Steve Holmlund wrote:BM left money on the table when they launched the BMPCC. They could have sold out for a year at least at $1299, maybe higher. For a brief period of time they “gave” it away at $499 (what was that about???). 4+ years after shipping there still is nothing like it. IMHO it exists 1) as a B cam and special-purpose cam for the pros and 2) to increase the number of Resolve users, which BM gives away and keeps making the full version cheaper.
If you don’t want to learn how to grade raw footage, my assumption is almost any other camera makes more sense. But if you do, BM continues to offer good value for the money.
Just my 2 cents.
It doesn't matter if they left money on the table before. That was then.
This is now. 5 years after launch.
Times have changed. Tech has changed. And Resolve doesn't need a camera to sell it. It's now at a very reasonable price stand alone. And people don't need a Pocket to learn how to grade raw footage, since there's plenty of free samples around the web to play with. No one wants to buy a $999 camera just to play around. And I doubt many professionals wants a HD B camera with special needs in this day in age if they can avoid it.
So no, as of right now, I don't consider Pocket camera at it's current price to be worth it. Not unless you're renting it (but even then, you might consider renting something else). If it was back to $500, or even $600 US, I'd say, yeah. Very worth it to buy one brand new. But $999 US still? No. I don't consider that worth it still. Especially with all the special needs it needs, raising it up to $2000 depending on how much you're willing to spend on it (External Monitor/View Finder, Speed booster, external power, cage, external audio recorder/amp booster, anti-aliasing filter, etc). But if you think Blackmagic should never lower the price, then I'm afraid it's gonna suffer the same fate at the 2.5 Cine and Production Camera, and just get discontinued. Which I never wanted. I was hoping the Production Camera would drop in price, so I could pick it up for $3000 Canadian instead of $4000 plus tax (especially since the Ursa Mini was the same price, but more features. I figured they'd drop the price for the Production in order to compete with it). And now it's just gone.