Dear Grant (and BlackMagic Design product managers),
Once upon a time, Sony, Panasonic and JVC ruled the broadcast world with very strict tiers of quality and keeping their equipment proprietary and unfriendly to others.
Fast forward a few decades, and Canon caused an uproar by introducing video... on a DSLR. The 5D Mk II changed the industry and for a time, Canon ruled supreme, but then they too became too proprietary and wanted to protect their cinema camera line and they lost ground.
Then a complete upstart in the camera industry launched the first pocket cinema camera and we got a taste of what a company that actually cares about filmmakers and live producers could be like.
Honestly if I had the choice between an Alexa and my BMPCC 4k, I would (and did) choose this amazing camera, especially with the 7.3 Gen 5 color - and I have loved Davinci for color and in recent years editing since I discovered it. I left Adobe and never looked back.
So why isn't BlackMagic the number one camera and live gear manufacturer in the world?
This is why I worry about BlackMagic going down the Canon road and trying too hard to protect your product line.
On the live side, fix this ONE thing and I think you will see even faster product growth and inroads into the traditional Sony and Panasonic and Grass Valley markets - just one thing.
I run a television production group for a university and I have had my own production company for three decades, and the ONE thing that keeps me from committing fully at the university to BlackMagic Design is that the system is closed to color correction of non-BMD cameras on the live mixers and does not have a path for IP sources.
The reality is that people are going to mix camera brands, have legacy brands and cannot afford to dump them in the trash, and frankly, BMD does not make camcorders nor action cameras - and I am not saying you should.
I also get that the color correction on your panels and in your software is done in the camera and in hardware, but...
What would it take for you to offer a "software only" mode on each channel that would allow basic gamma, hue and levels control? I know it would lack features found in the full hardware marriage of BMD cameras and software, but being able to use my legacy Sony and Panasonic camcorders with some color and level matching at the university would mean that I would be going full bore for Constellations, 4k Television studios and ATEM Mini Extremes instead of considering vMIx or other hardware that will allow this.
Either give us a traditional proc amp module for non-BMD cameras, or add a software only switch on each channel so we can mix and match cameras as needed.
Switching brands in a broadcast facility is hugely expensive, even at the very reasonable BMD prices, and you do not necessarily offer everything we need on the camera side (yet). I need PTZ's and I need camcorders. Sure, I would love to go all Ursa and studio and studio micro, but they either lack features (like basic zoom lenses of good operational quality in M43) or get too expensive to throw out all the old gear and start fresh.
I love the ATEM's and Mini ATEM's. And in time, I am likely to start populating more and more BMD cameras (we have four micro studio and a studio 4k right now), but I cannot simply junk my existing nine camcorders the students use for football and live events.
Maybe one day, BMDD will offer a camcorder or configuration "slightly below" full broadcast (like the ATEM mini's) that fills the bill, but even then, we will need a slower path to switch over.
Grant, what you have done with BlackMagic Design is nothing short of miraculous. If I had gone back to myself in the 1980's and told my past self all the best gear for video and television came from Australia, I would have not believed it.
To stay relevant and not lose ground like Nikon and Canon have by being too closed in their systems, or too late to adapt, open your system up. I can take footage from almost any camera into Resolve on my PC, and it has not hurt your market one bit - and BRAW actually persauded me to ditch my Canon cine and my Sony FX7 and stay with the Ursas and BMPCC's. It was because I could bring anything in and could experience how awesome BMD stuff is that I switched. The original pocket cinema camera was great and I loved it, but for serious productions, I often had to go Canon or Sony. The accessibility across platforms made me want to try an Ursa Mini Pro 4.6k - and it took a while, but I have migrated to almost exclusively BlackMagic cameras.
Give us the opportunity to bring BMD live production gear in without sacrficing basic things like color balancing and let us experience why we want to switch, and give us that gentler path to get there.
In a month or two, I am beginning a three year revamp of our entire infrastructure. If BMD products could adjust color, even in a very rudimentary way, on non-BMD cameras and sources, and if you had the ability to take in NDI or SRT sources (a new micro converter perhaps), I would absolutely be ordering Constellations and ATEMS and ATEM Mini's.
With the system being closed to outside sources in critical areas, color and IP sources, I am pressured to move toward vMix and other solutions. Even my supervisor who is pushing me toward software solutions would prefer to give our students a full control panel experience with BMD gear: help us help you Grant.
Open the live systems just enough so we can integrate with what we have now and then remind us of how much we love BlackMagic as we purchase for tomorrow.
I hope to hear from you,
Sincerely,
H. Robert Petersen,
Owner BriteFire Films and Strategic Media Production Coordinator for Minnesota State Mankato University (and absolute fanboy of my BlackMagic gear).
Once upon a time, Sony, Panasonic and JVC ruled the broadcast world with very strict tiers of quality and keeping their equipment proprietary and unfriendly to others.
Fast forward a few decades, and Canon caused an uproar by introducing video... on a DSLR. The 5D Mk II changed the industry and for a time, Canon ruled supreme, but then they too became too proprietary and wanted to protect their cinema camera line and they lost ground.
Then a complete upstart in the camera industry launched the first pocket cinema camera and we got a taste of what a company that actually cares about filmmakers and live producers could be like.
Honestly if I had the choice between an Alexa and my BMPCC 4k, I would (and did) choose this amazing camera, especially with the 7.3 Gen 5 color - and I have loved Davinci for color and in recent years editing since I discovered it. I left Adobe and never looked back.
So why isn't BlackMagic the number one camera and live gear manufacturer in the world?
This is why I worry about BlackMagic going down the Canon road and trying too hard to protect your product line.
On the live side, fix this ONE thing and I think you will see even faster product growth and inroads into the traditional Sony and Panasonic and Grass Valley markets - just one thing.
I run a television production group for a university and I have had my own production company for three decades, and the ONE thing that keeps me from committing fully at the university to BlackMagic Design is that the system is closed to color correction of non-BMD cameras on the live mixers and does not have a path for IP sources.
The reality is that people are going to mix camera brands, have legacy brands and cannot afford to dump them in the trash, and frankly, BMD does not make camcorders nor action cameras - and I am not saying you should.
I also get that the color correction on your panels and in your software is done in the camera and in hardware, but...
What would it take for you to offer a "software only" mode on each channel that would allow basic gamma, hue and levels control? I know it would lack features found in the full hardware marriage of BMD cameras and software, but being able to use my legacy Sony and Panasonic camcorders with some color and level matching at the university would mean that I would be going full bore for Constellations, 4k Television studios and ATEM Mini Extremes instead of considering vMIx or other hardware that will allow this.
Either give us a traditional proc amp module for non-BMD cameras, or add a software only switch on each channel so we can mix and match cameras as needed.
Switching brands in a broadcast facility is hugely expensive, even at the very reasonable BMD prices, and you do not necessarily offer everything we need on the camera side (yet). I need PTZ's and I need camcorders. Sure, I would love to go all Ursa and studio and studio micro, but they either lack features (like basic zoom lenses of good operational quality in M43) or get too expensive to throw out all the old gear and start fresh.
I love the ATEM's and Mini ATEM's. And in time, I am likely to start populating more and more BMD cameras (we have four micro studio and a studio 4k right now), but I cannot simply junk my existing nine camcorders the students use for football and live events.
Maybe one day, BMDD will offer a camcorder or configuration "slightly below" full broadcast (like the ATEM mini's) that fills the bill, but even then, we will need a slower path to switch over.
Grant, what you have done with BlackMagic Design is nothing short of miraculous. If I had gone back to myself in the 1980's and told my past self all the best gear for video and television came from Australia, I would have not believed it.
To stay relevant and not lose ground like Nikon and Canon have by being too closed in their systems, or too late to adapt, open your system up. I can take footage from almost any camera into Resolve on my PC, and it has not hurt your market one bit - and BRAW actually persauded me to ditch my Canon cine and my Sony FX7 and stay with the Ursas and BMPCC's. It was because I could bring anything in and could experience how awesome BMD stuff is that I switched. The original pocket cinema camera was great and I loved it, but for serious productions, I often had to go Canon or Sony. The accessibility across platforms made me want to try an Ursa Mini Pro 4.6k - and it took a while, but I have migrated to almost exclusively BlackMagic cameras.
Give us the opportunity to bring BMD live production gear in without sacrficing basic things like color balancing and let us experience why we want to switch, and give us that gentler path to get there.
In a month or two, I am beginning a three year revamp of our entire infrastructure. If BMD products could adjust color, even in a very rudimentary way, on non-BMD cameras and sources, and if you had the ability to take in NDI or SRT sources (a new micro converter perhaps), I would absolutely be ordering Constellations and ATEMS and ATEM Mini's.
With the system being closed to outside sources in critical areas, color and IP sources, I am pressured to move toward vMix and other solutions. Even my supervisor who is pushing me toward software solutions would prefer to give our students a full control panel experience with BMD gear: help us help you Grant.
Open the live systems just enough so we can integrate with what we have now and then remind us of how much we love BlackMagic as we purchase for tomorrow.
I hope to hear from you,
Sincerely,
H. Robert Petersen,
Owner BriteFire Films and Strategic Media Production Coordinator for Minnesota State Mankato University (and absolute fanboy of my BlackMagic gear).
H. Robert Petersen, BriteFire Films - videoguy16x9@gmail.com