Blackmagic Micro Cinema Super Guide and Why It Still Matters

[kye]

21 hours ago, osmanovic said:

https://manualzz.com/doc/29120478/insert-month---fairchild-imaging

An interesting report about Fairchild Dual Gain, you can find here:

https://www.redsharknews.com/production/item/5985-modern-sensors-produce-amazing-images-how-do-they-do-it

Thanks, I've asked this question previously but hadn't gotten a definitive answer.

A couple of things that are interesting from that spec sheet are:

• It can do 100fps
• It can do 100fps with rolling shutter and 50fps with a global shutter

I wasn't aware that either the BMMCC or OG BMPCC have either 100fps or a global shutter enabled - does this mean that the sensor from all those years ago is only semi-utilised?  Wow.

Seriously Blackmagic - do an update on these cameras!!

2 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

.

I see minimalism has found another follower...

[osmanovic]

There you are not alone. 🙂 Somebody got excited https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=84865#p470888

[Avenger 2.0]

Have found an open box deal (without resolve license) for the BMMCC for 440 euro. Still worth it? Or better to search a second hand deal with rig/cables/etc included?

[Mr. Freeze]

2 hours ago, Avenger 2.0 said:

Have found an open box deal (without resolve license) for the BMMCC for 440 euro. Still worth it? Or better to search a second hand deal with rig/cables/etc included?

Remember that the BMMCC never came with Resolve Studio. 440€ is a great deal, but take a look at the used market as well. You´ll probably need the cage and a focal reducer anyway. If you already have a lot of accessoires, 440 for a basically new one is a good price.

[bjohn]

1 hour ago, Mr. Freeze said:

440€ is a great deal,

Agreed! I have two of these cameras and might eventually get a third. They are perfect for my uses; the only thing I don't like is those tiny buttons but after a few months of practice navigation becomes second nature. I have the One Little Remote (for both of my cameras) but don't use it much anymore as I'm shooting 3:1 raw these days instead of ProRes. I have the Rawlite OLPF on both cameras, highly recommended. No need and no plans to upgrade to other cameras anytime soon or maybe ever.

[Avenger 2.0]

12 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Remember that the BMMCC never came with Resolve Studio. 440€ is a great deal, but take a look at the used market as well. You´ll probably need the cage and a focal reducer anyway. If you already have a lot of accessoires, 440 for a basically new one is a good price.

Thanks. Unfortunately the SmallRig Cage is discontinued and nowhere to be found in stock. Guess I better wait for a second hand deal with cage included then.

[kye]

15 hours ago, bjohn said:

Agreed! I have two of these cameras and might eventually get a third. They are perfect for my uses; the only thing I don't like is those tiny buttons but after a few months of practice navigation becomes second nature. I have the One Little Remote (for both of my cameras) but don't use it much anymore as I'm shooting 3:1 raw these days instead of ProRes. I have the Rawlite OLPF on both cameras, highly recommended. No need and no plans to upgrade to other cameras anytime soon or maybe ever.

I have vague memories of the Prores being as flexible in post for WB as the RAW - is that right?

Regardless, I shoot Prores HQ with 5600K WB.  So unless you want to change the framerate, which isn't often, and you're using a manual lens, you don't have to access the menus at all.   Just focus and aperture via the lens, and then ND for exposure.

[bjohn]

6 hours ago, kye said:

I have vague memories of the Prores being as flexible in post for WB as the RAW - is that right?

Regardless, I shoot Prores HQ with 5600K WB.  So unless you want to change the framerate, which isn't often, and you're using a manual lens, you don't have to access the menus at all.   Just focus and aperture via the lens, and then ND for exposure.

ProRes HQ is very flexible in terms of white balance, especially if you shoot right where you have it, 5600k. On the Blackmagic Design cinematography forum Dmitry Shijan has a post somewhere describing his experiments with this, saying that ~5600 appears to be the "native" white balance for this camera. It works up to a point; I don't think it would hold together as well if you had WB set at 5600 but were shooting indoors under tungsten at 3200.

The main issue with ProRes is the greenish color cast that shows up sometimes; I've never experienced this with raw (I'm shooting compressed raw, 3:1, as it provides pretty much all the benefits of raw with file sizes only a bit larger than ProRes HQ). I've seen claims that the colors are better overall in raw. That said, I've shot most of the documentary I've been working on for the past 3 years in ProRes HQ, and I've been very happy with the results and have been pleased at the level of flexibility in post. However, since 3:1 raw takes up only a little more space and working with CDNG raw in Resolve 17 using RCM is straightforward, I'm mostly using that now.

I do have to access the menus before every shoot because, like every Blackmagic camera, the date and time need to be reset every day. This isn't a bug, it's by design: the internal clock is powered by a supercapacitor that can be charged very quickly and doesn't need to be replaced every few years as a battery would. But the downside of supercapacitors is that they don't hold their charge very long.

[bjohn]

1 hour ago, bjohn said:

I do have to access the menus before every shoot because, like every Blackmagic camera, the date and time need to be reset every day

I forgot to mention that the easy workaround for this is to just plug your camera into your computer via USB, which resets the camera's clock. In my case, both of my Micros have baseplates for attaching rails so getting at the USB input is actually quite an undertaking and it's faster to use the menu. But if you don't have a baseplate and the USB input is accessible, this is the fastest way to reset date and time.

[Down The Line]

This tread finally convinced me to buy a BMMCC . I couldn't be happer . My old S16 lenses are back . So cool to have a proper cine zoom in this tiny configuration . Might get another one for my super speeds. 

 

 

 

 

 

[mercer]

4 hours ago, Down The Line said:

This tread finally convinced me to buy a BMMCC . I couldn't be happer . My old S16 lenses are back . So cool to have a proper cine zoom in this tiny configuration . Might get another one for my super speeds. 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that's a rig. I'd love to see some footage from that lens. Which SuperSpeeds do you have? I think that French short with the kid in car was shot with SuperSpeeds.

[kye]

P2K and not Micro, but almost identical image....

 

[PannySVHS]

image looks good in this vid. vid is very well done. good find. @kye. it makes me sad about all the gentrification stuff going on in (East) Berlin. A lively image for dead flowers.

[kye]

7 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

image looks good in this vid. vid is very well done. good find. @kye. it makes me sad about all the gentrification stuff going on in (East) Berlin. A lively image for dead flowers.

It is a nice image, no doubt.  I think it's the way it looks so natural even under unforgiving lighting, such as direct sun, that really makes these cameras stand out.

FB has a lot of good groups with people posting finished projects and footage on a regular basis.  It's a different crowd..

 

[kye]

Just found this, which is absolutely spectacular.  If you think you need to shoot in 4K, think again.

Simply wonderful.

[Tim Sewell]

33 minutes ago, kye said:

Just found this, which is absolutely spectacular.  If you think you need to shoot in 4K, think again.

Although it's upscaled to 4K with Superscale, which is only available in the paid version of Resolve. But very nice, nonetheless.

[TomTheDP]

Yeah 4K isn't noticeable unless its showing on a giant screen. Great footage, always wanted to get this camera but it won't really matcha as a Bcam to my current A cams.

[kye]

5 hours ago, TomTheDP said:

Yeah 4K isn't noticeable unless its showing on a giant screen. Great footage, always wanted to get this camera but it won't really matcha as a Bcam to my current A cams.

Upgrade your A cams!

[TomTheDP]

49 minutes ago, kye said:

Upgrade your A cams!

not much upgrade options past an Alexa 😅

[kye]

5 hours ago, TomTheDP said:

not much upgrade options past an Alexa 😅

True!

I thought the Micro matched pretty well to the Alexa?  Unless you're talking about 4K+ Alexas and shooting a hyper-modern look with the latest high-end cine lenses?

This is a slight aside, but I've been seeing the promo videos they have for their new Signature Zoom lenses and dear god are they going for a sharp look with those videos!  I understand why of course, everyone who can afford to use ARRI knows you can soften lenses up in post of course, but I was thinking how I wasn't really a fan of that particular treatment!

If it was Christmas and my birthday and I won lotto too, I'd wish for a BM Pocket Cine Camera in the P2K form factor with an updated 2.8K sensor with the same colour science, and set to the global shutter mode rather than rolling shutter.  Still, the P2K and M2K (Micro) are pretty amazing for what they cost and how big they are.