Blackmagic Forum

"Pocket Cinema Camera can demonstrate most features of theatrical projection at a fantastic price " Its tricky, isn't it?

but if I use BMPC 4k as my main camera for a feature film shoot for theatrical release, How can I use Pocket Cinema Camera for the same theatrical release feature ?

Like what kind of shots , B cam etc??? what all options we have without losing quality.
because having more cams always saves a lot of time during shoot.

plz consider crop factors, sensor difference nd DR.

Thnx.

HD (1920x1080) is very close to 2K (2048x1152). Not much scaling at all.

Many theatrical releases have had footage shot on HD based cameras, like the 5D.

So the the BMPCC, with height dynamic range and less compression than the 5D, should do just fine as a B cam for your BMPC4K.

The whole of Hugo was shot on Alexa in 1080p, and this projected amazingly in HUGE cinemas.
Obviously when 4K Blu-Ray (or whatever they will call it) comes along then upscaling will have to be done but thats a few years off, and by then the same arguement will be happening, only for 4K, 8K or 16K.

Lots features have second unit cameras which aren't identical to the first.
Even Black Swan shot on the underground in NY on a DSLR. I'm sure they would've loved to have had the Pocket Camera then...!

Rumple wrote:The whole of Hugo was shot on Alexa in 1080p, and this projected amazingly in HUGE cinemas.

Alexa in 1080p and BMD pocket in 1080p, will both land into exactly same quality? I mean to say can I project BMD pocket 1080p in theaters???

"Even Black Swan shot on the underground in NY on a DSLR. I'm sure they would've loved to have had the Pocket Camera then"

yup... true, I was on set and can attest to the fact that matt was shooting with 7D at the time which did not come to market as of yet..

Luctantem wrote:

Rumple wrote:The whole of Hugo was shot on Alexa in 1080p, and this projected amazingly in HUGE cinemas.

Alexa in 1080p and BMD pocket in 1080p, will both land into exactly same quality? I mean to say can I project BMD pocket 1080p in theaters???

Not really the Alexa's 1080p is scaled (either in camera for prores or post for RAW) from 2.8k Bayer while the pocket uses a 1080p sensor.

That said even the BMPCC should look reasonably good on a screen, most likely holding up better than 5D footage which most don't notice being slipped in.

Luctantem wrote:I mean to say can I project BMD pocket 1080p in theaters???

Absolutely! You probably have seen a number of movies in cinema already that were (partially) shot in HD. The difference in resolution between 1920 and 2k is barely visible in direct comparison (and most of the difference is due to upscaling softness/aliasing, not the resolution itself), and not at all in real world situations. Yet until now there were only few HD-cameras available with enough dynamic range and adequate storage solutions to include the footage in cinematic workflows.

Pete Proniewicz-Brooks wrote:
Not really the Alexa's 1080p is scaled (either in camera for prores or post for RAW) from 2.8k Bayer while the pocket uses a 1080p sensor.

Can you plz emphasize!

PS: BMPCC Shooting Resolutions
Lossless CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) at 1920 x 1080

I've shot a theatrical production before, my main concern was the dynamic range of the camera not the resolution. The stage will become completely black then super white at times, can the camera keep up with those situations? That's why I was so excited for the BMCC.. I am filming another theatrical production later this year and I will be using the BMCC for it and the pocket camera if its out by them (not meant as an insult). I think I'll have to get really large SSD's because there are no breaks.... Wondering if I should shoot raw or proves log.... Mostly like it will be Prores Log

Blien wrote:I've shot a theatrical production before, my main concern was the dynamic range of the camera not the resolution. The stage will become completely black then super white at times, can the camera keep up with those situations? That's why I was so excited for the BMCC.. I am filming another theatrical production later this year and I will be using the BMCC for it and the pocket camera if its out by them (not meant as an insult). I think I'll have to get really large SSD's because there are no breaks.... Wondering if I should shoot raw or proves log.... Mostly like it will be Prores Log

Sorry but here in we are not discussin about BMCC (no offence), we all know BMCC wud do really fyn.

If you can say more abt BMPCC , plz do share, I mean even tht has 13 stops DR (which u said is imp factor) but Effective Sensor Size of 12.48mm x 7.02mm and Effective Resolution 1920 x 1080

Oh, so "theaters" really means "theaters" like in "stage" and "curtains" etc... i was thinking about movie theaters, thus the comparison to the 2k standards.

The Pocket CC should be as good for stage recordings as it's bigger sister, the CC 2k5, as both share the same type of sensor, so they'll be very similar in dynamic range and low light performance (though CC 2k5 might be less noisy than Pocket CC after downscaling to the same resolution). Even their 13 stops of DR won't cover all lighting changes you could be confronted with on stage, but still they will outperform most other cameras, especially in that price range!

Are you shooting from behind the audience or the front? There's a lot of excellent tele-lenses, yet your choices for wide lenses are somewhat limited by the crop-factor of almost 3.

By the way, there's a cheap way to considerably expand the dynamic range: just buy two Pocket CC and record at different settings or using NDs and select the better fit in post. I'm serious.

Mac Jaeger wrote:Oh, so "theaters" really means "theaters" like in "stage" and "curtains" etc... i was thinking about movie theaters, thus the comparison to the 2k standards.

Are you shooting from behind the audience or the front? There's a lot of excellent tele-lenses, yet your choices for wide lenses are somewhat limited by the crop-factor of almost 3.

I clearly mentioned theatrical projection of feature film.

Yet Blien didn't, whom i was answering to at that moment.

Rumple wrote:The whole of Hugo was shot on Alexa in 1080p, and this projected amazingly in HUGE cinemas.

pixhershko wrote:"Even Black Swan shot on the underground in NY on a DSLR. I'm sure they would've loved to have had the Pocket Camera then"

yup... true, I was on set and can attest to the fact that matt was shooting with 7D at the time which did not come to market as of yet..

Pete Proniewicz-Brooks wrote:Not really the Alexa's 1080p is scaled (either in camera for prores or post for RAW) from 2.8k Bayer while the pocket uses a 1080p sensor.

That said even the BMPCC should look reasonably good on a screen, most likely holding up better than 5D footage which most don't notice being slipped in.

So I see more ppl lean towards projecting BMPCC footage on big screen (theatrical projection) , So as it gives Lossless CinemaDNG RAW and Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) at 1920 x 1080 can I upscale it to 2k and as 1080 is close to 2k and do a theatrical projection?

I mean I'm just very serious in considering , coz films I shoot will not be projected in Big Imax screens and dont really need 4k and I know most of the features are projecting in 2k in screens looking quite fyn!