PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Great post Illya.

Delays and hick-ups happen in manufacturing. If it was easy to make a camera this good at this price point then we would see half a dozen other manufactures shipping similar products.

I've been on the preorder list since the announcement and everyday I'm more excited about getting the camera. I have no issue with the delay as I'd prefer to get a camera that has had the love and attention to detail that BMD put into their products.

Thanks for this insight Illya.

Thanks for this insight Illya.

+1 Gr8 read.

Thank you for your post Illya! Makes me so happy to have purchased my BMCC! Even the Chief of Photographers at the news network I work for is waiting for me to get my BMCC so HE can check it out! LOL!

[Kristian Lam]

Hi

We're going to be posting another update in a day or two as we have a conference call arranged with our supplier to extract more information.

Right now, we are still not happy with the quality that we are getting from the glass window of the sensors so we're being extra careful. As such, we are only sending out a small number of cameras each day.

We understand that it's frustrating and we are feeling very frustrated about it too. We'll post another update with more information in a few days.

Thanks for your patience.

Great to see you posting here, Illya! Cheers.

AS you know we are getting nowhere with this forum except magnifying the angst. I suggest we email the press contacts as they are the only ones with email contact on the BMD site
terryf@blackmagicdesign.com
stephanieh@blackmagicdesgn.com

they DO NOT have the capacity to accommodate the production and testing of more than a few dozen units per month (best case scenario assuming acceptable glass)

That's hilarious! If that is true I'll leave the sinking ship. What is a few dozen? Three dozen? Which means 36 BMCC/month - given approx. 3000 pre-orders, the first one to receive his non pre-ordered camera will have to wait ~ 83 months before that queue of pre-orders is done.

Will the BMCC still be cool in about 7 years? Or can they manufacture even 72 units/month and the lucky guy has to wait only until the end of 2015?

Please anyone of BMD tell us that these figures can't be true.

I've been reading this forum for a couple of weeks now and I really get a feeling that BMCC will never
find its way neither in my hands nor any shelves.

I do not have Angst.

- i've seen where bmd manufactures these units (and no, i can't tell you as i'm under NDA). they DO NOT have the capacity to accommodate the production and testing of more than a few dozen units per month (best case scenario assuming acceptable glass)

It's against company policy to share manufacturing details, but rest assured - this rumor is not true.

- i've seen where bmd manufactures these units (and no, i can't tell you as i'm under NDA). they DO NOT have the capacity to accommodate the production and testing of more than a few dozen units per month (best case scenario assuming acceptable glass)

It's against company policy to share manufacturing details, but rest assured - this rumor is not true.

Good to hear. I'd like to see BMD starting some rumours of their own (possibly true ones?)
Seriously though, I hope everything is going well over at BMD. I'll be patiently waiting for an update

Thanks John, and everyone else for the warm welcome!

We're quite busy with a couple 'special projects' right now, but I'll do my best to check in here regularly and see what's the latest info.

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera, it is without a doubt a remarkable achievement. As such, we've made a serious investment in both the camera and support infrastructure/accessories. We will be making some announcements about all of this in the very near future.

I.

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras
http://www.hotrodcameras.com

Hello Tim, and everyone.

So Hot Rod Cameras has received the credit as the source of "the rumor."

For the record, we are not in the business of lying to anyone- about anything. That is bad business in my book, and a bad way to do anything.

Any information given by a member of our staff would have been information that is only being repeated from someone who supposedly knew what they were talking about. We send out a newsletter to all our pre-order customers and we share all non-confidential relative information we get. I've never heard anything but positive feedback about sharing what information we can.

We also were told that initial shipment was only "a trickle" and that additional units were massing for larger shipments in the next few weeks. It was told to us in the same breath as the first part, and was included in our newsletter. There's no reason anyone should assume that the slow rate of delivery thus far is the only rate at which deliveries will continue.

Before starting Hot Rod Cameras I worked for a camera manufacturer; one of the only camera manufacturers that made their own imaging sensor, built entirely in our own fab (you can count those companies on one hand). I know a little bit about what's going on when someone reports a problem with a sensor or filter stack.

What I don't think most people here realize that a problem with a sensor or the filter stack is not insignificant. The sensor is not just any camera component, neither are custom pieces of optical glass which are painstakingly tuned through batches of coatings and then must be carefully glued to the front of the sensor. Screw up any part of this process and you lose one more sensor. You can't just run another 1000 or 10000 and get them overnight, the process of making a sensor ready for instillation is not generally a speedy one.

Personally, I think it's amazing that 1) Blackmagic shared this information with the public, and 2) that the problem was diagnosed and corrected and new sensors and filter stacks are being rushed into existence.

As a rule of thumb, the better quality the image sensor the more complicated the design. The more complicated the design, the lower the yield. The larger the sensor, the lower the yield. "Yield" being the number of "perfect" or if not perfect "acceptable" sensors that come off the sensor wafer. A "wafer" can hold a few, a few dozen, or several dozen sensors, depending on size of the sensors being manufactured. Here's a pic with a bunch of Kodak sensors still on the wafer so you can see what I mean.

While an imaging sensor is not the only important component of a camera, it is certainly the heart. I have to say in the limited time I've played with, and watched the BMC Cameras images on the big screen next door (20' Barco 2K DI suite) the sensor is drop dead gorgeous. It blows every DSLR our of the water regardless of price, and surpasses many cameras costing thousands more. Hell, it matches the dynamic range of the Dalsa Evolution camera, in 2009 the undisputed king of dynamic range.

We know the BMC Camera sensor is on the bigger side, and it's got to be state-of-the-art complicated to get images like it does. I can only imagine the manufacturing hurdles that Blackmagic is tackling right now. I know one particular camera company that creates a custom software "masks" unique to every camera they sell. Those software masks hide all the manufacturing defects with their imaging sensors. Blackmagic clearly isn't doing that, and should be applauded for shipping "perfect" cameras slowly rather than flawed cameras with band-aids as fast as possible.

Interesting to note, we had a DP in our office last week who was really interested in DSLRs for insert/B/C Camera work on a $100M feature shooting in Q1 2013. While the decision is not final, I'll just say that after viewing the camera and some footage from the BMC Camera, it is now strongly in the running to replace the DSLRs. John Brawley is using them on a TV series right now, I think it's only a matter of time before we see it drafted up to "A" camera status on highly prominent productions.

Personally, I feel like I've been waiting for this camera my entire adult life, so I'm more excited than upset at the delay. Perhaps I ought to upset, as the number 1 phone call I receive is "Do you know when my camera is shipping?" Delays aren't good for business, mine or anyone else's, least of all Blackmagic's or the customers who have time sensitive projects.

So even if it wasn't that many, assuming some cameras shipped just a few weeks after the original intended release date, it's still amazing. Compare Blackmagic to some other companies pre-selling a non-existent camera system more than a year before shipping, we're not out very long. Hang tight I don't think we are that far now.

Sincerely,

Illya Friedman
President
Hot Rod Cameras
Hollywood, California
http://www.hotrodcameras.com

This is a fantastic post and I can honestly say hearing an inside perspective on the challenges BMD are facing makes this process easier to understand.

Thanks Illya

What a great post Illya and so fantastic to have someone with your background and experience here.

For those that don't already know, Illya himself used to work with a camera manufacturer that were really at the very bleeding high end of digital imaging and he certainly knows his stuff.

I've been using the BMCC every day on the current series I'm shooting right now.

I have a 3 EPIC camera package and a bunch of PL lenses and I'm using the BMCC on almost every setup where I would have used a 5D as a "C" camera.

On the last series I did, Puberty Blues, most people could pick the BMCC shots from the Alexa shots. And while I'm not ready to give up the higher frame rates and more advanced monitoring features cameras like Alexa and RED offer, BMCC's certainly are holding their own.

I'm sure it won't be long before someone does indeed shoot with BMCC as their A camera.

Thanks again for joining the discussion.

jb

John, While these are well thought out points on the manufacturing process, you guys are missing the point. We all know this is a fantastic camera, you guys are preaching to the choir here, we already bought the camera, we are just waiting on it.

The issue here is the way this company is treating customers who have decided to spend their hard earned money for this product that was promised months ago. Listen, we all know manufacturing issues happen and if they were up front with the issues (for THEIR customers) then most of us would be a little aggravated but would truly understand. Instead, we are finally promised regular updates that we are not getting, frankly because the community is raising so much hell. The "updates" that we are getting are basically not updates at all and frankly contradict each other. They are not communicating with people who have put our trust in this company. I think we deserve more than that. That is called good business.
It is sad to say but I trust some rumors from a random guy posting what he "heard" over what is said by BMD. BMD has lost my confidence in the way they conduct their business. I really hope that changes!

I have been a PR Director for large agencies for years and this stuff is communications 101. BMD is their own worst enemy here. If I developed a communications plan like the one BMD is using, I would have been fired a long time ago! We all know you are BMD's yes man and they have you in their pocket so I completely understanding you standing up for their failings at every turn. If I were in your shoes I might do the same thing. If we can't get the cameras that we paid for and were promised moths ago, we should at least get a REAL explanation as to when we can expect what we paid for. Surly even you have to agree with that.

Wayne hit it on the head...that's exactly the issue. It's an integrity and lack of communication problem. Especially when Lam comes on here and says "we'll have an update in a day or two," we're sitting on the FOURTH work day, we all see him log in and then log off without a word. It's quite infuriating.

Yup I agree with Wayne too. He's spot on.

I am really glad they gave us an update. As a customer, I know what is going on. I hope it stays that way!