Blackmagic Forum

We've all been pretty excited about this camera based on the specs and hype, but now that a few are trickling out to people for reviews, we're getting a more clear picture.

What we've learned:
• no Raw, and no ETA for Raw
• horrendous battery life
• faulty/noisy internal audio
• we've seen real life examples and comparisons of the extreme "crop factor"
• no included battery charger, etc
• blooming shutter

Is anyone feeling less excited about it now? Hopefully we'll see more "real user" footage soon, and hopefully it looks amazing. Like, crazy puts the 5D's and GH3's to shame amazing, to make it worth the extra money and hoop-jumping it takes to get off the ground with this camera.

And please kids, this time, keep it on topic.

Have you stopped beating your wife yet?

Just an example. On a Blackmagic forum, your subject line seems designed to inspire something other than impartial, nuanced discussion.

I can't wait to get my hands on mine. (My Pocket Camera, that is.) I am, however, not excited about someone restarting a closed thread that was troll bait to begin with.

What we've learned: oh, spare me, please.

- We've known since April that the camera would initially ship without raw. Richard Lim now says that raw will be in the next firmware update, and that it's their top priority.

- Batteries last for nearly an hour, and are ridiculously cheap. Buy half a dozen or more. Done.

- Go dual source. Done.

- people have shot masterworks in the Super 16 sized format. Don't blame the medium for your own shortcomings.

- No charger? Is that the best you can do? $6 on eBay, and they include another battery. You're not even trying.

- Blooming shutter? An overexposure issue is the shutter's fault? Really? Are you sure?

If you're so utterly crestfallen that you have nothing to do but repeatedly set up straw dogs about how BMD gone done you wrong, I have to wonder what your real motives are. Just buy another camera. Get a life. Go away.

Thank you; I'll be here all week, over by the veal.

So, I set "troll bait" and caught you. That would make you... yeah. Exactly. Anyway, I'll keep above the nonsense and clarify for those who somehow need clarification.

I was very excited about this camera. Raw, awesome dynamic range, compact size, etc, etc, all at a great price when compared to the camera I had my sights set on (5D). Amazing!

Then, once it became clear that "Shipping in July" didn't exactly mean what many of us thought it meant (based on what it tends to mean for most companies), it sort of took away from the experience a bit. But hell, a great camera is still a great camera even if it's a little late. But to say it will only be a little late for most people is still probably very optimistic.

Then the reviews from the lucky few started coming in. There was the faulty internal audio, battery life that one video reviewer called "crap", and now the blooming sensor that BMD refuses (as usual) to comment on. For me personally, it has led me to lose a bit of the excitement I had about the camera. This is my personal opinion and feeling about it.

Could it still be a great camera? Absolutely. But my primary concern now has changed from "How fast can I get one?!" to "Yikes, I hope these issues are worked out before I make the mistake of buying one based on what I hoped it would be, rather than what it really is".

If you have some issue with me expressing these seemingly natural concerns, well... up your butt with a coconut.

the only thing I can say is RAW should be removed from spec sheet, maybe "raw available in future updates". Right now BM is lying.

other than that I will purchase one when they have raw and are available.

josephrose wrote:So, I set "troll bait" and caught you. That would make you... yeah. Exactly. Anyway, I'll keep above the nonsense and clarify for those who somehow need clarification.

I was very excited about this camera. Raw, awesome dynamic range, compact size, etc, etc, all at a great price when compared to the camera I had my sights set on (5D). Amazing!

Then, once it became clear that "Shipping in July" didn't exactly mean what many of us thought it meant (based on what it tends to mean for most companies), it sort of took away from the experience a bit. But hell, a great camera is still a great camera even if it's a little late. But to say it will only be a little late for most people is still probably very optimistic.

Then the reviews from the lucky few started coming in. There was the faulty internal audio, battery life that one video reviewer called "crap", and now the blooming sensor that BMD refuses (as usual) to comment on. For me personally, it has led me to lose a bit of the excitement I had about the camera. This is my personal opinion and feeling about it.

Could it still be a great camera? Absolutely. But my primary concern now has changed from "How fast can I get one?!" to "Yikes, I hope these issues are worked out before I make the mistake of buying one based on what I hoped it would be, rather than what it really is".

If you have some issue with me expressing these seemingly natural concerns, well... up your butt with a coconut.

+2

unfortunately the more we go on the more we find issues with the black magic pocket cinema camera, i just watched Philip Bloom's outstanding review of the BMPCC, you can see that he is too complaining about the
1) Battery life
2) Need of high speed Memory card
3) No indicator for how long is left on the memory card to record
4) Audio meter

these are among other issues:

5) Not being able to format the car in the camera
6) Cannot delete footages with the camera
7) No battery charge indicator on the camera when charging
8) last but not least the blooming sensor issues

for some these may not be issues but only inconvenience but over all i would tag them as deficiencies and now the great blooming issue that has had many nervous and disturbed about the camera, at this rate if no fix or announcements is announced we could see some returns or cancelations.

same as bmcc, comes with the territory, not a bm , just nothing new here

) Battery life
3) No indicator for how long is left on the memory card to record
4) Audio meter
5) Not being able to format the car in the camera
6) Cannot delete footages with the camera
7) No battery charge indicator on the camera when charging

And I think some people are confusing feature requests for actual issues with the current camera. I am not.

Got one. Still excited to use it. It's fun, has some frustrating quirks but will perform a lot better than anything remotely the price for what I want to use it for. Rig shots, tight corners, emergency B or C camera and shooting in locations where you may not have all the permits you should.

Fun to think of all the uses for it. Have a film coming up and I'm excited to use it over a gopro for rigging on pushbikes and cars.

If I was buying it to be my primary camera I would be cautious, but then again I wouldn't be looking it as my main camera because of all the well known weaknesses that come in such a package. "Right tool for the job" and all that.

Mark Broadbent wrote:Fun to think of all the uses for it. Have a film coming up and I'm excited to use it over a gopro for rigging on pushbikes and cars.

Please post that up when you do! Wooden Cameras mounted one on a car, but the footage wasn't great without IS.