Just some quick questions regarding BMCC vs. Pocket CC!

Hi everyone!

Really excited about Blackmagic's products, only just learned of them a couple of weeks ago! Anyway, I've been comparing the two cameras (Pocket Camera vs. the Cinema Camera), and have almost decided to go with the BMCC, even though it'll take longer to save up for it but will be worth it. I may still go with the Pocket one if they fix the issues with it!

I just have a few questions!

First, if I choose to shoot in raw, how much computing power do I need? I just bought a 27" late 2012 model iMac and it can handle most formats pretty well, but I'm very concerned it will slow to the speed of a snail in molasses when I try to edit and grade in raw footage (not necessarily at 2.5K, unless that's the only mode I can shoot raw in?).

Secondly, are there any problems like the white orbs appearing at blown-out highlights like on the Pocket Camera? Or black spots appearing, too?

Third, how is rolling shutter/moire? From sample footage it looks like there's very minimal moire, and there are so many fixes for rolling shutter available these days it's almost an irrelevant problem, but I am very curious!

Finally, since it is $1000 more than the Pocket, I am still leaning towards the Pocket due to the price and better form factor. My question is, are there any bits of inside info of Blackmagic addressing the horrible issues of the white orbs, lack of ability to format cards in-camera, and black spots appearing at light sources?

Thanks to any and all who answer!

First, if I choose to shoot in raw, how much computing power do I need? I just bought a 27" late 2012 model iMac and it can handle most formats pretty well, but I'm very concerned it will slow to the speed of a snail in molasses when I try to edit and grade in raw footage (not necessarily at 2.5K, unless that's the only mode I can shoot raw in?).

RAW on the BMCC is 2.5K. On the BMPCC it will be 1080p.

The latest iMac should be fine. If you want to run DaVinci Resolve you'll need GPU power. The standard 27" iMac ships with 1GB of video RAM which is not really enough to get Resolve running smoothly but it will manage basic grading on an HD timeline.

You can also process RAW footage with Adobe CameraRAW in After Effects, Photoshop or Lightroom. These don't require the same GPU processing power that Resolve does.

Secondly, are there any problems like the white orbs appearing at blown-out highlights like on the Pocket Camera? Or black spots appearing, too?

White orbs issue on the BMPCC has been addressed by BM. The black spot in excessively over exposed highlights like the sun is not unique to the BMCC. It even happens on the Arri Alexa. It's easy to fix in Resolve and it only happens when you film directly into the sun or naked light bulbs.

Third, how is rolling shutter/moire? From sample footage it looks like there's very minimal moire, and there are so many fixes for rolling shutter available these days it's almost an irrelevant problem, but I am very curious!

Both are about the same as on a DSLR like the Canon 5D.

Finally, since it is $1000 more than the Pocket, I am still leaning towards the Pocket due to the price and better form factor. My question is, are there any bits of inside info of Blackmagic addressing the horrible issues of the white orbs, lack of ability to format cards in-camera, and black spots appearing at light sources?

Orbs = fixed
Black spots = none issue, happens on many cameras and is easy to fix on the rare occasion it happens.
Formatting cards = a bit of a pain but its not a show stopper. Format the card before your shoot and reformat them once you copy your footage off the card. Pretty simple really.

Hey thanks for the response, Adam!

I did a quick search, and you're right, it appears the white orbs on the BMPCC is being addressed by Blackmagic and it appears to be a calibration issue, which probably explains why some adopters of the BMPCC didn't have as many issues. Unfortunately, the customer has to send it back to a local Blackmagic store for the re-calibration, but apparently Blackmagic are shipping all the newer models with them being re-calibrated already this week. So that's good!

Probably going to go with the BMPCC after all! And thanks for the info about DaVinci and its requirements. That will really help me during grading!

And as for the black spots, interesting to know it's not unique to the Cinema Cameras! Kind of a relief actually, and I think I have actually heard of it elsewhere on a DSLR, just can't remember which!

Thanks again!

-Jeremy

Hello! I have a couple questions of my own, and I hope I'm not hijacking this thread. I'm new to Black Magic and the Pocket Camera. I had the chance to pick up the camera from a friend who bought two, one to use and one to sell. I love the image I'm getting out of the camera, except the white "blooming" highlights (which my friend told me I can send in to get re calibrated).

My question is, how do I switch the camera to shoot in RAW? I'm not ready to work with RAW on a regular basis, but I really want to play with it but while I find the format spot in the menu, it doesn't let me change it from ProRes. Do I need to reformat my card? I'm still a little unclear on the formatting. I just read you can't do it in camera, which was a relief because I couldn't find it and thought I was going crazy! So I did it on my PC, but I'm not sure if I did it right. So maybe that's the issue? Or the speed of the card? It's a Sandisk Pro 45 MB/s card.

Anyway, excited to get started! Thanks for any help!

*And of course as soon as I post this I find my answer. A bit bummed that there is no RAW yet, but I'm sure I'll manage shooting in ProRes (it looks great) and will just eagerly anticipate playing with RAW.

*And of course as soon as I post this I find my answer. A bit bummed that there is no RAW yet, but I'm sure I'll manage shooting in ProRes (it looks great) and will just eagerly anticipate playing with RAW.

RAW is coming. Getting it right is such a small package and writing it to an SD card is no simple task. Doing it reliably is what BM are sorting out.

I'm amazed that BM even got ProRes out of the little pocket cam.