BenEricson

Anyone know what's up with the texture on the bokeh? Is that the window? Looks like a texture that moves independently behind the model.

9 hours ago, zerocool22 said:

Yeah I feel you on the organic feel, Every camera that has been released since the pocket, as felt less organic to me as well. I think it started with the C300 II.

I totally agree. 

For indoor/poor lighting, the C300ii wins hands down. With nice light, it is debatable and some might even prefer the bmpcc for softer, more filmic qualities. I still can't believe how a camera so small can perform so well. Been rocking with the Metabones and 35mm F2 IS. Really nice combo. 

7 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

Take the original BMPCC as an example. To this day it never recovered on the used market since the fire sale. Since then its always been sub $500 with accessories. Often good stuff like a couple of lenses and/or speed booster.

I don't think that is totally accurate. I sold mine used for 650 about a year or more after the sale. The pocket was steady around 700 until maybe the last 6-12 months. The fire sale was like 3/4 years ago.

The deals you can get on packages are incredible right now. I just bought one with a speed booster and cage for 630.

1 hour ago, Cinegain said:

Yeah, even seemed glitchy at one point... bunch of noise and smudginess as well as a purple sploosh in the shadows of that overhang...

^click YouTube compression? Who knows. -- hum, it's also on the Vimeo one ... still, impressive enough up to that point. But I was starting to wonder if it really trumps the GH5S... that has more practicality. But then I get back to its price, codec and fact it's bundled with DaVinci Resolve Studio and that's still sick value over the GH5S.

I'm not particularly fond of this shot, but in that lighting condition this is basically a silhouette shot. Why would you need shadow detail at that level of exposure? If black was pulled down more it would pop a lot more. 

The shot looks like it could be exposed another two or three stops lower. There doesn't need to be shadow detail when you're shooting directly into the sun. This is exposing wrong for that type of shot. 

I attached a still I shot with the OG pocket last week. If you're shooting a light source like that, black can be black.

35 minutes ago, CaptainHook said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAbB4dQOz4I

Mark Wyatt talks about using the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. ‘Nature’ is Mark’s test of the camera’s 4K performance in the extreme lighting conditions of rainforests and ravines.

“The camera tests I wanted to do were in the forests and waterfalls on the outer West Coast of Canada. I was really interested in seeing how the new sensor would handle these harsh lighting conditions. By increasing the ISO to an impressive 1250 and 2500, it allowed me to capture the dark moss-lined walls and unique emerald color, yet also hold onto the highlight detail of the top of the waterfall and sky. I feel most cameras would likely struggle with this scene.”

“I had the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K for only a few days, but overall I was really impressed by it. The weight of the camera is very liberating, especially when you are used to using larger camera systems. The screen is big and bright enough to use in daylight, which I found great for judging focus and exposure. And, the colors too on the screen, were also nicely represented. In fact, I would argue it is Blackmagic’s best screen yet.”

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
RAW 
ISO400, 1250 and 2500 
Sigma 18-35mm, Rokinon Cine 50mm EF lenses
Metabones Speedbooster to Micro Four Thirds

Looks nice, but nothing the original pocket couldn't do? Especially only seeing this a 1080p version. 

The highlights seem to be clipping harder/differently than the original pocket. Looks more like the GH5 than the BMPCC to me.

1 hour ago, Jim Giberti said:

Seriously?

I wouldn't want to guess at how much work of all types has been produced and now much money made with the camera.

I've worked with several in our kit and know lot's of other professionals who've done the same with the camera as it was delivered.

It's proven to be amazing period.

 

Are you saying you use it without the IR cut filter? In my experience the camera is about 5x better colorize when there's no IR contamination. 

2 hours ago, scotchtape said:

Wow, technology is crazy.  Only thing missing now is the image quality, still very droney but I guess you can't get everything.

I agree. Judging by purely the image quality, it seems to be pretty similar to the mavic, phantom, etc. Would love to change my mind, since the price and features seem awesome. 

Do you still need heavy ND filters to shoot 24p - 1/48 in the sun?

Looks great. It's kinda crazy that BM didn't put a IR cut filter in the original pocket. The camera is not very usable without, but amazing with.

?

4 hours ago, wolf33d said:

https://www.fujirumors.com/fujifilm-x-t3-video-4k-at-60p-10-bit-and-zebra/

I could not care less about this APSC camera but I like this. The more 4K60p 10 bit camera on the market, the more chance people like Sony put this (or better) in their cameras like A7S III. 
 

I would love to have the new Nikon Z camera having 4K60p... would be amazing and would replace my A7III (assuming AF is as good). 

 

 

It will be 4K 60p AND 10 bit. Not both at once.

22 hours ago, DBounce said:

Rumors of the death of the GH5S have been greatly exaggerated... apparently! Not my work, but nice to see real narrative filming with the little camera.

 

This doesn't look better than a C100 Mkii or C300 to me?

18 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

I think the PMW F3 is a far better camera for nearly the same money. Heck Adorama had a F3 for like 775 bucks.

https://www.adorama.com/us 1018391.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwkYDbBRB6EiwAR0T_-gfda0onpd5_BqiNOttXZz3lzZ9EwQZSYaHldHxvZDtz_FSGxsciNBoCelsQAvD_BwET

They have a Panasonic AF100 for 625 bucks, and a Bunch of FS100's.

But yeah Like I have said, really good 1080p, even 720p is still good enough for 95% or more of video needs.

Colors kind of remind me of the frames posted above. The F3 produces a really good image. Really underrated. 

22 hours ago, jonpais said:

I’d like to see you shoot a series as extraordinarily beautiful as Sense8 with an iPhone. John Toll chose the FS5 for that show. 

I’m sure it can look great, but that example looked really bad, every characteristic of why I hated the fs700 image. 

Sense 8 was shot with the F55, not FS5. Id like to John still shoot a series as beautiful with the FS5

”Camera: Sony F-55
Lens: Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses, and Fujinon 19-90 zoom lenses”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiewire.com/2017/08/emmy-2017-camera-nominated-cinematographers-1201868305/amp/

1 hour ago, jonpais said:

 

It is insane how bad Sony footage can look. The iPhone renders colors much better.

8 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

Yeah I had a Mosaic one back in the day. I was satisfied with it.. Not sure if they are even in business anymore?

 

Not sure. Emailed them and they never emailed back. There’s another company makinf the filters and they did respond. 

Pocket came in the mail today. Wow the battery situation is terrible. The camera shuts down completely when you change the f stop with the metabones attached. Forgot about that one. I do have an external battery but wow I forgot how bad it can be. 

^ The fact that a camera so small can produce an image so nice is pretty outstanding. Very filmic. Also found this video looking for bmmcc stuff. Looks like he shoots a color chart does some stuff in resolve. He also uses the RAWLite internal Moire/IR cut filter.

Has anyone used any of the internal IR Cut/Moire filters? I just picked up the pocket camera again and want to try to one of those.

Looking at pistol grip rigs. This is kind of goofy, but the weight on the bottom is probably nice. It's very difficult to find a heavy pistol grip. Someone should make a pistol grip battery handle. Maybe something that just takes a couple Canon batteries. 

7 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Is funny looking back at this thread, as only two years later it dropped even further! To half or even a third of the price!

How much for a user FS700r these days?

On 7/13/2018 at 4:18 PM, andrgl said:

Three months ago I was salty about not getting a Micro 2. Now I'm ready to upgrade just for that 4k60!

Hey @John Brawley can you pass feedback for future cameras? Me and some happy BM owners would love to see a Micro Pro with a positive lock MFT mount, SDI out and swappable rear battery plates. I know we are a niche market but those things would make the Micro v2 epic. 

Curious what you shoot with these? Just picked up a pocket with metabones EF for 600. So many deals on the eBay kits. I also own a few of those SSDs. So good. 

6 hours ago, JurijTurnsek said:

If you ever done a trick on a skateboard, timing is everything. A single flatground trick lasts less that a second and the duration of the clip.

The degraded IQ (zoomed in?) and Ty Evans' general affliction of all new gear, I would imagine he used a Phantom camera. Spinning that beast with exactly the same speed as the skateboard, triggering the spin at the exact same moment (we are talking miliseconds here), while nailing the manual focus seems highly improbably.

There is the 1% chance it was done this way, just because a professional skateboarder would be able to a few hundred takes with such a basic trick if needed.

Good call. I’m not sure you’d see a huge difference if they did or didn’t do it that way - the lines are so straight. Like you said, it would take a ton of tries to trigger at the right time. 

The super wide fisheye is what really makes the clip from Colin Reeds video look cool. 

You can also add that 4:3 is much better for this effect, since the rotation is nearly symmetrical and center focused, rather than the slightly awkward 16:9 rotating frame. 

13 hours ago, zerocool22 said:

Hello,

 

You all have probably seen the gif where a guy spins his camera 360 degrees and follows a kickflip so when playing the video out the camera follows the movement of the deck. Which is a cool in camera trick but would it not be easier and smoother to just do this in post these days shoot +4K resolution. And just spin the image 360 in post? Or would that not result in the same effect?

 

Cheers

I think it was more the idea that he did it handheld in a line that made it cool. Vx looks awesome.

I can't tell if this was done in post or not, definitely done way before the Colin Reed video though.

If you shoot a lot of interviews, definitely a good camera to own. The Canon series is so good in low/mixed lighting.

4 hours ago, IronFilm said:

worthwhile checking the "superior" Sony PMW-F3 and Sony FS700 which sell for even cheaper prices. 

And depending on your line of work you do, is worthwhile keeping an eye out for a C300mk1 or C500, which sell for a massive discount over their original prices. 

Great cameras but I feel like the need for the external recorders puts them in a different category.

8 hours ago, MurtlandPhoto said:

The GH5s with a speedbooster and XLR-1 gives you 90% of the functionality of the C100ii plus the added benefits of smaller size, 4k, slo-mo, HLG, dual native ISO, and more. If AF is a dealmaker/breaker, then you already know your answer.

Internal ND and auto focus is a BIG 10 percent... Of course all depends on what you typically shoot. 

2 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Thanks, you just made my point that choosing a C500 (over say a RED) wasn't due to the lower cost. 

The lowlight at the time was probably quite a bit better than the RED offerings.

On 7/3/2018 at 1:41 AM, kye said:

Very nice work there @BenEricson ???

The stylising elements were done really nicely, strong but coherent and adding to the package instead of distracting.  Was the WB differences in some shots from filming or done deliberately in post?  I thought it added to the aesthetic, thus maybe added.
I also very much liked the style and editing.  I'd assume the transition shots between the two sections where you pan left/down and then pan left/up from the water was planned and deliberate, and it was subtle but so nicely done.

I used to write electronic music with a guy who was a master of subtlety and would just nail things but in a very understated way and in a sense this video reminded me of that.

What were you riding while filming?  and how large / cumbersome was your rig?  I used to be a skater a long time ago and watched a lot of videos and some of the most incredible efforts are by the DoPs who have to keep up while still getting the shot.

Sorry, not trying to derail this thread. I just want to mention that it is neither THAT expensive or difficult to shoot film. Grain holds up fine on Vimeo.

@kye - Thanks for the kind words. The WB was done in post. Half of the footage was summer and half was winter, so I wanted to separate the footage with color. The entire project was scanned to flat log 2k on the Scan Station Scanner. 

The rig was just the Bolex 16mm with the gun/trigger grip. I have a Super 16mm version but we went with the 4:3 because of the wide lens look and choices with that ratio. I've been skateboarding for about 16 years, so just me rolling down the street. I did a bit of warp stabilize here and there to help it out, (which works way better on film because theres no rolling shutter jello.) What you get in a bolex is pretty amazing. Slow motion, single frame, long exposure, internal slot ND, etc. The camera was really built to be used for quick setup and just getting shots. The pan up from the water was done deliberately, but everything else was just made in the edit. Thank you again for checking out the project. 

23 minutes ago, andrgl said:

And cinema ain't real life.

FPN, chroma noise and rolling shutter make film grain look far superior.

And on the topic of web compression, banding. No banding when there's grain.

15 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

It was scary as hell shooting it. You Never knew what you really had untill you got it back, and you never even knew if it was ruined until they called you to say, well it is all blank, sorry, but you still owe us the development cost LoL!! Oh yeah it was Really fun times back then. Hell no I am not going back. ?

I always hear comments like this, but I’ve never heard an actual story of anyone having a “it was all blank sorry” moment.  This seems like the modern equivalent of forgetting to load a card into a digital camera. You’d have to either have very serious mechanical error, severe under exposure, or be uneducated in the process, all of which are preventable... especially since the room for error with negative film is extremly high.

I recently shot a short piece on a Bolex Rex 4. The scanning prices have dropped recently and the 4k scans available now are really nice and affordable. 

ProRes LT to Vimeo has worked pretty good for me in the past. Film grain holds up really nice in my experience.