SD Card requirements for BMPCC

Looking to purchase some SD cards for my up and coming Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera. Wondering if anyone knows of "official" required card specifications.

I see 45/MBit SanDisk Extreme cards on their website, anyone know if these cards would be acceptable, even for Cinema DNG?

Thanks in advance!

Looking to purchase some SD cards for my up and coming Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera. Wondering if anyone knows of "official" required card specifications.

I see 45/MBit SanDisk Extreme cards on their website, anyone know if these cards would be acceptable, even for Cinema DNG?

Thanks in advance!

Wait until the camera is released and BMD have posted the list of verified cards for the BMPCC. Really.

Rick Lang
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That's exactly what I was waiting for. I just thought perhaps it might have already been posted or spoken of, I just missed it .

That's exactly what I was waiting for. I just thought perhaps it might have already been posted or spoken of, I just missed it .

That's fine. I think the wait will be less than two weeks! But just in case, it's longer, waiting can only increase your chance of success. I recall people buying SSDs last year long before they received their cameras and finding out their drives were not on the latest list of approved SSDs. If it all possible, wait until you have the camera being shipped to you and then check the list. At present I think the Sandisk Extreme Pro (95MB/s) will be on the list for lossless compressed raw but there will be other options presumably. Sandisk Extreme (45MB/s) should handle ProRes but best to wait. Just because a cards specs look great does not mean it will work well in use in the camera since a lot of cards were likely designed to handle a burst of photographs and video is more demanding over time.

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Looking to purchase some SD cards for my up and coming Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera. Wondering if anyone knows of "official" required card specifications.

I see 45/MBit SanDisk Extreme cards on their website, anyone know if these cards would be acceptable, even for Cinema DNG?

Thanks in advance!

Basically the only card on the market that will work for RAW on the pocket camera, which I worked out to be around 70MB/s is the sandisk extreme pro 64GB that has a write (not read) speed of 90MB/s and will record a whopping 15 mins of RAW. That is your only choice of card at this present moment in time. If you just want to shoot pro res the options are a bit more extensive.

Prices for memory cards are always changing, most of the time to the lower end - waiting until the camera is out will not only make sure you buy approved cards, it might also save you some money (the more, the later the cameras ship... ).

It just needs to be a class 10 card, personally wouldn't want to receive my pocket and not being able to shoot because I am missing a sd card. Then panic and overpay in a shop for it.

I will probably be probably going for this, top of the range but safe for Raw as well.

SanDisk 64GB SDXC Memory Card Extreme Pro Class 10
http://bmcc.tv/lenses-for-the-pocket-camera/

Yes, I realize that technically the camera isn't being released until next week, and if by some miracle they actually ship, its not like they are shipping it to my doorstep. That being said, I was at NAB and I was the very first person to put a pre-order in on the pocket cameras, so I am quite literally the top of the list. So I'm starting to think seriously about the cameras coming in and after doing research there is one SD card that provides 70MB/s write speeds like Darkfable suggests (which doing the math myself see he is pretty close to being accurate) and that's SanDisk's Extreme Pro series. Since the 64GB card only has 15 minutes of write time, there really is no point going smaller, so basically what I'm trying to say is, there is 1 SD card that works with this camera for RAW. Given BMs history, it is very hard to order accessories before hand, but the flip side is, I would hate for there to be a run on these cards only to find out they can't be gotten or are very high priced. I suppose Sandisk could introduce a faster SD card or a 128GB model, but I'm not betting on that happening in the next few weeks.

I realize why BM hasn't released an official list, because for raw, there really is only the 64GB and 32GB Extreme pro cards, I haven't been able to find a single other card that gets over 50MB/s write speed. Yes there is the 16GB but less than 4 minutes of recording time? Just doesn't make sense.

It just needs to be a class 10 card, personally wouldn't want to receive my pocket and not being able to shoot because I am missing a sd card. Then panic and overpay in a shop for it.

Class 10 technically only has to be 10MB/s write speed. I maybe mistaken, but even Prores 422 10-bit will require more than that......(of course most class 10s will be more than 10MB/s, but its only fair to point out that technically its rating isn't very much)

There is also the option of buying the 32gb sandisk pro, if it works perfectly then you can buy a second one the complete 64gb. Since it's half the price it doesn't make any difference money wise and It also gives you a cushion in case one fails.

If it doesn't work amazingly with raw then you can still you use if for Prores, and wait for the winner

There is also the option of buying the 32gb sandisk pro, if it works perfectly then you can buy a second one the complete 64gb. Since it's half the price it doesn't make any difference money wise and It also gives you a cushion in case one fails.

If it doesn't work amazingly with raw then you can still you use if for Prores, and wait for the winner

Essentially yes, if you are happy with a maximum of 7 minutes of filming.

The other thing is the market is responding to our needs. Toshiba have announced cards with 260Mb/s read speed, and I think the Pro version had a write speed of around 240Mb/s.

Even the standard version can write at 120Mb/s. Plenty for raw, perfect for the pocket cam if it supports UHS-II SD cards.

http://hexus.net/ce/news/cameras/57913- ... ds-240mbs/

Personally, I've ordered a 128GB Extreme for now, so I can shoot as soon as I get the camera, and will buy more once I've had some time with it. I can see what it can do with ProRes before I worry about raw.

It just needs to be a class 10 card

I think you are mistaken. For ProRes HQ (220 mbit/s) i calculate 27.5 mb/s minimum sustained write speed, and that's video alone. Add audio and some extra headroom you'll need an sd-card that can write at least 30 mb/s (i'd only feel safe at 35 mb/s and above). Class 10 cards are nowhere near that numbers!

It just needs to be a class 10 card

I think you are mistaken. For ProRes HQ (220 mbit/s) i calculate 27.5 mb/s minimum sustained write speed, and that's video alone. Add audio and some extra headroom you'll need an sd-card that can write at least 30 mb/s (i'd only feel safe at 35 mb/s and above). Class 10 cards are nowhere near that numbers!

Kind of Mac. UHS-I cards meet and exceed Class 10, so if you look at the Sandisk Extreme and Pro cards, they bear the Class 10 and UHS-I logos.

A card that only just meets Class 10 won't be fast enough. My Class 10 cards I've got for my NX5 say min 10Mb/s... Not going to cut it. Class 10 UHS-I looks like it'll be fine for ProRes.

The other thing is the market is responding to our needs. Toshiba have announced cards with 260Mb/s read speed, and I think the Pro version had a write speed of around 240Mb/s.

Even the standard version can write at 120Mb/s. Plenty for raw, perfect for the pocket cam if it supports UHS-II SD cards.

http://hexus.net/ce/news/cameras/57913- ... ds-240mbs/

It's great to see the market making faster SD cards, but, if the hardware inside the BMPCC isn't a full UHS-II version drive, the extra speed won't be accessible by the camera. I've asked in the intro BMPCC posting about the specs of the SD card reader and UHS-II but have received no reply there.

I'll either hold off buying the faster cards until a response is forthcoming, or when I get my pre-ordered camera I'll read the manual and/or experiment.

Chris Schiller

Kind of Mac. UHS-I cards meet and exceed Class 10

Yep, but there's a catch...

"Class 10" labeled cards will write at at least 10 mb/s, most can write faster. "UHS-I" labeled card use a faster transfer protocol, so they _could_ write faster, up to 104 mb/s - yet this label doesn't guaranty a specific speed, so just from the label you never can be sure. You'll have to trust the advertised speed designation.

UHS-II will be even faster, but I'm pretty sure the Pocket CC won't be able to use it, as UHS-II slots use additional contacts. UHS-II cards should be downwards compatible to UHS-I slots, but whether they will achieve maximum (UHS-I) transfer speed there has yet to be seen.

Damn advertising.

I'm hoping that the UHS-II cards will give us at least Extreme Pro speeds, but who knows? All we do know is more cards are coming out in larger capacities. Competition will help drive down the price of cards for sure.

I'm hoping that the UHS-II cards will give us at least Extreme Pro speeds, but who knows?

It's like with any interface: the (theoretical) speed of the connection has nothing to say about actual speed of the device. Take USB3 for instance: there are a lot of USB3-labeled thumbdrives and external harddrives - yet a lot of them won't even reach USB2 limits.

Still, i hope that manufacturers will mostly use UHS-II for the top speed cards, and i'm sure that there will be a number of 90 mb/s cards by the end of the year.