bjohn

About five years ago I got the ingenious little Beatstep controller system (https://posttools.tachyon-consulting.com/davinci-resolve-controllers/beatstep-resolve-edition/) which seemed promising (and could be used for editing, colour, and Fairlight) but it was complex to set up and new versions of Resolve started to break things, and then I upgraded to an Apple Silicon Mac so I stopped using it. This is the issue with third-party products in general...the developer has to put in a lot of work to ensure compatibility with new releases of Resolve and if there's not enough demand for the product it eventually isn't worth the effort.

But objects in the footage from both cameras are the same size. If one camera is APS-C and the other is full-frame, and they were using the same lenses, those objects would not be the same size. So maybe the differences you're seeing are due to different lenses being used (or the same zoom lens on both cameras but at different focal lengths), or something was done in post. The person who did this comparison is introducing too many variables for it to be an informative test.

I also buy most of my gear used; I did buy my Sony A7iii new, mainly for the warranty. For Blackmagic Design cameras I think it's best to buy used because BMD's quality assurance is so poor that you may need to buy several new cameras to find one that works. The two BMD cameras I bought new were defective out of the box and had to be returned; the used one I bought on eBay is perfect. People who buy a defective camera will likely return it to exchange, so you'll probably have better luck buying a used one.

Thanks! I actually did try to crush the blacks, mainly to keep noise down but also because like you I see no reason to reveal detail in shadows that isn't helpful to the image or wasn't visible at the venue (and believe me, not much was visible..this place is really, really dark!). And I do have my eye on the new Micro studio G2; I want to see if anything else is announced at NAB (unlikely but possible) before I pull the trigger, but it would be a nice addition. I'll try playing with boosting the saturation and contrast even more than I already did (I boosted saturation to 60 percent already; I'll try 70 or 75). Exposed at 1600 this was already quite underexposed and I had to boost exposure by at least 2-3 stops just to be able to see much in the footage.

I got asked to do video (and photos) again at this event this coming summer, and since I really don't like shooting video on my Sony I decided to test the limits of my Blackmagic OG Pocket (which by extension would test the limits of my two BMMCCs) by bringing it to a very dark jazz club where I frequently take photos for some young musicians in town. When I shoot photos at this place they are usually at ISO 16,000 or 20,000, far beyond the limits of the OG BMPCC. But I did some test shots in our basement and it seemed like I might be able to get something. I used the lowest frame rate (23.976), set the shutter angle to 270 degrees, shot CDNG raw, and set the ISO to 1,600 for exposure purposes. I already had white balance readings from the photos I'd taken there previously, so I set that in advance. I used my SLR Magic 10mm Hyperprime, wide open, where it is quite soft and dreamy, and for kicks I added a star filter. I wanted a handheld look so I used a Zacuto Marauder Mini as a brace, along with a Zacuto viewfinder that provided additional stabilization as it allowed me to press the viewfinder against my face. What I didn't count on was that the viewfinder fogged up at one point and I could barely see with it so I had to take it off and just look at that little LCD screen; it was hard to see whether anything was in focus as focus peaking was barely visible. I shot some footage from the front during the sound check, and asked when that same song would come up during the set. Just before that song came up I went to the back of the performance space so I could shoot from behind the musicians. What I didn't count on was that the actual performance of that song was a bit faster than how they played it at the sound check, so I couldn't align the video shot from the front perfectly with the audio. For the audio I used a Sound Devices MixPre6 with a stereo pair of Line Audio CM3 mics. I boosted the exposure by a couple of stops in Resolve, brought down the gain a little, adjusted contrast, saturation, and mid-tone detail, and that was it. The resulting footage was noisy, of course. For Instagram I didn't even bother with noise reduction as the noise wasn't very noticeable when viewed on a phone. For Vimeo I applied NR to each clip in Resolve, which softened the image quite a bit (and the shots of the drummer, who was completely in the dark, are too plastic-looking for my taste; I could have backed off the NR there). Overall, for a quick test I'm happy enough with this and I'll use my BMD cameras for the dance this summer; this jazz club is quite a bit darker than the hall where the dancers will be.

I've also heard good things about K&F; I have the SLR Magic one that has a little locking tab for precise repeatability. The K&F and SLR Magic ones both seem to be able to successfully avoid the dreaded X vignette at higher strengths, but I know some users have complained of colour casts on the SLR Magic. I haven't especially noticed it on my OG BMPCC but the ProRes footage on the OG BMPCC tends to have a slight greenish colour cast to begin with; I'd have to test using raw but I rarely shoot CDNG raw on that camera as there's no need; ProRes HQ is very flexible in terms of adjusting white balance, exposure, etc. in post. With VNDs, the main concern is colour casts; the cheaper ones can do the X vignette although they should be okay at weaker strengths.

This was a few years ago, can't remember when exactly, but probably 2019 or 2020.

Well, I'm just a sample size of one. I bought these two at the same time, so they might have been from a bad production batch. Lots of people seem happy with them; I was too for the first 8-9 months. One more reason why long-term reviews are often more useful than reviews after a person has used a product for a few days or weeks.

Died completely as in they could no longer be formatted and inserting them in the camera gave the No Card error. I couldn't use them on any other camera or format/rescue them with desktop software. And they were the faster versions; the ones recommended for the BMPCC; I had two of them and they both died. They were reliable while they worked and never dropped frames. In contrast I'm still using the SanDisk cards I bought in 2016 for my OG BMPCC, which have been reformatted hundreds of times, and they still perform like champs. (I don't think any card made by SanDisk today will work in the OG BMPCC or BMMCC). The Angelbirds and now my Sony will take over once those SanDisks finally bite the dust.

I actually just learned that the Sony Tough V90 64mb 300mb/s (read) 299mb/s (write) card works in the OG BMPCC and BMPCC and I happen to have one here so I popped it in and guess what, it works! I haven't tested it at all framerates in the BMMCC, which would take a while as dropped frames often don't happen right away so you need to record at least 10-15 minutes at each framerate in CDNG (and CDNG 3:1 at 60fps) to be sure. But it should work for all framerates on the OG BMPCC. These cards are readily available and not as expensive as the Angelbirds. I have two of the 128 GB Angelbirds and those are fantastic but expensive. The Kingston Canvas Selects that I bought died after a few months so I'd be wary of that solution, although some people are happy with them.

As an amusing side note, Line Audio (a maker of fantastic and very affordable microphones, based in Sweden) had to change the name of their omni microphone model a few years ago from OM-1 to Omni-1, apparently at OM Digital's insistence.

I'm curious about the "well mine do actually." Are you using a third-party solution to achieve continuous autofocus? Because as far as I know, BMD has never made a camera that has continuous autofocus, where the camera continually adjusts focus and can track subjects without input from the operator.

Another option to consider is one light and several reflectors (see CRLS or Dedo Lightstream). This takes a bit of planning in terms of where to put the light and the reflectors, but the reflectors eliminate the need to color-match multiple lights since they're all reflecting the same light. And if you're using natural light as your main source you can bounce it around with the reflectors with no need to color match since it's reflecting the same light. These reflectors come in multiple levels of diffusion, so no need for softboxes either. The larger reflectors are like medium-size softboxes; you can also get very small ones for tabletop work or for focusing a narrow beam of light on something/someone. The CRLS Lightbridge website has some nice example videos of what can be done. You do need a pretty strong light but with some planning you can get key, fill, and (harder but possible) backlight all from one light source.

My partner works at home several days per week and in her employer's office the rest of the time. When I buy camera or video equipment on eBay I try to time the shipment so it arrives when she's not here. Doesn't always work out that way, though. But she pays so little attention to my equipment that she doesn't even notice when I'm using a new camera or lenses. She has her own obsessions, although they're cheaper. The only resistance I've encountered from her is my re-entry into the world of film (photography, not video). She views it as a waste of money but especially as an avoidable environmental impact, from cradle to grave (manufacturing the film, distributing it to retailers, processing it, and ultimately disposing of the negatives). Lots of materials and energy use, all of which could be avoided if I stuck to shooting digital. Some people argue that the environmental footprint of a new digital camera is much larger than that of an antique film camera and hundreds of rolls of film, but if you already own a digital camera that's not the way to look at it: every roll of film has an avoidable impact. I agree with her about the environmental impact and I try to limit my film photography because of it, but I love shooting film enough that I continue.

Add one more reason: If (like me) you already own a couple of the original Micro Cinema Cameras, you can buy this one and your spouse/partner will never notice that you bought (yet) another camera. Seriously, though, for me this is an interesting option because I already have everything I need for it (cage, monitor, bigger external battery (the one Dmitry Shijan made), but it would give me much better low-light performance than my Micros which is important for some of likely situations in my case.