Other: BlackMagic Cinema camera!!!! 2.5k for 3k...

@John Brawley, Hi John, could you ask BMD for higher frames rates even if it is in lower resolution like 1080p 60 or 720p 60. A lot of people would like faster frame rates.
 
Last edited:
John,

Have you asked them about the possibility of a global shutter mode? The sensor apparently is capable. Is this possible via firmware upgrade?
 
Hi John, do you think the processor for this camera can do 1080p 60? If it can do 2.5k 30fps then the processor should be able to do 1080p 60fps. By the way thanks again for the last video. It made me preorder the camera :-)
 
rizibo said:
@John Brawley, Hi John, could you ask BMD for higher frames rates even if it is in lower resolution like 1080p 60 or 720p 60. A lot of people would like faster frame rates.
Click to expand...

Right now they are focussed on 30 FPS for shipping. They tell me that can eek some higher frame rates out, but probably not 60p at full res. I'm hoping they might be able to do a reduced resolution compromise, but they won't look at that till after shipping. They are focussed on getting the speced camera out the door on time and in large volume.

jb
 
John quick Q - 13 stops of DR is phenomenal in this price range. Are you able to give some insight into real world performance? Understand you didnt shoot charts - but compared to the Alexas @ 15 and C300 @ 12, how does it feel?
 
It is my understanding of sensor and DSP technology that the problem isn't the recording of the footage but the raw data coming off the sensor. Right now that is 2.5k regardless of the recording mode. Even if you had a 720p recording format the DSP would still take the 2.5k raw from the sensor and process that. From the sound of it the DSP just cannot handle much more then 30fps at 2.5k which makes sense. That is a lot of work for that thing to do. Other cameras can do 60p because they actually have a sensor and DSP that are designed to run and process data that fast. For example some 60i cameras actually processed 60p in the DSP and then interleaved the 60p into 60i. The only way I think 60p could happen is if BM either (A) switched to a much more powerful DSP = money or (B) switched to an equally powerful DSP but one that could sample a cropped segment of the sensor which would mean it could process more frames. Perhaps the DSP they already have can do this but there isn't time to implement it before July. Personally I agree with John. Let them get the camera perfected the way it is and explore that option later.
 
John Brawley said:
Right now they are focussed on 30 FPS for shipping. They tell me that can eek some higher frame rates out, but probably not 60p at full res. I'm hoping they might be able to do a reduced resolution compromise, but they won't look at that till after shipping. They are focussed on getting the speced camera out the door on time and in large volume.

jb
Click to expand...

Very cool. The potential of higher frame rates makes me even happier to have jumped in early.
 
Hey John I have asked on your blog aswell so sorry for the double post, but do you mind sharing the specs of the computer you did the tests on. Just wanted an idea of the kind of hardware we'd need to do stuff like you are doing now.
Cheers,
 
Noel Evans said:
John quick Q - 13 stops of DR is phenomenal in this price range. Are you able to give some insight into real world performance? Understand you didnt shoot charts - but compared to the Alexas @ 15 and C300 @ 12, how does it feel?
Click to expand...

DR is such a subjective thing. their 13 stop number is a lab based number. I can't really say yet because they are still working on the sensor calibration and that's what affects noise a lot. Noise affects the DR.

My experince says it's not quite as good as an Alexa but it's pretty close, and it's way better than a 5Dmk2. I shot some side by sides and it was chalk and cheese.

jb
 
Thanks John, have you been grading the raw footage straight off the SSD you shot on and then pumping out prores to another drive?
 
mail4joeg said:
Hi John,

Earlier in the thread, the boys were speculating that it had to be this sensor, because of the unique size and specs:

http://www.scmos.com/files/low/scmos_white_paper_2mb.pdf

If so, then it definitely is capable of global shutter, but with some reduced dynamic range (which might be just fine for situations where you need a lot of kinetic motion).
Click to expand...

I have no idea if this is the sensor. But they say rolling shutter only.

jb
 
Thomas Smet said:
It is my understanding of sensor and DSP technology that the problem isn't the recording of the footage but the raw data coming off the sensor. Right now that is 2.5k regardless of the recording mode. Even if you had a 720p recording format the DSP would still take the 2.5k raw from the sensor and process that. From the sound of it the DSP just cannot handle much more then 30fps at 2.5k which makes sense. That is a lot of work for that thing to do. Other cameras can do 60p because they actually have a sensor and DSP that are designed to run and process data that fast. For example some 60i cameras actually processed 60p in the DSP and then interleaved the 60p into 60i. The only way I think 60p could happen is if BM either (A) switched to a much more powerful DSP = money or (B) switched to an equally powerful DSP but one that could sample a cropped segment of the sensor which would mean it could process more frames. Perhaps the DSP they already have can do this but there isn't time to implement it before July. Personally I agree with John. Let them get the camera perfected the way it is and explore that option later.
Click to expand...

This sounds about right to me, coupled with the information we've been hearing (in this thread) from people who have asked BM directly about this. People always want the moon on a stick.

Everything is awesome, and people are constantly whinging. (as Louis C.K. might say).
 
samphibbs said:
Thanks John, have you been grading the raw footage straight off the SSD you shot on and then pumping out prores to another drive?
Click to expand...

I've been able to get pretty close to realtime playback in resolve when playing back of an SSD in the Thunderbolt connection. But usally I copy first to a FW800 drive and then work from that in resolve to get ProRes.

jb
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top