've got some weird JITTER in my video. I shot this on Sunday, using the Rokinon Cine DS with Viltrox .71x Speedbooster on a Glidecam HD.

 

 

This looks like an unbalanced electronic gimbal and and weak engines, but you have a glidecam ?

I had recently, released optical member inside the adapter Viltrox  and knocked, but I did not see it in the picture.

 

Can not the loose chip holder be directly in the camera? did you try to shake the camera? and watch the chip?

 

[Matthew Campbell]

46 minutes ago, tonysss said:

 

 

This looks like an unbalanced electronic gimbal and and weak engines, but you have a glidecam ?

I had recently, released optical member inside the adapter Viltrox  and knocked, but I did not see it in the picture.

 

Can not the loose chip holder be directly in the camera? did you try to shake the camera? and watch the chip?

 

That's a very interesting idea, let me try that later when I get home with the chip and Viltrox adapter without a lens on it and see if there's something interesting happening. I'm also going to handhold the Viltrox tight to the body as well so there's no margin for error between the adapter the camera. Thanks for the input, much appreciated!

[BTM_Pix]

The battery gauge behaviour on this camera just emphasises what a balls up BM have made not having the external power options available from the get go.

It appears to go :

1. Full
2. Quite full
3. About half full
4. About a quarter full (showing Red)
5. Off

The rate at which it goes from 1-3 is probably reasonably accurate for the expected run time but the step from 3-4 isn't and the almost instant drop from 4-5 (ie Off) is ridiculous. 

As is the fact that if you switch it back on again, it goes back to 4 for about a minute and then back to 5.

And then if you leave it for a few moment, you can do that same thing again.

And again.

The fact that I wasn't actually taxing the camera at all other than having it sat there while I sent a few Bluetooth messages to it (so there was no variance in power consumption from putting it in and out of record for varying times) is a bit concerning as to how this erratic power indication would work under actual  use.

I thought the battery gauge behaviour on the original Pocket was random enough but at least that had a percentage indicator to let you know precisely how random it was being.

If it behaves like this when it is more or less just sat there then I would be very wary about doing anything critical with this camera once the the battery randometer has gone below half.

And before the sock puppets show up and ask, yes I was using the real BM battery and yes I had fully charged the battery out of the box before the camera was switched on.

 

[Andrew Reid]

Maybe the battery door falling off is actually to tell us that the battery is at 5% and really must be changed now, even though the meter is showing full

[Anaconda_]

@BTM_Pix if you tap the battery meter it changes between percentage and vaults. That could help you determine your consumption.

I'm not having any luck pairing my phone to the camera. I downloaded the free app tRigger, but it's not showing up - are you using an app or your homemade whatsit?

[BTM_Pix]

12 minutes ago, Anaconda_ said:

@BTM_Pix if you tap the battery meter it changes to show 7.5v (or whatever your charger is)   

I find this easier to trust and swap have been swapping the battery when it gets close to 6.5v. 

Good tip. Was looking in the Setup menu for a different option. Didn't think to hit the screen !

Where does 6.5v equate to on the meter?

I've currently got 6.8v and its showing the sort of 80% type of region. Which is suspiciously (or pleasantly) high considering it hasn't been on charge that long.

EDIT>> UPDATE

Now showing 6.7v and 50% in the time its taken to write the first part of the post.

[Anaconda_]

Well - I currently have 7.3v and 17% - so that's interesting.

I've edited my last post because this numbers thing just doesn't make sense, so don't want to recommend the 6.5v thing.

[BTM_Pix]

6 minutes ago, Anaconda_ said:

Well - I currently have 7.3v and 17% - so that's interesting.

I've edited my last post because this numbers thing just doesn't make sense, so don't want to recommend the 6.5v thing.

You're not kidding, I'm now 6.4v and on the red indicator.

Maybe they should just swap the battery gauge for this in the next version

>>>>YET ANOTHER EDIT>>>>

Right, it switched itself off.

So I switched it back on and its showing 6.4v and when you switch to the randometer its showing HALF!!!

It lasts for about 45 seconds and then switches off.

This means that in the space of less than 10 minutes, its gone from showing about 80% to switching off and then switching back it on it shows 50% and then goes off within 45 seconds.

So the original charge level it showed me when I took off mains power was bollocks, the indication that it has 50% left was bollocks, the amount of remaining time when it went red was bollocks and the charge level being 50% when I switched it back on was bollocks.

In summary....

Bollocks.

30 minutes ago, Anaconda_ said:

 

I'm not having any luck pairing my phone to the camera. I downloaded the free app tRigger, but it's not showing up - are you using an app or your homemade whatsit?

I was using the BM iPad app which was fine and then poking it with a stick with a home made device.

[kye]

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

Maybe the battery door falling off is actually to tell us that the battery is at 5% and really must be changed now, even though the meter is showing full

..and the power consumption of the magnetic lock on the battery door would explain the battery life!! ???

[MattH]

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

Maybe the battery door falling off is actually to tell us that the battery is at 5% and really must be changed now, even though the meter is showing full

Yeah, even the battery knows it is about to die and its pulling the ejector seat canopy.  After a second the battery will fly out the bottom, then release a parachute before it hits the ground.

[matthere]

?

 

[Turboguard]

I don’t know what batteries you guys are using but the only one that is giving me problems is the one that came with the camera. When using it, the touchscreen stops working sometimes and I go from 100-shut off completely random. Where I can after a shut off turn it back on. Again, these problems are ONLY with the provided battery. Watson and Green Extreme batteries work perfectly fine for me. Kind of scared to continue to use the Bm battery.