Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera: Best images yet

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera delay

Here's a cure for financial austerity blues: these images came from a camera costing less than $1000!

"Pocket Cinema Camera" is a phrase that should be self-contradictory. It just shouldn't be possible - because cinema cameras are big, bulky things that you could never fit in your pocket.

That's what makes these images all the more remarkable. These are some of the first pictures from an independent Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera user, and, to us, they look very good indeed.

Of course, the normal cautions about assessing video quality from a highly compressed internet stream apply here, but in a way, that is itself a mark of how good these pictures are: that they look great in the medium through which they will - most likely - be seen by the majority of viewers.

In a cinema?

What we haven't seen is how good these will look in a Cinema. But, as Arri will remind you, resolution isn't everything. HD is way good enough for the vast majority of cases at the moment, and if it isn't - there's the Blackmagic 4K Production camera in the wings (as well as some outstanding products from other manufacturers).

Shot by "A Couple Of Night Owls" in New Zealand, here's the text that accompanies the video:

Been out grabbing some footage and testing this little guy the last week or so and having a blast! I really can't get over the image that's coming from this tiny little package. Amazing. The stealth factor is also great as everyone assumes you're on a typical "point and shoot" and don't think twice so pay you no attention. I can see myself shooting casually with this more than my EF 2.5k model (which i plan to sell to get the MFT mount version) as it's so portable and light-weight, i can take it just about anywhere with me. I couldn't bring myself to rig up this camera as it kind of defeats the purpose to me.

The footage is mostly made up of our Canon L Primes via the Redrock Live Lens adapter so that i can control aperture on our lenses. Some shots are with the Panasonic/Lumix 12-35/2.8 (thanks to Gilbert for loaning me this and a couple of other active lenses to test with).

Lenses used in this clip are:

Canon 24/1.4L
Canon 35/1.4L
Canon 50/1.2L
Canon 100/2.8L
Panasonic/Lumix 12-35/2.8

Everything is either handheld, on a monopod, or on a Glidecam HD4000 (thanks to Si Moore). Majority is shot at ASA400 (did not shoot RAW) with a few of the night shots at ASA800, but even some of them are at 400. Most of the night shots are also at F1.4. The glidecam stuff by the beach was the Lumix 12-35 at around F16 (don't have any ND's that fit the filter thread). Otherwise the majority of the day shots are at F2.0 using Tiffen IRND's to get appropriate exposure.

Shot in BMDFilm with my LUT applied, and only minor corrections beyond that:
captainhook.co.nz/blackmagic-cinema-camera-lut/

I can see this camera becoming VERY popular. Great stuff and congrats again to all the team at blackmagic, plus a HUGE thank you to BMD for letting me take this guy for a test drive!!

Music by the amazing Lennon and Maisy:
youtube.com/user/lennonandmaisy