Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera News

The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera  [B&H: $2,995] hasn't arrived yet - though some people are being promised it soon - but they have created a new forum for the camera, and have posted some files captured with the camera:

Blackmagic Forum | Cinematography | John Brawley | Forum
To launch this new forum, BMD are making Cinema DNG files available to download.
These DNG's from my recent shoot with director Ben Phelps, Afterglow. Afterglow was done with a shipping version of the camera though it's likely that the software will have been updated by the time many of you get your cameras.


AFTERGLOW – DNG’s are out in the wild | John Brawley | Blog
John writes about the content himself:
A RAW workflow means the sensor data is recorded in camera but not processed until the images are loaded in post where the user can either choose to keep the settings that were selected by the cinematographer at the time of shooting or choose and optimize for a different set of settings.


Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Stu Maschwitz | Prolost
While concerned about elements of the camera - notably the smallish sensor - Stu may be won over:
The interesting thing about the footage from this not-quite-cinema-sized sensor is that it is sexy. Not because of fetishistically shallow depth-of-field (although Brawley handily demonstrated that focus control is eminently possible with the BMC and some nice glass), but because it’s raw.


DP JOHN BRAWLEY GIVES AN OVERVIEW OF THE BLACKMAGIC DESIGN DIGITAL CINEMA CAMERA | Dan Chung | DSLR News Shooter
John Brawley has given an excellent overview of the Blackmagic Design Digital Cinema Camera at Sydney Institute Film Academy. Brawley has been in the unique position of working extensively with the pre-production Blackmagic camera. In the talk he gave some background to the camera’s design and also shows some footage. The Youtube video of the event has been posted and is well worth a watch.


Several people have been playing with the files:


Blackmagic Cinema Camera - BMCC from James Miller on Vimeo.



EOSHD grades the Blackmagic camera raw CinemaDNG files | Andrew Reid | EOSHD
I don’t think anyone will be disappointed.
Not much has lived up to the cliche ‘game changer’ recently and only having seen snippets of the Blackmagic via compressed Vimeo footage I was beginning to have my doubts.
These CinemaDNG files sweep any doubts into the gutter.
Resolution is superb. Best I have ever seen for the price. Better than the C300 and better than the GH2. At per pixel level from the 2.5K raw, it is sharp no question.


ColorGHear Grade of BlackMagic Design's Cinema Camera raw DNG files | Shian Storm | Vimeo
The files behave in much the same way as Raw R3D files in how AFX interprets them. There is a definite grain to the image. Not totally unpleasing. And, while it is a bit sluggish in AE CS6 (more so than 4k R3D) it grades VERY nicely.
The first shot is a saturated bleach bypass type look that has GHrain Killer applied to her face only - via power window. But the other 2 shots are very simple, 2 and 3 GHear grades respectively.


ColorGHear Grade of BlackMagic Design's Cinema Camera raw DNG files from Shian Storm on Vimeo.



The File That Can Go A Mile | Sam Morgan Moore | Blog
I mean this is stupid, but check out the lack of banding on the rear wall, even when subjected to an extreme grade!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sony GV-D200 review

Image
Sony GV-D200 I've been using a Sony GV-D200 deck to transfer old Video8 and Hi8 tapes. Some of these tapes are over twenty years old, and no longer having a Hi8 camcorder that worked I was concerned that if I didn't do something about transferring them to a more modern format soon, I might never be able to. While Sony no longer make camcorders that use these tapes - that I know of - Sony does still sell the GV-D200 deck (or Video Walkman, as it's sometimes labelled.) They also offer the GV-D800, which is almost identical but adds a small LCD screen for about $120 more. I didn't think I'd need a screen since I was using this to capture to the computer, but you will need an external monitor when you first set it up. Physically, the device is small. At 5 7/8" wide, 5 3/8" deep and 2" high, it's the smallest video deck I've encountered. I used to have a Video8 deck that I thought was small; and it was twice as deep and twice as high. The t...
Read more

Response: Which iPhone to Get?

Image
In response to my iPhone musings, I got the following reader email which actually sums up a lot of my second and third thoughts too: You might have a point about the fancier camera, but otherwise I would buy the smaller model. Its screen is about the same size as that of my Nexus 4, and I don't feel at all like it limits me with a too-small screen. But I do sometimes stretch to get my thumb the reach to the other corner of the screen. It is plenty big for a phone. A phone is a pocket thing. (Well, in my case it lives an ancient REI soft sunglasses case that I have on my belt.) Ubiquitous, handy, convenient, almost always with me. Small is crucial for all of that. Certainly a large screen is cool, but you need a place to put it: don't break a fundamental feature of a pocket phone by getting too big. That is what your small tablet is for. I have my phone with me almost always. I have my Nexus 7 tablet with me nearly as much. The bigger screen is great, yet it fits in some...
Read more

Should you buy the Sony NEX-FS100 Kit Lens?

Image
The Sony NEX-FS100 is available in two configurations: B & H : NEX-FS100U Camcorder only $4,999 B & H : NEX-FS100U (with 18-200mm lens) $5,599 But what does that extra $600 get you? It get's you this: Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom Lens for NEX Camera This lens is also available separately for $799.99, so at $200 off you'd think everyone would be jumping on it. But not so fast... In his article about switching from the Canon 5D Mark II to the Sony NEX-FS100 , Paul Antico  at Need Creative says of the kit lens: 7) Its 18-200 F3.6-6.3 kit lens absolutely sucks and should be avoided (thankfully, you can order it without one) [ 1 ] But is it that bad? At B & H 's site, 43 reviews give it an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars. That's not a bad rating, though many of these people are using it for stills, and the most common complaint noted is how large and heavy it is. Of course this feeling of size would be exacerbated when you put it on a tiny camera ...
Read more