After releasing a number of videos online last week, Blackmagic Design has released a new video by Peter Nearhos filming ‘Bugs’ highlighting the camera for macro filmmaking. A lot of the footage was shot on Laowa’s new 24mm F/14 2x Macro Probe lens.
“This was the first time I had shot with the Laowa probe or the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. The great thing about the probe is it will cover all of the 4K sensor. Larger 4K sensors tend to play havoc with your depth of field with this sort of work. So the smaller micro four thirds sized 4K sensor used by Blackmagic Design, is much better for this kind of shooting.”
“I have to say the 13 stops of latitude was also really great, because you can see into all of the dark spots. Which is very good when you are using hard lights, because you have detail well into the shadows under leaves and things. The other great thing about this camera is the really high native ISO. I tended to stay around ISO 2500 but you can go as high as 25,600. There are o
ther cameras with insane ISO levels, but they become incredibly grainy which means a lot of work in post. I think Blackmagic have their ISO at a sensible level. Given that for most macro filming you will be using lights, the 25,600 ISO with this camera is all you’ll ever need.”
- Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
- ProRes 422 HQ
- ISO 2500
- Laowa Probe 24mm, 60mm Macro 2:1, 15mm Wide Macro 1:1, 25mm Ultra Macro 5:1 EF mount, Canon 100mm 1:1, 65mm f/2.8 5:1 EF mount, Laowa 7.5mm Micro Four Thirds mount
- Metabones Speedbooster Ultra
- Aputure LS C300d and LS-mini20 daylight LEDs
Grade for yourself
Blackmagic Design has also made the original camera files available to download.
‘Models walking in daylight’ (1.26GB)
‘Models walking at night’ (1.51GB)
‘Models close up at night’ (2.66GB)
Let us know your thoughts on the footage and share your grades in the comments section below.
