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Black Magic Cam ( ANY user?)


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I came across some good reviews a few months back:

http://philipbloom.net/2012/09/05/bmd/ - a good review of it's features and what it's missing, although probably outdated.

https://vimeo.com/49875510 - a good look at it's color, light, and sensor capabilities.

 

It has/had some odd features like 1/4" audio jacks, no display of f-stop or other lens info. Also, no good external power solution - it has a built-in rechargeable battery. Again, this is from early reviews and firmware 1.0. I'm sure much has changed already. 

 

It has the capability to produce higher quality images than a 5d, but that's not saying much. At $3k, you might as well spring for a RED One at $4k, if they still sell the battle tested ones.

 

Still, it's nice to have options, competition, and growth in that market.

 

Mark O.

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My roomate just got his in a week or two ago.  He is a camera guy so I can see if there is some time where we run some tests and he can give his insight from a camera perspective and I can do audio/sync tests.  Any tests in particular to try and run?

The first would be long-term sync--do a double system record + camera audio with claps every once in awhile over a long period of time, then add the audio from the audio recorder to the camera clip in an NLE and see how far and how fast the camera drifts off sync.   20-30 min or so.  The recorder should be one with an accurate clock  (ie SD/ZAX etc).  Besides that, how does it sound?

 

philp

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His ssd's are 256gb so it will get us about 30 minutes of RAW.  Compressed HD can be done.  I will check and see if the compression affects audio and drift in addition to the tests done with RAW. 

 

For the sync test, would there be a need to not feed audio from my deck into the camera for the purposes of sync and just use the on board mi?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

There is no vu display on the camera, you have to hook up an SDI monitor that supports display of audio levels to see vu levels. Black magic reps say the next release will add vu display to the internal BMCC monitor. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I was "lucky" enough to do a two camera BMC shoot this week, and to make matters worse, I was using the producers audio kit and he insisted on direct to camera, single system audio.

 

- Probably a combination of my headphones and the long breakout cable run, but the HP out is quiet

- Didn't have time to test this my self, but the producer insisted on brick-wall limiting the audio at about -10dBFS he said there are some super aggressive limiters onboard that really fight you when you hit it too hard

- Also, no metering

- Non-locking connectors

 

I rolled a second recorder from my bag anyways but it is what it is. The DP and I commiserated at wrap about how we both hate the camera

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  • 4 months later...

I just did a short film with the new version of the BCC and fed timecode via TRS into track 1 (input volume was at 10% in the camera menu) and recorded double system with TC sync. 

DaVinci Resolve (comes with the camera, but is also a free download on their site) and the SW interprets TC from an audio track (right click in the clips bin) and our pre production test worked great — so as I hear back from post I can let you know how it went and if there are any hangups.

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I just wish the camera had built-in timecode. Blackmagic Design is not a stupid company, so I'm flabbergasted as to why they would omit it. 

 

I think not including TC was a good business decision. Grant Petty understands the market and pricing. Most BMCC buyers don't care that there's no timecode, those that do would just complain if the TC is as wandery as it is on many inexpensive cameras, and an accurate TC would push the price up. Further, I'd guess a good timecode implementation wouldn't increase BMCC sales at all.

 

Of course I wish the camera had good TC. But what's in it for Blackmagic? just like so much kit these days: cheap & good enough that we all will suffer through their hassles...whether we like it or not.

 
Jim "complaining, not preaching" Feeley
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Have to say I've not had an issue with the BMC, the DOP has got himself an A-Box so it's super easy to put audio into at mic level. I think Time Code input would have been good, and the Time Code functionality would have been good as well. The DOP isn't concerned, he's of the opinion that 'Plural Eyes' program is just as good. After three days of Corporate shooting, I'm not sure he'll have the same sentiments

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