Since there have been quite a few more good videos about the Pocket 4K released we thought we would round them up here. It sounds like Blackmagic doesn’t expect the backlog to be fully cleared until January. We’re still waiting for our pre-order.
Autofocus at F1.2 on the Canon EOS R
Of course this is using Canon’s new nice but expensive 50mm F1.2 lens. This lens does look quite nice and if this is the starting point for Canon mirrorless then autofocus can only improve in future generations. Shame about the crop.
Fuji X-T3 Autofocus with Fringer Adapter
So they decided to throw on an expensive telephoto lens (Canon 600mm F4) onto the Fuji X-T3 via a Fringer adapter. In this video both photo and video mode auto-focus is shown. It’s nice to see mirrorless auto-focus continuing to improve and in a few more generations it should be pretty damn good.
Nikon Z6 Video Low Light
Having 10-bit out over HDMI is less of achievement now that we are dealing with cheap 12-bit from the Blackmagic Pocket 4K. 10-bit internal should be the minimum. Nonetheless, if you need a small, light hybrid camera there are more options out now than there have ever been, one of which is the Nikon Z6:
Blackmagic Pocket 4K Versus iPhone 8 Plus
Some might take this to be a strange comparison but we are happy to see it. What we take from this: your story is more important than your tool (camera). There are many, many reasons why we wouldn’t want to shoot on an iPhone, but if it’s all we had we would have no excuses.
Interestingly, at 3:58 in there appears to be visible IR pollution with the black outfit appearing brown. We haven’t seen too many reports of this on the Pocket 4K and early reports seemed to indicate the IR pollution was much better controlled than previous cameras.
Fuji X-H1 Best Video Settings
We hope that Fuji will release an X-H2 in-line with what they did with the X-T3. Fuji is one of those companies like Nikon that we don’t understand why they don’t go all out on a video product as they aren’t protecting a more experience line of video cameras.
BMPCC 4k Versus BMCC 2.5k
So many acronyms but you know we mean. We’ve seen posts on some forums claiming that the BMCC 2.5k had a better, more filmic, more organic, less video, or more “mojo” look when compared to the Pocket 4K. Now, these are different cameras with different sensors and different versions of color science. It’s not unfair to postulate differences. But we’ve yet to see any compelling evidence that the Pocket 4K’s image can’t be made to look magic. We think the higher resolution, the neutrality of the colours, and the lack of noise in the footage make the output of the 4K lack immediately recognizable character. However, like a good microphone, there is an advantage in having a faithful, neutral recording that you can later adjust rather than being committed to a certain kind of character from the outset.
This video nicely shows how close you can get the BMPCC 4k and BMCC 2.5k images:
Olympus E-M1X
We have a new source reporting the following details to us about Olympus’s next, premium micro-four-thirds camera:
- 20MP Sensor
- 20FPS
- Improved autofocus
- Advanced handheld high-resolution mode
- Released Q1 2019
- $2499 launch price
- Best video features in an Olympus to date
Again, this is a new source so all of the above are _unconfirmed_ at this time.
More Reviews and Thoughts on the Blackmagic Pocket 4K
One of our favorite people, Paul Leeming of Leeming LUT Pro (we use his LUTS on all our consumer Panasonic cameras) made a concise summary of his initial findings with the Blackmagic Pocket 4K camera:
“I have to say the 12 bit RAW footage is SO much nicer to deal with in post than 10bit 4:2:2 😂 The cleanliness and separation of colours is lovely and they really pop, without any artifacting or colour bleed. This camera is simply stunning for the price! So far I’ve only been doing technical tests, in order to characterise the sensor. I will try to do some more beauty and artistic shots over the next few days to really see how it handles in a narrative sense, but I am pretty sure that it’s going to look incredible judging by the tech tests!!!”
We will be purchasing his LUT for the Blackmagic Pocket 4K as it’s just such a time saver for us.
We hesitate to post the next video as we feel Wolfcrow has mis-characterized the Blackmagic Pocket 4K in the past, but hey, it’s not for us to decide what you should or should not see:
Cinema 5D have also released their first look review:
Canon EOS R C-Log as B Camera for the C200 or C300?
It’s hard to say that much positive about Canon given their consistent betrayal of the lower end of their products. Yet their tools are still viable in the hands of a competent media producer.