Official statement from Blackmagic on new camera shipping

[Andrew Reid]

Simon Westland of Blackmagic Design EMEA

"Blackmagic Design is making significant progress in production of the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. Full production manufacturing is underway on the Pocket Cinema Camera with first production units in final testing. This is inline with our initial expectations of the end of July and means the camera will start to ship in quantity during August. There are several weeks of work to do on Production Camera 4K before this will enter full production manufacturing, however we expect to ship the first quantities of this model before the end of August."

More to follow.

[url=http://www.eoshd.com/content/10867/official-statement-from-blackmagic-on-new-camera-shipping]Read the full article here[/url]

[pat1]

"first quantities" meaning maybe one or two to europe then, maybe 3 by this time next year.

[Brenton]

I was at SEMPTE today and was told that the pocket is on track and the 4k may be another couple of weeks..

[Andrew Reid]

"first quantities" meaning maybe one or two to europe then, maybe 3 by this time next year.

 

I think part of the problem is that Blackmagic keep attempting to put out the fire by adding gasoline.

 

First they say September would be 'a best case scenario' - then the official statement they raise expectations by saying August. Bit risky no?

 

Expectations are already too high and there's a good chance that in the final development stages or production stages that a camera might encounter issues that take further work to solve.

 

It would be better if they just said 'second half 2013' and give themselves some breathing space.

 

Under promise and over deliver rather than the other way round.

[peederj]

The website still says "shipping July" but (all together now, with feeling!) it doesn't mention which year.

 

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicproductioncamera4k/

 

Again I'm going long and betting the 4K camera never ships. The sensor sucks. Even worse than the BMCC.

 

It's one thing to destroy your reputation for timeliness. But far worse to destroy it for quality!  :o

 

They have one great product in Resolve and I can only imagine the Resolve guys (who were bought) praying this bizarre camera expedition Petty is on doesn't bring down the company. Scratch is a very powerful alternative (the bicubic filter is very cool...liquefy for video) but the design is a bit old-school like Apple Color was.

[Andrew Reid]

Peederj, seriously, give it a rest.

 

Final warning.

[peederj]

Andrew, if you ban me you'll be banned from all the sites you do the exact same thing on. Fair warning.

[Andrew Reid]

It is only a small but significant part of your C100 fanboyism I can no longer accept on this community - the completely nonsensical statements about products you have little or no experience with.

 

"The sensor sucks. Even worse than the BMCC."

 

Simply not true.

 

This forum is quoted all over the place as 'EOSHD' and I am not happy to have bulls*** spread around by users with an anti-Blackmagic vendetta. Opinion and speculation are 100% fine. Just make sure it isn't bulls***. Simple!

[nigelbb]

Wow! I see that CVP actually have stock at last of the original BMCC EF mount. I do check occasionally & this is the very first time that I have seen they had stock http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/index.php?t=product/blackmagic_cinema_camera

 

So on this basis you can expect to be able to buy a Pocket Camera or 4K off the shelf in time for Xmas 2014.

[pat1]

Wow! I see that CVP actually have stock at last of the original BMCC EF mount. I do check occasionally & this is the very first time that I have seen they had stock http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/index.php?t=product/blackmagic_cinema_camera

 

So on this basis you can expect to be able to buy a Pocket Camera or 4K off the shelf in time for Xmas 2014.

 

Just glad the magic lantern came along, I like my cameras to be tangible.

[Andrew Reid]

They have the Pocket camera as expected 31st July - http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/index.php?t=product/blackmagic_pocket_cinema_camera_mft

[Giovanni Bertani]

No independent film maker has used this camera in its final version so we can not judge. I am personally waiting to download and grade some footage before any decision or judgment. The rest is just guessing.

After using the 5d MKIII in raw my expectations are very high. The bar has risen.

The only thing I am sure about is the ergonomics that should be much more improved.

[peederj]

What experience do you have with the BMD4K sensor Andrew? You yourself reported today John Brawley (who has the best seat in the house to judge what BMD is doing) says he prefers the old BMCC sensor overall. We heard from a credible source a dealer back that judgment up (OK, potentially sourced from Brawley as well). They haven't gotten the ISO over 400 yet and refuse to post samples. And I've read test reports on that sensor that claim the effective dynamic range is more like 8 stops in global shutter mode. Dismal.

 

4K res only helps if you're in perfect focus. And the cam apparently only sends out 4K SDI to whatever EVF you might have wanted to assist focus with (how much will it cost to handle that?). Is the peaking so fantastic on that glare-filled unarticulated LCD that you can pull 4K-quality focus on it reliably?

 

I think Brawley looks out for number 1 quite well. He's not going to lash himself to the BMD mast, he has a career separate from them to preserve from Petty's hard and stealthy marketing. He lets it be known, albeit quietly, what the real truth is, and it's a credit to you that you amplify those reports.

[Andrew Reid]

The only thing I am sure about is the ergonomics that should be much more improved.

 

It's not all bad on the ergonomics front. When I used the Ikonoskop on the same shoot as the BMCC last winter, the BMCC was an absolute doddle to get rolling. It's a very simple camera to use and you can set it up in seconds on the touch screen.

 

It just needs some simple changes - 

 

The weight needs lowering and distributing more evenly front-to-back. It is quite a narrow body but taller and wider than a DSLR.

 

The screen has quite poor colour and contrast though good detail. I'd like to see a more recent panel on the 4K model, OLED would be ideal and it needs to be articulated, otherwise people will just be adding a spidery arm and a chunky Marshall and that kind of defies the point of having so much of the camera itself taken up by a large screen.

 

mFT mount they have already done - smart move.

 

ND filter built in would be next step.

 

Pocket Camera not used so no idea if it feels 'right'. ReWo brought a mock up to me a few months ago of the camera they made from official dimensions from foam in the factory and it feels good in the hand but the record button is awkwardly placed on the top.

[mjones41]

Why can't they just add the active mount to the existing BMCC MFT?  I really want the electronic focus rack that the GH3 has.  Yes I know, buy a GH3.

[mtheory]

My local dealer claims the 4K camera will be available in August. Right around the time of the rumoured new 50mp 4K DSLR from Canon. 

[Andrew Reid]

Updated with full statement - http://www.eoshd.com/content/10867/official-statement-from-blackmagic-on-new-camera-shipping

[tosvus]

I agree with your concerns;

a) BMD should be more conservative with their estimates. September would have been a better bet for 4K (considering the camera is not still in production!). They must be the glass-half-full types! ;)

b) Wondering what they mean by limited quantities for Pocket. A handful? Few hundreds? I get the impression (and maybe I am just too tied into the forums and over-estimating here) there are thousands of pre-orders..

[indianajones]

I understand the concern everyone has, considering Blackmagic's past issues, but has anyone on this board been a manufacturer of a high-tech product?  It's not easy to pull together the massive amount of engineering, manufacturing, supply, and cost issues that constantly pull against each other.  If Blackmagic is telling the truth, then I would consider "a few weeks late" on two simultaneous year-long projects to be a successful on-time shipment.

 

But hey, I'm not holding my breath either.  I live in their world, I know what it's like. Let's just wait and see what happens.

[Caleb Genheimer]

I never will understand people that pre-order such a significant piece of gear, but I guess that's just how I go about things. Even when I got my GH2, it had been out for some time, and Intra hacking was already a thing. It just seems to make more sense to wait and see how a camera performs in the wild. 

 

For me, this whole "when will it ship?" question seems silly. Sure, I like reading about newly announced cameras and their specs, but I wouldn't even bother with a camera unless it has been well tested by a decent customer base.