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BlackMagic: Official $2,995 raw cinema camera topic
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  • Great facts, unbelievable price. But soooooo ugly, even my razor has more style. Whont put my beloved lenses on such a briquet.

  • Just wanted to add my .02 to the thread. Sorry if I'm rambling, just typing off the cuff...

    I think the camera is pretty cool and I'm in the "I want one" camp. I think it could fit nicely into all the gear I've acquired for my GH2. I do have my reservations... I'm a little concerned about the built-in battery, but more concerned about the current limitations on ASA and size of sensor in relation to ability to shoot wide-angle.

    From an acquisition standpoint, I love this camera. It is a brilliant starting point. Record directly to SSD and (possibly) edit straight from the drive. However, time to copy 256GB to a RAID even with Thunderbolt is questionable at this point. Figure on starting with 2-256gb SSDs which will add about 650 to entry at this point. Maybe this will help drive SSD prices down a little?

    I guess the more I ramble on, the camera brings up more questions than it answers. Still it excites me. I would figure that there will be a thunderbolt equipped EVF solution in the future. And also I would hope there will be future firmware updates to extend ASA range. It's a 1.0. Built-in metadata is nice. Something that was always difficult to manage with XDCAM decks (assuming same thing for cameras?). Seems to be just "part of the process" now.

    I think certain production companies will get the camera - if only for the caché - those early adopting crafty companies will have an excuse to get some free PR in Shoot magazine or Creative Cow or whatever. I'd certainly do it if I had a connection ;-)

    It makes for an excellent value-added when buying Resolve. Imagine all the young filmmaker/editor-types who want to buy Resolve - they'll be very tempted to just add the camera in and use it for whatever if they don't already have a camera.

    As for specific use, I love the idea of raw and using it for green screen. If it proves to work well with green screen, and you shoot at least one week of green screen a year, it might be worth the price of admission. A camera rental would come close to purchasing the camera (when you factor out the cost of Resolve) and assuming you have EF lenses. Other than green screen, I'd probably shoot Prores for the bulk of my work.

    Agree with some that this looks more like a narrative cam than a docu cam. But who said you couldn't do both? Ultimately, can't wait to get my hands on it and try it out with FCPX and Premiere and Smoke and Avid and Lightworks and Edius and Resolve and... oh, whatever else gets announced by July!

  • @oneday

    Yep, and the ultra wide lens of the decade, the Sigma 8-16mm comes in EF mount

  • Anamorphic lenses all mount to +/- 50mm EF or F mount lenses ( How pro is that? )

  • @vladnik "arri alexa sensor was made by people (Cypress) not Greek Gods...there are at least two years difference between this two sensor (eons in sensor technology)"

    +1

    I don't know why everyone insists on mystifying cameras like the Alexa. There's nothing "magical" about the Alexa that makes it so incomparable to anything else. Sensor tech is sensor tech. The iphone5 will probably have more DR than the current Alexa.

  • I am amazed the people would order one without really seeing the IQ. Suppose it is no different from a GH2?

  • @DrDave "Suppose it is no different from a GH2?"

    I hope not (look wise)... but with more DR. There's a small chance that even with RAW recording, a camera that does such great down-scaling like the GH2 may still have better detail and less-noise... since it's coming from a 5k image vs. the BMD 2.5k image.

    The BMD Cinema Camera SHOULD have a better image... but we'll have to wait and see.

  • This camera will save so much time in the editing room. No need to transcode footage to ProRes, no need to synce audio from a external recorder, a nice head start in the logging process with Meta Data already on the footage. Sounds good to me.

    Not sure why so many companies won't use standard formats like ProRes, and skimp out on simple things like balanced audio inputs or a head phone jack.

  • i just hope that panasonic would unlock gh2 HDMI and offer flatter gamma with 0-255 recoding ... that will make gh2 competitor with BMD in low market... gh2 + hyperdeck shuttle 2=1000$

  • Those frame rates really tell the encoding isn't superfast, or else they would have maybe already included 60fps or even 120fps (at reduced resolution with rolling shutter ). Having global shutter at 48/50fps at 2592x2160 would be lovely for cinematic 2x anamorphic shooting. Alas, i think this will remain a dream for now.

  • @DrDave, even if the cameras look very similar the BMC will have big advantages for certain post workflows on account of being 12bit & RAW. But here's hoping it looks a little better ;)

  • Taking all things in consideration this camera Is flipping amazing! It is really going to shake up the industry. Love to see how Red and Panasonic respond.

    Looks like Panasonic Cancelled there Af100 refresh because of this thing.

    But I think I will wait till next year before I seriously start looking for a new camera. My hacked Gh2 is just that damn good.

    Things will change a lot when the Black Magic Cinema Camera and the Digital Bolex are both on the market this summer. I cant see anyone buying a C300 now.

  • just look c500...

    35000$ and average DR ... i'm not impressed ...

  • crop factor ???

    it seems more than 2.0 for sure...

  • if Darren Aronofsky can live with 3 times crop factor ... i could manage with 2.3 .....

  • Canon looks like a bunch of idiots now.

  • Canon looks like a bunch of idiots now.

    Bunch of idiots who are making good money :-) And as most realise now, they aimed at exactly right market.
    BMC is aimed on different people.

  • @vladnik LOL If Darren Aronofsky can live with Rachel Weisz,...

  • @johnnym its not crop factor its how u use it... ;)

  • That interview with Portman on Black Swan is so enlightening. They just made a brilliant movie with little money and a lot of aspiration, shooting S16. Peter Jackson won Cannes with a movie shot on S16.

  • sapienti sat

  • but if that canon c500 has 12 stop of DR than BMD camera kick ass...

  • I don't think canon is going sell very many cameras this year to video shooters. Mostly to just rental houses.

    Unless your also a professional photographer I can see no reason to buy a 5D Mark III.

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