Blackmagic Cinema Camera

Iain Anderson of MacProVideo provides a basic shooting guide for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

He writes, "You got one? Or it’s coming soon and you want to be prepared? Here’s the essential guide to how to operate a Blackmagic Cinema Camera, from lenses to menus to add-ons."

Read it here.

Philip Bloom tests out Metabones Speed Booster adapter, which allows the Blackmagic Cinema Camera to almost act as if it had a Super 35mm sensor.

Explains Bloom, "Metabones, who in association with Conorus have brought us an excellent EF lens adaptor for Sony E-mount cameras like the FS100, 700 and many stills cameras under the NEX umbrella. It’s powered by the camera, supports IS and lets us change the iris. Then they brought us the “Speed Booster” for these cameras. An astonishing piece of kit that I cover fully here….in essence it focuses the light from the lens projecting a larger image that is almost a stop brighter and somewhat sharper. Yes voodoo or almost Blackmagic (come on…I had to!)"

Watch Cinema5D's side-by-side raw test footage from the Canon 5D Mark III and Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

They write, "What became clear is that both cameras provide very similarly capable RAW files. You can adjust everything and everything is possible. You can get similar details out of the sky and set all you like in post. Color temperature, tint, dynamic range, no problem. The 5D is just as strong as the BMCC, providing maybe a bit more dynamic range.

"Where the cameras differ in terms of RAW is one big thing: Noise. The 5D mark III can shoot indoors at ISO 1600 and there’s almost no noise while the Blackmagic starts to get ugly at this point. The noise from the BMCC is also apparent when raising the blacks in a shot."

Michal of motionVFX Team writes: The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is shipping again, so it's nice to find another indeep review of the camera. This time it was made by Lionel Josh Lee, but the video also features many filmmakers who share their opinions on the camera. According to Lionel, this is not exactly a review made to allow you to decide if you should get the camera, but more of a short documentary that covers the importance of RAW and resolution and where in reality the Blackmagic's camera fits in. But it can still be pretty helpful and if features a lot of info on the unit, besides Lionel shared some of his thoughts in the video description and he believes that it offers great RAW and can be perfect for shooting movies even though he feels that some changes should be made. Anyway, make sure to watch the video!

Let’s get right to the elephant in the room. Blackmagic Design is having problems delivering the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. The camera was announced at last year’s NAB Show and slated for shipment 90 days after that, though defects in the sensor (from a third-party manufacturer) set deliveries back months. Now, a year later, shipments are beginning to catch up with the backorders. It is my opinion that the user rage directed against Blackmagic on the forums (where you can say anything you want without your mother telling you to mind your manners) is unwarranted and unfair. Blackmagic worked earnestly to solve the sensor manufacturing problems and to be as transparent as possible to its customers during this process.

Iain Anderson of macProVideo writes: There’s a world of difference between different shooters. Some wouldn’t blink at a tripod costing several thousand dollars on a set with several assistants, and others blink hard at spending over a hundred with only themselves for company. This article is firmly aimed at the one-person film crew, with a single bag, trying to make movies worth watching using their Blackmagic Cinema Camera. What do you need, and what’s optional? To be clear, this is not a guide to how to rig a BMCC for use on set. This is a guide to what tiny productions need to shoot on real locations.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

Derek Johnson of Hurlbut Visuals writes: In our second post on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, we are going to look at some workflow options for getting both the CinemaDNG and ProRes files out of the camera and into the NLE of your choice. Keep in mind there are many factors that dictate how you will approach post workflow – storage space requirements, speed, hardware, software, quality and final delivery – just to name a few. (Here is a link to our first post on the camera.)

Lights Online Film School talks to young filmmaker Josh Beck about how he made his first feature film, Ever, on a $12,000 budget and with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Says Beck, "It all started when a friend of mine took me to the L.A. premier of the 2011 Sundance film Bellflower. I was immediately blown away by the movie, but more importantly, I was amazed that a young group of filmmakers we’re able to make such a cool film on such a low budget (I think it was around $17,000) and I decided right then and there that I was going to write a new feature script of my own and get it made on a low personal budget."

Read the full story here.

Philip Bloom reviews the new Micro Four Thirds version of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. He writes, "Micro Four Thirds always made more sense to me as the BMD sensor is just a bit smaller than the Gh2/ 3 so they would be a great match. Blackmagic thought so too, so just after I put out my epic review on the first day of IBC last year, they announced an MFT (Micro Four Thirds) version...personally, I think this is a better camera than the EF version."

Watch the review below. (via Philip Bloom)

Nearly a full year after it was announced at NAB 2012, Definition Magazine reviews the actual production model of a Blackmagic Cinema Camera. They write, "At NAB 2012, when the Blackmagic Cinema Camera was launched, someone on the BM stand asked me if I thought it would sell. Then, as now, I believed that it would sell very well, though I’m not sure to whom. It’s cheaper than a high-end DSLR, but a very different beast. It isn’t easy to use for fast paced documentary shooting, or events, or anything else you would expect in that £2000 bracket. It’s a cinema camera. Like the Canon 5D MkII, and the RED One, I suspect it will be a game changer.

While most projects follow a somewhat linear path that involves a lot of planning to bring concept to creation, it’s the rare spur of the moment ones that are often the most fun. Just ask Gavin Fisher, founder and owner of Glendale, CA based production and post house Fisher Film Works.

522 Productions set up some camera tests between the RED Scarlet, Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Sony F5 and present some of the results along with with comparisons of set-ups and more. Watch below.

Blackmagic Design has announced that Hero Punk, an upcoming feature film from writer and director Kanen Flowers and produced by Scruffy.TV, was shot using Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

Hero Punk is a sci-fi thriller set in 2042 in a dystopian society where the government is working to rid the world of people with mutant abilities. Because more than half of the film was shot on a 1,100 sq. ft. green screen, the team had to mark the virtual world via tracking markers and capture enough latitude in the images to separate the actors from the background, ensuring that lighting the actors would not decompose in the footage.

Cinematographer Ryan E. Walters continues his three-part comparison of the ARRI Alexa, Blackmagic Cinema Camera and RED Epic with his second installment, which tests low-light capabilities. He writes, "The more I explore and experiment in my craft, the more interested I am in what happens at the limits of our recording mediums. I am definitely pushing these cameras to their limits...If you are looking for clear winners and losers then you've come to the wrong place, as that is not the point of test. The point is to see how these tools perform when they are pushed beyond what is normal, or considered safe.

Cinematographer Ryan E. Walters pits the ARRI Alexa, Blackmagic Cinema Camera and the RED Epic against each other in a series of tests, the first being how "each of the cameras handles IR contamination as ND is increased."

Watch the results below and read more here on Walters' blog (where you can also download the raw files).

Shane Hurlbut has conducted a screen test with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, writing of the experience, "I love that this camera fell into a nice color palette and delivered pretty good skin tones, as well as holding the sky. Some of it felt a little clippy in the over exposure, but again, I was going to eye and trying to figure it out. I would say that I exposed a little hot. Many people told me not to starve this camera of light, but I think I went a little too far. With that said, the image holds up for a $3K camera. We color graded the scene with Davinci Resolve, which is included when you purchase the camera."

Read his full post here and see his color corrected scene below (there is no audio).

The below tutorial looks at Antler Post-Production Services' Final Cut Pro X plug-in for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Says photographer/filmmaker Adam Roberts, "The plugin is a great workflow tool for Final Cut Pro X (FCPX) users who are working with footage from the Blackmagic Cinema Camera (BMCC) that will be delivered to television."

Watch below or read the transcript here.

EOSHD pits the Nikon D5200 against the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and tests out their image acquisition via an external recorder using HDMI. They write, "All in all, do I recommend recording in ProRes on the D5200? If you use a monitor, and that monitor is called Atomos, then by all means acquire the image that way. What I don’t recommend is rushing out to buy a black box recorder for some mega hyper increase in quality. It really is very subtle."

Read their full post here.

Iain Anderson of MacProVideo reviews the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, writing, "The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is many things. For a film professional with a huge collection of existing gear, it’s a great B-cam...For the solo operator using DSLRs with a small kit, it’s a great A-cam, that lets you produce fantastic images with room to expand...Still, if you want a point-and-shoot experience, look elsewhere."

Read it in full here.

Iain Anderson from Training Brisbane explains dynamic range in a very concise way by showing comparable shooting examples from both the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Canon 550D. Watch below.

Cinematographer Timur Civan spent five days shooting segments for Sesame Street with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. He writes of his experience, "My impressions of the camera remained unchanged from the first 30 seconds I picked it up till the last day of day 5, this impression had little to do with image quality (which was really nice, and thats about all im going to say about it for now). It's poorly designed ergonomically."

Read his full review here.

EOSHD finishes up their two-part post comparing the Blackmagic Cinema Camera to the RED Epic by focusing on resolution. They write, "Most will rent the Epic of course, but Blackmagic Cinema Camera ownership is more economical for longer projects or freelancers who shoot regularly throughout the year. The image from the BMCC is far better than what you get from a DSLR with the same investment. The main investment you will make in the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is time."

Read their full post here.

EOSHD compares the grain, workflow and form factor of the affordable Blackmagic Cinema Camera to industry standard RED Epic. They write, "Although a very short test, this was an eye opener in so many ways--not least of all because of the low price of the Blackmagic and how good the image on that [was]."

Read the in-depth piece here.

Check out this side-by-side comparison of Blackmagic Cinema Camera raw vs. ProRes output. Explains uploader Lindqvist Radio & TV, "I set up 1 pcs 24W LED (from right side). Adjusted dimmer on LED to match T/5.6 on lens. I then adjusted iris only on lens for the different shots, light stayed the same. BMCC was set to ISO 800, WB set to 6500. While filming ProRes camera was set to 'Film.' In DaVinci I used 3 way CC to get the 'X' on the waveform to end up at 50% (512 value). No adjustment to other setting such as saturation or color. ProRes clips was done in 709, RAW clips was set to 'BMD Film.' Only on iris 1.3 did I use the 'Highlight recovery' function (this can only be done to RAW files while in BMD Film mode). Uncorrected RAW at T1.3 was exported from DaVinci as still DPX, same with uncorrected T22.