Blackmagic Micro Cinema Super Guide and Why It Still Matters

[Tim Sewell]

8 hours ago, kye said:

Maybe a little, but much more influenced by Illkoncept, especially his Japan on 16mm Film, things like Man with a Movie Camera (1929) and also from Parts Unknown | Tokyo.

Interesting - I will take a look!

[PannySVHS]

Thank you for posting! @kye  Nice perspectives, also lovely sound! Will need to rewatch it on my TV! I would love to see your beautiful daylight shots too in a montage! Maybe I should also get around to upload some of my summer footage.

I think og p2k and m2k are delivering an honest, pure and beautiful lowlight image at their native iso 800, already in Prores 422. It's better than a GH5 in that regard iirc. The fairchild sensor is a thing of beauty, no mushy codec neither. I cannot replicate the magic with my S1H under natural light. I did a little project with it and the image looks like Eng or a Tv crime drama, no matter how I work the footage in Davinci. It could be user error of course. I wonder if the GH5s and the P4K are different in that regard despite also sporting a Sony sensor like the S line cameras from Panny. I've seen great stuff with the Pocket 4K, though only on the web so far. Maybe I"ll borrow one from a friend. Pocket 4K thread is a great read I am recalling btw. Weekend is saved.:)

[PPNS]

^ if you’re interested in seeing some more recent stuff ive shot on the p4k, one or the most recent posts in the stickied lenses thread has some links. 

[kye]

On 1/19/2025 at 1:31 AM, PannySVHS said:

Thank you for posting! @kye  Nice perspectives, also lovely sound! Will need to rewatch it on my TV! I would love to see your beautiful daylight shots too in a montage! Maybe I should also get around to upload some of my summer footage.

I think og p2k and m2k are delivering an honest, pure and beautiful lowlight image at their native iso 800, already in Prores 422. It's better than a GH5 in that regard iirc. The fairchild sensor is a thing of beauty, no mushy codec neither. I cannot replicate the magic with my S1H under natural light. I did a little project with it and the image looks like Eng or a Tv crime drama, no matter how I work the footage in Davinci. It could be user error of course. I wonder if the GH5s and the P4K are different in that regard despite also sporting a Sony sensor like the S line cameras from Panny. I've seen great stuff with the Pocket 4K, though only on the web so far. Maybe I"ll borrow one from a friend. Pocket 4K thread is a great read I am recalling btw. Weekend is saved.:)

Thanks!

This video was a proof-of-concept, as when I started I hadn't really used Logic Pro before, had never written a soundtrack / score before, hadn't used any of the dozens of audio plugins I used in Logic either, and didn't really know the best way to integrate Logic with Resolve.
Needless to say, I have learned a lot and will do a bunch of things differently on the next one.

[PannySVHS]

Like I said, appetite for more.:) @kye

On 1/18/2025 at 6:31 PM, PannySVHS said:

I would love to see your beautiful daylight shots too in a montage!

😊

I will check @PPNS I remember your other splendid P4K footage. I still think the fairchild sensor looks better under natural light but your lighting makes the Sony sensor shine.

Vimeo has killed off browsing and searching videos now. What an absolute disgrace! So I've had the headaches of searching for cool P4K stuff on youtube. Not so many great finds. Sony Pmw F3 is well represented on the tube though, og pocket and micro too.

[kye]

Starting edit for Experiment 2.

First step is to apply a basic grade and get a tone for the project.  It was hot as hell, humid as hell, and hazy, so the grade is in that general direction.

Grade is mostly Film Look Creator and then ARRI709 LUT, with only basic contrast / exposure adjustments.

I might try to cool the shadows a bit and balance off some of the brown, but it's a start.  I compared it to some 200T scans and it's a lot closer than I thought it would be.

[Dthgrnds]

Old post, but I guess it's worth keeping it alive. I got myself a BMMCC for cheap, but I've never really managed to work with its color science. I come from a Canon background and is used to material I get from the EOS M running Magic Lantern. 

Any suggestions on what I should try with the BMMCC?

[kye]

On 10/7/2026 at 8:14 PM, Dthgrnds said:

Old post, but I guess it's worth keeping it alive. I got myself a BMMCC for cheap, but I've never really managed to work with its color science. I come from a Canon background and is used to material I get from the EOS M running Magic Lantern. 

Any suggestions on what I should try with the BMMCC?

BMMCC still has the magic in it, so definitely worth getting to know it and how to get the best of it.

I always shoot Prores on it, rather than RAW, but my node tree was:

1) CST from BM Film Gen 1 to Davinci Intermediate
2) Grade in Log space
3) CST from Davinci Intermediate to rec709-A

The default colour science is quite film-like and has a pretty heavy "look" already in it, but it's worth experimenting with different processes to see what you like.

As I'd imagine you're shooting RAW, you'll also be using the RAW panel which I can't give advice on, except try different things and see what you like.  There are "correct" colour spaces etc, but in colour, if it looks good then it is good, so just try stuff and see what you can find.

Maybe @mercer can give some advice on making the BM really sing?

[mercer]

1 hour ago, kye said:

BMMCC still has the magic in it, so definitely worth getting to know it and how to get the best of it.

I always shoot Prores on it, rather than RAW, but my node tree was:

1) CST from BM Film Gen 1 to Davinci Intermediate
2) Grade in Log space
3) CST from Davinci Intermediate to rec709-A

The default colour science is quite film-like and has a pretty heavy "look" already in it, but it's worth experimenting with different processes to see what you like.

As I'd imagine you're shooting RAW, you'll also be using the RAW panel which I can't give advice on, except try different things and see what you like.  There are "correct" colour spaces etc, but in colour, if it looks good then it is good, so just try stuff and see what you can find.

Maybe @mercer can give some advice on making the BM really sing?

Probably not. I had a love hate relationship with that camera. I think I owned 3 of them, and the best I got out of it was on the first day I shot with it... it was all downhill from there.