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2K BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, active m43, $995
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  • @Trackzillas - I don't disagree with you. With all of these releases, far too many people are flowing all over the place with their purchases instead of focusing on what they have in their hands. It's really unprecedented what's going on these days.

  • UK Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB headsup: £65 Play->"Pixel Electronics" - can't vouch but have ordered, will report back

    Just got the cards, seem fine, pass h2testw1.4 and bench near enough:


    CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo

    Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/

    • MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

         Sequential Read :    92.877 MB/s
        Sequential Write :    87.294 MB/s
       Random Read 512KB :    78.512 MB/s
      Random Write 512KB :    65.992 MB/s
      

      Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 5.246 MB/s [ 1280.6 IOPS] Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 2.065 MB/s [ 504.2 IOPS] Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 4.853 MB/s [ 1184.7 IOPS] Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 1.932 MB/s [ 471.6 IOPS]

      Test : 1000 MB [Y: 0.0% (0.0/59.4 GB)] (x5) Date : 2014/09/30 12:08:34 OS : Windows 8.1 [6.3 Build 9600] (x64)

  • New firmware 1.9.7 upgrade just released! It allows formatting in camera SD cards.

    https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/pressdetails?releaseID=61927

    By the way, I want to use Lanc controller, like this one

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/LANC-Camera-Video-Remote-Control-with-A-V-R-for-Canon-Camcorders-/330942119396?pt=Camera_Camcorder_Remotes&hash=item4d0daffde4

    • but can not get it to work with BMPCC. It was working flawlessly with Canon, any ideas why not with BMPCC?
  • Any LANC controller is not doing anything but start/stop on the BM cameras - everything else is useless anyway.

  • Thanks, but mine doesn't do even start/stop.

  • Would be useful if someone had an electrical scheme, which I suppose it's very simple, of that lanc start-stop connection to the Black Magic.

  • Well, I thought LANC is a cross-platform protocol, so would work with any LANC-capable camera, no matter if Sony or Canon, Panas or BMPCC. Seems I was wrong :/

  • I know that the preamp on the bmpcc is poor, but I was wondering if it would be okay recording audio with an external preamp. Here is a test of the internal audio of the bmpcc connected to a preamp and the rode videomic. It's not an ideal test, because I had some room noise, but I think the constant hiss from the bmpcc internal audio is obvious at every setting. When I switch to an external recorder, the hiss is gone.

  • I have been able to implement Stop/Start Auto Iris, Iris Open, Iris Close, Auto Focus, Focus Near and Focus Far on my own custom built wireless LANC controllers. The only function I am having difficulty implementing is zoom.

  • @valdi99 v. useful, thanks.

  • I was a big idiot... I thought I'd ordered a pack of half a dozen or so BMPCC batteries from ebay, but I just realised I haven't... !!

    So how is it recommend to go about buying EN-EL20 batteries? This looks like the best bargain, 5 batteries for $28: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Five-5-Batteries-For-Nikon-EN-EL20-1-J1-Mirrorless-Digital-Camera-/390752712413

    Yes, or other suggestions?

  • @DocoDocoMan can you please give some more insight with your knowledge about the BMPCC and lanc control?

    1) How fast is focus? 2) Can you move the focus by small increments or only to min./max. range?

    3) How fast is iris? 4) How many steps between full iris stops?

    And most important: How did you built your lanc control?

  • Super UK deal: Rakuten (parent company of Play.com) just have a £20 off £100 electronics voucher to promote their new site: http://www.hotukdeals.com/vouchers/10-off-30-spend-groceries-20-off-100-spend-technology-using-discount-code-rakuten-2033934

    The same guys I bought the 64GB Sandisk Extreme Pros from (£65, cheapest in the UK I found) sell on there too, so if you buy two you can get them for £55 each: http://www.rakuten.co.uk/shop/pixelelectronics/product/Sandisk_64GB_Ext_Pro_SD/

    If you go via Topcashback (they officially support the code) you can get another 10% back.

  • "City of God" production company O2 shooting a TV series with the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/pressdetails?releaseID=62016

  • One of the directors of "Blair Witch Project" on shooting his new feature film exclusively on Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras: http://nofilmschool.com/2014/10/scary-good-filmmaking-wisdom-from-blair-witch-director-daniel-myrick

  • Pocket was used in the long list of cameras of "Avengers- Age of Ultron" shooting ProRes: http://hybridcamerarevolution.blogspot.com.br/2014/10/blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera-d-cam.html

  • Note, the above video by mikelinn is a partisan pro life anti abortion film. Be warned.

  • Quick reminder to always format your cards on the camera. It can make a big difference!

    I just got what I thought was a 90MB write card from Ebay HK. Turns out it's the 45MB version. Formatted to exFat on Windows (default sector size), the thing could only cope with Prores LT, anything higher dropped out within seconds. After reformatting in cam, it now seems fine up to Prores HQ (at least so far).

  • Kamerar QV-1 viewfinder that fits BMPCC.

    Here is my discovery regarding BMPCC with QV-1 viewfinder. After mounting the QV-1, you realize that the frame is positioned too much toward left edge of the BMPCC LCD screen. So you can’t see part of the screen by the right edge, especially battery power expressed in %, the end of volume meters etc. Adjusting its position doesn't help, but here is the trick to make QV-1 work much better with BMPCC:

    • all you need to do is to unscrew 2 of 3 screws at the bottom part of the viewfinder mount. But only those 2 on both edges (DON’T disassemble what holds the middle screw). Take out this part, turn it upside down, then screw it back where it was (see picture attached). After turning upside down this part (which holds a tiny, non-symetrical thing, that clips into the magnetic socket of a baseplate) it will allow you to adjust position of the QV-1 much more to the right, so it covers almost perfectly whole BMPCC screen (except 2-3mm on both sides). So the QV-1 can be positioned properly horizontally in relation to the LCD screen of BMPCC. Vertical adjustment also possible. So now you can see everything on the BMPCC screen. Not bad as for 70$ swivel viewfinder, well made ,with really good optic, diopter correction etc.
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  • To help start up some holiday spirit!

    A just-for-fun shoot we did one day on the Pocket:

  • @MikeLinn, impressive. Problem with the balloon shoots though is the spinning - there has to be some way to stabilise it. Maybe some kind of internal gimbal that counter-rotates the attached wire.

    Of course wouldn't it be sweet if you could get a fully remote-controlled gimbal up there ...

  • One of my Pockets just freaked out (see attached pics).

    I was running it into an HDMI capture card, and changed the cam framerate (usually works fine). When I came out of the menu, it looked like that! Nothing would reset it except a power-off, after which it refused to power on again until I finally cut the external power. The power-on problem persisted for a few reboots (needing the external power cut each time), now everything is fine again.

    Anybody seen this before? One-off glitch, or something to worry about?

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    freakout.jpg
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