Update on Camera Shipments

In fairness, and to scare the children, I've uploaded a photo of "me" so I now have an avatar. Apologies in advance.

OK, you asked for it...there it is. See...just like Jerry Garcia...at least that's what all the Chinese thought. I must have had a hundred pictures taken of me that day.

You do look just like the guy on the Ben & Jerry's "Cherry Garcia" ice cream package!

This being the internet, I wonder if "Christine Peterson" and "Terry Frechette" are actually the same person?

Joking!!!

(Again: Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Awe Peter dont put that in my head

Imagine actually getting our cameras. Now there's a fantasy.

Any news? B&H still closed until 10 october, its any chance to get our cinema camera about 12,13 or 14 october???

Yeah,
It would be really nice to have a realistic range of dates that the cameras will become available. I'm preparing to shoot a film and if I'm not going to be able to get my hands on a BMCC by the time we start filming then it would be helpful to know that for sure.

Hi,

I wanted to give everyone an update on where we are with Blackmagic CinemaCamera shipments.

As you know, we have been dealing with a supplier delay which has stalled our ability to build cameras. I thought it might be a good idea to explain in more detail what is going on, and do a technical "brain dump" on the problem so everyone understands the nature of the delay and what we have been doing about it.

Over a month ago now, we completed the testing of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and started production. Very quickly we started to see cameras failing our production testing as they suffered from blemishes on the sensor. These are high end cameras so need to be built to a very high specification.

We started testing to discover the cause of the problem and discovered that the problems were from our second shipment of sensors. The first shipment of sensors were fine. All the cameras you currently see people using had been built from this first batch of sensors and that is why we did not see any issues until we started to build cameras in volume.

While investigating the problem our engineers found the blemishes were in the glass that covers the sensor, and not the sensor itself. This is good because the glass might just be dirty so we saw this as a quick fix, but wondered how a supplier could deliver us sensors that had blemishes, as they are supposed to pre test them.

It is worth noting here what this glass does. Each sensor has a glass cover to keep contamination off the surface of the sensor itself, which is essentially a large semiconductor. If the surface ever got dirty, it would be impossible to clean, however the glass is easy to clean. All sensors have this glass cover. It is a high quality glass with optical coatings, similar to lens glass.

Anyway getting back to the issue, when talking with the supplier, it turned out they had a bug in their test software that tested sensors after the glass had been applied. That's why they shipped us bad sensors and did not notice. They fixed that problem and could then see the problems we saw and stopped production as about 95% of sensors were suffering this problem with the glass.

The next step for the supplier was for them to work out the cause of the blemishes on the glass. They developed tests for the glass before being bonded to the sensor, and discovered it contained the blemishes on the glass before being used in the suppliers factory. After more testing over the last few weeks, the supplier has discovered the blemishes are caused by a contamination from the packing materials used by the glass supplier to ship the glass to the sensor supplier.

So that's where we are at now. The supplier is due to get more glass later this week and then hopes to start up production again using new clean glass that will result in good quality sensors that we can use to start building cameras again.

We build our cameras in our own factory on a production line built for the camera so we can start shipping cameras again the day we receive good sensors.

I deeply apologize for the delay in shipping and it has been very frustrating for us as well to be sitting on a completed and tested product for a month that we cannot sell. Especially when people need them urgently.

As you can also see from the breakdown of the problem above, there has been multiple stages of testing to discover the cause of the problem so it has been hard to lock down dates or what was going on until now, so its been hard to update everyone on the exact details.

I hope this update helps people understand the delay. We should know more details about shipping times once the new glass arrives at our supplier.

We also have a new software update v1.1 for the camera due in a few days. The original v1 software did not have DNxHD support so thats now been added, as well as support for lens stabilizers and a bunch of other small features.


Regards,

Grant Petty
Blackmagic Design

Demand an upgrade

no glass?
no camera for 2012?
I want information

Demand an upgrade

no glass?
no camera for 2012?
I want information

You mean update? Because the BMC upgrade will likely be announced in April next year for an end of July release but not turn up until 2018.

I think you mean "update" to which I would very much like an update too. I think EVERYONE on this forum would.

By the way, the 1.1 update is out! Just have a look at the support page.

I think the problem goes beyond the glass

I think the problem goes beyond the glass

At this stage that is obvious. I am beginning to think BMD are sitting on the deposit money from places like CVP and B&H to gain interests in their banks to be able to fund the creation of the units....

I think the problem goes beyond the glass

At this stage that is obvious. I am beginning to think BMD are sitting on the deposit money from places like CVP and B&H to gain interests in their banks to be able to fund the creation of the units....

I doubt thats how it works.
first off, there are lot of pre-orders with no money exchange probably more than actual money put down.
the vendors are the ones holding the cash here.
thats how it works in corporate North America.

I think the problem goes beyond the glass

At this stage that is obvious. I am beginning to think BMD are sitting on the deposit money from places like CVP and B&H to gain interests in their banks to be able to fund the creation of the units....

I doubt thats how it works.
first off, there are lot of pre-orders with no money exchange probably more than actual money put down.
the vendors are the ones holding the cash here.
thats how it works in corporate North America.

BMD would need to see a deposit from the vendors to allow them a backorder amount. BMD is a Australian company remember... how things work in the US is neither here nor there.

I really love what this camera means for everyone shooting "Indie." I decided to purchase this camera because its not only amazing at what it does with the price tag, but it also represents for me a REBELLION against bs prices for equipment that only the "Hollywood" guys can afford to shoot at this level....But I find myself looking at other camera's now...I think I've lost a little of my initial excitement for the BMCC . Still TRYING to be patient though.

I spent over $ 4K B & H, CASH (also pay the camera), luckily for blackmagic are closed until 10, and until that day I'll wait for an answer, the 11th changed my order to SONY FS 100

I spent over $ 4K B & H, CASH (also pay the camera), luckily for blackmagic are closed until 10, and until that day I'll wait for an answer, the 11th changed my order to SONY FS 100

I have an FS100 and it is a beautiful camera! With an ATOMOS Ninja it is almost unbeatable at the price range. The main thing going for it is that it actually exists to purchase right now... not so for you know what:) If you do change your mind (I recommend you do if you want to start shooting this year) then you can do a lot worse than the FS100. Brilliant in low light, good support and honesty from Sony, great price and a stunning piece of kit if you wish to shoot a small film or movie on it.

In fact I am between takes with my FS100 now! I was going to shoot this corporate on the BMCC, but of course I had to go the way of many here and just give up on the idea of the BMCC releasing anytime soon and go with the FS100. I'm happy though as it is a great piece of kit:)

I really love what this camera means for everyone shooting "Indie." I decided to purchase this camera because its not only amazing at what it does with the price tag, but it also represents for me a REBELLION against bs prices for equipment that only the "Hollywood" guys can afford to shoot at this level....But I find myself looking at other camera's now...I think I've lost a little of my initial excitement for the BMCC . Still TRYING to be patient though.

It is a misconception that BMC is economic:

batteries = $
Phanthom system = $
SSD (4) = $
Lens = $
DaVinci Resolve = (retina display for laptops mac) $
rig = $
Hours edition = $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

I really love what this camera means for everyone shooting "Indie." I decided to purchase this camera because its not only amazing at what it does with the price tag, but it also represents for me a REBELLION against bs prices for equipment that only the "Hollywood" guys can afford to shoot at this level....But I find myself looking at other camera's now...I think I've lost a little of my initial excitement for the BMCC . Still TRYING to be patient though.

It is a misconception that BMC is economic:

batteries = $
Phanthom system = $
SSD (4) = $
Lens = $
DaVinci Resolve = (retina display for laptops mac) $
rig = $
Hours edition = $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Yeah, BMCC is not a good piece of kit if you are on a budget. A lot needs to be bought and paid for before you can get a working camera, that's for sure.

I really love what this camera means for everyone shooting "Indie." I decided to purchase this camera because its not only amazing at what it does with the price tag, but it also represents for me a REBELLION against bs prices for equipment that only the "Hollywood" guys can afford to shoot at this level....But I find myself looking at other camera's now...I think I've lost a little of my initial excitement for the BMCC . Still TRYING to be patient though.

It is a misconception that BMC is economic:

batteries = $
Phanthom system = $
SSD (4) = $
Lens = $
DaVinci Resolve = (retina display for laptops mac) $
rig = $
Hours edition = $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Yeah, BMCC is not a good piece of kit if you are on a budget. A lot needs to be bought and paid for before you can get a working camera, that's for sure.

Yes sir, I agree with you totally. But, its still a hell of a lot more affordable then shooting "RED" or even with the C300 for that matter.

Yes, of course, but if you have a week shoot and you're being paid a certain amount for it, then it would probably be wiser to hire a C300 or RED to get the job done and it would be cheaper... It all depends. You could use a FS100 or an EX3 the list goes on.

Yes, of course, but if you have a week shoot and you're going paid a certain amount for it, then it would probably be wiser to hire a C300 or RED to get the job done and it would be cheaper... It all depends. You could use a FS100 or an EX3 the list goes on.

I agree..actually the FS100, 700, and PMW F3 are the other cameras I've been looking at. They all seem like awesome cameras that would be great for my workflow

C100 with a HyperDeck has promise...

It's cool with me if you want to discuss other cameras, but of course it's obviously off-topic. But I love video gear, so it's all good.

And, before I go any farther, please understand that even more than I want an information update from BMD, I want my BMCC itself. Each of us gets to decide how long we're willing to wait for our cameras, and some are more or less patient than others. That's also all good.

Comparing the BMCC to cameras that cost 50% or 100% or >200% more does get a bit odd fairly quickly. It's a bit like comparing very different kinds of trucks: Pick-up trucks, dump trucks, mini-vans, cargo vans, etc. They're all trucks, but inherently suited to widely different purposes given their features, and they sell for widely different prices.

I use a FS100 frequently. It's a nice camera for the price, but it is what it is. Among other things, it's an 8-bit camera that natively records AVCHD at a relatively low data rate. I'm fairly certain its HDMI output is 8-bit only, too. So even if you record its live HDMI out to a 10-bit recorder, you're still only getting 8-bits worth of color information. Obviously there can be other advantages to the external recorder (higher data rate, etc.), but all that comes at a price. It can be an apples & oranges comparison talking about the FS100 and the BMCC.

Likewise the C100, F3, F700, etc., etc. All nice cameras, some much more expensive than a BMCC. Although they each have features the BMCC lacks, importantly the reverse is also true. Plus, none of them include the BMCC's awesome software bundle. Again, apples & oranges.

Cheers.

Without speculating financial situations of BM - I would imagine that a production run being halted and a number of cameras being produced and rendered useless, BM will possibly be looking for compensation/discount/sanctions from one of its suppliers. If the supplier is the sole one capable of producing a part, BM are in a difficult situation. Without penalising them for cost of each unit supplied, or receiving an amount, they may have to wait until a legal situation is settled before production can start again. BM will have probably invested money and borrowed some to cover the cost of production and until it starts up again, they won't be making money! This all adds up to a long delay.

I would be surprised if deposits from any retailers have gone to Blackmagic yet. BM will have ordered a production run based on pre-orders and then further expected interest. They won't produce more units than is required, nor will they be reliant on the money that their vendors will be taking.

I would prefer not to know anything from them until they know for certain when the camera is going to arrive. I don't want info, I just want my cool camera - there is a tool out there that is going to help me make more money and produce amazing footage and I am really excited!

I would prefer not to know anything from them until they know for certain when the camera is going to arrive. I don't want info, I just want my cool camera - there is a tool out there that is going to help me make more money and produce amazing footage and I am really excited!

That's easy...just stay off the forums and avoid "shipping date" or "updates" threads. You can w8 until your retailer notifies you that your camera has shipped or you can w8 on UPS to ring your doorbell. I tried that very tactic back in July but it didn't work...

Good plan. I shall henceforth not post on this update thread or look at it again.

DAMN!!!!

It's hard, isn't it?

He he,

Some of the responses on this thread are almost akin to a witch hunt for a piece of technology, albeit a great piece of technology.

I'd like to state for the record that I believe Blackmagic does not practice witchcraft.. hold on, oh wait!?!


Jules
(keeping it light)

http://www.facebook.com/BL2Store

Famous audio/video store in italy says:

Blackmagic Cinema Camera è disponibile a magazzino da domani, con tutti gli accessori, come batterie e rig, e le ottiche Canon e Zeiss... Ordina Ora !

That means: BMCC its on our store tomorrow, with all accessories like battery, rig, Zeiss/Canon Lens...ORDER NOW....!


But...tomorrow??? Are you kidding me?

My retailer told me they expect a major shipment by the end of the week (tomorrow) or early next week at the latest. But, Im sure that's what BM has informed them...true??? who knows.

I'm still patient ... am I? ...

My retailer told me they expect a major shipment by the end of the week (tomorrow) or early next week at the latest. But, Im sure that's what BM has informed them...true??? who knows.

Haha that's so funny... not true obviously, but if it were and BMD were reading these messages and decided to just not tell anyone, well that would be just bad form on BMD's part.

http://www.facebook.com/BL2Store

Famous audio/video store in italy says:

Blackmagic Cinema Camera è disponibile a magazzino da domani, con tutti gli accessori, come batterie e rig, e le ottiche Canon e Zeiss... Ordina Ora !

That means: BMCC its on our store tomorrow, with all accessories like battery, rig, Zeiss/Canon Lens...ORDER NOW....!


But...tomorrow??? Are you kidding me?

BL2Store, more and better information about BMC

I call BL2 store tomorrow in the morning for news!

I call BL2 store tomorrow in the morning for news!

Yes please update us.

I call BL2 store tomorrow in the morning for news!

if you're 007 James BMC

other news:

Christine Peterson, recent ad
Blackmagic Cinema Camera v1.1 software update now available!


and BMC ?

That would be perfect timing for me.
I never pre-ordered one. Does anyone have an idea what my best option would be for getting one as quickly as possible? As in where to order one or preferably where to pick one up in person? I'm planning to start production as soon as I have one in my hand, so the number of days on the delay effects the schedule. This is all assuming that we're not jumping the gun and they're going to be available next week.

Money talks. Make an early pre-order an offer they can't refuse.

That would be perfect timing for me.
I never pre-ordered one. Does anyone have an idea what my best option would be for getting one as quickly as possible? As in where to order one or preferably where to pick one up in person? I'm planning to start production as soon as I have one in my hand, so the number of days on the delay effects the schedule. This is all assuming that we're not jumping the gun and they're going to be available next week.

Given the near-hysteria level of this thread, if BMD had begun shipping the camera without so much as a peep on this forum, it would be quite surprising, never mind disappointing.

Not to dash hopes, but it just seems too far-fetched to be true. Then again, I've seen businesses do some strange things... things that might not appear so strange if I had all the information.

That would be perfect timing for me.
I never pre-ordered one. Does anyone have an idea what my best option would be for getting one as quickly as possible? As in where to order one or preferably where to pick one up in person? I'm planning to start production as soon as I have one in my hand, so the number of days on the delay effects the schedule. This is all assuming that we're not jumping the gun and they're going to be available next week.

Given the near-hysteria level of this thread, if BMD had begun shipping the camera without so much as a peep on this forum, it would be quite surprising, never mind disappointing.

Not to dash hopes, but it just seems too far-fetched to be true. Then again, I've seen businesses do some strange things... things that might not appear so strange if I had all the information.

Might happen, after all given their issues so far they might be worried the shipments will be lost at sea..........

BMD's own webpage for the BMCC still says "limited shipping".

I would assume that all the cameras that passed the QA are being shipped. However, since the issue that was found affected so many, the actual number being released is small.

It IS possible a couple of distributors/dealer are getting some stock tomorrow, but we're still not definitely at a full shipping stage.

I am positive BMD would inform us. They have informed us every time that have had something relevant to.

sean

I am pulling for another Friday miracle

And today I order mine (finally) but did through B&H and they are on holiday til WED - So my order is not real til next WED and then I wait...........

Just rang both CVP and Jigsaw24. CVP have been told NOTHING by BMD and Jigsaw24 say BMD have stated end of the year... Not sure if the Jigsaw24 end of the year date was for anyone pre-ordering from now, but I guess she would have mentioned that on the phone.

Costa, Thank you so much for posting that. That is very helpful! of all the responses, I'm probably gonna bet on that one. I imagine it like this. There may be shipments going out, but if there are, they're filling pre-orders. They might not be able to fill volume, so getting to wide distribution point might be end of year which was my worst fear. However, my previous post was about getting into the strategic thinking for trying to get one if they are going to ship soon. Imagine demand is for 200 but you're ability is only able to manufacture 100 plus 25 per month. (Arbitrary numbers and completely off any sort of reality). I imagine, you have to divide that first 100 among total orders. But lets say B&H has 80 orders and some retailers average 25 pre-orders each. So how do you divide 100 fairly? My hope would be that there is some way that some retailers are allowed a few stock. But I would guess that their probably gonna fill pre-orders first. Either way, if you haven't made a pre-order from back in july, and production rates aren't able to keep up, then You're not gonna get one before december or 2013. All speculation obviously, but i'm only guessing because I don't wanna order from B&H and wait for January if there's a chance of ordering from somewhere else and getting earlier. It's all a gamble speculation game at this point, obviously. But the little things can count when time has production consequences. That bit of information, while probably "rumorsome" sounds like a believable bet. I must ad that I'm also only speculating because, if you are in a companies situation like this then it wouldn't be advantageous to comment or share every detail of your distribution strategies because it's not a debate that consumers should participate in. Being up front about delays is honorable(im so glad they're the kind of company that would explain what's happening) and awesome but the details are not the entire internet's business.

Costa, Thank you so much for posting that. That is very helpful! of all the responses, I'm probably gonna bet on that one. I imagine it like this. There may be shipments going out, but if there are, they're filling pre-orders. They might not be able to fill volume, so getting to wide distribution point might be end of year which was my worst fear. However, my previous post was about getting into the strategic thinking for trying to get one if they are going to ship soon. Imagine demand is for 200 but you're ability is only able to manufacture 100 plus 25 per month. (Arbitrary numbers and completely off any sort of reality). I imagine, you have to divide that first 100 among total orders. But lets say B&H has 80 orders and some retailers average 25 pre-orders each. So how do you divide 100 fairly? My hope would be that there is some way that some retailers are allowed a few stock. But I would guess that their probably gonna fill pre-orders first. Either way, if you haven't made a pre-order from back in july, and production rates aren't able to keep up, then You're not gonna get one before december or 2013. All speculation obviously, but i'm only guessing because I don't wanna order from B&H and wait for January if there's a chance of ordering from somewhere else and getting earlier. It's all a gamble speculation game at this point, obviously. But the little things can count when time has production consequences. That bit of information, while probably "rumorsome" sounds like a believable bet. I must ad that I'm also only speculating because, if you are in a companies situation like this then it wouldn't be advantageous to comment or share every detail of your distribution strategies because it's not a debate that consumers should participate in. Being up front about delays is honorable(im so glad they're the kind of company that would explain what's happening) and awesome but the details are not the entire internet's business.

No problem. It's not the news we want, but it's at least news. BMD stringing people along isn't helping anyone. BMD if you could just admit officially that this is the case it would be very much appreciated.

+1

Just rang both CVP and Jigsaw24. CVP have been told NOTHING by BMD and Jigsaw24 say BMD have stated end of the year... Not sure if the Jigsaw24 end of the year date was for anyone pre-ordering from now, but I guess she would have mentioned that on the phone.

Peter - that Croc sure must be looking tasty.....!

I spoke to Teltec this morning, my reseller here in germany. They didn't even know what's going on in detail, too ... although they are one of the biggest reseller here!
BMD please give us a realistic delivery date ... I ordered and prepaid the cam in May already, ... Really, I need this camera urgently, since I promissed two clients that I'll produce their films with it ... latest in november - this year! For the last three jobs I had to rent cameras ... This is no good.

I spoke to Teltec this morning, my reseller here in germany. They didn't even know what's going on in detail, too ... although they are one of the biggest reseller here!
BMD please give us a realistic delivery date ... I ordered and prepaid the cam in May already, ... Really, I need this camera urgently, since I promissed two clients that I'll produce their films with it ... latest in november - this year! For the last three jobs I had to rent cameras ... This is no good.

Well it being around 21:00hrs in Melbourne on Friday night, I doubt we will get a response. And seeing as though BMD UK doesn't know anything other than what is apparently listed on this forum I doubt we'll get a response this week from any other BMD head office other than one that Grant Petty is at.

I doubt we'll get a response this month to be honest. It has obviously come from high up (Mr Petty himself) that no one at BMD should know what is going on just in case someone let's the true information slip...