BlackMagic Full-Frame 6K pocket cinema camera

Boring camera, boring company...I know, I know; bitter.

But it hurts to see BM like this after their glory days.

[Some people really wanted a Micro 2 tho, so that’s good.]
 
That’s how they created their camera brand reputation, by creating cameras that looked like ARRIs, mainly 2012-2018, naturally growing a hugeee following over those younger years.
 
DXOMARK rates the APS-C Sony sensor in my 13-year-old Nikon D7000 as 13.9 stops, so why is this presumably modern full frame sensor only 13 stops? Shouldn't a full frame sensor deliver around 14.5 stops of dynamic range these days?

They should have at least put it in an even more scaled down Ursa body, even if it's made out of plastic.

I think Blackmagic not releasing a replacement for the Micro was a mistake, the same goes for Panasonic not releasing a replacement for the AF100, and no the Eva1 & BS1Hdon't count.
 
I've owned two BM cameras (the OG pocket, which I still have, and the Pocket 4K, which I sold). Both have their strengths—the OG in particular makes an amazing image for its price—but their ergonomics are just awful. The 4K especially. I don't know why they're sticking with that form factor. (Although they sell so many Pocket cameras that clearly the form factor isn't a hindrance in their eyes, and the eyes of many customers.)
 
Great tool for the money. I wonder why they went with L mount over Canon or Sony mounts? Maybe the price was lower. Would like to see some IBIS and ND in the mix. Like the 1500 nit LCD.
 
No ND is a no go for me. But plenty of people won't care about that. However, something people may care about.....look at those rolling shutter times. Yikes.
 
Yeah, why no internal ND. E- mount has a short flange distance but Sony has been able to implement it… I just love the BM image but I hate their ergonomics/usability. I was looking at a doc I shot back in 2013 with the original BMCC and BMPCC and it looks better than anything I’ve shot in 2023 ;)
 
alaskacameradude said:
No ND is a no go for me. But plenty of people won't care about that. However, something people may care about.....look at those rolling shutter times. Yikes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much. But I think it's within the realm of general usability. 25+ms is basically a no-go for me. 20ish is ok.

From cined:

I’ve seen many people wondering about the rolling shutter performance of the new sensor. Tim disclosed on this topics, stating that rolling shutter should be around 25ms in 6K 3:2 Open Gate and drops to 8ms in Full HD cropped mode. These definitely aren’t the best results, so expect some jello effect in your footage.
Click to expand...
https://www.cined.com/blackmagic-cin...6k-first-look/

So basically, it looks like they are maxing out their framerate in every mode. (36fps in open gate where the theoretical limit is 40fps. 120fps in Full HD crop where the theoretical limit is 125fps.)

So you're looking at about 21ms rolling shutter in 17:9 6K since it can shoot 48fps in that mode. Not terrible. Not great, but not terrible.

I'm not going to get one although I think it's another cool camera out there and I'm happy that they finally added an OLPF after claiming they didn't need one for years.

In truth, the only cameras that are on my horizon are possibly the Sony A9iii if it has good video chops. (That one should drop between November and January.) And whatever the A7Siii/FX3 successors look like. Of course, having a bunch of E-mount lenses sort of locks me into the brand. But that doesn't mean I don't check out what else comes to market or that I wouldn't jump ship if there was something just so much better-suited to my needs from another brand.

But the truth is that the Sony A7Siii/FX3 is so close to perfect for what I need. My biggest priority is a variable shutter speed for defeating flicker, which those cameras inexplicably lack. For that I will absolutely need to get at least 1 more camera. Internal ND would be great but I don't expect to see it on a mirrorless. It would be great to have a cleaner sensor without the extra read noise from the unutilized quad bayer array. Autofocus improvements are always welcome. 4K 240fps could be a nice option. And separately, it could be useful to have a 6K or 8K camera on hand for certain scenarios but that's only useful to me like 5% of the time. Other than all that, I'm happy with the cameras I have and could practically shoot with them for the rest of my career. If my clients cared about what cameras I use, I could see myself getting an FX6/9 or whatever the budgets afford. But they basically don't, and the only proper cine camera that ticks all my boxes is the Burano.
 
I agree with Abe and Norbro. I think BM needs to up the design game a bit as the mirrorless offerings are good enough with a solid LUT to shoot the rest of your career. The appeal of the in between body design has waned imho. Still a great camera but in many ways, the proper still cameras that offer great video more than cover the tasks with more features outside of a few that many do not need.
 
ahalpert said:
But the truth is that the Sony A7Siii/FX3 is so close to perfect for what I need. My biggest priority is a variable shutter speed for defeating flicker, which those cameras inexplicably lack. For that I will absolutely need to get at least 1 more camera. Internal ND would be great but I don't expect to see it on a mirrorless. It would be great to have a cleaner sensor without the extra read noise from the unutilized quad bayer array. Autofocus improvements are always welcome. 4K 240fps could be a nice option. And separately, it could be useful to have a 6K or 8K camera on hand for certain scenarios but that's only useful to me like 5% of the time. Other than all that, I'm happy with the cameras I have and could practically shoot with them for the rest of my career. If my clients cared about what cameras I use, I could see myself getting an FX6/9 or whatever the budgets afford. But they basically don't, and the only proper cine camera that ticks all my boxes is the Burano.
Click to expand...

This is why I own an FX6.....and yes it has the variable shutter speed you are talking about (it's called Extended Clear Scan or ECS)
on the FX6. And mark my words....you will see internal ND on a mirrorless before long.
 
alaskacameradude said:
This is why I own an FX6.....and yes it has the variable shutter speed you are talking about (it's called Extended Clear Scan or ECS)
on the FX6. And mark my words....you will see internal ND on a mirrorless before long.
Click to expand...

I'd have gotten an fx6 if it had ibis. but between that and the form factor, mirrorless cameras are better for me on gimbal. now burano has ibis, interestingly

why mark your words? do you have inside intel?
 
Bassman2003 said:
Great tool for the money. I wonder why they went with L mount over Canon or Sony mounts? Maybe the price was lower. Would like to see some IBIS and ND in the mix. Like the 1500 nit LCD.
Click to expand...

Licensing maybe was lower but maybe both said no.

Sony more than Canon, but maybe Canon is leaving RF exclusively for RED because the most logical mount for this camera is RF after 10 years of using EF.

With that said, maybe there is no good point in using either since there is no modern AF.
 
ahalpert said:
I'd have gotten an fx6 if it had ibis. but between that and the form factor, mirrorless cameras are better for me on gimbal. now burano has ibis, interestingly

why mark your words? do you have inside intel?
Click to expand...

I can understand wanting ibis although I’d chose
internal nd over ibis if I have to pick one. But
form factor? You are telling me mirrorless still
camera format is better than the FX6 form
factor? I think one of the best things about the
FX6 is it’s form factor, it’s fairly highly regarded
for its form factor. I hate with a passion shooting
video on stills bodies, everything is just wrong, wrong
shape, wrong way to hold the camera, buttons in
the wrong place, no common motion shooting buttons
(like white balance) on the body so you must go
’menu diving’ and so on and so on.

Inside intel? Not exactly. I’ve just heard enough
things from ‘higher up camera reps’ who solicit
feedback for future camera design and seen
enough things (like the above mentioned design
that shows a mirrorless
with a built in ND) to know that it’s coming at some
point in the future. For the record, I predicted
the FX6 the day the A7siii came out. I said they
would make a camera with a small cinema body, built
in ND, xlr audio, SDI and have the a7siii sensor in
it and that it would sell like hotcakes. I doubt I was the
only one predicting that but it is one reason I held
off on buying an A7siii because I wanted the
‘optimized for motion’ version and didn’t care about
the stills functions. About a week before the Burano
came out, I incorrectly predicted to my friend who was
working with me on a 5 day doc project, that Sony
would be putting IBIS and a variable ND in the mark ii
version of the FX6 because that was one of the
biggest requests from users according to their researchers. Ah well, I was wrong they put it in the Burano. I think
if you watch this stuff, some of these predictions are pretty obvious. If there are lots of people asking for something,
they will make it. If I had to guess, I’d say
the Sony FX3 mark ii will be the first mirrorless which
has a built in ND….
 
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