C100: Sense-check: Another C100/NB combo or BMPC 4K?

B

bengiles

Well-known member
Just a quick question - I expect some of you may have had a similar dilemma.

We need another camera unit. The obvious choice is the C100 plus Ninja Blade - it works, matches other C100s and will be an easy buy. We're about to hit the trigger on a 0% lease deal. Easy peasy.

However...

That BMPC 4K does look tempting. In-built ProRes recorder (but only HQ - why can't they make it ProRes 422 as well?) and the option to play with 4K acquisition and to see how it might genuinely work in our 1080P workflow. It's also a lot cheaper than a C100/NB, which mitigates the additional slight hike in storage requirements that ProRes HQ demands.

We need a camera that will sit and record for fairly long periods of time - up to an hour sometimes.

And we don't a Diva camera that spits out it's dummy and will only work if you take out the blue M&Ms.

Anyone actually used a Blackmagic? Too much hassle? Is it for kids or can you regard it as a serious tool that delivers?

Cheers,

Ben.
 
I've just purchased the 4k BMC.

I have not got it fully rigged up yet but it is no C100. You'll need to do a lot more work to get footage out of it. You'll need external power, some kind of rig, NDs, preferably an external EVF or monitor, SSD's etc. etc.

It also needs A LOT of light. A LOT. The C100 can see brighter than you can, the BMC4k even with an f1.2 lens see's less than you can. Lock your C100 to iso 400 and see how you go.

However, the image coming out of it is breathtaking.

The best way to sum it up is that it is a digital film camera. Almost all of the pro's and all of the con's of shooting film.

I decided i'm willing to put up with all of that for the image. Only you can decide if you want to. For the cost of the C100 + Ninja you can get a decent BMC shoulder rig setup with an EVF and power. I always record audio separately so it's not an issue for me.
 
I was very interested in the bmc 4k until I read something Philip Bloom said about the shear amount if data it produces - your post workflow will need a steady supply of hard drives. However, I'm still very tempted for the image alone...

Then there's the Gh4 which shoots 4k up to 30p and 1080 at 96fps. Plus it's cheaper and would take a lot less to make it usable. I'm still waiting to see how the image stacks up against the C100 before I'd go that route.
 
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Curnsie said:
I was very interested in the bmc 4k until I read something Philip Bloom said about the shear amount if data it produces - your post workflow will need a steady supply of hard drives. However, I'm still very tempted for the image alone...

Then there's the Gh4 which shoots 4k up to 30p and 1080 at 96fps. Plus it's cheaper and would take a lot less to make it usable. I'm still waiting to see how the image stacks up against the C100 before I'd go that route.
Click to expand...

UHD is 880mbps but you can always shoot 220mbps 1080p prores which still looks incredible on the camera. The big benefit of the bmc is it offers 10bit recording internally on a S35 sensor with a global shutter.
 
The 4k bmc is power hungry like a .... it goes tru a big v-lock within a hour but that was with video transmitter and follow focus motor.
anything above 400iso is useless. patern noise etc...
hot highlights like the sun or a lightbulb can become blackholes in your footage.
better have your macbook with you as you can't format the cards in camera and the formating must be mac format instead of the universal exfat the atomos uses.
No audio metering
no balanced powered audio inputs.

Picture at 400iso and below is realy nice and 4k but you will be spending a lot more than the c100/ninjablade combo to get to the same usability level
 
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Thanks avian and draculr.

Useful stuff - I'll do a bit more trawling around, but it sounds like the BM might not be fit for our purposes.

I guess we're quite spoilt by the overall proposition of the C100.

Ben.
 
draculr said:
I've just purchased the 4k BMC.

I have not got it fully rigged up yet but it is no C100. You'll need to do a lot more work to get footage out of it. You'll need external power, some kind of rig, NDs, preferably an external EVF or monitor, SSD's etc. etc.

It also needs A LOT of light. A LOT. The C100 can see brighter than you can, the BMC4k even with an f1.2 lens see's less than you can. Lock your C100 to iso 400 and see how you go.

However, the image coming out of it is breathtaking.

The best way to sum it up is that it is a digital film camera. Almost all of the pro's and all of the con's of shooting film.

I decided i'm willing to put up with all of that for the image. Only you can decide if you want to. For the cost of the C100 + Ninja you can get a decent BMC shoulder rig setup with an EVF and power. I always record audio separately so it's not an issue for me.
Click to expand...

The BMPC is pretty bad. I put mine up for sale and I lost money.
 
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