For a limited time, #1 Bestselling Pro Camcorder, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is just $495!

Today, Blackmagic Design announced a $500 off summer sale on the groundbreaking 12-bit RAW Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. Until August 31st, 2014, the BMPCC is $495 at Amazon, Adorama, eBay, B&H and other authorized retailers.

At this price, the Pocket Cinema Camera becomes price competitive with entry level DSLRs and DSLMs - with a camera whose image quality is on par with cameras costing thousands of dollars more. Here's the Blackmagic press release:

Fremont, CA - July 16, 2014 - Blackmagic Design today announced an exciting Summer Special discount for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera for the low price of US$495. With a normal recommended retail price of US$995, this Summer Special represents incredible value and is available for a limited time and will end on the 31st of August 2014. This Summer Special price is subject to limited availability, after which the price will return to the usual recommended retail price of US$995.

Since its introduction, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera has been used in thousands of independent films, television commercials, music videos and anywhere cinematographers need a high quality digital film camera in a stealthy super small size.

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera includes powerful features such as Super 16mm sized 1080HD sensor, super wide 13 stops of dynamic range, built in SD card recorder for Apple ProRes, lossless CinemaDNG RAW capture and active Micro Four Thirds lens mount, all in an attractive compact design.

This compact design allows the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera to be used in more situations where a larger camera would not be practical. It’s so small that it can be used in situations in the field where a larger camera could be dangerous. The camera’s film look even allows personal video to be shot with the style and creativity of a motion picture film.

Unlike regular video cameras Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is a true digital cinema camera as it includes a super wide dynamic range image sensor with 13 stops of latitude, allowing feature film quality images.

A common mistake in the television industry is the assumption that more resolution means higher quality. Most cameras produce"video" looking images that suffer from highlight and black clipping that limits details. Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera's wide dynamic range eliminates this problem and provides film quality with dramatically more detail retained in black and whites in the image. Once the shoot is complete, DaVinci Resolve Lite 11 color correction and online editing software can be used to adjust images and take advantage of this extra range in the images.

To eliminate the damage that low bit depth and high compression video storage creates, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera includes a easy to use SD card recorder that allows the full sensor dynamic range to be recorded in professional ProRes 422 (HQ) format, as well as 12 bit Log RAW lossless compressed CinemaDNG format. These files can be read by high end video software as they are all open standard.

“We have worked hard to set up this exciting special price to allow more people to afford a super compact digital cinema camera that they can personally own. However stock is limited at this lower price so customers who want to buy at this price will need to move fast,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “We are extremely proud of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and we want to thank all the cinematographers who have send us examples of the work they have completed with this camera. We want to thank everyone for the wise and intelligent feedback they have given us and we hope this special offer is a great way to show our appreciation to the wonderful customers we have. For us, this is a dream come true!”

Now, at the $1700 price point, we have the GH4 competing with cameras such as the ~$3000+ 5D Mark III and ~$11,999 1 D C - while, at the low end, DSLR video shooters can buy a straight-out-of-the-box RAW camera for the price of a T3i.  This is bad news for the old-line DSLR manufacturers.

It seems to me that Canon and Nikon either have to step up to the plate and offer more high end features for the money - or, cede the video market to the newcomers and watch sales of mirror-box DSLRs slip even further.  If I owned stock in these companies, I would sell it.

If you've been eyeing the BMPCC, but didn't have quite enough money to buy one - now may be the time to pull the trigger. Please click on one of the links, pictures or display ads from our sponsors on this page to order. It won't cost you anything extra, but it will help to keep these blog posts coming. Thanks so much for supporting the Hybrid Camera Revolution!

Another Canon blog says, "It's time to move on and say goodbye to the Mark III"

In the course of his terrific short review of the new $2498 Sony A7s, Johnnie Behiri of cinema5d joins the chorus of Canon bloggers who are either leaving Canon themselves - or explicitly recommending that shooters "move on" from the 5D Mark III.

I happen to agree with Johnnie (and Dave Dugdale and Caleb Pike) on this. The $3000+ 5D Mark III is not a very good value for money for video shooters at this point - especially now that it has lost its competitive advantage as the only moire-resistant full frame video-capable camera in the marketplace.

Like the GH4, the full-frame A7s meets or beats the 5D Mark III's image quality without forcing shooters to deal with a on old-fashioned fixed LCD, lack of video viewfinder, poor codec selection and soft 1080p.

Johnnie also prefers the A7s' full-frame look to the GH4's at 1080p - even though the Sony is a 30 minute, region-locked camera with no internal 4K recording (and its external 4K ouput is 8-bit).

As you can tell from this list, I differ a little from Johnnie here. I need a video camera with hours of continuous recording, a battery that will last me all day and internal 4K for future-proofing.  The full-frame look doesn't make up for the A7s' lack of these basics, in my view.

But for Canon shooters who are hesitant to move to a micro 4/3 sensor - especially those who want a smart adapter for their EF lenses- the best full-frame video-capable camera on the market right now is the Sony A7s (and I haven't even mentioned its amazing low light capabilities).

To underline how good this camera is (and how good Johnnie is), here's the video that accompanied his review:



Pretty much the only way for Canon to beat the A7s among full-frame afficionados would be to introduce a "1D C lite" 5D Mark IV with internal 4K recording to a decent codec. Or, as Dave Dugdale suggested the other day, they could just lower the price on the 1D C.

It will be very interesting to see what Canon does here.

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$2000 Instant Rebate on Canon 1D C - Now Less Than $10,000!

         VS            

If you've been waiting for the 4K Canon Cinema EOS 1D C to come down in price, today's the day! Now, at $9999 after a $2000 instant rebate, the Canon 1D C costs only five times more than the body-only GH4 .

Snark aside, this is very good news for shooters. 4K innovation from companies like Panasonic, Blackmagic, Sony (and Kinefinity) is already pushing Canon prices downward - now, let's hope the trend continues!

Magic Lantern does it again - continuous RAW video from the Canon 5D Mark III!

Andrew Reid at eoshd shot this video on his 5D Mark III with new pre-beta test software from Magic Lantern:



This is very big news - RAW video from a $3300 hybrid still/video camera body. If Magic Lantern can turn this into production software and releases it for free, it is a real game-changer.

First, it undermines the price of the $12,000 Canon 1D C Cinema EOS camera. If this free software upgrade becomes widely available for the 5D Mark III, Canon 1D C sales will likely dry up.

Second, it threatens the use-case for the 2.5K RAW $2995 Blackmagic Cinema Camera, which is yet to ship in large numbers.

The question becomes, would you rather buy a $3299 full frame Canon Mark III still/video camera that is in stock right now and upgrade it to RAW with free software - or would you rather order a $2995 video-only RAW Blackmagic Cinema Camera with a micro 4/3 sized sensor that might ship sometime in the next few months?

I know what I would do.