how reliable is your bmcc?

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matthew bourne

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how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 9:47 am

hey all hope everyone on the forum is doing well. I m growing some what concerned with the apparent lack of quality control the bmcc seems to go through. Now as we all know most people go onto a forum of this type to complain get answers to problems/questions or share work. This can lead to a slightly unfair balance of opinion. By that i mean all you see normaly are the problems as those that have none are out filming having a great time :). I would love to start seeing if we can collate data on the amount of people that have had problems/no problems.

So if you have your bmcc. please could you either respond to this post with either "no problems" and how long youve had the camera or put "problem" state the problem and time youve had the camera. all relevant details would be good such as how well the rma was delt with, if the probs fixed etc etc.

hopefully we can start to get a rough idea on problem percentages. thanks guys and girls.

IMPORTANT please obviously only post problems directly caused by the bmcc i.e not incompatable hdd's etc. thanks
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Iver Heen Ask

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 10:21 am

Have had problems with my camera reading the SSD, but that's about it.
Especially when it's cold.
(It is a camera related issue, not the SSD's fault.)
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Peter J. DeCrescenzo

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 4:50 pm

matthew bourne wrote:... hopefully we can start to get a rough idea on problem percentages ...


Statistically speaking this will be a waste of time.

As you say, most people who visit support forums such as this only come here because they have a problem with their camera or "newbie questions" (which are all good; there's no such thing as a "bad" question). And the number of people who will even see this particular thread is a tiny percentage of the total number of visitors. As a result, your "survey" results will almost certainly be skewed toward the "negative" (e.g.: the BMCC appears to have "a lot" of problems.)

Meanwhile, you could read every single post in this entire forum and tabulate the results -- and still get an inaccurate, skewed result, for the same reason described above.

It won't tell you whether or not the BMCC is relatively reliable or not. It only tells you about some problems some people have with the camera. Because it's self-selected, it's not a randomized result, so it's not particularly useful for determining the cam's "reliability".

Rather than "go looking" for problems, it's probably more useful for people to simply post questions as per usual, and for everyone to pitch-in and help answer them if they're able.

We've been doing the latter for a while now, and it's allowed all of us to discover a few issues and report them to BMD. As is usually the case, BMD's own testers will already be aware of most all of these issues, because they came up in on-going beta & post-release testing, and these issues are/were on BMD's "to do" list. This is normally how it works nowadays with most product & companies.

Cheers.

-
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Aaron Scheiner

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 5:09 pm

I haven't had any issues with either of my cameras (plus a third I sold to a friend)... which I've had since the 10th of April 2013.
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Marc Tschudi

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 5:12 pm

No issues - received in March.
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Stephen Mickelsen

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 5:18 pm

No issues for me!
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steve connor

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 5:39 pm

No problems here
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Tom

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 5:52 pm

No Problems (received in march)

even my OCZ Vertex has behaved itself.

Edit: I also ALWAYS turn it off before swapping lenses or SSD's.
Last edited by Tom on Thu May 30, 2013 7:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Tom Majerski
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PaulDelVecchio

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 5:56 pm

No problems here and I've used it on paying jobs since I got it. As a general rule, I always turn the camera off before switching lenses (keeping it on can cause funky issues with reading and changing the aperture) and before switching SSDs. It's not necessary, but I usually do that. I've just gotten in the habit of that. Following those rules, I've never had an issue at all with my cam. I'd definitely say I'm not afraid to use it on high pressure paying gigs.

It probably helps that I use Sandisk Extreme 240GB and 480GB hard drives.
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sean mclennan

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 8:28 pm

No problems to report. Using Sandisk Extreme 480 and mainly Canon L glass.
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Sean

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 9:06 pm

sean mclennan wrote:No problems to report. Using Sandisk Extreme 480 and mainly Canon L glass.

Same here. Haven't had any issues as far as reliability goes.
Sean Scannell
Ordered EF mount from B&H on 08/19/12. Received on 04/12/13.

Blaine Russom

Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu May 30, 2013 11:57 pm

Got both of mines in March. No issues. Using 2 cameras and 2 Intel 520 SSD's.

One camera I got had a dead screen on arrival and gave it back to the store. They replaced it for me same day with no hassle.
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John Christon

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostFri May 31, 2013 1:44 am

extremely reliable and i've put it through it's paces and shot for 12-16 hour days for quite some time. And had mine for like 6 months or something I think...
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Learvis

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostFri May 31, 2013 3:35 am

No problems with mine had it since November last year use Sandisk Extreme 240 no problem with those either.
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DavidCox

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostFri May 31, 2013 3:47 am

My camera is fine, the operator is human... I have had hit or miss results with a variety of unsanctioned SSDs.

I always power off for all lens/ssd swaps.
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matthew bourne

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostFri May 31, 2013 8:02 am

cheers people this is all v encouraging and exactly what i had hoped to hear. The tips about powering down to swap out lenses ssds seems to be a great one. cheers for all the input people
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Mark Davies

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostFri May 31, 2013 8:51 am

Glad to hear this I was getting concerned about reliability.

Why would you need to turn it off to change lenses especially if it is a manual mount?
Mark Davies
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sean mclennan

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostFri May 31, 2013 2:58 pm

Mark2929 wrote:Glad to hear this I was getting concerned about reliability.

Why would you need to turn it off to change lenses especially if it is a manual mount?


The MFT is a dead/dumb mount.

The EF version is a live mount. So just like Canon recommend you power down your DSLR before changing the lens, it's just a good idea to do the same on the BMCC.
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Soeren Mueller

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostFri May 31, 2013 4:15 pm

No problems so far. Have my BMCC since end of march and recorded mainly in Prores, sometimes RAW.. using Canon L glass and only Sandisk Extreme 480GB all the time... not one issue/hickup *knock on wood* ;)

Blaine Russom

Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostSat Jun 01, 2013 2:00 am

Mark2929 wrote:Glad to hear this I was getting concerned about reliability.

Why would you need to turn it off to change lenses especially if it is a manual mount?


Plus if I'm not mistaken. I thought I read it in operators manuel to power down the device before swapping SSD's and Lenses.
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Max Manning

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 04, 2013 1:23 am

Never once had an issue but hope im not jinxing!
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John Bartman

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 04, 2013 7:00 am

This is very reassuring!
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Florian Blang

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 04, 2013 11:30 am

Except one case of the black dot issue and one really bad moiré I didn´t have a single problem so far and am glad about my decision!
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Peter Odio

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 04, 2013 4:07 pm

Rock solid.

This weekend at CineGear at Paramount Pictures, the SanDisk engineer told me to WAIT some ten seconds after you stop recording and then to power down the camera, before removing the SSD.
promedios.tv
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Max Manning

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 04, 2013 6:44 pm

I have had a few issues with IR contamination as well as moire but nothing that wasnt my fault for shooting the shot in a lazy manner (without filters/proper set prep)
Max Manning
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Dustin Svehlak

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 04, 2013 7:07 pm

I had one fail on day one with this strange rolling transparent line issue that was showing in the footage. My replacement has been rock solid but I've only done two real shoots so far.
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Igor Babic

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostThu Jun 06, 2013 1:48 pm

No problems so far. Using 2 BMCC on 12 hour production day, on drama series. No powering down with Samyang lenses EF mount, powering down with SSDs. We are using 4x Kingston 128GB V200+ with no problems. 250GB/day per camera.
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Luke Armstrong

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostSat Jun 15, 2013 7:57 pm

I'm on camera number 3, two of which have had an issue:
1. Red line on screen, bricked shortly afterward...sent back
2. Camera came in bad condition from distributor with scratches on it... sent back
3. Camera has been fine until today - when I discovered the top half of my screen was a slightly different hue to the bottom - more orangey, and appears to be getting worse. Its all over my footage too... contacted BMD and waiting to hear what they say.

Getting a bit fed up.
Last edited by Luke Armstrong on Sat Jun 15, 2013 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Samjack

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostSat Jun 15, 2013 8:08 pm

Luke Armstrong wrote:I'm on camera number 3, two of which have had an issue:
1. Red line on screen, bricked shortly afterward...sent back
2. Camera came in bad condition from distributor with scratches on it... sent back
3. Camera has been fine until today - when I discovered the top half of my screen was a slightly different hue to the bottom - more orangey, and appears to be getting worse. Its all over my footage too... contacted BMD and waiting to hear what they say.

Getting a bit fed up.


Thats not good.
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Luke Armstrong

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostSat Jun 15, 2013 9:36 pm

Samjack wrote:
Luke Armstrong wrote:I'm on camera number 3, two of which have had an issue:
1. Red line on screen, bricked shortly afterward...sent back
2. Camera came in bad condition from distributor with scratches on it... sent back
3. Camera has been fine until today - when I discovered the top half of my screen was a slightly different hue to the bottom - more orangey, and appears to be getting worse. Its all over my footage too... contacted BMD and waiting to hear what they say.

Getting a bit fed up.


Thats not good.


Yup, it sucks. I'm really hoping BM have a solution for me that doesn't involve a replacement/repair, and its not the dreaded sensor...
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Loch Phillipps

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostMon Jun 24, 2013 10:40 pm

Mine has been reliable. One issue that I haven't really looked into though, as I'm too busy shooting, is that I can't hear audio through the camera headphone jack. Not sure what that's about but I monitor through my outboard recorder right now. And my camera audio has some hiss on it, the AE on my project tells me. So, been relying out outboard audio but should get this looked into before my warranty runs out.
Loch Phillipps
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Rudy Satria

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 25, 2013 8:08 am

i shot on bmcc about less than 30 minutes and the body is pretty hot. Do you think its normal?
Rudy Iskandar
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Luke Armstrong

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 25, 2013 8:28 am

rudysatria wrote:i shot on bmcc about less than 30 minutes and the body is pretty hot. Do you think its normal?


From what John Brawley has said in the past, and my own experiences I think its fine. The camera does disperse some of the heat away from the sensor and into the casing. So long as you can hear the fan going don't fret.
Luke Armstrong - Digital Compositor
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Rudy Satria

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 25, 2013 2:13 pm

Luke Armstrong wrote:
rudysatria wrote:i shot on bmcc about less than 30 minutes and the body is pretty hot. Do you think its normal?


From what John Brawley has said in the past, and my own experiences I think its fine. The camera does disperse some of the heat away from the sensor and into the casing. So long as you can hear the fan going don't fret.


sounds great. Thanks mate! :)
Rudy Iskandar
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Frank Glencairn

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 25, 2013 8:43 pm

...just saying :mrgreen:

Image
https://sites.google.com/view/frankglencairn/home
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sean mclennan

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 25, 2013 9:05 pm

Frank Glencairn wrote:...just saying :mrgreen:

Image


my favourite part of this photo is the smoke. Come hell or high water, snow, sleet or hail...a smoker is going to smoke no matter what :lol:
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Frank Glencairn

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Re: how reliable is your bmcc?

PostTue Jun 25, 2013 9:30 pm

Yeah, my biggest wish is still a passport with a photo where I have a cigarette in my mount.

But city administration didn't liked the idea - I don't get it, it's much more natural. :mrgreen:

Bay the way, you never know if it is your last smoke. 5 minutes after that photo was taken avalanche control released their bombs (that's why we where there), and I was almost avalanched.

The beast stopped, just a few yards from my feet.
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