Blackmagic Forum

I would like to know if anyone here has had any experience with macro work and the BMCC? I'm doing a Documentary and need to be able to get close ups of insects trapped in Amber... Still trying to decide if BMCC is the right camera for this kind of work.. My other choice is a Canon 5D Mark lll. The movie I'm doing also has allot of fine art shots in it and so color rendition and bit depth is important too.. Thanks for your input..

I have tried it briefly and want to play with it more when I have more light and something interesting to shoot. I used a Canon 100M 2.8 L lens. At very close distance the depth of field is incredibly shallow unless I stop down to F22. However then diffraction blur rears its head and I used some post process sharpening to sharpen things up a little. Magnification is very high so I bet some really cool shots can be made! I can't see how a 5D III would be a better tool for this.

Don't use a full frame DSLR for macro-shots. Beside the crappy codec and missing bit depth compared to the BMC the big sensor will result in a very narrow depth of field, as stated above. For that kind of work a smaller sensor comes in handy as it gives you a greater range of sharpness within the picture.

But there might be better choices than a BMC for macro work either, maybe you should go to a rental house, talk to them and rent something to try out what fits you best, if your budget allows this.

But don't go DSLR!

BMCC might be a good choice due to its high dynamic range. And I know amber have a tendens to show highlights...-)

I've been able to pull off some pretty great macro shots just using a standard 50mm lens because of the crop factor, so it'd probably be super amazing with a proper macro lens.

Thank you everyone for your kind replies... Norman

For around $275, the Canon 50mm 2.5 is a fantastic performer. If you need more distance between the lens and your subject, then the Canon 100mm 2.8 would be a better choice. Just keep in mind that the angle of view with the 50mm on the BMCC is equivalent to about a 115mm on a full frame 35mm camera.