Blackmagic Forum

Hi all, I recently decided I'd like to go the route of purchasing the BMCC camera. I do event videography for a living (only began a year ago so always trying to improve and have a long way to go) and am VERY interested in independent filmmaking as well. I had a few questions about my upcoming BMCC purchase:

- EF vs MFT. I currently own NO lenses, so I'm open to either "side". I've done research on this issue online, but I fear my technical knowledge is a bit too limited to come away with a definitive conclusion. I would like to use this camera for my event videography needs, but also for independent filmmaking. I've never shot with a camera before that didn't have some kind of IS. Would I really miss it in my event videography if I went the MFT route (which I see is a passive mount)? What are the incentives for going MFT vs EF in general?

- I have a budget of roughly $4,000 to spend for the camera, lenses, and misc. accesseries minus audio, which I'm already well stocked in. Ideally, I'd like to have 3 lenses, one for wide angle, one as a medium range "multi-purpose" lens, and a third, for telephoto. Taking my budget and requirements into account, would EF or MFT be a better fit?


Thanks very much in advance to anyone who might pitch in their opinion and experience on this matter!

Difficult one to answer. Both options deliver the same image. The only difference is the mount.

IS is very useful when shooting handheld or on the shoulder. Which I'm guessing you'll do a lot of when covering events.

MFT opens up the lens choice to some very nice manual MFT lenses like the Voiglanders and SLRMagic. And PL cinema lenses. Add to that you can use the Metabones SpeedBooster with some SLR lenses.

I have the EF version and shoot a lot of different stuff with it. I've never had the "need" for the MFT version but I have considered adding it to my collection so that I have other options.

I'm not sure your budget will cover your needs tho...

For events you probably need to budget for the following:
Camera (EF so you get IS)
SSD (multiple)
Battery - V-lock, AB, etc so you can power cam an EVF
Camera support - tripod, shoulder rig
EVF (or monitor but EVF would be better)
Mic pre-amp - JuiceLink, SoundDevices, etc
Mics - top mic, boom mic, radio mic, etc
Lenses - wide zoom (Tokina 11-16 f2.8), mid zoom (Canon EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS) could add a longer zoom later.
ND filters

That quickly adds up to much more than $4K.

Or look at getting the BMPCC which will open your budget and still give you a quality imagine just not the same resolution. If your really doing Event work do you really need 2.5k Delivery? If not and your output is mostly 1080p I'd look at the BMPCC with the new speed booster and sigma 18-35 1.8 with a Rode Videomic Pro as your base.

BMPCC: $995
Sigma 18-35 1.8: $799
Sigma 24-104 F4: $899
Metabones Speedbooster: $489
Rode Videomic Pro: $229
(2) 64gb Extreme pro SD cards: $270
(1) 128gb Extreme Pro 80mbs card: $179 or 45mb @ $149

Still leaves you budget for a used Glidecam or nice tripod