Black Magic Cinema Camera price drop: $1,999

What the...??

Oh man....now they're certainly making my decision that much more difficult. Great news none-the-less.
 
Denis Haineault said:
I have nothing more original to say than "holy crap"......so Holy Crap !
Click to expand...

I have to say that this is rather baffling. Where's the competition or price pressure on BMC to do this?

Maybe the 4k cam is to close in price so it cannabalizes sales of the Cinema cam?

Can't wait to see some pocket cam footage from the wild. Should be appearing on vimeo and youtube soon since these are shipping.
 
id like to know the real world cost of these cams. in other words, how much for an actual shootable setup? lets say for ENG, not even cinema applications.
 
Gillvane said:
I have to say that this is rather baffling. Where's the competition or price pressure on BMC to do this?

Maybe the 4k cam is to close in price so it cannabalizes sales of the Cinema cam?

Can't wait to see some pocket cam footage from the wild. Should be appearing on vimeo and youtube soon since these are shipping.
Click to expand...

This is what I believe. Personally if I had bought the Cinema camera at its original price within the last month or so and this happened I would probably have buyer's remorse (I would wait just a little longer to save up for the 4K). But lowering the price kind of helps folks make more solid decisions on which one they want (though I'm kinda contradicting myself based on my earlier post :) ). Anyways... I'll agree with Denis..."Holy Crap!"
 
I'm in the blackmagic mailing list and I can confirm that they sent out a message with the price reduction: EF and MFT at $2K, including the full version of resolve which on its own costs $1K. Crazy. I love living in the future.

I think there's no risk of buyer's remorse because of the 4K camera: 2.5K is sharp enough for nearly everybody (specially if you shoot RAW and process with Adobe Camera RAW), and as soon as we get some side-by-side comparisons, people will be complaining about the DR of the 4K version.
 
Samuel H said:
I think there's no risk of buyer's remorse because of the 4K camera: 2.5K is sharp enough for nearly everybody (specially if you shoot RAW and process with Adobe Camera RAW), and as soon as we get some side-by-side comparisons, people will be complaining about the DR of the 4K version.
Click to expand...
John Brawley has in effect already done that. He has said that he prefers the 13-stop dynamic range of the BMCC over 4K with a stop or so less dynamic range.
 
Gillvane said:
I have to say that this is rather baffling. Where's the competition or price pressure on BMC to do this? ...
Click to expand...

5D MKIII with Magic Lantern? Or, maybe its an attempt to get some positive buzz going after the shipping delays on new cams? A price drop is welcome either way (unless you just bought one at $3000, of course.)

Edit: Or maybe Blackmagic Design is concerned that people are waiting on the BMC Pocket and 4k and not buying what's already out there, a.k.a the Osborne Effect?

(B&H still lists it at $2,995 a.t.m.)
 
Last edited:
Actually I think this makes a lot of sense. The pocket camera is using the same sensor, just not the same resolution. A $2000 difference is kind of a huge gap for what appeared to me at least to be two cameras that we're all that different from and imaging perspective.
 
Josh Bass said:
id like to know the real world cost of these cams. in other words, how much for an actual shootable setup? lets say for ENG, not even cinema applications.
Click to expand...


Well, if starting from scratch and getting lenses, a battery solution, mounting gear and what not you would probably want to start at about $1500 (For real cheap solutions) and go up from there. I think that if you have work that needs an ENG set up you would be better served with going with an ENG camera. They call these cameras "Cinema" cameras for a reason.
 
Good on BM passing along their savings. Wonder what the big news will be at next year's NAB - I expect a trifecta, so how about a high speed capable 4k camera? They already have the global shutter.
 
J Michael said:
Good on BM passing along their savings. Wonder what the big news will be at next year's NAB - I expect a trifecta, so how about a high speed capable 4k camera? They already have the global shutter.
Click to expand...
....or maybe just a firmware update giving us high speed capability on each of these cameras. Whether it be for free or for a fee that would definitely work for me. :)
 
Ian-T said:
....or maybe just a firmware update giving us high speed capability on each of these cameras. Whether it be for free or for a fee that would definitely work for me. :)
Click to expand...
That have been discussed ad nauseam and it will never happen. As BMD stated it's hardware, not software issue. Higher frames rates are not possible with the hardware configurations.
 
snowblindfilm said:
That have been discussed ad nauseam and it will never happen. As BMD stated it's hardware, not software issue. Higher frames rates are not possible with the hardware configurations.
Click to expand...

Hmmm....so I guess emoticons don't work for you? :undecided
 
Gillvane said:
I have to say that this is rather baffling. Where's the competition or price pressure on BMC to do this?
Click to expand...

Not everyone is motivated mainly by money.

From the article:

"We've worked very hard over the last year to be able to build the Blackmagic Cinema Camera at a lower cost so we can reduce the price and allow access to digital filming to a wide range of cinematographers and photographers," says Petty. "This is very exciting and is one of the proudest moments of my life to be able to do this."

Some people derive pleasure more from looking at what they've done and admiring it, than having a load of cash . . . so that they can afford to a trip to Europe, expensive dinners, or to buy nice things that others have done (paintings, cars, etc.) and admire them. I am that way, too. So was Steve Jobs:

""My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. The products, not the profits, were the motivation. Sculley flipped these priorities to where the goal was to make money. It's a subtle difference, but it ends up meaning everything."

Not to rank myself with Steve Jobs as far as capability, only with motivation. I get these two people. Maybe you don't. That's not to say that I or they are any less selfish than someone motivated more by money. I, and they, derive totally selfish pleasure from making beautiful things and simply standing and looking at those things. That the product happens to benefit other people is a side effect. Helping others also makes me feel good, which can be thought of as somewhat selfish (the desire for the pleasure of knowing I helped others). We need a certain amount of money, sure, and that's all nice, but after a certain point we would rather "spend" our money on building stuff for ourselves and others than buying stuff for ourselves and others.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top