GEAR BLACKMAGIC POCKET CINEMA CAMERA 4K TEST
Nikon, Panasonic and even Leica are championing the switch to full-frame mirrorless cameras, the Blackmagic sticks with a Micro Four Thirds sensor and matching lens mount. So the sensor is a quarter the surface of a full-frame 35mm chip, with all the negatives that can bring. For example, to get the very cinematic shallow depth-of-field, you need some incredibly fast glass (lenses like this are available from a range of manufacturers, fromMFT pioneers like Olympus and Panasonic as well as the myriad of independent brands). These lenses are typically much smaller and cheaper than full-frame optics, and the mount is great for using adapted glass, for everything from Canon and Nikon to PL-mount cinema lenses. So much for the spec, but in use the camera feels much like a scaled-down Ursa Mini Pro – mainly thanks to its on-screen menus, which are eerily similar. The screen menus are easy to see, very obvious to change, and put a stunning array of options at your fingertips. They show frame rates, shutter speed or angle – which of course you can specify – and everything else you need to know at a glance. These are all placed around the outside of the screen so you can leave them on while filming, without any real distraction. To start and stop recording, there is a button on the front where most mirrorless cameras have a shutter release for taking stills. Next to this is a small button that does allow you to take stills, and those are saved as DNG Raw. There is one simple dial on the front of the body that usually
or SD card. There are also built-in LUTs, or you can upload your own. Nothing else on the market comes close to that spec. Best of all is the price. It’s on sale at just £1055/$1295, which puts it in a league of its own. And it comes bundled with a full version of DaVinci Resolve software – a fully-featured editing, colour grading, audio and VFX software package that usually cost £275/ $299, making the actual cost of the camera ridiculously low. You do the math, as the phrase has it. They’re the good bits, but of course no camera is perfect. You might not need deep pockets to buy the PCC4K but you’d need very large ones to store it in: it might be called the Pocket Cinema Camera – but you couldn’t carry it in your pocket without ruining the lines of your suit. At more than seven inches wide – which of course it needs to be as it has a five-inch screen – it’s hardly an inconspicuous run-and-gun filmmakers’ dream. There are also no auto exposure modes at all, and the AF is the old-school contrast detect that pales in comparison to rivals’ Dual Pixel AF or fancy hybrid phase detect systems. There’s also no image stabilisation, no viewfinder, no waveform monitoring, and a fixed screen that can suffer from glare outdoors. And although Blackmagic claim it’s made from carbon fibre composite material, it feels decidedly like a consumer model rather than a sturdy metal camera. The only 120fps slow-motion is HD and is from a windowed version of the already small sensor, which is the camera’s obvious major issue. While Sony, Canon,
“The menus are easy to see and show everything you need to know at a glance”
controls the aperture, but can also control other settings you want to alter. Touch the icon on the touchscreen, then either use the touchscreen slider or the control dial. There are also dedicated buttons to change ISO and white- balance, as all pro cameras should have. There are also three function buttons – one toggles false colour, one shows the effect of the display LUT, and one toggles frame guidelines. The back of the camera has two obvious buttons. One is an instant auto exposure button where the camera changes the aperture, useful for a quick stab at getting you in the ballpark. The other is an autofocus button that uses the contrast-detect AF system to hunt for whatever the focus point is aimed at. It’s precise, as long as your subject is static. The camera also allows you to do focus pulls by touching the screen, but the old- school AF hunts on pretty much every subject so it’s largely useless for serious work. Below these buttons are four smaller buttons to trigger high
ABOVE Sockets have a solid rubber cover, and include a headphone socket, mini XLR jack, AC inlet and USB-C port ideal for recording to hard drives.
LEFT Menus are clear and easy to use, with a remarkable similarity to those of the Ursa Mini Pro.
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PRO MOVIEMAKER WINTER 2018
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