By site editor Dan Chung:
In a surprise move Blackmagic Design have dropped the price on their Pocket Cinema camera. For a limited period it will have a recommended retail price of only $495 US – which probably makes it the cheapest RAW shooting video cam around. There have been similar price reductions in the UK (CVP have it for £295 + VAT) and presumably other countries too.
The diminutive camera has a Super16 sized sensor, Micro 4/3 lens mount and records to SD cards in either Apple ProRes or losslessly compressed CinemaDNG RAW. Like many users I rushed to buy the Pocket Cinema Camera when it launched. The ability to shoot ProRes in camera was extremely convenient but I found it of limited as a primary camera for news or documentary shooting. Low light performance was not great and focussing was hard to get right without an add-on viewfinder.
With the latest firmware updates, in particular the improved AF performance, the BMPCC has become a more practical shirt pocket camera / b-cam for real world shooters. Low light performance hasn’t really changed though – in good light it is certainly capable of producing some great looking images when paired with the right lenses, but in low light it doesn’t hold a candle to the likes of the Sony a7S or a Canon 5DmkII or mkIII.
One area where the BMPCC has proved useful is as a POV camera. At the new price you can kit it out with a little Lumix 14mm lens it is not that much more expensive than a GoPro Hero3+ Black edition. The BMPCC’s low weight also makes it an obvious candidate for use on brushless gimbals like the Defy G2.
I’d say the BMPCC with it’s unique feature set and new price it is certainly worth a look if you have a spare $500 to play with. B+H Photo are even throwing in a free Wooden Camera hotshoe mount worth $23.75 to make the deal even sweeter.
This from Blackmagic Design:
Fremont, CA – July 16, 2014 – Blackmagic Design today announced an exciting Summer Special discount for the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera for the low price of US$495. With a normal recommended retail price of US$995, this Summer Special represents incredible value and is available for a limited time and will end on the 31st of August 2014. This Summer Special price is subject to limited availability, after which the price will return to the usual recommended retail price of US$995.
Since its introduction, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera has been used in thousands of independent films, television commercials, music videos and anywhere cinematographers need a high quality digital film camera in a stealthy super small size.
The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera includes powerful features such as Super 16mm sized 1080HD sensor, super wide 13 stops of dynamic range, built in SD card recorder for Apple ProRes, lossless CinemaDNG RAW capture and active Micro Four Thirds lens mount, all in an attractive compact design.
This compact design allows the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera to be used in more situations where a larger camera would not be practical. It’s so small that it can be used in situations in the field where a larger camera could be dangerous. The camera’s film look even allows personal video to be shot with the style and creativity of a motion picture film.
Unlike regular video cameras Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera is a true digital cinema camera as it includes a super wide dynamic range image sensor with 13 stops of latitude, allowing feature film quality images. A common mistake in the television industry is the assumption that more resolution means higher quality. Most cameras produce”video” looking images that suffer from highlight and black clipping that limits details. Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera’s wide dynamic range eliminates this problem and provides film quality with dramatically more detail retained in black and whites in the image. Once the shoot is complete, DaVinci Resolve Lite 11 color correction and online editing software can be used to adjust images and take advantage of this extra range in the images.
To eliminate the damage that low bit depth and high compression video storage creates, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera includes a easy to use SD card recorder that allows the full sensor dynamic range to be recorded in professional ProRes 422 (HQ) format, as well as 12 bit Log RAW lossless compressed CinemaDNG format. These files can be read by high end video software as they are all open standard.
“We have worked hard to set up this exciting special price to allow more people to afford a super compact digital cinema camera that they can personally own. However stock is limited at this lower price so customers who want to buy at this price will need to move fast,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “We are extremely proud of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and we want to thank all the cinematographers who have send us examples of the work they have completed with this camera. We want to thank everyone for the wise and intelligent feedback they have given us and we hope this special offer is a great way to show our appreciation to the wonderful customers we have. For us, this is a dream come true!”
