Black Magic Pocket OG 2019

[BTM_Pix]

35 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

Sounds like the micro HDMI is very breakable which sucks. I can always expose using tools rather than using the screen image though. 

Smallrig do a half cage for it that has a locking grip for the HDMI cable.

Alternatively, you can get this from Movcam that gives you a plug in full size HDMI and power barrel connector adapter that can also be secured into a cage.

[thebrothersthre3]

1 hour ago, BTM_Pix said:

Smallrig do a half cage for it that has a locking grip for the HDMI cable.

I like that plug. If I just left it secured into the camera with the cage all the time it would probably last forever.

[kye]

10 hours ago, Phil A said:

I keep looking for the Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera all the time because it's clearly a bit better than the BMPCC for my needs but I have never seen it below 750€ used here in Germany and that's just not what I'm looking to part with.

Also, and this probably sounds dumb, I am not sure I could ever go to a camera without IBIS again after the GH5. The fact that you can handhold static shots so well massively changed how much I actually use a tripod for casual stuff. That's also the single one grain of salt making me hesitant about the BMPCC4k.

Yeah, I keep telling people that there are two types of cameras, those with IBIS and everything else.  If you can't work with tripods or "professional rigs" then your choices are IBIS, the 1% of lenses that have IS, or making every video with the aesthetic of a 60s 8mm home video.

If it wasn't for IBIS I'd be in the P4K thread hanging out and complaining about how I haven't received my P4K yet with everyone else ?

6 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

I'll probably end up using prores unless I really need the highlight headroom or am doing something crazy to the color in post. Churches can sometimes be a high dynamic range situation with large windows so RAW could come in handy for that. I kind of forgot about the moire issues though can't complain for $300. For whatever reason magic lantern makes me feel uneasy for paid work, I mean if I am leaving the camera unattended to record for an hour. I use slow motion a lot for weddings but for personal work, though I actually love slo mo, I rarely use it.

IIRC it does Prores HQ, which is 10-bit.  Is that supported by P2K?  10-bit would allow a lot more DR than 8-bit, so maybe the DR is ok in Prores?

6 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

I love the BMPCC. I still have mine, though I don't really use it anymore. Once I got the GH5 it just became too much of a hassle to rig it up with an external battery and monitor. But the image and colors, they are wonderful. And it also looks very good upscaled to 2K, maybe even 4K. We used mine as a b-cam for a friend's BMCC and he was able to mix them together perfectly. 

I dunno about using it on weddings though! It's not great for low light and while there are no recording limits it gets warm real quick. 

You could even rig it up with a tiny fan - for a wide shot for a wedding you don't need sound, and this isn't the camera for recording sound anyway!

6 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

I like that plug. If I just left it secured into the camera with the cage all the time it would probably last forever.

Yeah, and even if you broke it you just replace the cable and the camera is still fine.  It's great to have options like this.

[thebrothersthre3]

43 minutes ago, kye said:

Yeah, I keep telling people that there are two types of cameras, those with IBIS and everything else.  If you can't work with tripods or "professional rigs" then your choices are IBIS, the 1% of lenses that have IS, or making every video with the aesthetic of a 60s 8mm home video.

If it wasn't for IBIS I'd be in the P4K thread hanging out and complaining about how I haven't received my P4K yet with everyone else ?

IIRC it does Prores HQ, which is 10-bit.  Is that supported by P2K?  10-bit would allow a lot more DR than 8-bit, so maybe the DR is ok in Prores?

You could even rig it up with a tiny fan - for a wide shot for a wedding you don't need sound, and this isn't the camera for recording sound anyway!

Yeah, and even if you broke it you just replace the cable and the camera is still fine.  It's great to have options like this.

Yeah that rig is a life saver.

Also yes it does do prores 10 bit, so I am guessing Dynamic range is pretty good, especially with highlight recovery in Davinci. A fan would probably work too, considering I am not going to be shooting in sunlight I am hoping it'll be good to go though.

I just saw one on ebay with a broken HDMI starting at $225, would have been tempting if I hadn't bought this one.

[graphicnatured]

6 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

Yeah if I had a bit more money I'd have got the pocket 4k, though I don't really need it and I also love quirky cameras.  Sounds like the micro HDMI is very breakable which sucks. I can always expose using tools rather than using the screen image though. 

Just be careful and you'll be okay. Ive shot a ton of sports, handheld and with a gimbal. Taken it on trips and my micro HDMI is still okay. I use ultra thin HDMI cables so they are extra flexible and this helps. Still, if you can rig it up, this is best option.

[thebrothersthre3]

20 minutes ago, graphicnatured said:

Just be careful and you'll be okay. Ive shot a ton of sports, handheld and with a gimbal. Taken it on trips and my micro HDMI is still okay. I use ultra thin HDMI cables so they are extra flexible and this helps. Still, if you can rig it up, this is best option.

I'll keep that in mind too. It probably won't see a ton of heavy use outside of long recording sessions which I rarely do. I will definitely use it on short films though. Maybe I'll fall in love with RAW and be using it all the time though. 

[anonim]

17 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

 do you miss the RAW recording?

As with most of my great (to the raw roots) and unhappy interrupted loves - it is best for me to pretend that we never met, but I know very well that big parts of me are still there...

[jpfilmz]

On 2/13/2019 at 12:18 AM, thebrothersthre3 said:

Just got this camera, waiting on it to come. Interested if anyone here still uses one. Would enjoy seeing work done on it or hearing experiences. 

My reasoning was:

1. no record limits (needed for C cam for weddings)
2. really cheap (350 bucks used)
3.  RAW 12 bit
4. dynamic range seems pretty remarkable 

It still produces a great image.  Below is RAW 12bit upscaled to 4k in davinchi resolve.
 

 

[IronFilm]

On 2/14/2019 at 12:02 PM, kye said:

You could even rig it up with a tiny fan - for a wide shot for a wedding you don't need sound, and this isn't the camera for recording sound anyway!

I have filmed weddings with an  OG BMPCC, and yeah it got warm! But never overheated and shut down. 

 

And the vast majority of the time I reckon ProResHQ is a better choice practically speaking than raw 

[dbp]

I still have mine, still use it and probably won't ever get rid of it.

Once it's kitted up, it's surprisingly reliable.

With the Juicebox magicpower battery, I can shoot all day. The sandisk cards are getting cheaper and cheaper, so even long recording times are doable. I've used it as a camera for long event shoots and it's never once corrupted clips, even in the hot sun for hours, while my GH4 has. 

The SLR-Magic Vari - ND II helps make it more run and gun friendly outside.  Works great with the Zhiyun Crane.

RAW is of course, awesome, but Pro Res HQ and 422 are godsends for work that doesn't require that extra 5%. 

[Bioskop.Inc]

Still got my OG Pocket & all I can say is forget RAW, simply because ProRes HQ has all the DR you'll ever need - RAW also produces way too much M&A & noise, whilst I've never seen in it in PRHQ. Also the highlight roll off is lovely, even if you clip it slightly & I've had to do that a few times in the past - no complaints.

It does get hot - i've burnt my finger on the metal casing before, but it was about +30 degrees when I that happened!

Make sure you've got the latest FW on it, as they made huge strides with the Video mode setting & the colour it produced - it was like they'd added a BM LUT to the Film setting & you still had room to grade it more.

Be really careful of the mini-HDMI port as it is really fragile - i've heard of it breaking even with a cage clamp. Which brings me onto the screen - don't believe all the rubbish about how bad it is. I never used anything but it's screen & I was able to nail focus every time - I could pull focus using it too!

IR/UV cut filter essential. And if i remember correctly WB of 4500 was always a safe bet, which you could easily tweak in post if need be.

[mercer]

5 minutes ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

And if i remember correctly WB of 4500 was always a safe bet, which you could easily tweak in post if need be

Yup, that was the case with the Micro as well. I used 4400 as a sort of AWB and I would get better color with that setting and adjusting in post than I would trying to nail the WB... but I admit that could be user error. I admittedly had trouble grading BMD Film with the Pocket/Micro and eventually was one of the reasons I switched to the 5D3.

[PannySVHS]

Was close to buying one, with the pocket speedbooster, halfcage and 2x128 GB SDs. I sold for little over 500bucks. Crazy, I didnt bid in the end! But still looking for a BMCC mft package or good deals on FS700s. Fancying a F3 package with rigging and loads of extras for super low money!

[graphicnatured]

3 hours ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

Which brings me onto the screen - don't believe all the rubbish about how bad it is. I never used anything but it's screen & I was able to nail focus every time - I could pull focus using it too!

Really?!! You have better eyes than I do. To me, outside in the sun this screen is useless. This is why I bought a Zacuto loupe for it when not using an external monitor. 

[thebrothersthre3]

7 hours ago, IronFilm said:

I have filmed weddings with an  OG BMPCC, and yeah it got warm! But never overheated and shut down. 

Good to hear!!! 

 

6 hours ago, dbp said:

I still have mine, still use it and probably won't ever get rid of it.

Once it's kitted up, it's surprisingly reliable.

With the Juicebox magicpower battery, I can shoot all day. The sandisk cards are getting cheaper and cheaper, so even long recording times are doable. I've used it as a camera for long event shoots and it's never once corrupted clips, even in the hot sun for hours, while my GH4 has. 

The SLR-Magic Vari - ND II helps make it more run and gun friendly outside.  Works great with the Zhiyun Crane.

RAW is of course, awesome, but Pro Res HQ and 422 are godsends for work that doesn't require that extra 5%. 

Yeah cards are getting pretty dang cheap. I am looking at getting a 256gb card in case I need to do a long recording. Its very good to hear it won't shut down even in hot weather.

 

5 hours ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

Still got my OG Pocket & all I can say is forget RAW, simply because ProRes HQ has all the DR you'll ever need - RAW also produces way too much M&A & noise, whilst I've never seen in it in PRHQ. Also the highlight roll off is lovely, even if you clip it slightly & I've had to do that a few times in the past - no complaints.

It does get hot - i've burnt my finger on the metal casing before, but it was about +30 degrees when I that happened!

Make sure you've got the latest FW on it, as they made huge strides with the Video mode setting & the colour it produced - it was like they'd added a BM LUT to the Film setting & you still had room to grade it more.

Be really careful of the mini-HDMI port as it is really fragile - i've heard of it breaking even with a cage clamp. Which brings me onto the screen - don't believe all the rubbish about how bad it is. I never used anything but it's screen & I was able to nail focus every time - I could pull focus using it too!

IR/UV cut filter essential. And if i remember correctly WB of 4500 was always a safe bet, which you could easily tweak in post if need be.

I'll have to check the firmware. I like playing with crazy dynamic range scenes so RAW may be something I'll use a lot. Though I am sure prores is advantageous in some ways with less noise. I'll be extra careful with the HDMI, I plan on keeping a small mini to full HDMI adapter in the camera with the cage clamp at all times. I would hope never removing it will minimize any damage. 

Waiting on a B&W IR filter in the mail. WB at 4500 is an interesting idea. 

 

4 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Was close to buying one, with the pocket speedbooster, halfcage and 2x128 GB SDs. I sold for little over 500bucks. Crazy, I didnt bid in the end! But still looking for a BMCC mft package or good deals on FS700s. Fancying a F3 package with rigging and loads of extras for super low money!

The BMCC go for more especially the MFT mounts. I wanted one though the internal battery was a turn off for me as well as the black sun issue(did it ever get resolved??). I love the bigger body and screen though. 

I used to own an F3 but sold it off, it definitely had a nice image but I like smaller camera form factors better.  The FS700 is a really nice setup with an external recorder. It can do 4k 120 RAW and 240p HD RAW. I've heard the dynamic range is really good too. Kind of an odd and bulky setup though nothing beats it at its price point right now. With 4K raw recording its a good deal future proof too. 


I just got it in the mail btw, playing with RAW. Even though I'll have to rig it up more I really like the body. The grip is just the best I've ever handled. So friggin comfortable. 

[meudig]

5 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

I'll be extra careful with the HDMI, I plan on keeping a small mini to full HDMI adapter in the camera with the cage clamp at all times. I would hope never removing it will minimize any damage. 

I've heard of people losing the ability to use external monitoring through electrical damage too, from using questionable power solutions. (source needed) My bmpcc that I got rid of last summer (oh boy do I regret it), I bought second hand and while it did not have any obvious physical damage to the hdmi-port, I could never get hdmi signal from it.

[thebrothersthre3]

13 minutes ago, meudig said:

I've heard of people losing the ability to use external monitoring through electrical damage too, from using questionable power solutions. (source needed) My bmpcc that I got rid of last summer (oh boy do I regret it), I bought second hand and while it did not have any obvious physical damage to the hdmi-port, I could never get hdmi signal from it.

Weird, maybe I should research if my power bank is harmful. 

On another note the RAW footage has realtime playback on my PC, which is cool as no other camera I've ever used has that, well maybe like a Canon EOS M 35mbps recording. 

[thebrothersthre3]

I think Black Magic should pull a Canon and release a Pocket v2 with the old sensor but with Braw, full size hdmi, and a brighter tilt screen at like a $650 price point. Well that would probably still be cooler than Canon. I'd probably get it.

[kye]

4 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

The BMCC go for more especially the MFT mounts. I wanted one though the internal battery was a turn off for me as well as the black sun issue(did it ever get resolved??).

No idea about resolved in firmware, but IIRC Resolve has it as a tick-box option to fix it.

2 hours ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

I think Black Magic should pull a Canon and release a Pocket v2 with the old sensor but with Braw, full size hdmi, and a brighter tilt screen at like a $650 price point. Well that would probably still be cooler than Canon. I'd probably get it.

Interesting idea.  I suppose the difference might be that Canon could do it because they presumably have their own production facilities and so old moulds and machinery tooling would either still be in use or would still be in a warehouse somewhere.  With BM making things in such small numbers who knows if the tooling is still around.  Also, who knows if they still have stock of the sensors etc, Canon probably buys them in such huge quantities that they have sheds of then sitting around waiting to be used in every new camera announced for years, whereas BM might have only bought enough of that sensor to do a run and might not have any more in their stock piles.

[thebrothersthre3]

2 hours ago, kye said:

No idea about resolved in firmware, but IIRC Resolve has it as a tick-box option to fix it.

Interesting idea.  I suppose the difference might be that Canon could do it because they presumably have their own production facilities and so old moulds and machinery tooling would either still be in use or would still be in a warehouse somewhere.  With BM making things in such small numbers who knows if the tooling is still around.  Also, who knows if they still have stock of the sensors etc, Canon probably buys them in such huge quantities that they have sheds of then sitting around waiting to be used in every new camera announced for years, whereas BM might have only bought enough of that sensor to do a run and might not have any more in their stock piles.

That's true, probably not realistic for Black Magic. Even though they somehow managed to put the Pocket 4k out at $1300. I really appreciate small companies like Black Magic though.