Andrew Reid

The Metabones EF adapter vignetted on this. I include the VG-900 in my shootout with the GH3 and Blackmagic coming soon on EOSHD and you will be surprised at just how bad a camera this is, unfortunately.

The LA7200 is really soft at F2. This is nice and sharp. If they give us that image quality and an easy way to rack focus, it will suit me fine. If it is as nice optically as the Kowa 8Z but focuses like a normal lens then it will be amazing.

A99 and VG-900 by the way are dogs for aliasing and moire. Worse than the old NEX 5N and 7, yet far more expensive. There's zero reason to suffer such bad image quality when you can get a full frame D800 or 5D3 for similar money - I know these aren't perfect either but the image is FAR better. You will see the VG-900 (same sensor as A99) in my shootout vs the Blackmagic and GH3 it is a total embarrassment and I feel bad for all the Sony people on this one because it showed such promise and it was pretty brave to put a full frame sensor in a video camera. This coming from a big fan of the RX100, NEX 5N and NEX 7 which all shoot better video and have better ergonomics than the VG series. The menus and buttons are just horrible on the VG series and can only assume image quality is either compromise because the sensor is designed predominantly for stills or crippled to protect the FS100.

Maybe that 13.9MP count in 16:9 was what gave the GH2 a cleaner image when downscaled. Maybe 16MP is a trickier number. Certainly 18MP+ seems to be tricky because yet to see a high MP camera with good video aside from the 5D3 and that is only moire free because it is so soft!

We don't want focus through like LA7200, that doesn't work at fast apertures or with a shallow depth of field. We need the Iscorama style focussing method of prime at infinity and one focus barrel, no breathing. Agree dual focussing is a deal breaker (for me at least) and have made that clear to SLR Magic. I want them to package this as one lens with the prime and anamorphic focussing as one unit. Focus more important than having it as a stand-alone adapter in my view. Have a Kowa for that and don't use it because of the dual focussing.

What was the solution Charlie? Separately I'm having issues with Resolve in Windows. Was working fine until a few days ago and now Quicktime decoder exe keeps crashing during sessions. Windows is so reliable isn't it??!?

There's also this from our friend in Brazil. Apefoscope. http://vimeo.com/52730117 Let me know your thoughts guys and gals...

OzNimbus yes there are always "ifs" but do you really want to wait until the camera has hit shelves and all pre-orders filled before I report an update? The supply of dirty glass was the issue and that has been resolved.

Please remember my blog is a personal view. It is not the encyclopaedia Britannia entry for Windows 7, I am reporting my personal experiences. Still as I write, Windows remains a pain in the ass for me and many others. My QTDecoder.exe keeps crashing during Resolve sessions through no fault of my own and it is a fresh installation of Windows 7! It really is far more unstable than OSX and that is a fact I'm afraid, even if you are one of the lucky ones who have never had to lose several hours sorting out Windows and driver issues. You have been warned...

[media]http://vimeo.com/53623079[/media] [i]Above: A message from Andrew of SLR Magic[/i] SLR Magic are stepping into the world of anamorphic lenses. Developed afresh, this will be a 100% new custom designed anamorphic lens for filmmakers but priced accessibly for DSLR filmmakers as well as pros. The footage above is from the early prototype and I have been speaking to Andrew about the early development of the lens.

Never? They have built a camera for $3000 that rivals the Alexa, I'd say it was pretty much going according to plan :)

[img]http://www.eoshd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/bmcc-hi-res-1.jpg[/img] Blackmagic Design's CEO and founder Grant Petty has some better news today regarding the cinema camera (my [url="http://www.eoshd.com/content/9186/blackmagic-cinema-camera-review"]review here[/url]). The sensor supplier issues are resolved and the factory may begin to ramp up as early as next week.

GH2 sensor is 18MP total to support multiple aspect ratios.

[quote name='markm' timestamp='1352891554' post='21605']Of course the BMC is overkill for 98% who just want to make films for the net and maybe festivals.[/quote] Everyone needs to set high standards for themselves no matter what the work. If you can practically set that high standard for image quality, do it. Doesn't matter if the film is destined only for Vimeo. Just do it. It isn't overkill. We're being offered ground breaking image quality for the first time at a mind bogglingly low price. The is ALL about those net films and festivals looking better and more organic just as with DSLRs in the start when everyone was struggling with small chip camcorders.

[quote name='hmcindie' timestamp='1352896857' post='21618'] I find it funny how when someone has had a bad experience, he will always expand on it a trillionfold and hold that experience as sacred. The first time I used a mac...it crashed twice in two hours. And now you are suggesting an OS that hates image sequences to be used for Blackmagic DNG-image sequences? Funny.[/quote] You are not quite understanding here. I was a Windows user for over 10 years before I swapped to a Mac in 2006, started programming at the DOS prompt with Q-Basic when I was 14. Windows is not something I tried for first time last week and got annoyed at. It has always been shit. I don't want to have to tinker for hours on system setup. For those that do Windows is just fine. I prefer the simplicity of a Mac as I am interested in editing my footage not tinkering in the control panel trying to figure out why a driver hasn't installed for a device with a yellow ! against it. Why does the user need to see this or be able to configure this? The design of the user interface is also now nearly 8 years out of date. Windows 8 I hear is even bigger disaster because they are shoehorning a tablet OS into a desktop environment and visa versa. Who needs huge touch screen tiles when you have a mouse and keyboard and no touch screen? Last week Microsoft fired their Windows boss so they are not happy internally with the direction Windows is going in. I won't be switching from my Mac but there are pluses and minuses on both sides as there is with everything. I'm not suggesting an OS (Win or Mac) doesn't handle Cinema DNG at all. It is GPU dependant as already explained.

[quote name='HurtinMinorKey' timestamp='1352900067' post='21621'] Images look stunning. Your review did a great job pointing out it's strengths. Using RAW makes it so much easier to get the exposure curve you want. Great stuff. I almost fell out of my chair looking at the shots of the ferris wheel. Couple questions about the hardware. 1.) Why are you convinced the workflow bottlekneck is in the GPU, and not in the CPU or Cache? 2.) Can you please provide the basic specs of your PC? [/quote] The CPU is a general purpose processor and raw needs a greater data throughput like 3D rendering does, or texture mapping in games. The GPU is purpose built for this kind of heavy number crunching so better suited to chewing through video than the CPU. But you need CUDA which adds a more programmable interface between the app and the GPU. ATI uses Open CL which is similar but not as well supported in Resolve. Basic specs are i7 3.4Ghz 2700k, GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1.5GB, 8GB RAM. Ideally you want to upgrade graphics to GeForce GTX 580 or 690 3GB and have 16GB RAM with an 480GB SSD boot drive.

[quote name='Elevatedvisual' timestamp='1352870155' post='21595'] Great review, really stoked to get one been on a few waiting list looks like the US got very few of the introductory stock. I'm using daVinci nine full version with the new MacBook Pro 15 inch retina 2.7ghz 16 gig [font=Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif][color=#333333]ordered 128mg ssd option and upgrade OWC Aura Pro 488 ssd saved $200 and using 128 ssd for backup. faster. wicked faster than stock 500 ssd. A[/color][/font][color=#333333][font=Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif]ble to do 8 nodes at 24fs playback and render [/font][/color][font=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular][color=#000000]Alexa ProRes 422 HQ log files 48fs. This should be comparable to the 2.5 raw format which I have not tried but I've been told works with this configuration. Im also pushing a Dell 30" screen. The latest cuda driver 5.036 [/color][/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular][color=#000000]bumped the speed and stability.[/color][/font] [/quote] Please try raw on the MacBook Retina and see how it goes. I'm interested to see. On the highest spec 2011 MacBook Pro with ATI card it runs like a dog! A 3 legged one!

[quote name='jacanaproductions' timestamp='1352869596' post='21594'] I was excited about this camera until I read Mr Bloom's review and he did indeed take the wind out of my sails. I'm a run and gun type of guy and this camera would not really fit the bill but a c300 is never going to happen ;( waiting for the c100 reviews but perhaps someone can kit this bugger out for run and gun? No ND's and sound are deal killers me thinks. [/quote] I don't understand why Philip wasn't raving about it! The image quality of this camera in my opinion destroys the C300, it is miles more cinematic and 2.5K is a big step up from 1080p when you see it on a large capable display. No NDs, raw storage requirements, all this stuff is relevant but the image quality is the bigger story here. By far.

Probably not a good idea to get into a Windows vs Apple debate on a Blackmagic thread but feel free to make a separate one. I am all for the debate. I used to be a Windows user and some of the paragraph in the blog is tongue in cheek - it does sometimes fade into the background and let you get on with the software side, I just really dislike the design of the OS and the reliance on a bundle of crappy drivers whereas on a Mac everything is built in and pre-tested so it just works without issues. Anyway lets get back onto the topic of the cinema camera, it is more worthy of our attention than the merits of PC vs Mac I feel. My Resolve rig cost only £500, so most will not need to be forced into selling their Macbook Pro in order to fix the issue of Resolve raw editing performance. Just get a good NVidia CUDA card and build the rest of the PC as cheaply as possible. CPU is not the key factor here, the graphics card is. Keep using the Mac for everything else if you're happy with it. This is what I do. One other piece of PC hardware I can recommend without reservation is the Dell U2711 2.5K LCD... Much cheaper than an Apple Cinema Display and perfect match for the BMCC 2.5K footage. Makes 1080p look rubbish!

More Apple endorsement of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera on their iMac page... [img]http://www.eoshd.com/comments/uploads/inline/1/50a2ff82d1d6f_thunderbolt_hero.jpg[/img] They seem to love it. Not hard to see why!

[quote name='Pechente' timestamp='1352857486' post='21579'] The new iMacs even have Desktop GPUs that are only clocked a little lower due to heat issues.[/quote] Ha. I wish. According to both NVidia and Apple the new iMacs use mobile GPU - the GTX 680MX. http://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-gtx-680mx http://www.apple.com/uk/imac/performance/ (Hence the 'M') It is cutting edge for a mobile GPU and will run Resolve, but the GDDR RAM is rather limited. You need 3GB for serious CUDA work. Some GTX 690 cards in SLI configuration are also the most up to date Kelper architecture and will be much faster on a desktop PC than the mobile version in the iMac.

Stand by every word regarding Windows. Awful operating system. I am not platform agnostic for that reason!!

Why should a sensor which is physically larger need to downscale differently? The mega-pixel count I can understand being an influence, but the GH2 managed it perfectly from as high as 18MP. The CPU isn't responsible in most cases for down-sampling from the full megapixel count, as it is done on the sensor side.

I have to say the GH3 may be a backward step in some ways from the GH2 having now done a direct comparison outdoors and in low light. This says a lot about how good the GH2 is! However the stills, features, design and body are a nice step forward.

Yes same place as used in Hanna. Haven't seen the film yet but my Australian actress is much cheaper than Cate Blanchett. I kept expecting Cate to drop by and offer me some coffee but instead all we got were some security guards and dogs :) I love that place and it needs to be kept as it is not turned into something boring like a media park or nightclub. No idea what the future holds for my dear dead fun park. More BMCCs please world. This thing is indeed a milestone. iMac have the new NVidia cards but they are still mobile versions and not as powerful as the desktop versions. Frustrating. They will be better in Resolve than the 2011 models but not as good as a PC.