Total number of cameras sold?

Hi there,

Anyone knows or can estimate on how many bmccs mft and ef have been sold already? Curious on how popular it is. I havent seen a big wait list numbers back when people where still waiting for camera, so not sure what the real situation is.

Thanks for your input.

unfortunately, i don't think Blackmagic releases numbers. i don't you'll find an answer, sorry

Hi there,

Anyone knows or can estimate on how many bmccs mft and ef have been sold already? Curious on how popular it is. I havent seen a big wait list numbers back when people where still waiting for camera, so not sure what the real situation is.

Thanks for your input.

We do know that Grant Petty has said they sold thousands of BMCC cameras and we heard at that time perhaps 90% of the models were BMCC EF and 10 % BMCC MFT (partially because you just couldn't get the BMCC MFT until recently so many ordered the BMCC EF or switched to the BMCC EF due to the uncertainty when BMCC MFT would be released). So I guess they have sold between 2 and 10 thousand in total by NAB 2013.

But the BMCC EF/MFT numbers are still climbing even with the BMPCC becoming available in limited supply and the BMPC4K soon to be released hopefully. And we may never know since BMD doesn't release unit sales figures. Perhaps one day Grant will let is know the ballpark figure in a comment like, "We are the number one supplier to indie filmmakers with over ten thousand cameras sold!"

The numbers are small compared to the number of cameras that Canon, Sony, and the major established companies sell. Do you know how many ARRI Alexas and Red Epics are sold in a year? Those are the cameras that BMD has set their sights on, aspiring to their image quality, not their feature sets.

Once BMD becomes an established cinema camera supplier, it would be fascinating to see sales figures from the half dozen market leaders. Not meaning to put BMD down, but realistically at this time, they are not an established player. That will begin when we start seeing feature documentaries and narrative films that were shot with BMD cameras. They'll be on the cusp of greatness when a large portion of indie festival films use their cameras. It's a long climb to the top few rungs of the ladders and could well take years.

Perhaps today's film school cinematography students that select the affordable quality BMD cameras now based on price will carry forward their affection for the image when they become tomorrow's cinematographers. What a tough row to hoe those students have though with the entrenched penchant to use only proven tools and techniques as the budgets grow. Maybe the mushrooming of aspiring cinematographers permitted by the affordable cameras will change the landscape in time. As those people grow, they will certainly move to better and better lenses and other equipment, but will they want to retain their camera bodies?

The biggest players build their own sensors. Certainly that is a key contributor to the image quality and the characteristics of the camera. It will be an astounding day when BMD announces they have acquired a company that can design their own sensors. A fabrication company isn't really needed, just start with controlling the design process to make a unique and irresistible sensor. Can you imagine the day when we look back and fondly remember the off-the-shelf sensors that we used in 2012 and 2013 while we pick up our new BMD camera with the Blackmagic sensor?

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hi there,

Anyone knows or can estimate on how many bmccs mft and ef have been sold already? Curious on how popular it is. I havent seen a big wait list numbers back when people where still waiting for camera, so not sure what the real situation is.

Thanks for your input.

We do know that Grant Petty has said they sold thousands of BMCC cameras and we heard at that time perhaps 90% of the models were BMCC EF and 10 % BMCC MFT (partially because you just couldn't get the BMCC MFT until recently so many ordered the BMCC EF or switched to the BMCC EF due to the uncertainty when BMCC MFT would be released). So I guess they have sold between 2 and 10 thousand in total by NAB 2013.

But the BMCC EF/MFT numbers are still climbing even with the BMPCC becoming available in limited supply and the BMPC4K soon to be released hopefully. And we may never know since BMD doesn't release unit sales figures. Perhaps one day Grant will let is know the ballpark figure in a comment like, "We are the number one supplier to indie filmmakers with over ten thousand cameras sold!"

The numbers are small compared to the number of cameras that Canon, Sony, and the major established companies sell. Do you know how many ARRI Alexas and Red Epics are sold in a year? Those are the cameras that BMD has set their sights on, aspiring to their image quality, not their feature sets.

Once BMD becomes an established cinema camera supplier, it would be fascinating to see sales figures from the half dozen market leaders. Not meaning to put BMD down, but realistically at this time, they are not an established player. That will begin when we start seeing feature documentaries and narrative films that were shot with BMD cameras. They'll be on the cusp of greatness when a large portion of indie festival films use their cameras. It's a long climb to the top few rungs of the ladders and could well take years.

Perhaps today's film school cinematography students that select the affordable quality BMD cameras now based on price will carry forward their affection for the image when they become tomorrow's cinematographers. What a tough row to hoe those students have though with the entrenched penchant to use only proven tools and techniques as the budgets grow. Maybe the mushrooming of aspiring cinematographers permitted by the affordable cameras will change the landscape in time. As those people grow, they will certainly move to better and better lenses and other equipment, but will they want to retain their camera bodies?

The biggest players build their own sensors. Certainly that is a key contributor to the image quality and the characteristics of the camera. It will be an astounding day when BMD announces they have acquired a company that can design their own sensors. A fabrication company isn't really needed, just start with controlling the design process to make a unique and irresistible sensor. Can you imagine the day when we look back and fondly remember the off-the-shelf sensors that we used in 2012 and 2013 while we pick up our new BMD camera with the Blackmagic sensor?

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

its like we're reminiscing of something that hasn't happened yet, but its fun

Dan May, who head the US office, told me yesterday that BMCC sales of both mounts are now "in the tens of thousands". I got the feeling this figure may have just recently passed 20k, or is at any rate are in the low tens of thousands. He was also adamant that runs of these two models are definitely not going to be closed town, that the Company is aiming for the massiest-possible penetration.

The biggest players build their own sensors. Certainly that is a key contributor to the image quality and the characteristics of the camera. It will be an astounding day when BMD announces they have acquired a company that can design their own sensors. A fabrication company isn't really needed, just start with controlling the design process to make a unique and irresistible sensor. Can you imagine the day when we look back and fondly remember the off-the-shelf sensors that we used in 2012 and 2013 while we pick up our new BMD camera with the Blackmagic sensor?

There is nothing stopping BMD from "making" their own sensor now. That's what most other companies do when they "make" their own sensor. It's what RED have spent the last two years doing with their Dragon sensor. It's also what Arri did as well. They don't literally make their own sensors for the Alexa. They have them made to order.

BMD "could" go off and spec out their own sensor and start the process. Downsides are it takes millions of dollars and it takes a couple of years to have something that's shipping and ready to go.

jb

The biggest players build their own sensors. Certainly that is a key contributor to the image quality and the characteristics of the camera. It will be an astounding day when BMD announces they have acquired a company that can design their own sensors. A fabrication company isn't really needed, just start with controlling the design process to make a unique and irresistible sensor. Can you imagine the day when we look back and fondly remember the off-the-shelf sensors that we used in 2012 and 2013 while we pick up our new BMD camera with the Blackmagic sensor?

There is nothing stopping BMD from "making" their own sensor now. That's what most other companies do when they "make" their own sensor. It's what RED have spent the last two years doing with their Dragon sensor. It's also what Arri did as well. They don't literally make their own sensors for the Alexa. They have them made to order.

BMD "could" go off and spec out their own sensor and start the process. Downsides are it takes millions of dollars and it takes a couple of years to have something that's shipping and ready to go.

jb

Thanks for the additional information, John. Perhaps all that is needed is a "made to order" sensor, but I was speculating at some future time based on their early success they may acquire a fabless design company that would help them get their own unique sensor launched. If it is prohibitively expense as you have indicated previously, it may never happen, but tell an engineer like Grant they can't do something, and it may be done just because it is a challenge.

You know much better than, but I was in an enchanted frame of mind when I wrote that post trying to think how they might have a trump card up their sleeve someday. I'm more of a dreamer than an engineer. But I love the science in these things too. For example: When I read about the difficulties with the foveon sensor reproducing colours, especially red, I thought, "Now, there's a challenge because the solution isn't better mathematical routines to define each colour, it has to be to find the right formula and structure for the silicon that will allow the right concentrations of wavelengths. It's essentially a chemistry and physics problem, not only mathematics."

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I was also curious on how many has been sold already, and I was hoping that one day, blackmagic would release a total numbers of cameras sold.

Even if they told us... what would we learn from it?

Even if they told us... what would we learn from it?

The total number of cameras sold.

Dan May, who head the US office, told me yesterday that BMCC sales of both mounts are now "in the tens of thousands". I got the feeling this figure may have just recently passed 20k, or is at any rate are in the low tens of thousands. He was also adamant that runs of these two models are definitely not going to be closed town, that the Company is aiming for the massiest-possible penetration.

Wow, i really had maximum of 5000 in my mind. Passed 20k sounds impressive.

The total number of cameras sold.

made my day!