Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera - 2.5k EF Mount

[Edzel Yago]

Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5k - EF Mount

 

Seemingly Relevant Information

I had pre-ordered the camera some time last year and forgot about it until I got a call one day early this year. Did I still want follow through with my order for the camera at ~$2,995 plus taxes? After an internal struggle lasting a couple of days, I declined. Then it went down $1,000 a few months later and I bought one off Amazon from Adorama. Win!

 

Out of the Box

The box was dinged in transit but everything inside was well packed. You'll find a small packet with some instructions, a CD/DVD for Resolve and other software, the USB dongle license for DaVinci Resolve, carrying strap, camera with sun shield, and a modular power adapter with several tips to accommodate power sockets around the world. The design of the box is fine, it's a box, the artwork and layout is detailed but clean. The box is hard to open as it creates a bit of an air seal. Once you get the lid off and pick it up, you're greeted with a surprisingly heavy chunk of metal.

 

Pretty On the Outside

The ID is subtle, clean, bare, and incredibly solid. The aluminum unibody is sexy, heavy, built like a tank. The simple and flat form factor has garnered a bit of hate for its lack of ergonomics of any sort but if you go into it with the understanding that you're going to put it on a tripod, shoulder rig, what have you, it's just not an issue. Would it be nice if it was shaped more friendly for holding? Absolutely. Do I hold it against the camera? No, it has a purpose and handheld 'run & gun' isn't it.

 

 

If it's not metal, it's soft-touch or rubber. The front, with exception to the barrel turret, is soft touch with a metal border. Covering the side I/O are rubber flaps. A hinged metal door serves as the SSD compartment lid; there is no locking mechanism to keep the bay closed and my SSD is too thin; it wobbles and rattles inside without a shim to keep it still. The buttons and area on the face are soft-touch. It feels nice, it feels like a premium feature. Unfortunately, this makes the buttons feel less robust and instills in me a fear that the coating will come off. Rational? No idea. We'll see in time, I guess. Immediate observations are that it picks up dirt right quick and it shows easily given that it's black.

 

The screen is bright, clear, accurate, and informative. Along the bottom is all the information it will ever display. If you're out in the sun or have a light behind you, good luck seeing anything because the glossy screen isn't just glossy, it's like a god damned mirror. Wear a hoodie at all times when operating the camera so you can block out the light.With only 9 buttons, it looks deceptively simple for something capable of so much.

 

User Interface via Touch

Coming from DSLRs, ENG cameras, small camcorders, or the FS700, having so few buttons or physical controls seems crippling until you realize that there isn't much to control. There's a button to enable peaking, a button to auto-set the iris, power, menu, then playback controls. So how do you set everything else? Through the touchscreen.

 

 

Again, you find the bare minimum. It has everything you need to operate it contained within 4 screens. Though it offers everything you need, it doesn't have everything you would want. There is no custom white balance, leaving you only 6 presets to choose from. When you tap on the screen you get the slate where you can input the shot metadata. Sounds good, right? It doesn't work. Only FCP and Resolve seem to read it and it doesn't do it well, several parts are even missing within Resolve; Premiere and Avid don't seem to be able to read the metadata at all. As someone who uses Premiere at work and Avid at home, it's disheartening to see that there was no consideration for those two.

 

Through the menu you can set your frame rates (23.97, 24, 25, 29.97, 30), timelapse intervals, video/film colour profiles for recording as well as the display, sound options, and things like zebras. It's quick, responsive, and accurate. What more can I say about it? It's touchscreen countrol done right.

 

Beauty Is Only Skin Deep; It's What's Inside That Counts

Right? Well, so far the picture is great. I find it to be kind of grainy out of the camera but cleans up beautifully in post. ProRes and DNxHD 4:2:2 are adequate alternatives to the RAW CinemaDNG files. There is definitely enough leeway in the codec to make changes in post, whether stylistic or technical. Though the white balance was considerably off, it cleaned up well enough after fixing it in Resolve that it didn't really even matter. Coming from h.264 on the DSLR and the related AVCHD from the FS700, the data contained within the ProRes and DNxHD codecs is a refreshing change. The dynamic range offered by the video LUT is great, the range offered by the film LUT in RAW is amazing. I'm hearing 13-stops and I'm not going to argue with that. When used with the included DaVinci Resolve, you've got plenty to work with.

 

 

Though I might argue with Blackmagic's decision to not include lossless compressed; RAW at 5MB per frame leaves my 512GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD capable of only holding about 50 minutes of footage. Shooting RAW that uses up so much space means you're filling up the SSD completely and quickly, potentially leading to a quick death to it. The matter is made worse by Blackmagic's incredibly stupid decision to not include the ability for the camera to send a TRIM command to the SSD. if you don't know, TRIM is the SSD equivalent to defrag and is necessary for keeping your SSD from slowing down and dying, especially when you're shooting RAW. The high write speeds required to do so is easily compromised when you're not properly maintaining the SSD integrity and failure means dropped frames or worse.

 

The ~2.4 crop factor hasn't really bugged me that much, really. I don't think I'll be getting a wider lens any time soon while my 17-35 exists. This might bite me in the ass in the future if I find myself in a cramped space but until then, I'm running happy-go-lucky. Sticking a 70-200mm on it is a bit much unless you're looking for extreme close-ups.

 

Incredible But Flawed

There's no denying the amazing image that you can get out of this camera. Though it's up to the user to make things look good, having the data/material to make it look even better is not something to be disregarded when considering cameras and their codecs. The 12-30v DC input for an external power supply is something I greatly appreciate as it allows me to avoid buying extremely expensive batteries or numerous small ones that I would have to change out constantly (Pocket, I'm looking at you!) The crop factor is acceptable, the touchscreen UI is the best I've seen, the build is perfect and the price is right.

 

With all that said, it's infuriating that TRIM being so easy to implement (literally a few lines of code, apparently) was left out. Blackmagic's decision not to implement TRIM has and will render SSDs unusable in short order as I doubt most would even know how to induce TRIM on their own. There's no way to know how full your SSD is either. You have to keep a running tally of your runtime; it's simple math and they couldn't include it. Then the lack of custom white balance leaves you standing there thinking to yourself, "What the fuck could they have been thinking?" A slate input screen is great in theory but utterly useless when nothing reads it. 

 

Audio? Didn't mention it earlier 'cause it's unusable too. Not only is the frequency response inaccurate, at one point it was automatically switching from MIC to LINE if it detects clipping, rendering it essentially inoperable (I'm not sure if this is still the case).

 

If you know what you're getting into and have a solution to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera's numerous problems, you should be more than happy with it at the MSRP of $1,995 USD.

 

Update: LUT used for 'Video' record/display renders reds noticeably orange and overall is more orange than displayed on screen. This applies for the in-camera Look Up Table as well as the one used within DaVinci Resolve.

Edited October 8, 2013 by dezeltheintern

[douchecanoe]

Images no workey

 

Edit: Well, I guess I just had to login. Ironic, as I had to login to post this comment. Funny how things work

[Lil Chillbil]

Epic, this is good news as my friend erwin is buying this 

[Edzel Yago]

Images no workey

 

Edit: Well, I guess I just had to login. Ironic, as I had to login to post this comment. Funny how things work

 

Mang, I uploaded to IMGUR for no reason then!

[M-ursu]

Hi Dezel!

[Edzel Yago]

Hi Dezel!

Hi

[Mentalguy]

Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5k - EF Mount

 

Good review, but its way over my head.

[qwertywarrior]

Great review !

 

im still waiting for organic sensors

COME ON FujiFilm !!!

[VictorB]

Nice review! dezeltheintern can you maybe make video where you explain about filming lenses cameras bitrates codecs editing settings audio mics etc etc? Love to watch such content it is pretty complex to learn about that. I'm thinking about to buy a Panasonic GH3. And I can buy a used shoulder rig system! I like to film on events like truckshows music festivals etc.

[EricX2]

Good review, but its way over my head.

I think this would be the same review he'd put on a very technical camera forum forgetting we're computer geeks not necessarily camera geeks.

 

Which means it's probably a good review.

[megadarkwood]

Can I have it?

[Edzel Yago]

I guess I could do a ELI5/TLDR tonight.  

[gibbsy81]

Do a video review on Linus tech tips.

[Edzel Yago]

Do a video review on Linus tech tips.

 

No time.

[megadarkwood]

No time.

Off-topic, but do you love me?

Slick said he does

[M-ursu]

Off-topic, but do you love me?

Slick said he does

Well this topic translated fast.

[Edzel Yago]

Off-topic, but do you love me?

Slick said he does

 

Well this topic translated fast.

 

So, that weather, eh?

[M-ursu]

So, that weather, eh?

Yeah, i know, its raining again....

[megadarkwood]

So, that weather, eh?

Foggy here

[gibbsy81]

Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5k - EF Mount

Seemingly Relevant Information

I had pre-ordered the camera some time last year and forgot about it until I got a call one day early this year. Did I still want follow through with my order for the camera at ~$2,995 plus taxes? After an internal struggle lasting a couple of days, I declined. Then it went down $1,000 a few months later and I bought one off Amazon from Adorama. Win!

Out of the Box

The box was dinged in transit but everything inside was well packed. You'll find a small packet with some instructions, a CD/DVD for Resolve and other software, the USB dongle license for DaVinci Resolve, carrying strap, camera with sun shield, and a modular power adapter with several tips to accommodate power sockets around the world. The design of the box is fine, it's a box, the artwork and layout is detailed but clean. The box is hard to open as it creates a bit of an air seal. Once you get the lid off and pick it up, you're greeted with a surprisingly heavy chunk of metal.

Pretty On the Outside

The ID is subtle, clean, bare, and incredibly solid. The aluminum unibody is sexy, heavy, built like a tank. The simple and flat form factor has garnered a bit of hate for its lack of ergonomics of any sort but if you go into it with the understanding that you're going to put it on a tripod, shoulder rig, what have you, it's just not an issue. Would it be nice if it was shaped more friendly for holding? Absolutely. Do I hold it against the camera? No, it has a purpose and handheld 'run & gun' isn't it.

If it's not metal, it's soft-touch or rubber. The front, with exception to the barrel turret, is soft touch with a metal border. Covering the side I/O are rubber flaps. A hinged metal door serves as the SSD compartment lid; there is no locking mechanism to keep the bay closed and my SSD is too thin; it wobbles and rattles inside without a shim to keep it still. The buttons and area on the face are soft-touch. It feels nice, it feels like a premium feature. Unfortunately, this makes the buttons feel less robust and instills in me a fear that the coating will come off. Rational? No idea. We'll see in time, I guess. Immediate observations are that it picks up dirt right quick and it shows easily given that it's black.

The screen is bright, clear, accurate, and informative. Along the bottom is all the information it will ever display. If you're out in the sun or have a light behind you, good luck seeing anything because the glossy screen isn't just glossy, it's like a god damned mirror. Wear a hoodie at all times when operating the camera so you can block out the light.With only 9 buttons, it looks deceptively simple for something capable of so much.

User Interface via Touch

Coming from DSLRs, ENG cameras, small camcorders, or the FS700, having so few buttons or physical controls seems crippling until you realize that there isn't much to control. There's a button to enable peaking, a button to auto-set the iris, power, menu, then playback controls. So how do you set everything else? Through the touchscreen.

Again, you find the bare minimum. It has everything you need to operate it contained within 4 screens. Though it offers everything you need, it doesn't have everything you would want. There is no custom white balance, leaving you only 6 presets to choose from. When you tap on the screen you get the slate where you can input the shot metadata. Sounds good, right? It doesn't work. Only FCP and Resolve seem to read it and it doesn't do it well, several parts are even missing within Resolve; Premiere and Avid don't seem to be able to read the metadata at all. As someone who uses Premiere at work and Avid at home, it's disheartening to see that there was no consideration for those two.

Through the menu you can set your frame rates (23.97, 24, 25, 29.97, 30), timelapse intervals, video/film colour profiles for recording as well as the display, sound options, and things like zebras. It's quick, responsive, and accurate. What more can I say about it? It's touchscreen countrol done right.

Beauty Is Only Skin Deep; It's What's Inside That Counts

Right? Well, so far the picture is great. I find it to be kind of grainy out of the camera but cleans up beautifully in post. ProRes and DNxHD 4:2:2 are adequate alternatives to the RAW CinemaDNG files. There is definitely enough leeway in the codec to make changes in post, whether stylistic or technical. Though the white balance was considerably off, it cleaned up well enough after fixing it in Resolve that it didn't really even matter. Coming from h.264 on the DSLR and the related AVCHD from the FS700, the data contained within the ProRes and DNxHD codecs is a refreshing change. The dynamic range offered by the video LUT is great, the range offered by the film LUT in RAW is amazing. I'm hearing 13-stops and I'm not going to argue with that. When used with the included DaVinci Resolve, you've got plenty to work with.

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Though I might argue with Blackmagic's decision to not include lossless compressed; RAW at 5MB per frame leaves my 512GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD capable of only holding about 50 minutes of footage. Shooting RAW that uses up so much space means you're filling up the SSD completely and quickly, potentially leading to a quick death to it. The matter is made worse by Blackmagic's incredibly stupid decision to not include the ability for the camera to send a TRIM command to the SSD. if you don't know, TRIM is the SSD equivalent to defrag and is necessary for keeping your SSD from slowing down and dying, especially when you're shooting RAW. The high write speeds required to do so is easily compromised when you're not properly maintaining the SSD integrity and failure means dropped frames or worse.

The ~2.4 crop factor hasn't really bugged me that much, really. I don't think I'll be getting a wider lens any time soon while my 17-35 exists. This might bite me in the ass in the future if I find myself in a cramped space but until then, I'm running happy-go-lucky. Sticking a 70-200mm on it is a bit much unless you're looking for extreme close-ups.

Incredible But Flawed

There's no denying the amazing image that you can get out of this camera. Though it's up to the user to make things look good, having the data/material to make it look even better is not something to be disregarded when considering cameras and their codecs. The 12-30v DC input for an external power supply is something I greatly appreciate as it allows me to avoid buying extremely expensive batteries or numerous small ones that I would have to change out constantly (Pocket, I'm looking at you!) The crop factor is acceptable, the touchscreen UI is the best I've seen, the build is perfect and the price is right.

With all that said, it's infuriating that TRIM being so easy to implement (literally a few lines of code, apparently) was left out. Blackmagic's decision not to implement TRIM has and will render SSDs unusable in short order as I doubt most would even know how to induce TRIM on their own. There's no way to know how full your SSD is either. You have to keep a running tally of your runtime; it's simple math and they couldn't include it. Then the lack of custom white balance leaves you standing there thinking to yourself, "What the fuck could they have been thinking?" A slate input screen is great in theory but utterly useless when nothing reads it.

Audio? Didn't mention it earlier 'cause it's unusable too. Not only is the frequency response inaccurate, at one point it was automatically switching from MIC to LINE if it detects clipping, rendering it essentially inoperable (I'm not sure if this is still the case).

If you know what you're getting into and have a solution to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera's numerous problems, you should be more than happy with it at the MSRP of $1,995 USD.

Update: LUT used for 'Video' record/display renders reds noticeably orange and overall is more orange than displayed on screen. This applies for the in-camera Look Up Table as well as the one used within DaVinci Resolve.

Now that I look again it that looks like the ncix tech tips set so your he ncix tech tips cameraman.