A new hands-on report with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera

[Andrew Reid]

[img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/blackmagic-vs-c300.jpg[/img]

Blackmagic Cinema Camera - meet Canon C300. Pic by BMD tester [url="http://www.twitter.com/brawlster"]John Brawley on Twitter[/url]

Blackmagic paid a visit to British pro video camera dealer [url="http://blog.creativevideo.co.uk/2012/06/a-quick-hands-on-with-the-blackmagic-design-cinema-camera/"]CVP[/url] this week. CVP are the people I have my pre-order with and the expected shipping date is fast approaching - within the next 2 weeks. Exciting times!

Here's what CVP had to report about the 2.5K raw shooting marvel.

[chulx1001]

The actual resolution and sharpness of this camera are what I'm most concerned.

[amweber21]

Sitting next to the C300 makes me wish they would develop a handle for it like the C300's with dials and manual controls plugging into its remote port. I expect a whole slew of cages to help though.

[richg101]

such a shame they went with a less handheld friendly design. and non articulated screen. The bull horns don't look like they will offer much in the way of comfortable handling with a 2kg lump hanging off them -meaning a waist level shooting style will probably be most comfortable with handheld shots, but without articulated screen this doesn't seem like a viable option either. The fs100 and c300 are brilliant form factors imo. I think its a shame BM didn't use a similar style -offering both handheld and tripod friendly options.

[JHines]

[quote name='chulx1001' timestamp='1342281778' post='13858']
The actual resolution and sharpness of this camera are what I'm most concerned.
[/quote]

I feel a lot of people are going to be let down by the resolution of this camera. So far all of the test footage looks not much sharper than Canon's current round of DSLR's. Maybe a touch sharper than everything except the 5DIII with sharpening in post. Even if the Blackmagic camera turns out to be a fail it will still be a sucess as it will bring a lot of attention to the sub-$6,000 market and push other manufacturers in their quest to make something truly professional for that price or less.

[Andrew Reid]

[quote name='JHines' timestamp='1342299022' post='13865']
I feel a lot of people are going to be let down by the resolution of this camera. So far all of the test footage looks not much sharper than Canon's current round of DSLR's. Maybe a touch sharper than everything except the 5DIII with sharpening in post. Even if the Blackmagic camera turns out to be a fail it will still be a sucess as it will bring a lot of attention to the sub-$6,000 market and push other manufacturers in their quest to make something truly professional for that price or less.
[/quote]

Not what I've seen. It looks very organic and detailed, way better than the 5D Mark III in the resolution stakes and raw stuff requires sharpening in post anyway - so hard to judge the footage unless you have had a go at grading it yourself. So better to hold judgement for now.

[andy lee]

The Question is how much better is it than a hacked GH2 ?
both have similar crop factors and similar size sensors?
yes BM is 2.5k ...I'm holding off until I see one in more detail , I eagerly await Andrew's first full hands on review.

[Germy1979]

Detail wise, the GH2 with one of those holy sh-t bitrates on it will resolve 2 fleas playing poker on the other side of the street at a 400% crop. The problems are in the shadows and the highlights. I guess you really pay for the amount of freedom you get with the images, and Raw is about as untethered as it gets. Most of the dslr's out there have a stamp of their own character they put on images. If you watch a 5dmk2 flick you can usually tell right off the bat. (aliasing, moire aside....it's a pretty vibrant image. Check out "devinsupertramp" 's videos on youtube sometime...)

Heavy doesn't bother me one bit. Even though my gh2 rapes a 7d image with no lube and harsh language, the 7d feels like i'm holding a damn camera in my hands.

I'd love to get my hands on a Kineraw 35 personally but that's probably a $5,000 difference. A whole other BMCC at that point...with some lovin.

Albeit, you may not touch it until next summer:) lol

[Germy1979]

[quote name='chulx1001' timestamp='1342281778' post='13858']
The actual resolution and sharpness of this camera are what I'm most concerned.
[/quote]

1080p is like, 2 or 3 megapixels when it's all said and done right? These big $65,000 to $100,000 cinema cameras approach their sensor tech with a different angle though. Cameras like the Alexa, F65, Epic, etc... - the D800 packs more megapixels than they do, or most any camera on the market right now for that matter.. But we know what that does for DR... Film's not the sharpest image i've ever seen, but it has the freedom "TO" be, and that's huge. I want a camera that mimics how my "eyes" perceive an image if i'm looking out of a window in a dim bedroom. The walls aren't black. I can expose for what's outside and still retain detail in the room. A raw, 13 stop image with a fast lens and a polarizer will probably let me do that a lot better than a GH2 right now.

Sorry i got off track a little there, (i love talking about this stuff, lol) - point is, i really wouldn't be worried in the least bit about sharpness or resolution. IMAX is projected at 2k. 500 lines of resolution shy of what this baby will resolve. Dump it in After Effects and put an unsharpen mask on it... If it's night and day on a 5d3 image that doesn't actually resolve a true 1080p with that process, .... Then imagine the freedom you'll have to clean it up with 2.5k raw.

[Andrew Reid]

12 bit colour.
13 stops DR.
Raw.
$3000.

I think if resolution is a bit soft at 2.5k but it produces C300 / GH2 levels of detail at 1080p which I fully expect it to, we can forgive it because of the other features... And that is an understatement!

[johnnymossville]

I think the biggest market for this is people who currently shoot stills, along with some video with a 5DMIII and want something a bit better for video, and just having this in his/her arsenal will be a great selling point in getting more video projects. I think it's going to stomp the 5DMIII for video.

Event shooters except for the diehard masochists trying it might be disappointed, but the commercial, corporate, documentary, music video crowd is going to LOVE THIS THING!

I'm excited!

[strancali]

[quote name='richg101' timestamp='1342295500' post='13862']
such a shame they went with a less handheld friendly design. and non articulated screen. The bull horns don't look like they will offer much in the way of comfortable handling with a 2kg lump hanging off them -meaning a waist level shooting style will probably be most comfortable with handheld shots, but without articulated screen this doesn't seem like a viable option either. The fs100 and c300 are brilliant form factors imo. I think its a shame BM didn't use a similar style -offering both handheld and tripod friendly options.
[/quote]

Rich, put your genius design to work :) Personally, I would put my eggs into this basket rather than the NEX 5N because people are less likely to spend over a grand for a $600 camera. The BM on the other hand brings in a new crowd and more chances that they can afford the cine housing.