Today I attended Blackmagic’s big product reveal event in Los Angeles, eager to get my hands on the new 4K and compact cameras. As many readers of this blog already know, these two cameras were originally announced for release in July of this year, and as the end of the month approaches, I have a feeling Blackmagic might make an announcement or two. There’s no such announcement, but that’s okay because I’m really just looking forward to testing the new camera.
First, my thoughts on compact cameras.
In its current state, the compact camera feels finished and ready for release. The build is solid, and the menus and other features work just as you’d imagine. Generally speaking, if you come from the BMCC EF or MFT models, you will be very familiar with this. While I know the camera’s menus and features are pretty much the same as the BMCC, it was really fun tinkering with them side by side because the compact camera feels like a baby BMCC. It would be nice if it had a touch screen too, as navigation isn’t as fast as the larger models, but I’m sure it’s something you can get used to quickly.
Blackmagic equipped it with a lumix 7-14mm lens because they probably wanted to show that the camera can actually capture nice wide angles. Indeed! As you can see from these photos, they actually have a model sitting in the demo area that you can snap with your camera. This is a great addition as it doesn’t feel as clinical as most camera demos. In the photo below, the focal length of the lens is 14mm.
Overall, what I like most about the compact camera is that it definitely feels like a camera that can be used for running and shooting. The small form factor coupled with active MFT mounting and amazing codecs are of course the key selling points. For me, though, the rear LCD is a nice addition. While it’s not completely matte, it seems to be much less reflective than the BMCC screen. It’s also pretty sharp. Granted, I watched it indoors, but I did try to wash it out with extra light, and it seemed to hold up pretty well. Ultimately, that’s exactly what I wanted this camera to do. Out of the box, it’s suitable for low profile, run and gun situations where you don’t want to use it on your rig. When you’re going to install it, you’re probably better off choosing a BMCC or 4K model, as you’ll get the additional resolution you may need. That said, the feature film was shot with a much lower quality camera than this one, so if you don’t mind equipping such a small camera it could easily serve as an A camera in a standalone scene.
Next up is the 4K model.
Again, exactly what I expected. Of course, the design of the body is the same as the original BMCC, except for the 4K badge on the front. Its images look absolutely fantastic. It connects to a high-resolution broadcast monitor and looks truly stunning. Then again, the same goes for compact cameras and the original BMCC, so it’s not going to blow other cameras out of the water anyway. Considering it uses a completely different sensor, it looks closer to the other two than I thought, which I’m pretty happy about. The image feels slightly punchier, but that’s most likely a result of the monitor settings. Also, the focus “peaking” has a green color, which I think is nice since it’s more practical than the current peaking feature on the original BMCC. But not sure if this will change with firmware updates on older cameras.
The only negative thing I can say about the camera is that the firmware feels a little patchy. This will of course change over time, but for some reason it occurred to me that they might show off some new firmware today.
Shipping
Once I had some time to play around with the camera for a while, I asked two different representatives about shipping. I was eventually told that the compact camera was actually ready to ship (just like the body was), but they hadn’t shipped it to retailers yet. The reason is that there are clearly still some issues with the firmware that need to be worked out, which is holding them back. I was also told that they hope to resolve this issue in the next few days and that they may be shipping small quantities in the next few weeks. Later the number was even greater.
As for the 4K camera, it sounds like it’s about a month behind the Pocket Camera’s schedule. It appears that the 4K model may begin shipping in small quantities around early September.
Please keep in mind that this is not any inside information from Blackmagic. I just did what the rep told me. They may be ready earlier or later, but here’s what I’ve heard so far.
So, while I mentally thought today’s event might coincide with the release of new firmware or the announcement of first shipments, I’m now more eager than ever to get my hands on my camera. Especially compact cameras. Hopefully the wait won’t be as long this year as it was last year, and I highly doubt it will be, although things are a little behind schedule. All I knew was that this camera was worth the wait and that compact cameras were going to make a splash! For more information on the new cameras, check out my article Why Compact Cameras Will Be More Disruptive than 4K Production Cameras.
