bjohn

I love those split shots (above/below water)! That would be really cool.

I actually don't use a remote anymore as I'm only using fully manual lenses and am starting to shoot Raw 3:1 instead of ProRes, so setting the white balance isn't crucial and there's nothing else to adjust (I never alter the frame rate or ISO and only occasionally alter shutter angle). But you do have to go in and adjust the date/time every day and I've never seen a remote that does that, plus you have to use the menu buttons to format your SD card. I've gotten used to navigating them but even after a few years it's still hit and miss. The date and time start to drift pretty quickly, usually after a day.

The Canon batteries are not actually that bad, at least compared with the original Pocket camera with its Nikon batteries where I never got more than 15 minutes; with the BMMCC I can usually get 30-45 minutes from one of the Canons so I use them when I am traveling overseas or when using my Glidecam to save weight. Otherwise I use Shijan's battery enclosure, which goes for hours and hours (I think at least 4, I've never let it run to find out).

15 hours ago, DFason said:

I have a handful of older Sandisk cards that could work.

That's good, same here, and if you can get more from the owner when you buy a used BMMCC so much the better. I bought one of my BMMCCs new and the other used; the used one came with two more cards in addition to the five or six I already had so I probably now have a lifetime supply. You can reformat them thousands of times with no worry and I reckon they'll last many years.

It's a great camera. I keep getting tempted to update to something that can shoot 4k, but then look at the image quality and the flexible form factor (and the investment I've made in mine, which include the Rawlite OLPF on both of them plus Dmitry Shijan's excellent battery pack and other accessories) and figure I should just dig in and keep using them until they (or I) die. There's something to be said for sticking with one camera for a long time: you get to know its quirks and how to get the best out of it. The footage I'm shooting now with these cameras is so much better than what I shot with them at the beginning. I would say the only drawbacks are the poor low-light performance (and noise) and the godawful menu buttons. There are some good remotes (the One Little Remote and a new smaller one under development by a guy in Japan) that minimize or eliminate the need to ever use the menu buttons and they make life a lot easier.

20 minutes ago, bjohn said:

 I think on the cheaper set of new Video Assists announced a couple of weeks ago there may be a frame rate limitation (i.e., they won't record 60fps) but I haven't verified.

Replying to my own post to say that according to the BMD website, the new 3G Video Assists (the cheaper models, announced a couple of weeks ago) do in fact record up to 60 fps so you should be good. Only Prores, though; the BMMCC does not output raw over HDMI. BMD provides a list (in the Support section of their website) of SD cards compatible with the new 3G Video Assist models. Of course if you spend more money you can get the HDR video assists that can also record to usb-c drives, which might be a smart solution for longer term compatibility.

On 8/4/2020 at 1:39 PM, DFason said:

I am lurking for a used micro but wanted to ask a few questions. 

With the SD card issue did anyone find something that works now? Currently August 2020? 

If I buy a BM recorder, could I record to it instead of the SD card?

There are a number of SD cards that work, but not many can record at 60fps if you want to use it for that. I have tried the Kingston Canvas React 128gig card and it's fine for ProRes and Raw 3:1 up to 30 fps but no higher. There are a few threads on the BMD forum that might be helpful, but you have to wade through a lot of trial and error; here's the main thread but there are others that you can discover through Google searches:

https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=83050

As for using a BM recorder, I assume you mean the Video Assist? That'll work as long as you don't buy the original Video Assist, which has the same card compatibility problem. However if you get the new generation of Video Assists there should be compatible cards now. You can only record ProRes, not raw to the Video Assist from the BMMCC, but I mainly use ProRes HQ myself and only occasionally shoot Raw 3:1; the image quality and flexibility of ProRes HQ is more than adequate for my project needs. I think on the cheaper set of new Video Assists announced a couple of weeks ago there may be a frame rate limitation (i.e., they won't record 60fps) but I haven't verified.

1 hour ago, Video Hummus said:

I think both camps are the same. Either you do pre-work to get the organic image (vintage lens, diffusion filters, etc...) or you do post-work in the NLE

I'm not sure everyone actually wants an "organic image," whatever that means. I think there's a camp of people who prefer a modern, clean, sharp, digital look, and a camp of people who prefer something softer with more "artistic" rendering. But within the second camp, there are people who prefer to start with a tabula rasa (a clean, optically perfect image) that they can manipulate however they like, versus those who prefer the look to be baked into the footage. And I don't think the baked-in crowd is necessarily lazier, more pressed for time, or less skilled at post work -- they may simply like a camera/lens combination that asserts its own character and forces you to meet it halfway. It's similar in the audio world: there are people who want completely neutral, uncolored microphones and preamps, and people who want color and warmth out of the box.

37 minutes ago, kye said:

Certainly shooting RAW on the OG Pocket is nicer than most h264 codecs, and would be more gradable, so if we take character to mean 'distortions' then actually compressed codecs lose out and RAW is actually less distorted as it's got higher bit-depth and less/no compression distortion

The "character" I'm referring to boils down mostly to the lens and the sensor, not the compression type or raw vs. compressed. But even shooting ProRes HQ on the OG Pocket, Micro Cinema, etc. is better than h264 and that's mostly how I work; I hardly ever shoot raw except on my Micro Cinema where it's too much trouble to dive into the menus to adjust white balance. I think of h264 as a delivery codec, not something you'd actually want to work with for editing or color grading. On the very rare occasions when I have to shoot h264 (e.g., on my Sony A7iii) I transcode to ProRes for editing and grading. That doesn't improve dynamic range or anything, since the compression was done in-camera, but it's a lot less work for my computer.

I think it boils down to a difference in aesthetics. In both cinematography and photography there are people who value sharp, clean, optically pure images from a camera and people who value images with character built-in. The "clean" camp argues that you can add character in post; the goal is to produce a clean image that you can take in any direction you like, whereas if the character is baked in you have fewer options. The "character" camp argues that it's hard if not impossible to duplicate the rendering of images with built-in character, and seeing how the camera rendered your images is half the fun anyway.

The arguments can be seen with both lenses and cameras. I've been following some of the threads on Cosina Voigtländer lenses for E-mount at the fredmiranda.com forums: the Nokton lenses have a lot of optical defects that create character, whereas the APO Lanthar lenses are among the most optically perfect lenses you can buy. People gravitate to one or the other and defend their decisions zealously. I think in the hands of a good photographer, the APO lenses are amazing, but most of what you see in those forums are photos from people who bought the APO lenses because they were optically perfect. Their priorities are more technical than aesthetic, and thus they tend to shoot photos that are technically perfect but boring to look at. The people who choose the "character" lenses tend to have more artistic sensibilities and their photos are usually much more compelling even if the images have soft corners, chromatic aberration, and other optical flaws. That said, good photographers with artistic sensibilities who choose the APO Lanthar (optically perfect) models can produce stunning and gorgeous photos too.

You can get gorgeous character-rich footage from the BMPCC 4K or 6K with the right lenses, lighting, and good color grading skills; have a look at some of these BMPCC 4K examples from the talented cinematographer Fabián Aguirre: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=116781&p=644858&hilit=aguirre#p644720

Looks good. I'll be curious to see if the fan noise from the Micro is a problem in your audio recordings. Even with my Sennheiser 8060 shotgun I could hear the fan if I had the mic on camera or anywhere near it, at least if I was in a reverberant room (wooden floors). Of course if you record 10-15 seconds of room tone at the beginning you can eliminate the fan sound with Izotope RX, Acon Acoustica, or any other good audio noise reduction program.

It's entirely possible that under the terms of the lawsuit settlement, Ryan Avery was required to help promote the Meike lens line. Or he could just be doing a favor for a friend (Matt Duclos, who also appears in that video; Duclos Lenses is selling Meikes now individually and in full sets).

EDITED to add that Sanveer's hypothesis makes the most sense to me.

25 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

I'd rather get a BM Pocket 6k but I simply don't want 6k. It would upset my PC and I don't want to shoot cropped 2k BRAW as a 1.6 crop is already pushing it. Yes you can shoot prores but than you lose dynamic range and that sucks

Perhaps it doesn't suck as much as you think: https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=82199

Over the last couple of months I built up a set of three Rokkor primes (I bought four but the 85mm had a bad case of fungus); I now have a 28 mm, a 55 mm, and a 100 mm. So far I've only used them for photography but am planning to try them on my Micro Cinema Camera once I get a Minolta MD to Nikon F adapter so I can use with my Nikon-to-MFT speedbooster.

These lenses have rejuvinated my photography and I'm taking some of my best photos ever. The colors are painterly, the bokeh is gorgeous. The only drawbacks are the lack of flare resistance and a few other minor things; I like that they are generally low-contrast wide open but super-sharp stopped down a bit. A few examples:

28mm:

100 mm:

55 mm:

85 mm:

33 minutes ago, bjohn said:

Actually the BMD Ursa Broadcast is known as an excellent S16 camera, and lots of people use it for that. Tristan Pemberton in Australia has been using it for a few years now with the "Hurt Locker" lens (Canon 8-64mm T2.4 PL zoom); I've seen a few other people say they've been using this combo, including on films shot for BBC. I haven't seen any actual examples though. The Ursa Broadcast doesn't have this amazing new sensor of the Ursa 12K, but it's a fraction of the cost and recently gained a lot of new features (including BRAW) in a firmware update.

For more info on the Ursa Broadcast as a S16 camera, see this: https://www.provideocoalition.com/hidden-flexibility-of-blackmagics-ursa-broadcast-a-s16mm-camera/

Actually the BMD Ursa Broadcast is known as an excellent S16 camera, and lots of people use it for that. Tristan Pemberton in Australia has been using it for a few years now with the "Hurt Locker" lens (Canon 8-64mm T2.4 PL zoom); I've seen a few other people say they've been using this combo, including on films shot for BBC. I haven't seen any actual examples though. The Ursa Broadcast doesn't have this amazing new sensor of the Ursa 12K, but it's a fraction of the cost and recently gained a lot of new features (including BRAW) in a firmware update.

16 minutes ago, kye said:

I thought that rigging up a rig with a top handle was the same basic idea as a glidecam, being that you kind of hold the camera so it's hanging from where you're holding the handle and so the weight of it and the idea you're not gripping it hard but kind of just gently letting it hang kind of smooths out the jitters from your hand.

Sort of, but the glidecam actually has a mechanical gimbal. I use a much scaled-bag rig for my BMMCC when using it with the glidecam (just monitor and a wide-angle lens) and that works great. For handheld with the top handle, I weigh it down as much as possible by adding all the bells and whistles (follow focus, heavier lens, matte box, Video Assist with two batteries, etc.) and it's more stable, but still never gets quite as smooth as the glidecam. With practice I could probably make it acceptable.

I am really looking forward to seeing some BRAW footage shot with the fp.  You can apply generation 5 color science to it now as well.

12 hours ago, kye said:

Hey - I see a photo I took in there!  Cool

Me too; this one's my rig:

https://bmmccrigs.tumblr.com/image/190190620501

I have a top handle but never use it as I have a glidecam; I've never been able to get smooth handheld shots with the Micro.

There's a big collection of rigs for the Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera here, some of which might give you some ideas for whatever camera you're trying to rig. The BMMCC has a fan, so I never mount a microphone to it (even a shotgun picks up some of that fan noise in a quiet room), but clearly some people do; the fan is probably less audible outside.

https://bmmccrigs.tumblr.com/

FYI, Blackmagic Design released Blackmagic RAW 1.8 today, which adds support for Sigma fp clips captured by Video Assist 12G HDR

40 minutes ago, noone said:

As for 12mp, I think that is great for stills

I might not go that far, but it's fine if you're not doing extra-large prints. I think you can print billboards with the A7r iv. 😉 I'm still using a NEX-6 (APS-C) which is a 16 mp camera; it has better low-light performance than any of the A6000 series but I do find myself wishing for more resolution at times, especially since I frequently crop in post.

This new camera or cameras from Sony will be deciding factors for me. I currently carry two cameras, one for stills and one (or two) for video, since the NEX-6 video quality is pretty close to rock-bottom bad. It would be nice to be able to bring just one camera, one set of batteries and charger, etc. so I'm hoping whatever Sony's coming up with may fit that bill for me. If not, I'll stick with two cameras, it's not the end of the world.

3 hours ago, Amazeballs said:

ancient menus, overall design, using same bodies for almost 10 years,

It's funny this is one of the strongest selling points for me for Sony. If I can update/upgrade a camera with almost no learning curve, that's priceless. Yes, it takes longer to figure things out at the beginning, but once you're used to it and know how to customize buttons to reach your most-used settings, long-term stability with no major changes is a huge benefit to people who use their cameras every day.

2 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Could be another option for you.

Take the Pocket 4K this weekend and make a short film with it. Do ergonimics, workflow, operation etc. hinder you to achieve the shots you want, and if so, would another camera be better in these areas?

What kind of videos are you filming most of the time? Narrative, documentary, Fashion, Musicvideos, Family-Clips? 

You should go back and read the original post. He said "I have always worked with video rather than photography (which remained an amateur hobby for me), so last year I sold my old and faithful 5D mark II to buy the blackmagic pocket 4K. This year I have worked very little with videos (I am a writer and now I concentrate mainly on this  job) and I regretted bitterly that I bought the blackmagic. I'd like to go back to a classic DSLR, and I'm not sure which to buy after selling the pocket cinema camera."

He's not looking for a video camera. He wants a hybrid camera, which the BMPCC 4K is not.

1 hour ago, kye said:

My understanding is that the speckled patterns in bokeh are to do with any textures in / on the lens.  You get them if you use a mesh for diffusion: https://www.provideocoalition.com/the-secret-life-of-behind-the-lens-nets/

I also thought that it can be if you've got dirt or something inside the lens or on the front filters?

No, it's due to the filter. See this comment from Ryan Avery, who knows a thing or two about lenses and filters:

http://disq.us/p/28697ul

"As with all filters like the Tokina Black Alchemy, Schneider Hollywood Black Magic, and Tiffen Black Soft F/X; you have avoid long lens bokeh effects (in focus subject in the foreground with out of focus lights in the background such as cityscapes, streetlights, panel lights, etc), and avoid shooting wide open past T2 on sensors S35 and above. The filters hold up perfectly as long as very apparent point source bokeh where the subject is close to the lens are avoided. Once at deeper focus, further from the lens, the effect speckle bokeh is gone."

3 hours ago, BenEricson said:

Personally I think the Hollywood Black Magic looks the best, I guess that's why they are 3x the price

I have the 1/4 and 1/8 Hollywood Black Magic filters and they are indeed very nice (I got them to reduce the harshness of the Sigma 18-35 and give it a bit more character, which they sort of succeed at doing but I think I just don't like that lens). The main thing to watch out for with these filters is speckly bokeh, which can happen if you've got an object in focus in the foreground with out-of-focus lights in the background. It looks pretty weird when it happens; you can find examples by typing "speckled bokeh" into a youtube search or on Google.

45 minutes ago, boukmanmutt said:

YES it's one of the first, it used to record CDNG,

That means the new owner would be able to downgrade the firmware and record CDNG with it. There are probably some people who want to do it (not many, but those who feel strongly that uncompressed CDNG has advantages for them over BRAW would be willing to pay extra for it). Rather than guess, why don't you put it on eBay and let people bid it up?

Considering that they're pretty hard to get ahold of in some markets, and BMD is notorious for hit-or-miss quality control (the two BMD cameras I bought new both came with problems out of the box and had to be exchanged), I'd say a practically new and somewhat tested (8-9 hours is better than nothing) BMPCC 4K should go for not much less than a new one. If someone's telling you it's too expensive, that's fine, but somewhere out there is a buyer who'd be willing to snatch it up. I don't know, knock off the price by 100 Euros?