BMPCC Preorder

[albuswulfricbrian]

After Blackmagic announced the BMPCC at NAB, I waited a while to start considering ordering one, and then waited a little longer because I wanted to get my financial ducks in a row in terms of paying for one (as this is really just a hobby for me).  

 

Anyway, now I'm thinking about pre-ordering, but I thought I would ask: is pre-ordering a BMPCC likely to make any difference at this point?  I can see that it can make a difference if you're one of the first ten, or the first hundred or whatever, but at this point will it make any difference?  How easy is it to cancel a pre-order?  I have no problem buying used on eBay or wherever else, and so I'm kind of wondering based on people's past experiences whether I should sit and wait and see how the release goes and wait for one to pop up there, or should I bother to place an order with somewhere like Adorama now.

 

Thanks for answering this admittedly trivial question.

[andy lee]

lets see when they start shipping them !

[mtheory]

It's 50/50, - Blackmagic messed up once but everyone is giving them another chance with fingers crossed. They're saying they're starting to ship out at the end of July, so August is the most likely time they'll start getting into people's hands. 

[Julian]

I had a BMPCC preordered at CVP UK, had to pay like 15% with paypal upfront, but could cancel it whenever I wanted. Guess what I did yesterday... Got my money back the same day.

 

Pre-ordering doesn't hurt. It shouldn't cost you anything. Will it help you getting the camera faster...? No idea. Depends on the amount of camera's the supplier of your choice gets, I suppose.

[richg101]

I think there will be a lot of people cancelling and jumping on the canon raw parade.  so pre orders are probably diminishing as we speak.

 

I'm hoping everyone cancels, jumps on the shallow dof bandwagon like back in 2009 (but this time with raw), and leaves the smaller more tactful sensor size less used leaving potential for us who are sticking with it with the aesthetic edge.  

 

I have to say I'm on the cusp of looking at a 5dmk3, but the idea of a silky smooth s16mm sensor (and its limitations) is one that is very attractive to me, where most are hankering after a larger sensor again. 

[stephen]

Same for me. Was thinking to get the BMPCC but now with the RAW hack am leaning more toward 5D Mark III. Already own GH2 and a couple of m43 lenses and always considered 5D Mk III bloody expensive for amateur like me.  So BMPCC seemed the more logical path, but not anymore. Magic Lantern team really made my life difficult.  :)

 

Not a fan of shallow DOF and full frame aesthetics either but 5D has some key advantages over BMPCC.

                1. It doubles as a great stills camera. Stills photos are important to me. 5D is in fact one of the top stills cameras. With BMPCC will need to have GH2 in my bag with me and GH2 is far from top in stills photo department.    

                2. With BMPCC wide angle lenses are a problem. Have 14mm and 20mm pancakes but they become 40mm and 60m on BMPCC 2.83 crop factor sensor.  And without the GH2 in body correction, they show heavy barrel distortion. You can correct it in post but not sure how good the result will be for RAW video. And it's going to be time consuming. Will need to buy SLR Magic 12mm f1.6 and most likely speed booster + something like Tokina 11-16 to fully cover wide angle. Total damage 2500$ to 2600$, which is very close to Canon 5D Mark III price.  And Tokina 11-16 + speed buster is not small anymore, which is one of the BMPCC advantages.

                3. Great low light capability of Canon 5D.

                4. 1:1 crop factor on Canon 5D, if this works reliably. Suddenly you have the BMPCC s16 crop factor sensor and full frame sensor in one camera. Choose the aesthetics you like. 1:1 crop factor comes also with much better low light capabilities than BMPCC.

                5. Like the image coming out of  5D Mark III RAW  video more than the one from BMCC. This is very subjective and depends on proper grading etc. but most of the time 5D image is more pleasing to me.

 

Biggest problem with 5D so far is hack reliability. BMPCC offers easier workflow with ProRes and use of cheaper flash cards. So for the time being still using my GH2 but again 5D seems to be the better solution for me, if ML team can make the hack 100% stable at 1080p.

[Julian]

Remember you can still use h264 for easier workflow on the 5D ;)
I'm not a huge fan of small DOF either for video but you can always stop down or use 5x crop.

Actually the BMPCC is more expensive regarding lenses. You really need some special glass (and preferably a speed booster)to get a bit of a shallow DOF and wide angle.

I do want to have something next to my 50D, preferably something small... Contemplating if I should keep my GH2 (or go for the G6) or maybe trade it in for a RX100... Have to try anamorphic with the RX100 sometime. If my tiny petit cinevision 1.5x lens works well with it, that would be a great carry around combo...

[Bioskop.Inc]

At the moment I'm still sticking with my preorder of the Pocket.

And as far as DOF & sensor size, i really do think people are missing the boat or not understanding things too well.

I've got steady Raw on the 60D at a more severe crop factor than the Pocket will be & DOF or size factor isn't a problem.

The best thing so far is that i can use a 24mm taking lens & my anamorphic lens - it produces plenty DOF (& is a nice test run for the Pocket). 

If you want really shallow DOF (God only knows why) then spend the extra cash, but over £3k compared to under £1k is a no brainer!

Also, if you can upscale the Canon Raw footage, just imagine what you can do with the CinemaDNGs coming out of the Pocket (if & when that happens)! 

[peederj]

Our Leader on Twitter:

 

 

1. Andrew Reid @EOSHD

   Just to be clear still a huge Blackmagic supporter and love what they are doing. Just need cameras I can use today that's all

    
2. 27m
   Andrew Reid @EOSHD

   M43rd's BMCC delays simply unacceptable for me. With 5D MarK III raw video I have the image quality I need for now

    

   29m
3. Andrew Reid @EOSHD

   Considering cancelling all 3 of my open Blackmagic camera pre-orders. If Blackmagic still need EOSHD coverage, I'm happy to beta test

[Shane Essary]

I put the money aside for a BMPCC, but I won't be paying a premium to be an early adopter.  As mentioned in another thread, my GH2 suddenly isn't "crap" just because ML makes the Canons pretty awesome or the BMPCC gets released.  Since I've already got a sizeable investment in my Kinor glass that I'm enjoying on my GH2, it makes sense to move to another micro 4/3 format.  Again, speaking only for myself.  For working pros, a camera in hand is better than 10 cameras "coming soon any day now".  

[Julian]

 

Our Leader on Twitter:

 

 

1. Andrew Reid @EOSHD

   Just to be clear still a huge Blackmagic supporter and love what they are doing. Just need cameras I can use today that's all

    
2. 27m
   Andrew Reid @EOSHD

   M43rd's BMCC delays simply unacceptable for me. With 5D MarK III raw video I have the image quality I need for now

    

   29m
3. Andrew Reid @EOSHD

   Considering cancelling all 3 of my open Blackmagic camera pre-orders. If Blackmagic still need EOSHD coverage, I'm happy to beta test

 

 

Makes sense.

[Bioskop.Inc]

Having just discovered the awesome ETTR on ML & how to use it to successfully reduce the sensor noise at small reliable crop factors, i'm beginning to really like the idea of the Pocket being delayed! A month, two or three would be lovely...

[Bruno]

"It sounds like the team is still on schedule for the 4K camera. We definitely don't expect anything like the delays we had with the BMCC."

 

http://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6792

[peederj]

"It sounds like the team is still on schedule for the 4K camera. We definitely don't expect anything like the delays we had with the BMCC."

 

http://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6792

 

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

 

I'll believe it when I see it.

[ntblowz]

Actually if you check the footage released so far I am surprised at pretty minimum distortion when paired with 20mm and 14mm

https://vimeo.com/67562461

 

Wide angle lens is not a problem consider there is plenty of super 16mm/cctv lens to use, and native M43 ultra wide lens is still pretty wide on BMPCC.

 

14mm + VCL-ECU1 which gives you 10.5mm, which is about 31.5mm, and 7-14mm equate to 21mm ~ 42mm or 9-18mm equate to  27mm to 54mm

 

Btw if you are shooting raw you need a couple of 64GB 90MB/s card which cost more than $100 each, and you also need to buy really big HDD as they chew TBs of data like nothing. 

 

For me I actually gonna drop on this gear chase syndrome, after talking with my fellow friends who is really good videographer, he has done some pretty amazing stuff with his 550D and 50mm f1.8. He tend to spend lots of time on thinking how to shoot instead of looking at gears.. unlike me lol

 

Same for me. Was thinking to get the BMPCC but now with the RAW hack am leaning more toward 5D Mark III. Already own GH2 and a couple of m43 lenses and always considered 5D Mk III bloody expensive for amateur like me.  So BMPCC seemed the more logical path, but not anymore. Magic Lantern team really made my life difficult.  :)

 

Not a fan of shallow DOF and full frame aesthetics either but 5D has some key advantages over BMPCC.

                1. It doubles as a great stills camera. Stills photos are important to me. 5D is in fact one of the top stills cameras. With BMPCC will need to have GH2 in my bag with me and GH2 is far from top in stills photo department.    

                2. With BMPCC wide angle lenses are a problem. Have 14mm and 20mm pancakes but they become 40mm and 60m on BMPCC 2.83 crop factor sensor.  And without the GH2 in body correction, they show heavy barrel distortion. You can correct it in post but not sure how good the result will be for RAW video. And it's going to be time consuming. Will need to buy SLR Magic 12mm f1.6 and most likely speed booster + something like Tokina 11-16 to fully cover wide angle. Total damage 2500$ to 2600$, which is very close to Canon 5D Mark III price.  And Tokina 11-16 + speed buster is not small anymore, which is one of the BMPCC advantages.

                3. Great low light capability of Canon 5D.

                4. 1:1 crop factor on Canon 5D, if this works reliably. Suddenly you have the BMPCC s16 crop factor sensor and full frame sensor in one camera. Choose the aesthetics you like. 1:1 crop factor comes also with much better low light capabilities than BMPCC.

                5. Like the image coming out of  5D Mark III RAW  video more than the one from BMCC. This is very subjective and depends on proper grading etc. but most of the time 5D image is more pleasing to me.

 

Biggest problem with 5D so far is hack reliability. BMPCC offers easier workflow with ProRes and use of cheaper flash cards. So for the time being still using my GH2 but again 5D seems to be the better solution for me, if ML team can make the hack 100% stable at 1080p.

[peederj]

This is funny:

 

https://vimeo.com/68895788 0:50

 

"Uhhhh...I will believe, you may, uhhh, probably you, you will see them in July for sure. Okay? Especially the Pocket Cinema Camera."

 

:D

 

40 days and 40 nights won't be enough to get the 4K cam into the stores. Try six months or more. But the "Pocket" (whose pocket can fit that?) camera probably does show up in limited quantity and with limited functionality for the first year. I would much rather have a GH2/GH3 if I wanted to use MFT...much better sensors, much more mature product. Or the RX100 for true pocketability. Note that you don't get a free full version of Resolve with the Pocket Cam, which is all the original BMCC owners really have for their money at this point just a few months after finally receiving the product.

[Jacek]

Note that you don't get a free full version of Resolve with the Pocket Cam, which is all the original BMCC owners really have for their money at this point just a few months after finally receiving the product.

 

Note that you actually don't need full version of Resolve for Pocket Cam. Resolve Lite is sufficient (it's biggest limitation is FullHD max resolution, which is just fine for Pocket).

 

BMCC is 2.5k, so without full version of Resolve it wouldn't be fully functional out of the box.

[andy lee]

and he says now the Pocket Cam will do RAW - thats good news

I think this is a reaction to Canon Magic Lantern RAW

[Zach]

and he says now the Pocket Cam will do RAW - thats good news

I think this is a reaction to Canon Magic Lantern RAW

The pocket cam has been advertised with raw since the day it was announced. 

[peederj]

Note that you actually don't need full version of Resolve for Pocket Cam. Resolve Lite is sufficient (it's biggest limitation is FullHD max resolution, which is just fine for Pocket).

 

BMCC is 2.5k, so without full version of Resolve it wouldn't be fully functional out of the box.

 

I predict the Noise Reduction feature of Resolve full version would have been very welcome for the Pocket shooters who aren't likely to be shooting well-lit narratives and have only a tiny sensor to collect available light with.