Thoughts on Getting 4K System

Hello,

First post so will let everyone know a bit about me, name is Russell. I'm a photographer and film maker in the action sports industry but also like wildlife and most outdoor things. I mainly work with motocross and racing as my paid gigs but starting to expand with a new company that will do much more. I use the 5D Mark III as my main cam at the moment but also have used many other cameras outside my company's budget such as Canon C Series, RED, Sony F3 and new FS-700.
I had a good friend of mine as NAB this year and so he was my eyes and ears for if the new 4K camera would be our next investment or if we would go to the Sony FS-700 or Canon 1DX camera systems. I like the Blackmagic 2.5K and have seen it and played with it. Its a nice camera but didn't really do it for me. The 4K model is a diff story, for the price how can you go wrong with all you get in that camera system its amazing. But before we go and pre-order this camera there are a few things that I really want to know.

-Our biggest thing for us is will see higher shutter speeds? 4K and Motion Photography is getting bigger and there is no reason why Blackmagic 4K wont be able to do this but only having around a 1/250th will be limiting. I would hope to see around 1/1600 or so, this we would think should be an easy fix that will open up the camera for photographers wanting to tryout motion for fashion or wildlife and such.

-Audio Meters? Does more really need to be said on this?

-Stop Motion Mode, this goes along with the higher shutter in a way. Just adding an overall photo mode kinda would be nice. Hit the REC button to record either 1 DNG or a burst of DNG images when 30fps is not needed.

-Cineform Raw Recording, I know we can just trans-code to this in post and we plan to but will we maybe see the day that we can do it in camera?

-The rest of what we would like to see has been said be many others. Higher Frame rates even if its in a 2K and 3K crop mode. 2K at 60 and 3K at 48 would be nice.

- More choices on the peaking like color and strength.

-Formatting the SSD in camera would really nice, as for deleting the clips I can understand why this isn't the camera but maybe a way to plug in the camera to set the option for it using the computer to make sure you can just do it on set but mistake.

-Ratio Bars or Marks would be nice as well to just help us when framing. Once again this cant be so hard.

I know many of you will view this as trolling or whatever the word is now but please don't. These are basic things that I believe would really make this camera amazing. Not saying its not at the current stage. Blackmagic has don't some amazing things and I believe in the next few years we will see them turn into a company like RED. So its like buying into the ecosystem of Blackmagic right now much like people did with RED ONE. Let me know your guys thoughts about all these settings and if we can see them happen. I know Blacmagic has been behind on these cameras so I feel like they haven't had the chance to even work on firmware yet since people just want cameras. Since all that is fixed will we see more firmware coming?

... The 4K model is a diff story, for the price how can you go wrong with all you get in that camera system its amazing. ...

That's pretty much the whole point. The BMPC-4K, at least as described on BMD's website, is a fantastic value. As is.

There's no such thing as one perfect camera ideally suited for all purposes, all users, all productions, or all budgets. All cameras include many compromises, depending on what's important to each user or situation.

Although it's theoretically possible the firmware of a camera might change in the future, there's no guarantee of it. And even if it does change, things that you might believe are easy to implement may in fact not be -- on particular camera hardware.

Everything on your wish-list has been asked for many, many times. BMD is well-aware that many users want these feature -- and many other features, too. But just because people want features doesn't mean they will all happen, or ever happen. BMD has a history of updating their hardware's firmware over time, but there's no guarantee it'll happen in every case, let alone the way a particular user wants it to.

The bottom line is: Buy a camera for what it does on day one, when it's first released. If its original form meets your primary needs, fantastic: You've found a useful tool. Don't depend on it being updated later by the manufacturer, because that may never happen.

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Its not about saying something bad like your making it seem. Im just saying these are fixes that every camera should have.

Its not about saying something bad like your making it seem. Im just saying these are fixes that every camera should have.

I don't think Peter is making it seem like that at all. You said in your first post: "But before we go and pre-order this camera there are a few things that I really want to know."

I think Peter tried to answer your questions the best he can. I absolutely agree with this: "The bottom line is: Buy a camera for what it does on day one, when it's first released. If its original form meets your primary needs, fantastic: You've found a useful tool. Don't depend on it being updated later by the manufacturer, because that may never happen."

It's about the best advice anyone can give you right now.

Hello,

First post so will let everyone know a bit about me...

-Our biggest thing for us is will see higher shutter speeds? 4K and Motion Photography is getting bigger and there is no reason why Blackmagic 4K wont be able to do this but only having around a 1/250th will be limiting. I would hope to see around 1/1600 or so, this we would think should be an easy fix that will open up the camera for photographers wanting to tryout motion for fashion or wildlife and such.

-The rest of what we would like to see has been said be many others. Higher Frame rates even if its in a 2K and 3K crop mode. 2K at 60 and 3K at 48 would be nice...

Your requests speak louder than your introduction. Take some additional time to learn what Blackmagic cameras are about and what they are not about and decide if it is right for you. If not, that's fine. You know there are alternative cameras from other vendors that will meet your requirements.

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Well the reason for posting here is to learn more about them since people on this forum own the camera system, well the 2.5K one at least. I just asking to see if these are things that other people want as well and if you think blackmagic will put them into the camera, if not I understand there are many others. Like I said I have worked with many of them and love them all but the thought of a cheaper 4K camera system for my company to own is great. It will lower cost over renting a RED or other system when 5K 120fps just isn't needed for a project.

Well the reason for posting here is to learn more about them since people on this forum own the camera system, well the 2.5K one at least. I just asking to see if these are things that other people want as well and if you think blackmagic will put them into the camera, if not I understand there are many others. Like I said I have worked with many of them and love them all but the thought of a cheaper 4K camera system for my company to own is great. It will lower cost over renting a RED or other system when 5K 120fps just isn't needed for a project.

BMD's shipping & announced cameras are designed to be both relatively high-performance (within a somewhat narrow range) and inexpensive, both.

BMD would likely have to raise prices if they intend to routinely increase their camera's capabilities significantly after the fact (after initial ship) via firmware updates. In the real world (e.g.: not the Magic Lantern world), firmware development & testing is very expensive.

"Relatively minor updates" -- as defined by BMD, not us -- have come from BMD in the past, and might continue in the future. But there's no guarantees, no promises, that firmware updates will continue "forever".

Since BMD's cameras are more similar than different, there are already hundreds of feature requests on the thread in this forum. Feel free to add your requests there:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=265

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... the thought of a cheaper 4K camera system for my company to own is great. It will lower cost over renting a RED or other system when 5K 120fps just isn't needed for a project.

Absolutely!

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD