Shooting Formula 1 at the Italian Grand Prix with the legendary Canon 200mm F1.8 and Blackmagic Pocket 6K

[Andrew Reid]

I bought the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K recently and decided to take it on a shoot at Monza, to film last weekend's Formula One race and famous old banking (where sequences for 1966's John Frankenheimer film Grand Prix were shot). I also had a few stills cameras with me including the Canon EOS RP, and considerably more capable Fuji X-T30 and Samsung's famous last camera, the NX1, the only good one they ever made. These are super-fast small bodies for travelling light and the NX1 in particular with it's stunning 4K quality turned out to be perfect for sports photography with the 15fps continuous shooting rate.

Read the full article

[keessie65]

Nice that you still like the NX1. For several reasons it still beats new cameras in it's class. NX1 is now 6 years old? inbelievable ? I replaced NX1 by X-T3 last year, but have my NX500 for traveling.

 

[Mako Sports]

I agree with a loy of the article.

BM cameras still have FAR to many issues to be considered for prime time paid work imo, I believe the GH5 is a better option.

The EOS rp is literally just a full frame SL2/SL3 lmao

[crazyrunner33]

What was up with some of the sites saying there was around a 500 dollar price drop on the P6K and then deleting the articles?

The text still populates in a Google search description for Cinema 5D, but they deleted the article.

Quote

BMPCC 6K Price Dropped By $499 | cinema5D

A surprise move by Blackmagic Design, you can now pick up the Pocket Cinema Camera 6K from B&H for less than $2000! Just as IBC 2019 is about to kick off, you can pick up this sweet deal on the hotly rated Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K, now for less than $2000.00 from

New Shooter was reporting the same thing.

Quote

 

BMPCC 6K now $1,996 USD, BMPCC 4K now $1,036 USD ...

In somewhat of a shock, Blackmagic has dropped the price on several of their cameras just ahead of IBC. The price of the BMPCC 6K has ...

 

 

[thebrothersthre3]

Yeah the blackmagic needs a monitor when using in sunlight. I'd not get it for run and gun stuff, or situations where I don't want a rigged up system. 

[majoraxis]

45 minutes ago, crazyrunner33 said:

What was up with some of the sites saying there was around a 500 dollar price drop on the P6K and then deleting the articles?

The text still populates in a Google search description for Cinema 5D, but they deleted the article.

New Shooter was reporting the same thing.

 

I checked BH Photo and it is still $2499, maybe we will see a price drop tomorrow - first day of IBC. Seems like a good move for Blackmagic to make though I don't think they needed to lower the pock to $1036 to sell it, but still great news for those how were  considering purchasing either one.

[jpleong]

2 hours ago, Mako Sports said:

The EOS rp is literally just a full frame SL2/SL3 lmao

No. The SL2 can shoot 1080/24p. ?

[Yurolov]

Rigging it up is not a problem for most people. The image quality is still worlds better than anything you can get from something like a gh5. And there are a lot who do use it for paid work. More importantly, it levels the field for indie film-makers like never before. I'm sure the Gh5 is a better in a lot of things, like corporate work (if that is your cup of tea), but image is king imo. Get a T5, external monitor and a power solution and you are good to go. It will still end up being more compact than a lot of other cinema cameras. 

[buggz]

I still like to use my Canon 200/1.8L, and 50/1.0L on the Panasonic GH5 via Metabones 0.64XL, Fuji XT-2 via Fringer Pro, and now with Fuji GFX 50R via TechArt Pro.

Still working great.

I would sooo love to go to an F1!

[OliKMIA]

"Why isn’t the screen articulated? Why isn’t it visible in even moderate sunlight? For those used to the convenience of shooting cinematic video on mirrorless cameras, it breaks every simple convention."

Apparently the EVA1 screen is also a piece of garbage: too small, not bright enough and very reflective. This is just dumbfounding for $6,500 camera that came out after the GH5 which has a much better screen. All they had to do is to recycle the GH5 screen.

[thebrothersthre3]

Everyone needs to follow Fuji with 1000 nit screens 

[currensheldon]

The EVA-1 screen is horrendous - and I really like that camera. The Swit-55 5” screen is a great replacement and with a sunhood can easily be used outdoors. It also doesn’t take up much more space than the screen that comes with the camera.

But for something that is supposed to be small and already has a 5” screen, seems really dumb BMD didn’t make the Pocket screens more usable. I think Andrew hit it right on the head - great image and an amazing codec in a camera that is a bit of a disaster. I got the Pocket 4k and it locked up on me three times and just randomly died twice with about half battery life left. Returned it promptly. I wouldn’t even trust it on small personal projects, let alone for a real job. 

 

 

 

[jbCinC_12]

6 hours ago, majoraxis said:

I checked BH Photo and it is still $2499, maybe we will see a price drop tomorrow - first day of IBC. Seems like a good move for Blackmagic to make though I don't think they needed to lower the pock to $1036 to sell it, but still great news for those how were  considering purchasing either one.

They just have to tease, do they?  It would be good to know.

[RWR]

Battery issues  were known here. I would expect at minimum the BM battery grip/expander before heading out.

Screen issues and alternatives known as well.

I'd like to know more about lag using the card though. 

[Xavier Plagaro Mussard]

How can someone put out a camera that doesn't work with the battery it is designed to work with?

[SR]

Every time the NX1 gets mentioned, I return.

[DanFloyd]

It’s tough to compare the any model in the pocket range to DSLRs. It’s not a dslr. It’s a cinema camera that’s shaped like a dslr and the battery life has always sucked... because it’s a cinema camera. It’s powering four onboard microphones (which sound pretty fantastic for what they are), plus everything needed to run a 6k s35 sensor in raw, continuously. Name a cinema camera that doesn’t require an external battery. Complaining about the battery life and memory usage is like complaining about the crappy gas mileage in a heavy SUV. you’re not getting it for the battery life, you’re getting it for the top-notch video quality in a DSLR form factor. Get yourself a juice box battery, a proper CFast card, and an atomos monitor, and now you have a Cinema quality rig that rivals that of high end cameras in a size you can fit in a backpack. One that records extremely versatile codecs, continuously (without having to stop and create a new clip every 15min), and with one of the most user-friendly user interfaces in this range, where you don’t have to weed your way through photo settings and enable different modes to transform it into a video camera (why I will never go back to the GH5). 

[noone]

That 200 1.8 would be a fantastic lens for live music in smallish venues (pub and club low light gigs especially).

While I am envious and would love to have one and use it there, I can not help but think a much cheaper EF 300 2.8 AF of the same vintage would do as well if not better at Monza (as well as being lighter though longer).

[abehalpert]

Thanks for the interesting info!

I'd love to see your review of the S1H once you get your hands on it, as well as a comparison to the IQ of the S1.

[ghostwind]

22 hours ago, noone said:

That 200 1.8 would be a fantastic lens for live music in smallish venues (pub and club low light gigs especially).

While I am envious and would love to have one and use it there, I can not help but think a much cheaper EF 300 2.8 AF of the same vintage would do as well if not better at Monza (as well as being lighter though longer).

The 200 f/2 is better IMHO with IS too. Still, it's very much a specialty lens. For sure a 300 2.8 with a 1.4xTC is a much better option for any sport. I want to see the videos!!