The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera is all set to revolutionise the indy filmmaker scene. I have been using it for a few months and love it. The new firmware that enables AVID DNX HD and IS support on Canon lenses and the recent announcement of the MFT version makes the camera even more attractive.
I am taking it to South Africa this week (J’Burg, Cape Town, Durban) for my workshops ( a few tickets left for the large group ones are available so hurry up! I will be going over the camera and workflow in these, along with DSLRs and other large sensor camcorders.
The camera comes with Davinci Resolve V9, but you can get the almost as good lite version for free here!
My friend and excellent colourist from Smoke and Mirrors (and formerly BMD), Dan Moran has done a fantastic getting-started tutorial with Resolve for free. It’s great info and really helpful. If you feel this was useful please show your thanks for Dan by using the new tipjar feature on vimeo. You need to visit the actual page here to do that…click the title on the video or the link below to do this…
Getting started with Davinci Resolve and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera with Dan Moran from Philip Bloom Reviews & Tutorials on Vimeo.
Huge thanks to Dan Moran www.twitter.com/danmorancolor for this. Hopefully this is first of a series from him.
If this has been useful for you please show your thanks to Dan by using the tipjar function on this page. All the money (minus the Vimeo small fee) will got to Dan, not me!
For my review of this excellent new camera go here: http://vimeo.com/50394211
Music is once again from the brilliant Music Bed
Review of Blackmagic Cinema Camera from Philip Bloom Reviews & Tutorials on Vimeo.
For more info visit my blog here: http://philipbloom.net2012/09/05/bmd/
This review was done on my own time for the readers of my blog and the vimeo community. If you feel it has been of use to you feel free to use the new tipjar feature on vimeo! No obigation! All money received goes into making future reviews, as they take so much time and resources…for a more detailed explanation please visit my page here: http://philipbloom.net2012/09/28/tipjar/
11 comments
Is there a way to export the metadatas into the DNX HD files ? (so all the shots, takes etc informations can be carried into Avid and help the editor ?)
With the EF aswell as the MFT versions available the question is which is the smarter choice? I have a lot of Canon EF lenses but not any real wide lenses. So I’m interested in for example the Sigma 8-16mm and the Tokina 11-16mm. Is there a way that they’ll fit onto the EF version? What other advantages/disadvantages should I be aware of between the EF and the MFT versions?
Hi Philip S.: Philip Bloom uses the EF version of the Sigma 8-16mm rectilinear zoom extensively in his wonderful video here (shot with the BMCC-EF):
http://vimeo.com/48904764
As does Marco Solorio in his excellent BMCC-EF video:
http://vimeo.com/49875510
The Tokina 11-16mm rectilinear zoom will probably also yield nice results, although I don’t have a link for you.
I’ll leave it to Philip B. & others to give their reasons for preferring the BMCC EF vs. passive m43 model. Philip has written extensively about the two BMCC models in his blog & on his Vimeo pages.
Myself, I’m looking forward to receiving my BMCC-EF, because my guess is it might ship sooner than the passive m43 model, and I’ll occasionally have use for the electronic features of the EF model when used with electronic EF lenses. I haven’t decided which EF lens to buy, but the Sigma 8-16 or Tokina 11-16 are two likely candidates.
I don’t own any manual m43 lenses and don’t plan on buying any soon. Unfortunately, none of my electronic m43 lenses will work on the passive m43 BMCC. My old Nikkor F manual lenses can be easily & inexpensively adapted to mount on the BMCC-EF model. Next year sometime i might buy a BMCC-m43 & a few manual m43 lenses, too, for multi-cam shoots and as a backup camera.
Everyone has their own preferences; it’s all good. There’s no 1 perfect camera for every production.
Cheers.
My blog: http://herefortheweather.wordpress.com/
Hi Peter
Who said I prefer the EF to the MFT…Pretty sure in my review I made in very clear the MFT makes way more sense! BUT have not tried it…
P
Hi Philip B.: Oops. Sorry, about that. When I typed, “I’ll leave it to Philip B. & others to give their reasons for preferring the BMCC EF vs. passive m43 model. Philip has written extensively about the two BMCC models in his blog & on his Vimeo pages.”
What I meant was you could better explain your preference for one of the other better than I can. Sorry I didn’t make that clear enough. My bad. Cheers.
The MFT allows nearly any lense to be mounted on the camera via an adapter.
You will be able to use your Canon lenses, and you would benefit some excellent MFT lenses (Voigtlander, Olympus, Lumis etc)
Are such adapters available yet? Do these adapters compromise the quality of the lenses in any way?
I’d hate to buy the EF version just to find out that I could have used my lenses on the MFT version aswell…
Apologies to Philip B. for veering so far off topic, but to answer Philip S.’ question:
The m43 mount on the BMCC-MFT model is a _passive_ mount, with no electrical connections between the camera & lens. That means it will directly support any _manual_ lens designed to mount on a m43 camera. So, for example, manual m43 lenses from Voightlander will work perfectly.
However, electronic m43 lenses, such as those made by Panasonic/Lumix to the best of my knowledge can _not_ be used on a passive m43 mount. Such lenses will physically fit, but since these lenses require power and the camera’s built-in computer to control their functions, they can’t be focussed, their aperture can’t be adjusted, and other electronic functions will not work (such as IS or power zoom). Because a m43 lens must be mounted _directly_ to a m43 mount to focus properly & not vignette, no type of adapter can be “inserted” to power the lens. Although this is bad news for people like me who own electronic m43 lenses, this is about the only kind of lens that can’t be used on a passive m43 mount camera.
Thousands of other lenses can be easily & inexpensively be adapted to passive m43 via simple mechanical adapters many manufacturers. For example, good quality inexpensive adapters exist for mounting old Nikkor F & Canon FD _manual_ lenses to m43. There are simple high-quality mechanical adapters for mounting PL cine lenses on m43. There are simple mechanical adapters that allow you to mount electronic Canon EOS lenses, but with certain limitations. Folks have been successfully using all these adapters on m43 cams for years.
There’s also at least one ~$500 electronic adapter that supports using electronic Canon EOS lenses on the passive m43 mount on the BMCC-MFT. Because it’s a powered adapter, the lens’s features all work. This is possible because of the difference in flange-back (rear spacing) between m43 and Canon EOS: There’s enough space to wedge-in this type of electronic adapter. But in the case of an electronic m43 lens, it has to be directly mounted with no room behind it for an adapter.
Cheers.
MFT makes more sense…unless you ever need to shoot handheld with anything longer than 35mm. That is the ONLY bad…no IS for MFT.
kinda liking the canon one at moment!
🙂