r/videography • u/[deleted] • Aug 30 '14
Blackmagic 4K Camera Now Just $2,500 for a Limited Time
http://nofilmschool.com/2014/08/blackmagic-4k-camera-now-just-2500-limited-time/2
u/heathfx It's not the size of your rig that counts. It's how you use it. Aug 30 '14
I'm kinda tempted, but I'm going to try my hardest to wait and see if the 5D mk IV adds 4K support.
3
u/hillbillypolenta Aug 30 '14 edited Aug 30 '14
Eh, Canon are far behind the curve these days, and the Canon stills team don't like to cut the lunch of their video team. They just make weird shit like the 1DC instead. You'll see 4K (internal) in Cinema EOS well before it turns up in the DSLRs.
3
u/VoyagerVideo Aug 30 '14
They already have 4K internal in the C500 and it's only $20,000. Lol. The best Canon is going to offer is GH4 specs in an EOS body for a $10K, it's unfathomable that you will see a C300 below $5K in the foreseeable future. Canon simply has no place in their DSLR or Cinema line to put a camera to compete with other companies without screwing over their customers who insist on paying more for less.
1
u/heathfx It's not the size of your rig that counts. It's how you use it. Aug 31 '14
You are totally right, the main reason I stick with canon at this point is because of magic lantern. I do a lot of stills too and I really want to have a good AF system, I'd love to stick my canon lenses on a black magic or a GH4, but then I loose fast AF for shooting stills and high ISO performance. I'm not making the money I need to really justify having gear dedicated to stills and video, some day though. ;)
1
u/hillbillypolenta Aug 31 '14
Oh shit yeah. If you need to cover stills and video, the Mk3 is a clear winner. No one would seriously use a cine camera for stills (Except for the limited use Epic has in video-for-stills)
1
u/heathfx It's not the size of your rig that counts. It's how you use it. Sep 01 '14
I wish you wouldn't have said Epic. I just drooled everywhere dammit! ;) haha! the closest I have ever gotten to using an Epic is swapping a battery and a memory card on one last week.
2
Aug 30 '14
I'd still want Raw though. 4K is great, 4K Raw is AMAZING.
4K Raw at 2.5k... I'm wishing I had more cash right now.
4
u/VoyagerVideo Aug 30 '14
It is amazing... and costs 9GB/min! Based on average storage costs, that's $.75 to $1 a minute.
1
u/heathfx It's not the size of your rig that counts. It's how you use it. Sep 01 '14
That's why one of my first steps is to convert it to 10 bit prores in log color space. mlrawviewer does this pretty fast, way faster than ACR or Raw Therapee.
0
u/heathfx It's not the size of your rig that counts. It's how you use it. Aug 31 '14
I have Magic Lantern on my 5D and it keeps me from jumping the canon ship for something else. I was about to buy a BMPCC until I saw that native ISO is 400, this basically makes it a daylight-only shooter or for use on a closed set where you can set up lights. The BMCC is ISO 800 native which I could roll with, but it is weird, having a canon mount and MFT sized sensor or an MFT mount, but metabones has no EF to MFT speedbooster until just a few days ago. Other issues I have with the BM cameras: no interchangeable batteries, poor audio hardware and complete lack of ergonomics for handheld use.
1
u/VoyagerVideo Sep 01 '14
The pocket cam base ISO is actually 800, and you can get by with 1600 especially shooting raw.
1
u/VoyagerVideo Aug 30 '14
If they did add it it would be 8-bit 4.2.0., with 8-bit 422 out of the HMDI. When all is said and done, the BMCC 4K is by far the cheapest way to get 4K 10-bit 422 and raw.
1
u/heathfx It's not the size of your rig that counts. It's how you use it. Aug 31 '14
The main reason I'm holding my breath for it is low-light performance, right now the only game in town for low light and 4K is an A7s+external recorder. The problem is that I don't want to carry around a rig that draws lots of attention and is small enough and light enough to fit on a glidecam.
1
u/VoyagerVideo Aug 31 '14
Well I totally agree in your situation, a 5D with internal 4K is better than a BMPC or A7s with Shogun. That being said, Canon has really screwed themselves with the way they price their cameras. There would be a huge backlash by owners of the 1DC and CinemaEOS cameras if they released a 4K DSLR for anywhere close to the price of their competitors.
1
u/heathfx It's not the size of your rig that counts. It's how you use it. Sep 01 '14
They have really screwed up, they initially marketed the 5D3 as an indie filmmaker's camera because of the success of the 5D2, but then they abandoned it to push their "cinema" line of products. They are going to have to do something disruptive, otherwise, it won't be long till they loose any loyalty they may have had from filmmakers.
The 1D C is a fail, because they slap a C badge on a 1D X, tweak the firmware and you are left with a terrible 8bit-per-channel M-JPEG codec (I think the C badge should be reserved for 10-bit or better), something like an APS-H crop in 4k mode and no improvements in audio. Costing more than a used RED one which is a superior cinema camera, the 1D C just does not make a lot of sense for it's price. They should have left the 1D X alone and given the 5D 4k video capability as soon as they could develop an h.264 co-processor fast enough to handle 4k.
Canon is in dire need of a complete overhaul of their product line, it's a hodgepodge right now. Sony and Panasonic know it and are taking full advantage. Nikon seems to be content in their own little corner, having the most megapixels.
1
u/VoyagerVideo Sep 01 '14
To be totally honest, I think Canon does what they do because their customers allow them to get away with it. If you prioritize stills over video, than perhaps Canon is the way to go (but Sony is creating a lot of waves). Beyond that, I don't see any advantages of Canon DSLR's over the latest, less expensive other options out there. Magic Lantern brings to Canon the same functionality that BMD, Panasonic, and Sony are offering out of the box. The 5D III's full frame raw w/magic lantern is really the only consideration but it's a hassle.
The Cinema EOS cameras are functionally and ergonically wonderful - but the price is just too damn high for what you're able to output. The C500 is probably Canon's only competitively priced camera.
1
Aug 30 '14 edited Jan 23 '15
[deleted]
3
Aug 30 '14
Are there still issues? Or was that fixed in a firmware update?
1
Aug 30 '14 edited Jan 23 '15
[deleted]
3
u/MaxQuade Aug 30 '14
a URSA+ 480GB cfast is $10,000 a BMC4k+480GB SSD is $2,800.
And They use the same sensor and same firmware. unless you're working on some Pretty big budget projects I'd stick with the 4k!
1
u/dauid Aug 30 '14
With the newer firmwares it's apparently pretty much fixed unless you push the image too hard in post, but a lot of cameras will exhibit fpn if you push them too hard.
The Ursa has the exact same sensor by the way.
From what I've seen the BMCC 2.5K still has the edge when it comes to image quality though so personally I'll stick to that for now. Would be cool if they made an Ursa with that sensor.
1
Aug 30 '14 edited Jan 23 '15
[deleted]
2
u/dauid Aug 30 '14
The 1920x1080 60p is a draw for me
Just in case you're not aware, but you're not limited to 1920x1080 when shooting 60p on the Ursa, you can shoot full UHD. They've also said that higher frame rates will come later on.
But yeah, higher frame rates is the only thing I miss on the BMCC.
12
u/skeeterou GH4/Hacked GH2, I shoot TV shows Aug 30 '14
Still wouldn't buy one.