John Brawley’s arrogant display on the EOSHD Forum means I will spend my money elsewhere.
The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has been teased since April and I have still not even been able to see one in person.
Recently they hosted a hands-on event for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K at a gin bar – in none other than my home city of Manchester.
There’s a lot to like about Blackmagic but they have not shown a flicker of recognition of what EOSHD has covered over the years I’ve been shooting with their cameras. I took to my own forum to say I was pretty ticked off about it.
John Brawley has been an EOSHD Forum member for two years, there was not a shred of support for me in his post, in which he:
- Labels my followers “clowns”
- Dismisses their grading skills with complaints they “butchered” his footage. (Can you imagine a DP like Roger Deakins belittling his own protégés like that on his forum?)
- Dismisses Blackmagic customers as entitled, including me
- Claims he’s leaving the forum
- Implies I am just a camera reviewer, not even a shooter
That EOSHD thread has had 350,000 visits and counting – nearly 4000 posts, over 200 pages. I haven’t even yet seen the camera in person.
How am I supposed to cover it on EOSHD and pay back the followers who have viewed that thread in their thousands? I recently wrote that only sycophantic self-promotors will get early access to cameras in the future. Well, it’s true isn’t it? It seems Blackmagic is employing the same tactic as Canon in their marketing of the camera, with the difference being that Vincent Laforet does not come on my forum to insult me!
Although Blackmagic did not see fit to invite me to the Manchester meet-up garbage reviews like this did come out of it with equally garbage sample clips.
I just think it’s a bit discourteous to be kept out of the loop so close to home, when I have done so much over the years to spread the word about Blackmagic’s cameras. I have not had so much as an email from Blackmagic in 2 years. No opportunity whatsoever to review the URSA Mini Pro. Sure, I could be very proactive and firing off emails every month to every single PR department at every camera company but this is not that kind of blog. It’s an honest one.
It’s frustrating to be teased, and without so much as a friendly “hello” from anybody at the company, as of today, I’ve cancelled my order.
Although the price of the new camera is competitive at $1300, the only thing really special about it is the codec. You can now shoot 4K from the same sensor size, 5 axis stabilised on the $500 Olympus E-M10 III and get fantastic colour straight off the bat and the best skin tones I’ve seen this side of a Canon 1D X Mark II. The Pocket Cinema Camera 4K has no in-body stabilisation at all.
There are also now a whole host of higher-end full frame mirrorless cameras that shoot superb video with 13 stops dynamic range and a growing number of cameras available shooting 10bit LOG like the Fujifilm X-T3 for $1500, also with fantastic colour science straight off the card.
On the EOSHD forum I am not just disappointed with John’s response. There’s a fanaticism around this camera. The thread went down in predictable internet-forum style. Some users being supportive and some lobbing hand grenades at me in an effort to make me feel even worse. Why do people do this?
Then it was John Brawley’s turn to weigh in with his Blackmagic hat on.
Honestly I have never read such a pompous-ass response in all my life.
John Brawley has been posting here for years.
How about a response like this…
“Hey Andrew… Sorry about the Manchester meet-up. Maybe we will see you at Photokina instead.”
Or better? “Maybe we will get a Pocket 4K to you, so you can do that review after supporting us for the past 5 years”.
Or even: “Thanks for letting me promote Blackmagic’s cameras on your forum for the past 2 years, and hosting at your own cost a ton of useful material about our cameras”.
Or perhaps… “Hello”.
Because in 2 years of using my forum not once did John Big-Shot Brawley even say hello to me in a direct message.
Therefore, RAW or no RAW, Blackmagic can stick their Cinema Camera up their arse.
