Is the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera still king in 2018? Part II

The Blackmagic Super 16mm sensor size works wonders when paired with the Metabones Speed Booster. The world is going large sensor, high frame rate crazy and 4K-ready but there’s still a lot of stories you can tell with 1080p on the Pocket Cinema Camera.

However, it isn’t a substitute for a heavily rigged up camera you put on your shoulder. I would choose the BMCC for that instead. Having a small and light camera and making it big and heavy just seems pointless! If you’re going to hook up a huge battery and shoot hours and hours of footage in fact, why not just use the original BMCC 2.5K? In fact, for hours of footage, a compressed codec is handy. If you’re wanting to hold out for a system that shoots 2-4 k, I can honestly tell you it’s simply not worth it. I’ve already seen it used as a B cam to Red and Arri. The RAW is very large though, but you probably won’t need it unless you are doing heavy VFX or intense color correction. For more flexible RAW footage shoot at ISO 800.

One side note on the grain: it is best to ETTR, the shadowy areas can get a bit noisy at the native 800 ISO. It is limited to ISO 1600, but, with the Metabones speed booster, it’s essentially ISO 5000 after the 1 and 2/3 stop increase in light. It could easily be cleaned up with noise reduction. The noise/grain is more fine and similar looking to film grain, almost monochromatic, so very different from the awfulness of DSLR noise. The picture quality is the most compelling reason to use this camera. The raw image can be intercut with many of the more expensive cinema cameras costing 20x-40x the price.

Currently, the latest version offers on-screen frame guides, including 1.78:1, 1.85:1 and 2.35:1. It also offers audio level meters, the ability to format the card in the camera (exFAT or HFS), as well as the ability to show how much time is remaining on the card. It also has ProRes HQ, 4:2:2, LT and Proxy recording.

Next, to add to the mix there’s the Zacuto Z-Finder (or the Kinotehnik) which gives you a much steadier way to handle the camera, whilst staying true to what the pocket form factor is all about – fuss-free, lightweight shooting with no spidery arms and monitors attached. That makes the Pocket a very pure filmmaking tool, one that gets out of the way to an almost invisible degree, even so far as removing tripods from a set. With Warp Stabilizer or Lock and Load, you can control in post, just how much of a handheld feel you want. Lock and Load is so powerful, it’s able to mimic a tripod pan or tilt. The viewfinder adaptor from Kinotehnik fixes the “hand-held” issues and being able to see the screen in the sun. The focus peaking is bright green and easy to see, so pulling focus is a breeze. Zebra stripes work the same as the BMCC, so dialing in exposure is easy as well. The screen isn’t nearly so reflective as the BMCC, so even outdoors I’ve found an external monitor isn’t a necessity (although in some cases, certainly makes life on set easier). Autofocus does work somewhat and it comes in handy under sunlight. It is a bit slow but not a big deal as I shoot mostly in manual. Adding a clunky external monitor kind of defeats the purpose of a pocket-sized camera. This camera is great for shooting in stealth mode. It looks just like a little point and shoot cam, so you can get away with shooting in places not normally welcoming of big cinema cameras. On the outside the camera does not look professional and that’s the beauty of it.