Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

[Savannah Miller]

The screen is the same as the videoassist so its about 350 nits.

[graphicnatured]

17 minutes ago, Savannah Miller said:

The screen is the same as the videoassist so its about 350 nits.

In other words, not that great in bright conditions.

[Snuff]

Here is a comparison of brightness of SmallHD Focus vs BMD Assist and it shows that they almost the same.

 

[Kisaha]

8 minutes ago, Snuff said:

Here is a comparison of brightness of SmallHD Focus vs BMD Assist and it shows that they almost the same.

 

Interesting, I have used the BM Video Assist, and then I went and bought the Focus.

[Savannah Miller]

23 minutes ago, graphicnatured said:

In other words, not that great in bright conditions.

It's fairly useable but not the best.  You can totally see it in the sun, and with a cheap hood it should be more than adequate.

[hijodeibn]

On 4/24/2018 at 4:45 PM, rsingh1 said:

@webrunner5 Can I ask what video production you're normally involved in? 

That's not your business....or anybody else....be worry about the video productions you are involved in....

[jonpais]

5 hours ago, Savannah Miller said:

It's fairly useable but not the best.  You can totally see it in the sun, and with a cheap hood it should be more than adequate.

350 nits is not usable in the sun.

[graphicnatured]

6 hours ago, Snuff said:

Here is a comparison of brightness of SmallHD Focus vs BMD Assist and it shows that they almost the same.

 

The SmallHD 502 is 400 nits and it's pretty much unusable in the bright sunlight, amazingly even with the hood thingy that I also owned. The BMD at 350 would be no contest to the SmallHD Focus at 800 nits. I don't know what this guy is smoking. Now that I have a monitor that has 1,000 nits I won't go back to anything less. It's just too much of a pain in the ass to battle the sun with a dim monitor and isn't worth the hassle. I guess on a pistol gimbal with the pocket4k you'll have to get what you get unless you hang a monitor from it. At least 350 has to be better than the OG Pocket. What was that, anyone know? 100 nits?  It may as well be off for all I know in the afternoon sun.

[jonpais]

2 minutes ago, graphicnatured said:

The SmallHD 502 is 400 nits and it's pretty much unusable in the bright sunlight, amazingly even with the hood thingy that I also owned. The BMD at 350 would be no contest to the SmallHD Focus at 800 nits. I don't know what this guy is smoking. Now that I have a monitor that has 1,000 nits I won't go back to anything less. It's just too much of a pain in the ass to battle the sun with a dim monitor and isn't worth the hassle. I guess on a pistol gimbal with the pocket4k you'll have to get what you get unless you hang a monitor from it. At least 350 has to be better than the OG Pocket. What was that, anyone know? 100 nits? 

I’ve got both the BMD Video Assist (unusable in bright light), and the Shogun Inferno (no problem in bright light). 

[graphicnatured]

22 minutes ago, jonpais said:

I’ve got both the BMD Video Assist (unusable in bright light), and the Shogun Inferno (no problem in bright light). 

1,500 nits. Now you're talkin'.

[jonpais]

3 minutes ago, graphicnatured said:

1,500 nits. Now you're talkin'.

I still can’t recommend it though - it’s too huge. Had I known they’d be releasing the Ninja V, I’d have waited. 

[graphicnatured]

3 hours ago, jonpais said:

I still can’t recommend it though - it’s too huge. Had I known they’d be releasing the Ninja V, I’d have waited. 

I prefer the larger screens but I guess that thing weighs a lot too.

[Kisaha]

21 minutes ago, graphicnatured said:

I prefer the larger screens but I guess that thing weighs a lot too.

Everybody likes big screens, but they are not comfortable for monitoring purposes on the field. Try to use one before buying, even the Video Assist is "significantly" bulkier and heavier than the Focus. 5" are just right. For big rigs and sets 7" could be fine I guess, but the last couple of jobs I used 7" IKAN and TV Logic monitors and I didn't like it!

[Snowfun]

The SmallHD sidefinder add-on makes the monitor “usable” irrespective of the ambient lighting - but does make the compact 502 look and feel far too cumbersome. The swing-out mechanism also permits it to be set up for a more casual framing view which is good. It does a good job overall although I find that changing the visible screen isn’t easy with limited access to the joystick. Was hoping to sell it once the Pocket arrives but I suspect it’ll still be needed... 

[Robin Billingham]

12 hours ago, Snuff said:

Here is a comparison of brightness of SmallHD Focus vs BMD Assist and it shows that they almost the same.

 

Surely something must be wrong here? 

350 nit vs 800 nit 

My last monitor was the blackmagic and its very dim, only good in doors and even then in the daytime still not bright enough.

I was looking at buying a smallhd focus just because it should be brighter, ill have to make sure i get it with a good returns policy i guess !

Maybe look at the new Ninja V 1000nits too 

[Anaconda_]

Juicy...

[Anaconda_]

[Anaconda_]

[Axel]

4 hours ago, Anaconda_ said:

The whole philosophy, one could say religion, of the BM cinema camera series is to apply as much internal processing as absolutely necessary and as little as possible. It's a kind of analog-ish purism. No OLPF, only the most basic anti-IR-coating. A "dumb" camera, compared to any modern Sony. 

In addition, noise reduction is very problematic for 4k, because it smudges texture detail, and texture detail is what distinguishes UHD from HD. You will want to use it with painstaking care, and clearly not in-camera. In many cases you will decide that some grain-like noise was better than NR. Furthermore, Resolve Studio has NR, allegedly also improved. I couldn't tell, I only have the free version.

[kye]

29 minutes ago, Axel said:

The whole philosophy, one could say religion, of the BM cinema camera series is to apply as much internal processing as absolutely necessary and as little as possible. It's a kind of analog-ish purism. No OLPF, only the most basic anti-IR-coating. A "dumb" camera, compared to any modern Sony.

IMHO it's an excellent approach.

Light comes into the camera and hits the sensor.  Everything that happens after that will have both technical and aesthetic impacts - depending on what you're trying to do those impacts may not align with what you are trying to accomplish.  The purist philosophy is the most flexible and requires the most amount of work / skill.

Maybe it's just me, but I find that mostly when computers make decisions for me (as they've been instructed to make by their designers) the decisions are not what I would have chosen.