Accessorising the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

I am probably not the only one here who is eagerly experimenting with what parts can be ordered to make the PCC4K even nicer to handle and use. So maybe this would be a good place to share our experiences with the parts we order, and which ones work and which ones do not.

One of the first things I ordered was an external SSD. The T5 was what I was going to get, since it appears in most of the pictures I see, but while looking for it on Amazon, I came across the G|Drive ruggedised SSD, which was comparable in price (I paid $254 for the 1TB version, but it is currently back down to $241):

amazon.com/gp/product/B0765QBGZZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I love its build quality and size and am trying to figure out a way to mount it properly (I did use velcro tape, initially, but gave up on that solution, as it feels too rinky-dinky), so I just received one part of a solution I imagine will be much more solid. I found a cold-show mount on Amazon that comes with all the screws and hex keys to attach it to the PCC4K's top...it's this part (I ordered the 2-pack for $10):

amazon.com/gp/product/B071H4934L/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and this is what it looks like on the PCC4K:



obviously not for heavy attachments, but should be no problem for an SSD drive.

anyone else has found any cool solutions for any given shooting/mounting challenges yet?

very nice solutions...although my G|Drive SSD wouldn't fit either solution very well (it's less than 2" wide).

how much is the SmallRig mount, and how much is your bike mount, and where can one order each one?

cool, thanks Ray!

I'm gonna return my G|Drive for the T5...while I like the ruggedness of the G|Drive better than the T5, I don't expect to be throwing my SSD drive around, and it seems that it is the form factor everyone will be building their accessories for, at least initially...I really like the SmallRig adapter, and I guess it's worth the extra $10 to me, over a bike mount.

I may still get the bicycle mount option, as the SmallRig one kinda requires the full cage to have a mounting point...I am planning on getting their cage, but since I won't always want to use a cage, the bicycle mount option would be more low-key to use.

mind sharing which one you got, bc on most I see it's difficult to tell whether they have the 3/8 hole on the back?

it looks like you put the T5 in length-wise, but does it also fit in side-wise, rather than length-wise, or is the T5 not wide enough to fit it safely/snuggly?

and what riser and cold-show mount adapter did you use? sorry'bout all the questions, but I hope that this is what this thread will be for: learning from one another, so that we can avoid lengthy trial and error phases...and having to return so much stuff

ok, got it, that what's I was concerned about. I also didn't realise that SmallRig seems to ship from somewhere far outside of the USA, so it either takes 3-4 weeks or gets rather expensive.

hmm, back to the drawing board...I'll try to find the parts for a solution on Amazon. What I am now looking for is some sort of simple low-profile cold shoe to cold shoe coupler, where I can attache the T5 with a piece of 3M tape to the top platform, and then slide the bottom platform into the cold-show mount I now have on top of my PCC4K, if you know what I mean? that would be a simple and non-intrusive way to mount the T5 horizontally on top and get it on and off quickly. Although to keep it on safely, those cold-show solutions usually require a fastening wheel, which would be difficult to fasten/loosen when it's not a coupler that has some height to it, which is what you have...probably for that reason

Really cheap option.

SSD.jpg (47.97 KiB) Viewed 6551 times

where'd you get that clamp, Earl, and how'd you get that drive so dirty? you got a link for that clamp and whatever else is needed? that does look like what I'm looking for, to hold me over until proper cages are available.

Here’s the slim Wise Portable SSD in it’s little included holder:


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I added the cold shoe for my Sennheiser MKE440 stereo mic. I use a small carabiner to hold a SanDisk Extreme SSD Which has a loop) to a PacSafe 100 camera strap. So far, I'm using a Viltrox EF-M2 adapter. I don't own any M4/3 lenses.

For setups, I record audio to a Tascam DR680 with a breakout cable. I have many Nikon F primes and an older, inexpensive matte box on 15mm rails. I haven't tried any of it with the PCC4K yet.

Ray, the Wise Portable SSD drive connector is USB-C 3.1 gen 2.


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Funny you’d mention it, Ray, as I was just looking for a multi NVMe enclosure this week and couldn’t find any. You’re right, it would make for a brilliant little portable RAID soltution with wicked speed at a price that would actually be achievable. I wonder why nobody seems to have built one yet for the mass-market, or at least the prosumer/pro-market.

The 1TB G|Drive that I have is so narrow that I wonder whether it contains an NVMe chip, and G|Drive seems like a perfect candidate to create such a drive. Sure would be nice.

Ray, you may be right about the Wise Portable SSD being NVMe internally. The form factor looks too similar to be a coincidence. The product guide I have mentions the data rates are limited by the SATA interface implying the SSD itself could go much higher if not for the SATA interface.

I wonder (if it is NVMe internally) if that significantly improves its ability to record video streams reliably at the higher fps settings. When the drive is available in Canada, I’m probably buying it, but until then, I’ll use the Wise CFast 2 and SDXC cards I have. For those in the US, Core MicroSystems is the primary source for these drives.

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Well, when someone does finally make one, I hope they’ll make a DAS before a NAS...no network interface can even remotely serve out the speed a little bad-boy like that can dole out...short of Thunderbolt 3 with the newest chipsets, no interface could...a minimum of 10Gb would be necessary for 4 NVMe chips, possibly 20Gb to be safe.

In the meantime, if/when u find even a truly portable 2,5” solution that takes 2 or more SSDs, do post a link, please!

Sure, for the PCC4K, the USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 drives we have now will be fine. Especially when BM adds BRAW to its firmware. That’ll be like Christmas all over.

But I would love a small DC-powered 4-bay Thunderbolt 3 enclosure to house regular 2.5” SSD drives, for editing on the road.

Isn’t Apple’s implementation of TB3 done with USB-C? I think it is. USB-C is the plug format, and Thunderbolt 3 is the interface format...at least I think that’s what it is with all the newer generation Apple computers.

I wonder why nobody seems to have built one yet for the mass-market, or at least the prosumer/pro-market.

I've been wondering about this for so long it's not funny. For nearly 10 years I've been searching for a NAS that's built solely for 2.5" drives and took at least four. I only came across one that took two drives.

You might be looking for this four-drive array:
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... cmultidock

And there's a few that take two drives:
https://www.firmtek.com/seritek/miniswap-es/
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%2 ... MEMDC2KIT/
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/GMM8QKIT0GB/

Thanks for those links, Tristan!

the Blackmagic stuff is very cool for a studio environment, but not for work on the road.

the FirmTek is eSATA...not really useable in a Mac environment.

the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mini is very cool, and something I might be looking at for the future...wish they made a 4-bay version of it!

the other OWC RAID enclosure is Firewire 800...also not really relevant anymore.

I've been looking for something that can hold say 4-5 2.5" drives and is not much bigger than 4-5 2.5" drives. I could always get a 4-5 bay 3.5" NAS and use caddies, but that defeats the purpose.

Given that SSDs are now not much bigger than a stick of chewing gum, it beggars belief that no one is taking any advantage of the size to make equally small housings for multiple drives.

I hear ya, Ray...just a matter of time that someone fits 2 of the NVMe chips into an enclosure the size of the T5, or 4 into one that's just a little thicker...patience, grasshopper.

You should be able to find some side angled USB cables. But be sure they flush contact the port and don't wobble around and wreck it. Seems to be the thing for wrecking and replacing phones early these days.

where'd you get that clamp, Earl, and how'd you get that drive so dirty? you got a link for that clamp and whatever else is needed? that does look like what I'm looking for, to hold me over until proper cages are available.

All items here. The drive is not dirty, it is a silicone sleeve which adds enough thickness and grip to keep it from slipping from the holder.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WF ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072VV7Q76/re ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077G ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DN ... UTF8&psc=1

that's great, Earl, and thanks for posting those links!

turns out that I actually had already ordered all but one (the silicone case) of them. I have found a mount that claims to hold drives down to 2" securely, which I am picking up from the Amazon locker today. If it turns out that it does, I will post the link...otherwise I'll also be ordering one of those sleeves...probably a good idea anyway, to protect the SSD.

In hindsight, I should have named this thread "Mounting an SSD on the BMPCC4K" instead...didn't think that this one accessorising theme would take up multiple pages. Can I rename a thread after the fact? As the other thread about powering the PCC4K is also growing in size considerably, maybe there should be a main topic about all things accessorising this camera...so many more topics to discuss.

The creator of a thread can rename it.

No real need for another forum category that will be rarely used in six months. I tried to have a thread for all these topics called Rigging the BMPCC4K but in a day that was displaced by a similar thread and then we have a variety of offshoots like your threads. Can’t change the culture here. Not a problem, but be aware it’s impossible to have any thread discipline when new cameras bring a flood of people who start posting threads without reading anything that exists.

And then the old veterans here who have abandoned such concerns about order (including yours truly) do what they like too.


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haha, points well taken Rick. I already had a feeling that I may be guilty of same behaviour, and noticed that you are definitely one of the wise owls around these parts. I will rename the thread, eventually, but will refrain from opening another one like it. I, too, can learn proper forum behaviour in due time, and this forum is still brand-spanking new to me...and very exciting.

I’m relieved you took that well. I agree order is preferable to chaos, but when you live in a world in which The Walking Dead is the number one multi-year episodic soap opera on television then it’s obvious the visceral thrill of chaos has triumphed.


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I do get what you're saying, Rick. I don't get the popularity of the The Walking Dead, though. Gratuitous, terrible violence, wrapped in "oh, but it's just zombies." Sign'o the times.

Re: DAS/NAS for NVMe drives

High speed NAS/DAS boxes like the thunderbolt raid boxes have significant processing power, RAM and power requirements. Basically nothing that you’re ever going to be able to mount and power portably. There’s significant overhead in managing drives that were not designed to share memory. Although maybe a strict RAID-0 could be managed without any bottlenecks or performance hits?

On a related note, has anyone tried teathering to a big RAID box as a USB drive? You couldn’t move far but it would be funny to have 48TB of continuous recording.

the tiny NVMe RAID enclosure will come, eventually, I am sure, Ray...it's too good an idea not to, and yeah, I also think powering it could be achieved by a small external battery...if a 5V USB port can power one, sometimes even two SSD's, then powering a two NVMe chip RAID 0 "array" should be possible as well, and wicked fast.

I finally got my iPhone clamp in, and reduced the construction on top of my PCC4K to a bare minimum...just a 1/4 20 to 1/20 coupler screw, and this $7.99 clamp, plus a couple of thin strips of velcro to tighten and hold it a little bit more securely, and I even attached my cold show to the clamp's 1/4 20 hole that was facing me, for whatever else I might think of next (like attaching my RODE Video Mic Pro), and *bingo*, a check mark next to my "figure out a neat way to attach my SSD on top of my PCC4K" to-do list item (at least for now).

this is what it looks like (phew, I had no idea how dusty it is here):




as a next DIY project I'd like to figure out the most direct way to power the camera with a small power bank via its 12V 2pin connector...I saw that solutions have already been posted that look like they might be suitable.

but more importantly, now that the SSD sits safely on top of the cam, I hope to find some time to take it on its first test shoot outside...since that's what all of this if for, after all.

you read my mind, Ray...or rather, we seem to be on a very similar wavelength...being a neat-freak with stuff like this, I am also taking issue with that cable. Sound like the cable you got was a USB2-rated USB-C cable (I saw that those exist). I have a proper USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps cable on order that'll come in tomorrow...it's that flat cable on Amazon that wasn't available until yesterday:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DN ... ddressBook

being a flat cable, I think I can make it look quite a bit neater than what the included cable allows for.

why don't they have Amazon in Australia yet? (sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn't it?)
not that I think that Amazon should be idolised in any way (given how many brick-and-mortar and mom-and-pop stores have fallen prey to it), but it does make things a whole lot easier to accomplish.

if worst come to worst, send me your address, and I'll send you one of these for Christmas.

oh, jeeze, now that is excessive...over 3x of what it costs here!

well, the offer stands...the price of an envelope with this thing in it, to Australia, can't be more than a few bucks...take a while, but at these savings.

I will know tomorrow whether it will work as well as the included cable...no reason why it shouldn't.

and yeah, if you can't find one, let me know and I'll hook you up...nice lookin' cable, that one.

you read my mind, Ray...or rather, we seem to be on a very similar wavelength...being a neat-freak with stuff like this, I am also taking issue with that cable. Sound like the cable you got was a USB2-rated USB-C cable (I saw that those exist). I have a proper USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps cable on order that'll come in tomorrow...it's that flat cable on Amazon that wasn't available until yesterday:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DN ... ddressBook

being a flat cable, I think I can make it look quite a bit neater than what the included cable allows for.

I have this cable and it hadn't occurred to me it might not transfer data at speeds the drive could handle. I don't have a USB-C connector on my laptop so I couldn't test it directly with the BM speed test. I could have probably rigged up something with connectors but it could have introduced other bottlenecks. Anyhow, I decided to just test it on the camera with 4k RAW Lossless at 50 FPS clip. I recorded a 1 minute clip (the clean 500GB drive showed it had a 17 minute capacity) and did not have any dropped frames.

That's the same cable I have on order (arriving tomorrow), Earl.

You can't really get a faster cable than this right now. In theory, there are 20Gbps Thunderbolt (using a USB-C connector) and even 40Gbps Thunderbolt standards, but to get data-transfers at 5GB (that's giga *bytes*) per second, you'd have to RAID0 *ten* SSD drives, and still wouldn't get there. Even 10Gbps translates to 1.25GBs, which would take 3-4 SSD in a RAID0 to saturate the bus, although I doubt that any current chipsets could handle that sort of speed.

USB 3.1 Gen 2, which your cable supports, will serve us quite well for a while to come.

Wouldnt this cover most SSD NAS needs: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... _BwE&smp=y

Wouldnt this cover most SSD NAS needs: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... _BwE&smp=y

I'd say, if this doesn't, then nothing will...and time to see someone about your brain.

sweet frickin' box!

Another option is one of those 10 port USB 3.1 (Gen 1) deals.. you can plug up to 10 USB thumb drives and RAID them together. Seen a few people do that.. though I wouldnt trust the thumb drives very much for durability, but you can set up a very fast local cheap RAID solution.. good for editing purposes. Something like this:

Soon USB 3.2 will start showing up in motherboards.. giving 20Gb/s (same as TB2). I believe a TB4 is in the works too with 80Gb/s speeds. Will it ever stop!! I hope not.. we need TB4 for good 8K RAW workflows. 16K TVs and cameras are already being early prototyped (though I suspect we wont see either for a few years at least).

Here is a cheaper one.. $300 for a 4 bay 2.5" NAS.. https://www.amazon.com/Synology-bay-Dis ... ds414+slim

Been out since 2015 apparently!

With TB3 on MacBooks, can TB4 be far behind? Maybe in another year debuting on a newer modular Mac Pro?


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Another option is one of those 10 port USB 3.1 (Gen 1) deals.. you can plug up to 10 USB thumb drives and RAID them together. Seen a few people do that.. though I wouldnt trust the thumb drives very much for durability, but you can set up a very fast local cheap RAID solution.. good for editing purposes. Something like this:

I know this was a bit tongue in cheek, but someone on here might take it for a plausible plan. The RAID in these setups relies on the host computer for processing power. If you look into Synology and LaCie etc. external raid boxes the read/write performance (and cost) tracks with the processing power and RAM. Some of the high end RAID boxes have specs that would have represented a decent editing system not that long ago. Until you get to the real high end the read/write speed of the drives is often not the bottleneck of the RAID.

It’s possible that some sort of on-camera RAID setup might become practical, but I doubt it. After all, from one point of view all our flash cards and SSD already are little stand alone RAID setups. A 1TB SSD isn’t a single memory chip. It’s a bunch of smaller memory chips packaged with a controller to work as a single drive. It’s unlikely that it will ever be cheaper or more reliable to buy 4 smaller drives and some sort of enclosure box than it will be to simply buy a single drive that’s 4x larger. You can even see this now with SSDs. 1TB is typically less expensive than 256gb x4. And often has higher performance.

I agree with Ray’s concern. Some folks use multiple 128GB CFast 2 cards to minimize the unexpected and costly loss of part of a day’s shooting. I use dual 256GB cards on the Mini 4.6K. That total gets me through a day and I’ve never had a data loss... yet. However the BMPCC4K is a different beast. It has three possible storage means but all different formats. To begin with, I’ll use a 256GB in the CFast 2 slot and 128GB in the SDXC slot and shoot a resolution that will get me through the day. But the temptation is there to go with 512GB CFast 2 or even 1TB SSD and not think about media overflowing to a alternate card. When I’m doing events, I seldom have an option to control that overflow as a clip can exceed an hour (for a theatrical production).

Space may be less of a problem when BRAW arrives, but it’s still dangerous to have all your eggs in one basket.


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I found a cold-shoe mount on Amazon that comes with all the screws and hex keys to attach it to the PCC4K's top...it's this part (I ordered the 2-pack for $10):

amazon.com/gp/product/B071H4934L/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and this is what it looks like on the PCC4K:

Thanks for the cold shoe mount recommendation, just ordered! Just got my BMPCC 4k yesterday as a b-cam to my URSA Mini 4.6k! Can't wait to start using them together with BRAW (once it's out)!

I prefer CFast 2.0, as I like the whole idea of the BMPCC 4k being as compact as possible. So I'm sticking to that option, but I did find out a 1 TB SSD that's approved by BM just dipped under $200 for those going that route!

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-T5-Portable-SSD-MU-PA1T0B/dp/B073H552FJ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1542124515&sr=1-1&keywords=Samsung+T5+Portable+SSD+-+1TB+-+USB+3.1+External+SSD+%28MU-PA1T0B%2FAM%29

yeah, Josh, that's the SSD that I am using, and it's a great bang for the bucks solution...no issues capturing up to 4KDCI lossless at 30fps...for 60fps I'll probably have to wait until BRAW is added to this camera.

CFast is still too expensive for my taste, although I love the idea of having something *inside* of the camera that I can shoot with. Does CFast support 60fps at 4K DCI lossless RAW without dropping frames?

Ryan, you are not incorrect.. my RAID setup at home with 5 drives was over 2 grand (8TB x 5 + Synology unit). I am already thinking of upgrading when the 20TB drives come out next year or so (supposedly.. we will see if that happens or not). Heck you can get a 16TB Samsung SSD if you want to drop 2K right now.

The little usb raid thing.. I didnt mean that for tongue in cheek.. primarily it is a "cheap" alternative to get some decent RAID 0 performance over USB 3.1. For those that just need say a couple 100GB RAID 0 speed for temporary editing bits, it could work well. I prefer my SSD RAID 0 over USB 3.1 gen 2, but it is definitely doable with cheap USB thumb drives. I will add I have no idea if it is long term durable though. Not sure thumb drives can handle tons of write cycles.

Rick, the problem I have with your statement.. Mac with TB4 soon.. is Mac. Mac hardware is notoriously beyond expensive for less hardware too. I use a Mac for work and am not a fan (have no choice). I much prefer linux or windows. Not to mention, you can get 2x or more the performance from a PC for less money. Most of the time. Also, Mac is notoriously stingy on the ability to upgrade.

What I dont understand is why TB4, owned/leased by Intel, makes its way on to Mac long before PCs. I hate that AMD still does not have the ability to offer TB3! We need some quality PCIe TB3 (and soon TB4) cards that work in either AMD or Intel rigs already if AMD is not going to be able to license it!

Sadly, though USB 3.2 is due out soon on m/bs (supposedly 2019), TB4 with its 80Gb/s speed is 4x faster and will be far better for 8K+ workflows. I was going to pull the trigger on a TB3 RAID enclosure.. but I am not switching to Mac to use it!

No argument from me, Justin. Good to have choices.

I used Windows on ‘powerful’ systems for many years, until January 2004, when I said good-bye to endless battles against bloatware and viruses. Macs aren’t perfect, but I stay with them. I’m sure Windows is much improved; my wife uses Windows at work and Macs at home.


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... Does CFast support 60fps at 4K DCI lossless RAW without dropping frames?

Only at CinemaDNG raw 3:1.


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Only at CinemaDNG raw 3:1.

so is there *any* current storage technology that can do 4K DCI at 60fps uncompressed RAW? not that I can't live with 3:1.

Let's face it, BRAW will change everything.

I believe the data rate is just too high for any practical success for a SATAIII implementation. In theory it may be possible but not in practice as far as I know. SATA is the limitation, not the actual media or high data rate cables.


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I believe the data rate is just too high for any practical success for a SATAIII implementation. In theory it may be possible but not in practice as far as I know. SATA is the limitation, not the actual media or high data rate cables.

Yeah, I think I saw that it would require in excess of 500MB/s, which is so close to the maximum theoretical throughput of SATA, that it's just not really possible with today's portable storage technology.

BRAW will change this discussion once and for all.

I was so glad to learn that BM was picking up where Cineform left it. I was one of their first licensees, back in 2000, of their Aspect HD codec. At the time I was beginning to do my first serious Timelapse work, on Kauai, and even though the price of the codec, at $3000, made my heart stop for a few beats, it was the only way, at the time, to do edit two simultaneous streams of FullHD footage, on my DELL laptop, no less.

To think that BM is now offering something just as revolutionary, soon, and is also giving us the unbelievably powerful DaVinci for free, makes it look like they are throwing the paradigm shifting PCC4K in for free, as the codec and software alone would have cost many thousands of dollars until very recently. Certainly worth that, just for those two software solutions.