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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
  • 4493 Replies sorted by
  • nomadnomad

    There are good zooms in vintage, just not wide and cheap. But there are very "vintage" and cheap wides, like the older Cosmicars, see my thread here:

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/7789/lens-tests-on-the-blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera-bmpcc/p1

  • markr041markr041

    Another BMPCC RAW example, Lumix14-35mm lens

    Sorry it's not fuzzy, and the colors are more realistic than "filmic." :)

  • markr041markr041

    Apparently "good" is not what the guy wants; he wants a lens "look", no matter how soft or flary. I am not saying that is wrong. Like color grades, there seems to be no good or bad in some people's mind.

  • BurnetRhoadesBurnetRhoades

    What he's saying perfectly valid. It's why Panavision lenses from the '70s are better than Primos for a lot of DPs. There's nothing you can do to these modern zooms, no way you can shoot with them, that will give them the feel of something like a Helios 44. That said, there aren't any vintage zooms that are as good and fast (and good when fast). Try and find primes that wide that are as good wide open.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    I'll do a side by side next week with these two lenses and post without labeling each one, maybe throw in 3 Rokinons as well. Same camera position, same light, same grade. See what happens :)

  • markr041markr041

    This is what you said: "After watching many videos of the 12-35mm on the pocket cam, I have concluded that I just don't like the look for film work." That statement is what is "ludicrous." If you had other evidence, fine, for whatever look you think you want.

  • TrumpetmanTrumpetman

    I have seen the look of this lens! I have seen many examples of it on the GH cameras when it first came out, plenty with no grading. I was hoping that it would look different on the pocket since there is no internal processing on the pocket, but I see the same characteristics. Yes, I have plenty of evidence on the look of the lens. The notion that all I am seeing is only an interpretation of what the lens saw is ludicrous. You can alter what ever parameters you want in post, but the character of the lens remains.

  • markr041markr041

    You are simply not seeing the look of the lens. You are seeing an interpretation of what the lens saw. No one is saying the lens (or the shooter) do not matter. What is being said is you have no evidence on the look of the lens, as there are too many important factors that vary. None of us care whether you get this lens; what we are responding to is your belief that the posted videos tell you much about the lens.

  • TrumpetmanTrumpetman

    You can change a lot in post with grading but the character of a lens does not go away and I don't like the look of this lens. That's my opinion! If you like it use it, however I'm not the only one who has expressed such concern over this lens. I disagree that if a "video" look is produced its entirely on the editor, as if the cinematographer and equipment are moot just because your shooting raw. The lens is fine if you are shooting video style for TV but it doesn't cut it for film work with the examples I have seen so far, I would love to be proven wrong on this, because as I said I'm looking for the right zoom lens with IS but currently there is just nothing out there.

  • theconformisttheconformist

    I think the 12-35 is pretty much perfect (image wise) for shooting in log or raw (if you don't need super shallow depth of field or aren't doing very low-light shooting). It's very sharp which is very important for this camera as there is no in camera sharpening. If it's too sharp you can blur a bit in post which is preferable to trying to sharpen in post. Also the I.S. is a life saver for handheld (especially without a rig), and the focal range is pretty much all you need (35-105 eq). Color and contrast are great, but in log or raw, not so important as these things aren't baked in. If a "video look" is produced it's entirely on the editor. Obviously the lack of manual aperture and electronic focus are downsides, but overall an amazing lens.

  • markr041markr041

    I do not understand this at all: "After watching many videos of the 12-35mm on the pocket cam, I have concluded that I just don't like the look for film work. It's just too clinical, cold and videoish looking. Even on shallow dof shots with an ND filter it still doesn't cut it for me and that's a shame because the pocket cam needs a good zoom with stabilization. I actually prefer the look of my 14-140mm over it."

    Whatever your definition of a "film" look (tinted, off-colors? fuzzy? faux grain? most everything oof?), the whole point of the BMC equipment shooting RAW is you can achieve any look you want. Surely the look of the videos posted that used the 12-35mm lens had much more to do with grading in post than the lens. Staring with a sharp lens (much better than the soft and "videoish" 14-140mm) surely cannot be bad; you can mess it up any way you like in post.

    To say the 12-35mm is not "descent[sic]" is absurd, based on viewing graded videos on the web. Just like people's conclusions that the BMPCC cannot reproduce color, based on the poorly (or artistically) graded videos that some post.

  • TrumpetmanTrumpetman

    After watching many videos of the 12-35mm on the pocket cam, I have concluded that I just don't like the look for film work. It's just too clinical, cold and videoish looking. Even on shallow dof shots with an ND filter it still doesn't cut it for me and that's a shame because the pocket cam needs a good zoom with stabilization. I actually prefer the look of my 14-140mm over it. I'm waiting for the pocket cam speed booster to team up with my AIS primes and will probably get the 18-35mm, but I sure hope someone comes out with some descent lenses with stabilization soon because I really want to use this cam hand held and right now my hand held footage is looking like it was shot by Barney Fife.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    Nice. It performs so well in a decently lit environment. I bet most would be able to tell which cam is which when viewed online :)

  • theconformisttheconformist

    Thanks @vicharris not the best representation of the camera's ability but we're slowly transitioning into shooting log and raw. that ad was just a load of b-roll, we've got some traditional commercial shoots coming up with the pocket alongside the 2.5k, should be fun and i look forward to posting the results!

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @theconformist Good to see the pocket being used on real jobs! Too bad you couldn't have shot it in RAW to help out a little more in post.

  • markr041markr041

    Night shots from Hong Kong, shot using RAW:

    Graded in Resolve Lite. Lumix 2-35mm f2.8 lens.

    Moire is first two scenes.

  • theconformisttheconformist

    Hey guys,

    Shot this ad on the Pocket with Panny 12-35 (the IS really helped on the biking shots). Not a huge fan of the edit and we shot with rec709 LUT because the editor is not much of a colorist, but I think the shots came out pretty well.

  • CaptainHookCaptainHook

    @johnbrawley - yeah my comments were more directed towards the idea they're destructive in nature - Kholi referenced Peter saying this but i don't believe that's quite what he meant. I mean the second you change the image in ANY way in Resolve and render it out, it's 'destructive'. Use a LUT or a basic curve, there's still math involved to generate new pixels. :-)

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @shian +11111111 :)

  • MRfannyMRfanny

    On a more serious note, my red dot on my record button fell off today. I can't record anymore without it. damn! I wonder if thats covered under warranty? lol

  • shianshian

    sigh

  • johnbrawleyjohnbrawley

    @hook I was mentioning destructive from a workflow point of view. When you apply a lut to transcoded rushes SAY AVD DNX transcodes of LOG footage from an Alexa and BMCC, editorial get to look at pre graded footage but once the conform happens after the edit you can go back and grade from the untouched camera orginals and no grade has been applied...thus non destructive grading.

    jb

  • actact

    I think my new BMCC Pocket has problems with sensor. I found some artifacts after grading with aggressive vignette at some shots, it looks like vertical half translucent bar near left end of frame. After that I found the same problem with ungraded footage. All shots have it... I see it also at camera LCD screen, and more clear with Zacuto EVF-HDMI with all lenses. I need send the camera to Australia to service center. :(

  • JuMoJuMo

    @Aaron_DeBerry No problem, I'm glad I could share something helpful! I can't remember where I first heard about that approach, but it's a great time saver. I appreciate that PV'ers like to share what we have learned with each other, especially when we're exploring relatively new technology (there no sense in each of us reinventing the wheel). This forum is chalk-full of great tips from some very talented people, as I'm sure you're discovering. Welcome to PV and enjoy your amazing adventure with this amazing little camera!

  • Aaron_DeBerryAaron_DeBerry

    @JuMo A few days late, but I had wanted to say:

    A few pages back, you had mentioned taking stills during a shoot to use as references later when grading. Thank you for this!

    As a beginner to all of this myself, I had never considered this, and this would certainly have saved me some time. I have a hard enough time trying to remember to bring an index card to flash in front of the camera, just to have a white point when grading later. Taking a picture or two wouldn't take very long, and would be useful on a number of fronts.

    • Also, as this is my first post here on PV; Just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your posts and insight. It has certainly been helpful while I've been trying to learn my way around this camera and color grading in general. Cheers!
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