So I'm ACing for a shoot on Blackmagic, and we've just spent a couple days prepping the gear. I wanted to write up my thoughts on the camera itself.
The camera body is bigger than a DSLR, and the larger screen is much easier to use than that on a DSLR. DSLRs, however, are pretty ergonomic, and are designed to be held for long periods of time. The Blackmagic is far from ergonomic. This thing is difficult to hold - there's a little too much weight for it to be comfortable, and without a third-party top handle, I would be really careful carrying this around. It's far from the heaviest camera I've held, and yet carrying it around I feel like I'm going to drop it. There's just nowhere to put your fingers that you know you've got a good grip on it, and I would not hold it using the sunshade as that's a recipe for disaster.
I also wouldn't drop it - Epics and Alexas are not meant to be dropped, but they are rugged enough that they would survive a fall. I haven't tested dropping the Blackmagic (what kind of AC do you think I am?
) but it doesn't seem like it would recover well from a fall.
The screen is large, and decent, though I always prefer viewfinders to LCD screens. It seems slightly bigger than the LCD on the Epic/Scarlet, though it is the same size - perhaps it's because it's not crowded by controls top and bottom. The screen itself is in an awkward position, however, for use at anywhere other than eye level. This would be nothing new for someone used to shooting with a DSLR, I guess, but I found it to be less than optimal. Keep in mind that with no HDMI out, a lot of the EVFs and LCDs you're currently using with your DSLRs will be unuseable. You'll need something with an SDI-in (you might be able to pick up a cheaper DP6 now they've been replaced by the AC7s). The menu is also touchscreen, so you'll be going back to the camera's screen to change any settings.
I generally hate touchscreen menus, though I find RED's menu system to be pretty decent as it's designed pretty well - everything is one or two touches away and everything you need is right at your fingertips. I hate touchscreen menus like that on the older Sony prosumer cams, and this touchscreen menu is a bit of a throwback to that. You get very little control over anything for starters - the basics are there, but if you want to delve deeper than the basics, you're out of luck. I dislike the menu system, mostly because it seems to have been overly simplified and seems to be aimed at those have little, or simply a cursory knowledge of camera operating. The buttons are a little small for my fingers (and I don't think I have terribly fat fingers), and take a pretty decent push to change.
In the menu, you can choose what you're monitoring in and what you want to record in. It may be confusing at first for those who aren't sure why their monitor is showing a grey, washed out image, but it's simply set to monitor in Log colour space, though they call it 'Film' (this seems to be default, I have no idea why). You can easily change it to 'Video' (REC709) colour space for monitoring. For recording, you have the choice of raw, ProRes, or DNxHD in Film or Video gamma, though obviously with raw you can't have 'video' gamma.
Lens controls are, well, interesting. There's a row of buttons down the bottom and two buttons either side of the top of the screen
Pressing 'iris' is like a one-push auto-iris. Which is fine, if auto-iris is your cup of tea. Pressing 'focus' brought up Focus peaking on the lenses we were using (ZE's), but I assume on other still lenses would be a one-push auto-focus.
Manual iris control is available, but is implemented in a really odd way. It seems like it was really an after-thought. Pressing the previous and next buttons adjusts the iris up or down, which I guess in itself isn't that big a deal - it's not too far removed from Canon's clickwheel or button pushes on the Rebel series'. But, at least on the lenses we're using, there's no lens information carrying over via the electronics. So, you're essentially just guessing by looking at the screen. You know that if it's not getting any brighter you're wide open, and if it's not getting any darker, you're at f/16 or f/22, depending on the lens you're using. But, other than that you have no idea what stop you're at. If you were thinking of monitoring in 'Film' gamma, this is probably what will stop you - you'll have no idea how your images are exposed. You can see what looks 'okay' but you're really just guessing without knowing what stop you're at.
This becomes a non-issue if you're using cinevised lenses such as CP.2s on it (which is what I always recommend and request for DSLR shooting anyway).
I haven't had a chance to play with metadata, but I find it relatively pointless considering the time needed to input all that data. We won't be moving away from slates and traditional reports, at least for this shoot.
--
With all of that said, when it comes down to it, we're really looking at the picture with this camera aren't we. It's really priced to be a competitor to a 5DmkIII, regardless of what the marketing hype says about it being a 'cinema camera'.
In that regard, there's no comparison. If I was choosing between the two based on picture alone (for video), it would be the Blackmagic Camera hands down, every single time.
It's no Alexa, and it's not even a RED. But then, it's not meant to be. It's essentially a better 5D. This will be a winner for the DSLR guys who would have otherwise purchased 5Ds, for sure. If you're looking for photos as well - get a 5D. The BMCC is not designed for photo taking and is awkward to hold at the best of times, so would not be good for photos at all. But purely for video - the Blackmagic beats the 5D with two hands tied around it's back. And really, for the price of it that's pretty damn good.
The way I would look at it is this - in the same way that Zeiss CP.2s are 'cinevised' still glass, the Blackmagic is essentially a 'cinevised' DSLR. There are parts of it which leave a lot to be desired (though some of it could be fixed with a firmware update... or perhaps a hack?) but the picture quality is unbeatable at the price point.
It will sit pretty nicely in most DSLR rigs, and I would probably recommend getting a rig - at the very least a top handle to make it easier to carry around.
The camera body is bigger than a DSLR, and the larger screen is much easier to use than that on a DSLR. DSLRs, however, are pretty ergonomic, and are designed to be held for long periods of time. The Blackmagic is far from ergonomic. This thing is difficult to hold - there's a little too much weight for it to be comfortable, and without a third-party top handle, I would be really careful carrying this around. It's far from the heaviest camera I've held, and yet carrying it around I feel like I'm going to drop it. There's just nowhere to put your fingers that you know you've got a good grip on it, and I would not hold it using the sunshade as that's a recipe for disaster.
I also wouldn't drop it - Epics and Alexas are not meant to be dropped, but they are rugged enough that they would survive a fall. I haven't tested dropping the Blackmagic (what kind of AC do you think I am?
) but it doesn't seem like it would recover well from a fall.The screen is large, and decent, though I always prefer viewfinders to LCD screens. It seems slightly bigger than the LCD on the Epic/Scarlet, though it is the same size - perhaps it's because it's not crowded by controls top and bottom. The screen itself is in an awkward position, however, for use at anywhere other than eye level. This would be nothing new for someone used to shooting with a DSLR, I guess, but I found it to be less than optimal. Keep in mind that with no HDMI out, a lot of the EVFs and LCDs you're currently using with your DSLRs will be unuseable. You'll need something with an SDI-in (you might be able to pick up a cheaper DP6 now they've been replaced by the AC7s). The menu is also touchscreen, so you'll be going back to the camera's screen to change any settings.
I generally hate touchscreen menus, though I find RED's menu system to be pretty decent as it's designed pretty well - everything is one or two touches away and everything you need is right at your fingertips. I hate touchscreen menus like that on the older Sony prosumer cams, and this touchscreen menu is a bit of a throwback to that. You get very little control over anything for starters - the basics are there, but if you want to delve deeper than the basics, you're out of luck. I dislike the menu system, mostly because it seems to have been overly simplified and seems to be aimed at those have little, or simply a cursory knowledge of camera operating. The buttons are a little small for my fingers (and I don't think I have terribly fat fingers), and take a pretty decent push to change.
In the menu, you can choose what you're monitoring in and what you want to record in. It may be confusing at first for those who aren't sure why their monitor is showing a grey, washed out image, but it's simply set to monitor in Log colour space, though they call it 'Film' (this seems to be default, I have no idea why). You can easily change it to 'Video' (REC709) colour space for monitoring. For recording, you have the choice of raw, ProRes, or DNxHD in Film or Video gamma, though obviously with raw you can't have 'video' gamma.
Lens controls are, well, interesting. There's a row of buttons down the bottom and two buttons either side of the top of the screen
Pressing 'iris' is like a one-push auto-iris. Which is fine, if auto-iris is your cup of tea. Pressing 'focus' brought up Focus peaking on the lenses we were using (ZE's), but I assume on other still lenses would be a one-push auto-focus.
Manual iris control is available, but is implemented in a really odd way. It seems like it was really an after-thought. Pressing the previous and next buttons adjusts the iris up or down, which I guess in itself isn't that big a deal - it's not too far removed from Canon's clickwheel or button pushes on the Rebel series'. But, at least on the lenses we're using, there's no lens information carrying over via the electronics. So, you're essentially just guessing by looking at the screen. You know that if it's not getting any brighter you're wide open, and if it's not getting any darker, you're at f/16 or f/22, depending on the lens you're using. But, other than that you have no idea what stop you're at. If you were thinking of monitoring in 'Film' gamma, this is probably what will stop you - you'll have no idea how your images are exposed. You can see what looks 'okay' but you're really just guessing without knowing what stop you're at.
This becomes a non-issue if you're using cinevised lenses such as CP.2s on it (which is what I always recommend and request for DSLR shooting anyway).
I haven't had a chance to play with metadata, but I find it relatively pointless considering the time needed to input all that data. We won't be moving away from slates and traditional reports, at least for this shoot.
--
With all of that said, when it comes down to it, we're really looking at the picture with this camera aren't we. It's really priced to be a competitor to a 5DmkIII, regardless of what the marketing hype says about it being a 'cinema camera'.
In that regard, there's no comparison. If I was choosing between the two based on picture alone (for video), it would be the Blackmagic Camera hands down, every single time.
It's no Alexa, and it's not even a RED. But then, it's not meant to be. It's essentially a better 5D. This will be a winner for the DSLR guys who would have otherwise purchased 5Ds, for sure. If you're looking for photos as well - get a 5D. The BMCC is not designed for photo taking and is awkward to hold at the best of times, so would not be good for photos at all. But purely for video - the Blackmagic beats the 5D with two hands tied around it's back. And really, for the price of it that's pretty damn good.
The way I would look at it is this - in the same way that Zeiss CP.2s are 'cinevised' still glass, the Blackmagic is essentially a 'cinevised' DSLR. There are parts of it which leave a lot to be desired (though some of it could be fixed with a firmware update... or perhaps a hack?) but the picture quality is unbeatable at the price point.
It will sit pretty nicely in most DSLR rigs, and I would probably recommend getting a rig - at the very least a top handle to make it easier to carry around.
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