Continous Shooting with BMCC

Hello,

I am looking to shoot some uncut shots for very long periods on BMCC. I was thinking if it was possible to connect an external drive to the body. Is that possible? I am very new at this, so any help with be appreciated.

Thanks!

A

There is no way to connect a hard drive. The camera records to SSDs so you coul use a 480GB SSD.

You could use an external recorder like the BM Shuttle or an Atomos Ninja/Samuri but those options have the same drive limitations at the internal SSD in the BMCC.

You could also connect to a computer via Thunderbolt and record with Media Express.

You could also connect to a computer via Thunderbolt and record with Media Express.

So technically I can connect the external to my laptop and then record to external through Media Express.

You could also connect to a computer via Thunderbolt and record with Media Express.

So technically I can connect the external to my laptop and then record to external through Media Express.

Theoretically... yes. You would need to test it. The external drive would also need to be fast enough to handle the data rate.

Thanks!

Hello,

Tried a lot.

But only Media Express works well with my Windows 8.1 Zbook 15 from HP.
Capturing from Resolve or Ultrascope did not work at all. It seems my Quadra k2100m is not supported.
Compressed and uncompressed is both possible.

My thunderbolt cable is 3m and does not get very hot.
Lag is probably 0,5 seconds.

Fullscreen does not seem possible but it is quite big.
Does anyone know how to get the monitor bigger, would be much appreciated.

Best Regards

Hello,

Thanks a lot John for helping out on both my posts.

You can see John's post to my question about working Media Express here:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=16693&p=104644#p104644

I ran a quick test with my MacBook Pro Retina mid 2012 with a basic Toshiba 1TB External(Don't forget to choose the external for your drive that you are recording in Preferences of Media Express) which works with bus power and USB 3.0. I recorded on Media Express for 1min and it was about 6GB at 1080p 23.98 with Quicktime Uncompressed 8-bit YUV. I am pretty sure you can record 2K with a better computer.

Again note that you FPS on camera and Media Express has to be same.

When you want to have more headroom for colorgrading you should choose 10bit instead of 8bit. At least this is what I read in this forum.
This will give you some headroom while needing more space on your harddrive. Yet it should not stretch the capabilities of your notebook, so go for it.

I am pretty sure you can record 2K with a better computer.

You cannot record better than 1080p with Media Express.
2.5k is only possible in the camera and only when you work in the RAW format.

--

Which format is best?
You can record uncompressed and high quality when choosing DPX sequence files (With this setting each frame will be saved as a separate 8MB file). These files require a very fast disk.

I cannot say anything regarding the quality difference between compressed and uncompressed.
The handling of DPX sequence requires more effort with storage and computing (possible giving up real time editing on many machines) while not gaining any dynamic range.

So I think recording compressed with 10bit is the best you can do in order of ease of use & keeping maximum quality per MB. But I may be wrong on that and am interested in hearing other opinions.

Best,
John