Andrew - EOSHD

There's too much fanaticism around brands like Blackmagic. We're all perfectly justified to choose whoever we like for our camera system. It's a shame they are such a let down - for me in terms of the lack of support and John's attitude, and for many others in terms of the tech support issues, release dates and bugs. If you want to see an example of this brand-fanaticism, look no further than my own Facebook followers. They are absolutely pillaring me. I think that's entitlement right there. Who are these idiots who think they're entitled to read one free blog post after another for years with no advertising, from an indie filmmaker, whilst giving back absolutely nothing in return, worse, slinging a shit ton of hatred my way in my own front room, just at the moment he's feeling really quite down?

NoFilmSchool would have chased that opportunity like there's no tomorrow, like a yappy little fucking poodle. I am not going to do it! I refuse to lower myself to that level. Blackmagic do read the blog and know it's up there in the top 3 in the world for covering their cameras, so the radio silence is even more unacceptable. It was their move, not mine.

No, you're wrong. I deserved to be there 100%, in fact it was the least Blackmagic could do to repay me for many years of support I have shown them. The future chances are reduced that's true. I have made a choice. To speak freely. Feels good. It's a lot healthier than being "professional". Who wants to be a professional camera reviewer writing only positive things all the time? DULL! The reason EOSHD will not get an early peek at the Pocket 4K is because I one of the honest ones. In the end do you want EOSHD to be an inflight lifestyle magazine or a reliable resource for camera info?

The nature of the 'inner circle' has a lot of variety. You can be in an inner circle of "yes men" who only write advertising disguised as reviews. You can be in an inner circle of professional shooters who are biased towards a particular company, because the relationship with the company helps their work get noticed. You can be in an inner circle of high profile users offering feedback on a camera, like I am with Panasonic and the GH series. Or you can be in an inner circle for no other reason to promote your blog about cameras, which is the game Cinema5D is playing. I don't actually desperately want to be in an 'inner circle' with the big brands, because in the long run it hurts the content on the site. If I were too close to the camera companies I would even start having to censor negative opinions on the forum about particular products, if they doesn't align with being on-message. Why would I want this? Why would I turn my passion and hobby of writing blog posts about my filmmaking and equipment, into unpaid work for the PR agencies and camera companies? I want only to have the most basic and respectful relationship with a few core companies I respect and use the products of like Panasonic and Blackmagic. I want to be able to review the cameras early and at a cost which is acceptable for me, because I can't go around spending $10,000 a month on new gear just to review it. In addition, if a company is getting an absolute ton of attention on my blog, it is only right that they recognise it and help me out a bit. Good. Close the door after you, there's a very chilly draft!

Hello. Thanks for joining. Back in the GH1 days (2010-11), before we had any Blackmagic cameras at all, EOSHD was mainly about the GH1, and the GH2 after that. Blackmagic came into this market, around 2012 and I was one of the first to shoot with the BMCC and covered it very often on the blog. John Brawley's association with Blackmagic is that he was chosen by the CEO to be the main tester for the camera. Yes he's a Australian network television DP, he doesn't work for the company, but he's something of a figurehead for their cameras. We had the first test footage EVER, from John. We had the first BMCC reviews and a lot of the first news came through John's blog. I've also featured John's opinions and words frequently on EOSHD, but he has never ever given me the same privilege on his side. https://www.eoshd.com/2015/02/john-brawley-reviews-olympus-e-m5-mark-ii/ Yes, Blackmagic know about the blog. Some of them know I am from Manchester but since nobody at all in their UK PR department have kept in touch for the past 2 years, they assumed I was still living in Berlin. It's no excuse anyway. They're an international company sending demo cameras to the Chinese and inviting Italian bloggers to the Manchester event. Call me childish, call me butt-hurt or whatever, there is just something about the whole Manchester / John Brawley double-insult that I find repellant and hurtful after so many years of writing EOSHD and shooting with Blackmagic's cameras. This forum has had so many topics on the cameras and helped so many people. I've said so many justified good things about their devices on the blog and in my reviews. I'll be the first to admit I'm hurt by such a cold attitude from John on this thread and from Blackmagic as a whole.

I've already emailed my contact at Blackmagic in Cheshire about the "ingratitude". He will discuss after IBC, but I don't think I am interested any more. There is a guy in China with a camera on his desk as I type... so clearly they have been sending out demo units left right and centre. They had 10 places at the hands-on event in Manchester and chose to invite Camera Jabber. As you rightly put it, it's just not a fair game. They either want to support EOSHD or not and they have made that crystal clear and so has John, that they don't value what I have do. I will not be a camera poodle writing adverts and at the same time I will not suffer ingratitude lightly especially from John Brawley insulting me in my own back yard while Blackmagic snub me for a hands-on also in my own backyard. @jonpais I owe you a sorry... You were right about the guy from the start! Good finds!! Unbelievable isn't it!? No it's quite the opposite. It's cathartic. I feel like the pressure is off. I can write what I want, cover what I want. It's my blog. I don't know if the Pocket 4K Camera as a tool that benefits me yet. I haven't used one! Neither have you!

What I would give to be the Chinese man in this unboxing video How much useful info are we gaining from this? Not a lot, yet he has a camera doesn't he! John says there are absolutely no camera reviewers with a unit yet. So he stole it off the back of a lorry at the factory or what?

We're pretty far down the capitalist rabbit hole when a basic human courtesy could be seen as 'marketing'. It's not about being into marketing, it's about being a nice person. Yes at the event, some were a new class of marketing people. I don't yet know what their game is. I don't really find their editorial interesting or their technical expertise that impressive, but they are there and they are beating the hell out of me when it comes to the PR networking game.

Here is Panasonic's UK HQ, and me second from right. Panasonic do it right. A tech related feedback session and a friendly meet-up. No wining and dining PR stunts in gin bars. On the table is a pre-production GH5S. Dave at Red Shark was also at the event and I met Holden, the main distributor for Blackmagic in the UK. All of them friendly people. Receptive to technical collaboration and supportive of the blog. All I expected from Blackmagic in the 5 months since NAB was a "hello". The Manchester event would have been nice to go to. I have not even seen the Pocket 4K in person yet, and Blackmagic's Patrick in PR knows this full well. John's response on here was COLD and dismissive. To him I'm just another idiot blogger. Just another blog. And you guys are just nerds to him, who cannot grade. I think it's disgraceful.

How's this for some nice PR John? https://www.eoshd.com/2018/09/why-i-wont-be-buying-the-upcoming-blackmagic-pocket-cinema-camera-4k/

Thread open.

The question isn't only about the codec, it's about the overall spec, especially the use of a full frame sensor as it's intended... full frame! Not 1.8x crop with the expense of full frame lenses. Nobody wants that. You can buy a GH5, and use a full frame lens on a Speed Booster. 10bit 4:2:2. Problem solved! How is Canon offering 'broadcast' codecs by the way. I don't see 10bit 4444 ProRes LOG on their DSLRs. Do you?! I distinctly remember when the C300 came out... 8bit codec... Philip Bloom said I just didn't get it... It was "broadcast ready"! So if the C300 has an internal codec suitable for broadcast, but looks worse than a Samsung NX1 in the real world, then the A7 III sure has a broadcast ready image. And I don't see much better than 8bit 4:2:0 on a C100 or C200 either. Your answer was that Canon was being a little scared biatch. High on power, spitting in the little guy's face Does this answer it then? Maybe CineGain is right?

Thread is temporarily locked to allow tempers to cool. Will be reopened tomorrow.

I will be, provided not any last minute changes of plan. Anyone else? Should be a very busy show this time. And we will get to see the Panasonic full frame camera

I reckon a third solution which hasn't really been done yet could be the right way. The mode dial is a bit outdated and have a lot of crap on them. The Fuji film camera dials are a bit style-over-substance. There is no point having the movie mode on the mode dial. Should be a lever on the back like Canon and Nikon have. Because it should always be ONE simple motion to go between stills and video mode and visa versa, in the blink of an eye. If there is anything between, say, Aperture priority mode and Movie mode on the mode dial, you're going through 2 to 5 rotations, which is much worse than a simple flick of a single toggle. It seems pretty clear that if you want to shoot in Aperture priority mode then you only want control over the aperture. Having ISO and shutter as manual control dials allows you to set them both to auto and hey, you're now in A mode. But the problem is, neither tend to have a quick way to set to auto. Auto should not be a position on the dial, one position of say, 30. It should be an instant-toggle on/off switch. The shutter and ISO dial on Fuji's cameras needs a double finger pinch to rotate, or lift, which is also daft and fiddly compared to a Canon DSLR where you just press a button once then move your finger on the control it's already resting on. So better dials and a quick auto toggle, plus stills/video mode lever, would consign the mode dial to history. Unless you really needed the Baby and Food modes

Maybe you could "share what you know" in the manner a real DP like Roger Deakins does on his forum... without belittling people. Was just thinking it would have been a lot nicer to get a reply like "hello Andrew. We appreciate your work...BMD is sorry for not inviting you to the meet-up in your home town". The end. In fact, would be your first "hello" to me in all 2 years you have been posting your Blackmagic propaganda on my forum. No empathy, and zero appreciation.

I can't help but feel a bit of a chill in the air. These are your customers you're talking to John and fellow filmmakers. You've basically just labelled me a non-shooter/blogger and the rest of us a bunch of grading nerds who butcher your footage. Call me "entitled" all you like but I've worked fucking hard on this blog and building a community, at the same time as being a freelance cinematographer in Berlin making my OWN stuff happen rather than working for clients. I have an artistic eye and technical expertise, I do shoot, I am not just a "camera reviewer" pedant who tests and verifies a specs sheet. What's more, I am (or was) a loyal Blackmagic customer. I don't see much appreciation for that or for EOSHD in what you've posted above. You basically imply I'm an entitled nerd who should be glad I've even got a REAL DP on the forum. Hardly much support from you either then. Since I started EOSHD, I've had just very occasional encouragement from people in the film industry. Doesn't happen very much. Reflects badly on the industry. But not everyone is like this. Speaking of the more positive responses I've had from people in the film industry, there's Rodney Charters. Bought my GH2 book. He sent me an email and we talked about the camera. A small thing but he had a genuine need for the book and we helped each-other out. Made a young filmmaker and anamorphic shooter feel good about all the long hours he was putting into EOSHD and all the Berlin projects at that time. It shows a generosity of spirit. You should just be honest. You are here to sell a Pocket 4K camera. You don't give a shit about what I shoot, or what I write. I am just a guy hosting your posts.

Sorry to hear that, makes you realise what's really important! Very true and it's so relentless, there's a new temptation around the corner every few weeks. Easy to get hooked. These companies are spending millions on getting us hooked. Just like us, they're never satisfied either. It's like in home audio... Eventually you will end up with an end-game, which is perhaps 5 or 10% better than what you had mid-way through the spending spree. I am going to review the E-M10 III next. $500 camera. I'm going to use that instead of the Pocket 4K, forget raw. I'm going to go out, have fun with strange Russian lenses, and appreciate how short life is and how the time is better spent with family than with disposable consumer goods.

I am sure the X-H2 will have the X-T3 sensor, 10bit, etc. All it needs now is a reliable Speed Booster for EF lenses, for the full frame look. Still not found one

I don't know Panny. I am very close to picking an attitude and sticking to it out of principal. That approach may be the only way this forum and EOSHD will continue with any enthusiasm. It is not nice to be out in the cold and uninvited or watching sycophantic idiots get their hands on a camera first with their glossy BMD-pleasing advertorial, but must accept that is what the world is like, and I must carry on with EOSHD outside it. I love what I do. I love buying new cameras. But because the marketing is getting so cynical, I absolutely HAVE to distance myself form the camera companies and not have them as kingmaker.... and to be absolutely clear and upfront with them about that. No more relationships. No more emails. No more pre-release sessions or free feedback sessions. Nothing. It all has too many strings attached and you never feel like you can truly be yourself. In this case, just a hand on a camera in the city I was born was all I hoped for, in return for 5 years of Blackmagic coverage, paid for out of my own pocket, time out of my own work, gear used in my own projects and music videos in Berlin, all that out of loyalty to the company, love of the products, enjoyment in seeing what they were capable of vs Sony and the rest, seems it did not get noticed. Sad situation and a reflection on them, not me. If I can't let off the steam and frustration, like I am choosing to do here, however unwise it may seem, the pressure builds up and you lose interest in the blog altogether. That would be a disaster for me. I'd lose my life's passion and life's work. Is it worth losing ALL THAT to please a PR team? No. In order to do that, I would have to spend £1200. No thanks. Review is off.

If a camera forum was a real life happening (imagine a big dinner party in a house), there would be a bunch of people cornering the host, shouting and spitting at him, while the major camera companies sat round a table eating all the nice cuts of beef that the host laid out, at the same time as selling cameras to his guests. Afterwards, the host picks up the bill for the dinner, and even has to tidy up! Tidying up as in moderating. Then the fat corporations with their multi-million pound deep pockets and inventory of thousands of cameras leave the table without so much as a thank you for the roast chicken, let alone a look at the camera. Why am I doing this with my life?

Haha. Imagine the stuff I could say after a few gins? Then afterwards I could take a leaf out of a forum sniper's strategy and say "oh sorry blackmagic, I said the camera was a piss soaked turd? Ah I think you must just be seeing a negative meaning to that which isn't there. I didn't mean it, you're great really. I love your camera." Maybe invite Bez and Noel Gallagher as well. By the end of it, the camera will be so soaked in gin it will need an under-the-ocean housing. Maybe they can hold the next event in my BACK GARDEN. Literally in my back garden. I'll provide the BBQ and cook all the sausages. 340,000 sausages.

Hey Mr Motivational. Thank you very much. No I don't know why I bother either. I do though for some reason. Because on this forum 70% of you are great. Not 90% like there would be on a forum of animation, or music, or something which attracts nicer people than the damned video industry but 70 I can live with, despite the Fox News comments and barbs from long-time 5 year members like Cinegain. I really don't mind if some of you think the last few posts of mine have been about me throwing toys out of the pram. I don't have any toys in the pram to throw out. I just think very plainly Blackmagic are using this site for publicity and I expect virtually nothing in return, but to be ignored in my home city, whilst hosting a thread with this much good info in it, was too much... it broke me. They lost a customer there and then in that second. Nothing else to analyse. Nothing more to think. I think if they are going to do that and to the tune of 340k views on one topic, they can maybe think about saying hello next time they drop by Manchester, rather than ignoring me for around the last 2 years. Yep.. Not a peep from them in my inbox for 2 years (since 2016 Photokina). And now, a snub on top.

I might stop the forum. In the end it's about you guys... I tried to set up a decent site for you to get information about cameras. Over the years I haven't wavered. Day in day out, I have spent thousands of pounds on equipment, kept shooting, kept blogging, even when I found it exhausting. For what? For some snide Napoleon remarks and shitty comments like that from Cinegain who has been a member and follower since as far back as 2014. What kind of gratitude level am I dealing with here. Sometimes I spend hours a day reading this forum, and I don't want to read comments like this, quite frankly. So closing it down would lighten my mood. It's not about ego. Would have been a simple courtesy for Blackmagic to keep me in the loop on the Pocket 4K camera, due to the amount of interest in it from you guys on my site, which yes I do appreciate but it goes both ways. They have had months to get in touch. It's not up to me to go chasing like a poodle. I can't support you with a site, if you don't support me. If I had gone to that event to interview Blackmagic and try the camera, It would be to the benefit of of you, you'd have more info about the camera. It would be to the benefit of you, if they got involved, however small, and helped me out here. I will now be the last to shoot with this camera, and I feel very much down and sad about that, after 5 years of buying Blackmagic cameras and all the articles, shoots, Speed Boosters, lenses, c-mount glass, Resolve tips, forum posts, music videos, Berlin stuff, and so on. The way I am thinking right now, in this rather down mood I am in, is why do I even bother, quite honestly. Hours and hours and hours of work is not even worth a message of support from my own followers.

Thanks for the support? LOL It's my order and I can do what I like with it. It'll pay towards the time I spent having to read and moderate shithead comments like yours.