Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Boxed & Ready to Ship!

Hat tip to RedShark News

Hope this is mine!  

To whet your appetite even further, here is a new downloadable (and gradeable) ProRes BMPC file from John Brawley (you might have to wait a while - so many people have tried to access the file that Dropbox has temporarily disabled the link).

In the meantime, here is a graded sample from the download via Ruben Kremer on Vimeo:

If you're as impressed as I am, and want to order this incredible little camera, please click here or on the display ad below:

First Shipment of Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Left Factory on July 24th!

Hat tip to Olivia over at Oliviatech for the great find.  Here is an informative video (candid?) with a marketing rep from Blackmagic Design.  Shot at the "Day with Blackmagic" event in Burbank on July 25th:

Blackmagic Exclusive Interview from Christopher W Hill on Vimeo.

Pretty much in line with what we heard from Blackmagic UK via Andrew at eoshd and parsed in my earlier post.  But the specifics of the shipment date for the Pocket are new.  The first cameras left the factory on July 24th, and, according to this rep, were supposed to be in the reseller channel early this week.

Should be real soon now.

If you haven't pre-ordered your Pocket Cinema Camera or 4K Production Camera yet, please click on the links and get on the list at Adorama.

That way, you too can hang on every word uttered by anyone wearing a Blackmagic logo on their shirt.

If the Pocket Cinema Camera doesn't start shipping by next week, the Blackmagic reps at the August 8th New York event should probably wear body armor.

If you're tired of waiting, or you need to shoot RAW 2.5K right now, the 'classic' Blackmagic Cinema Camera is in stock at Amazon right now in both MFT and EF mounts.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Ship Date Imminent?

As everyone who has pre-ordered a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera knows, Blackmagic Design's promised ship date for this eagerly anticipated camera was "sometime in July".  Well, according to this post on Instagram, it looks like Blackmagic is on track to fulfill that promise.

B&H appears to be hands-on with the camera, and expects it to be available on July 25th.  In addition, it is reported that cameras are starting to trickle out to Canadian dealers  - and accessory manufacturer Wooden Camera has posted four great hands-on videos showing Wooden Camera accessories on the BPCC.

The first of these videos reminds me of many of the reasons I look forward to shooting with this camera (in addition to the promise of ProRes 422 and CinemaDNG RAW):

 - Unbelievably compact size  - 220mbps ProRes 422 video in a camera the size of a point and shoot

- Standard SDXC cards (e.g., the $67 Sandisk Extreme 64GB SDXC) - no expensive SSDs or even CFs

- 1/4"-20 mounting screws on the top and bottom of the camera

- Standard Nikon EN-EL20 internal batteries - and uninterruptible power using the internal battery as a backup for hot swapping external batteries.



The cages and rails shown in the Wooden Camera videos are a little over the top for my shooting style - but I have ordered a $25 Wooden Camera hot shoe to mount mics or lights on top of the camera, plus a $50 Cavision Loupe with a $6 3.5" rubber adapter to turn the LCD into a viewfinder. Combined with my $22 Rainbowimaging pistol grip (with trigger), I am hoping to turn the BPCC into a "Super 8" style cinema camera.    I'll let you know how it turns out! If you're not already on the list, you can pre-order the $995 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera from Adorama here.

New Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Test Footage!

More home movies from Blackmagic guru John Brawley. Unfortunately, the camera is handheld throughout the test (and alcohol seems to be involved :)) - so the images are distractingly shaky - and he uses the not-great Panasonic 14-42 kit lens for the outdoor shots - but the dynamic range, the gradeability and the ISO 800 performance indoors are nevertheless very very impressive.

"Pocket in Kurl" from John Brawley on Vimeo

Click on image to go to video

As always with footage from Blackmagic cameras, I found myself staring at the sky in the outdoor shots and muttering, "it's not blown out!"

This little camera is going to be well-worth the $995 asking price.  Pre-order yours from Adorama here.

First Footage from the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera - 13 Stops of Dynamic Range for $995!

John Brawley, pro cinematographer from Australia (and Blackmagic Design's most trusted camera tester), has posted what seems to be the world's first test footage from the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera.  Talk of the show at NAB 2013, this camera has the dynamic range of a film camera in a body the size of an NEX-5 - with a native micro 4/3 lens mount!  Here is what John shot casually at his local market:



Note the exposure match between the foreground subjects, the sky and the people in the background. The Dynamic Range from the $1000 BPCC is clearly wider and more "film like" than any 8 bit consumer camcorder or DSL camera (even my $1300 GH3).  Case in point - see the blown-out backgrounds/skies in this otherwise wonderful little GH3 test film:



And the skies in this Canon HF G10 test:



The BPCC delivers a very similar look to the 16mm film cameras I shot with in the 70s - at a much lower price in 1970s dollars - with the addition of internal sound recording, lens stabilization, focus peaking and a headphone jack - and without the hassle and expense of film processing and splicing.

This test footage was what I was waiting for. I just pre-ordered my BPCC from Adorama!

Really looking forward to what this little camera can do when it gets the CinemaDNG RAW upgrade.