Your main problems with blackmagic cameras?

[jackneeson]

Hi,

I have been looking around on amazon.com for Blackmagic Camera deals and I couldn't help but notice their many negative reviews. Mainly they were the horrible battery life, hard to see the screen in the sun, goes through SD cards like a kid eats a cookie etc.So I was wondering what your top problems with the cameras are and how you work around them? At this point from what I heard, it would probably make sense to get a camera that is more geared towards the film maker and a camera that you don't need a custom software for post production.

Any help will be apprecited.

I didn't find the right solution from the Internet. 

References:
https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25499
Motion graphics video animation agency

Thank you.

    

[Kieran]

The biggest problem by far with Blackmagic cinema cameras is they tend to attract a lot of spam. I'm hoping there will be a firmware update to fix this. 

[Bozzie]

On 6/4/2018 at 3:59 PM, jackneeson said:

Hi,

I have been looking around on amazon.com for Blackmagic Camera deals and I couldn't help but notice their many negative reviews. Mainly they were the horrible battery life, hard to see the screen in the sun, goes through SD cards like a kid eats a cookie etc.So I was wondering what your top problems with the cameras are and how you work around them? At this point from what I heard, it would probably make sense to get a camera that is more geared towards the film maker and a camera that you don't need a custom software for post production.

Any help will be apprecited.

I didn't find the right solution from the Internet. 

References:
https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25499
Motion graphics video animation agency

Thank you.

    

Two main issue's I have with the Pocket is the native crop size (closer to 3.02x than 2.88x) and battery life. Also, the only reason this camera would eat up memory cards is if you're shooting high bitrates --> Prores 422/Prores 422 HQ or the main killer of card space --> RAW. 

My personal solutions:

• Use a speedbooster/focal reducer to reduce crop.
• Use a separate battery cradle that takes, in my case, Sony FP batteries. 
• Shoot Prores LT (ALL my videos are shot in LT)

In the case of online uploads, I see absolutely no reason to shoot in higher bitrates. The compression will kill any "extra detail" you think is justified with the much larger file sizes.

As for the screen, you can pick up a decent 7" 4K field monitor (such as the FW760) for around £120.00gbp.

If you're serious about getting a pocket, I'd say put aside another £200.00gbp for what I'd consider necessary accessories. The "pocket" part of the camera name actually means to put your HAND in your pocket! £££££ ?

Hope that helps.

Best,

-- B

[Kieran]

18 hours ago, Bozzie said:

If you're serious about getting a pocket, I'd say put aside another £200.00gbp for what I'd consider necessary accessories. The "pocket" part of the camera name actually means to put your HAND in your pocket! £££££ ?

Hope that helps.

Best,

-- B

That's great and very useful information. Unfortunately it's no good to the original poster who is a spammer (or a spambot). 

But all good advice to anyone reading it. And I for one found it interesting that you 'only' film in ProRes LT. The results are incredible for such a relatively lowly codec.  Does this also go for film's you made with the BMCC like Shadow Warriors?

[Bozzie]

2 hours ago, Kieran said:

That's great and very useful information. Unfortunately it's no good to the original poster who is a spammer (or a spambot).

Spammer/spambot? Well F**k me. I had no idea!

 

2 hours ago, Kieran said:

But all good advice to anyone reading it. And I for one found it interesting that you 'only' film in ProRes LT. The results are incredible for such a relatively lowly codec.  Does this also go for film's you made with the BMCC like Shadow Warriors?

Thanks, Kieran. I personally wouldn't consider Prores LT a relatively low codec. The target data rate weighs in at around 100mbps. That's GH4/5 [4K] data rates! And double that of a Sony A7s which, from my understanding, comes in at 50mbps. It's plenty and then some ?

Shadow Warriors was shot specifically for The Fighting Spirit Film Festival and hence was shot in RAW. Anything else you've see from me that says 'BMPCC ' is all Prores LT ?

Two brothers (elliander pictures) shot their first feature film titled 'Cosmos' in Prores LT. They did numerous tests and found that this codec gave them the best balance of image quality vs file size. To me, their work is exceptional. 

Best,

-- B

 

[RWR]

"Unfortunately it's no good to the original poster who is a spammer (or a spambot)."

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

[Kieran]

8 hours ago, RWR said:

"Unfortunately it's no good to the original poster who is a spammer (or a spambot)."

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

Take a look around on this forum (particularly the blackmagic sub forum) and you will find lots of similar posts under many different user names. They will all include a line like 'I didn't find the solution on the internet' and then give 'reference links' which are spam. They probably get paid each time the link is clicked on  

The query itself is copied and pasted  from a genuine post from 4 years ago on the official blackmagic site forum

 

[Jim Giberti]

Douchers.