Cinematic AF! Voigtlander 17.5mm .95 & SLR Magic 25mm .95 BMPCC4k

Here is a brief look at how cinematic the BMPCC4k can be utilizing the Voigtlander 17.5mm .95 and SLR Magic 25mm .95. This was the first time shooting a live sports event with these legendary lenses and I learned a tremendous amount. I typically only shoot in the studio with these lenses. The DOF was extremely shallow. ALL HANDHELD and monopod!!

details:

  • both lenses shot wide open .95
  • iso 3,200
  • codec Raw 4:1, 60 FPS
  • film
  • 4k dci
  • edited in Davinci Resolve 15, correction and slight grading.

Please post a comment and let me know your thoughts. Make sure to like and subscribe to this blog for the latest news and updates.

Keep the magic alive,

MT
founder/editor

Iso & Noise!!! Let’s test the BMPCC4k in LOWLIGHT!

I decided to take a closer look at how the BMPCC4k dual iso can handle lowlight and the results are truly amazing! Not only did I test iso 400, 3200, but also 6400 and 12800. I performed light noise reduction and the results must be seen to believe. 

Specs: 4k dci, Raw 4:1, 24 FPS
Lens: Sigma 18-35mm @18mm 1.2

Keep the magic alive,

MT
editor/founder

Resolve 15.2 Update!

I got an email from BMD this morning and wanted to pass on the great news that Davinci Resolve has been updated and could be signal that Blackmagic Raw will soon come to the BMPCC4k. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and until then update Resolve for additional features. 

Keep the magic alive,

MT
editor/founder

From BMD

Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 15.2

Major new release adds over 30 features customers have asked for including even faster editing, visual keyboard customization, new beauty correction tools, audio mastering plugins and more!

Fremont, CA – November 14, 2018 – Blackmagic Design today announced DaVinci Resolve 15.2, a major update to its editing, color correction, visual effects and professional audio post production software. DaVinci Resolve 15.2 has been designed based on feedback from professional customers around the world. It includes over 30 new features that simplify and streamline everyday tasks so editors, colorists and sound engineers can work even faster.

DaVinci Resolve 15.2 is available today for immediate download from the Blackmagic Design website. DaVinci Resolve 15.2 will also be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design InterBEE 2018 booth at #8216. A video showing these new features can be viewed on the Blackmagic Design website at www.blackmagicdesign.com

The editing timeline in DaVinci Resolve 15.2 draws at a higher frame rate which makes editing and trimming feel faster, more responsive and more fluid than ever. In addition, new animations have been added so clips slide in and out of position, making it easier to see exactly how different edits affect other clips in the timeline.

Visual dup detection lets customers see when the same clip has been used more than once. In addition, clips displayed in the bin now display usage indicators for the current active timeline. White vertical lines highlight the currently marked portion of a clip, while red horizontal lines show which frames are used. The timeline can also be cleaned up by flattening down unused clips, and timecode entry has been simplified throughout the application.

DaVinci Resolve 15.2 also adds features that make pancake editing, which is the editing of clips between multiple timelines, much easier and faster than before. Timelines or compound clips can now be loaded into the source viewer and edited into the current timeline in their decomposed state. Most importantly, editors can tap the X key to instantly mark a clip in the source timeline and edit that clip directly into the active program timeline.

The inspector, on-screen controls and metadata viewer on the Edit page now automatically update to show the relevant information for the highest visible clip under the playhead. That means customers no longer have to manually select a clip to change a parameter.

Keyboard customization has been completely redesigned in DaVinci Resolve 15.2. The new visual interface lets editors quickly see which keys are in use and assign shortcuts. The included keyboard sets emulate other popular editing applications, making it easier for editors switching to DaVinci Resolve. Keyboard sets can be shared between systems and shortcuts can now be assigned to different pages and user interface panels within the application. Shortcuts can even be assigned to commands in contextual pop-up menus. New highlights make it easier to see which portion of the interface is active so customers know which keyboard shortcuts they can use.

DaVinci Resolve 15.2 also includes new ResolveFX plugins. The Blanking Fill plugin automatically fills black letterbox or pillar box areas of the screen with defocused video. This makes it easier to use vertical video or photos in standard widescreen timelines because customers no longer have to manually create a background. The new Beauty plugin is designed to gently and realistically smooth textures and blemishes on skin and other surfaces. Colorists will also find new plugins for ACES transformations and limiting gamut. In addition, colorists can now bypass mixer node inputs by turning off connected nodes and can export gallery stills with custom label names.

The Fairlight page includes dozens of refinements along with new FairlightFX plugins that make fixing common problems and mastering final audio faster and easier than before. The new Stereo Fix plugin features presets for the most common channel mapping operations so clips can be fixed with a single click. This lets customers quickly fix problems such as dual-channel mono dialogue that was edited in stereo tracks.

The new Multi-band compressor features realtime spectral analysis and four different independently adjustable frequency bands. This lets customers achieve the desired overall volume without creating artifacts when mastering sound. The Fairlight page also adds new VCA groups for ganging channel strips together. This makes it possible to adjust the gain on multiple tracks simultaneously.

Since it was announced at NAB last April, Blackmagic Design engineers have been listening to feedback from professional customers around the world and have been working hard to add the features they need. Over 110 new features have been added to DaVinci Resolve since April.

“The momentum of DaVinci Resolve and the speed at which it’s being adopted is incredible,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “It’s exciting because many of the new features in DaVinci Resolve 15.2 are things that will make a difference to artists that use it each and every day. This is a massive release that customers are going to love!”

New features added since the release of DaVinci Resolve 15

Edit

  • High frame rate timeline refresh with animations.
  • Visual keyboard customization.
  • Support for custom shortcuts in different parts of the UI and contextual menus.
  • Highlight indicators showing active portion of interface.
  • Live save and backup support for new, unsaved projects.
  • Import and export dialog boxes now remember last used location.
  • Undo history available in edit menu.
  • Keyword dictionary management tool.
  • Duplicate frame detection with visual indicators on clips in the timeline.
  • Clean up timeline feature to remove and flatten unused clips.
  • Simplified timecode entry.
  • Clip usage and marked range indicators in media pool icon view.
  • Split dual pane media pool option on edit page.
  • Shortcut for editing compound or nested timeline source clips into current timeline.
  • Inspector, overlays and metadata view now update based on highest clip under playhead.
  • Dynamic zoom automatically turns on when on screen controls are moved.
  • Temporary snapping toggle while dragging.
  • Maximum number of characters per second setting for subtitles.
  • Subframe audio transition editing.
  • Blanking fill ResolveFX plug-in automatically fills frame for clips with different aspect ratio.
  • Match frame for the selected clip in the timeline (for a stack of two clips that intersect the playhead).
  • Create subclass from media pool markers.
  • Add flags to clips in media pool.
  • Show source timecode overlays for audio and video tracks in the timeline viewer.
  • Keyframing for OpenFX dropdown and checkbox based parameters.
  • Show clip marker annotations on the timeline viewer.
  • Create clip annotations for a selected clip on the timeline from the timeline viewer.
  • Display marker annotations and overlays for the selected clip marker under the playhead.
  • Delete transitions across clips when one of the clips is deleted.
  • Swap clips in the edit timeline using cmd/ctrl+shift and dragging.
  • Perform insert and swap edits by holding cmd/ctrl+shift while dragging clips from the media pool or source viewer.
  • Custom clip colors for subtitle elements.
  • Insert nested and compound clips in decomposed state during edit operations.
  • Keyword support added to clip and timeline markers.
  • Marker keywords column on the edit index.
  • Display multi-cam angle name in the timeline and source viewer.
  • Clip level panning in the edit and Fairlight inspectors.
  • Export subtitles from timeline track context menus.
  • Export the current subtitle track in the timeline from the file menu.
  • Constrain motion with shift key while modifying title, transform and dynamic zoom viewer overlays.

Fusion

  • Create new Fusion compositions independent of the edit timeline.
  • Saver nodes and loader nodes.
  • ResolveFX plugins on the Fusion page.
  • GPU accelerated OpenFX plugin support.
  • Temporal OpenFX plugins.
  • Frame range sliders automatically scale to render range.
  • Console dialog now accessible from all pages.

Color

  • ResolveFX ACES transform plug-in.
  • ResolveFX gamut limiter plug-in.
  • ResolveFX beauty smoothing plug-in.
  • Bypass mixer node input by turning off connected nodes.
  • Support for exporting gallery stills with custom label names.
  • Tool usage badges.
  • LUTs can be applied on compound nodes.
  • Shared nodes can be converted to a corrector node.
  • Change clip color from the thumbnail context menu on the color page.
  • Display multi-cam angle name on color page clip information.
  • Support for ResolveFX and OpenFX static keyframes in the color page.
  • Hard clip option in the tone and gamut mapping sections of color space transform ResolveFX.
  • Access and select between multiple inputs for OpenFX nodes.

Fairlight Audio

  • FairlightFX multi-band compressor.
  • FairlightFX stereo fixer.
  • Support for modifying transitions created on edit page.
  • Navigate timeline by typing timecode.
  • Darker clip colors for modified clips.
  • Support for adding FairlightFX to multiple select clips at the same time.
  • VCA grouping for ganging channel faders together.
  • Audio ducking using side chain compression in track dynamics.
  • Search field in the Fairlight page track and marker index.
  • Default audio crossfades changed to 0dB.
  • Reset command for edited audio samples in a clip.
  • Round trip audio clips to third party audio processing applications.
  • Cache clips with FairlightFX and AudioFX.
  • Bounce clips with FairlightFX and AudioFX to a new layer.
  • Paste attributes for audio tracks.
  • Remove attributes for audio tracks.
  • Solo-safe for audio tracks and buses by cmd/ctrl-alt-clicking solo buttons in the mixer.
  • Fairlight FX soft clipper.
  • Sub-bus and aux-bus routing in nested timelines.
  • Automatically disable source audio clips after bouncing audio effects.
  • Show source timecode overlays for audio and video tracks in the timeline viewer.

Deliver

  • Added support for exporting alpha when rendering TIFF files.
  • Added support for encoding at maximum bit rate for Kakadu JPEG 2000 when rendering DCP and IMF in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
  • Added support for Kakadu based lossless JPEG 2000 encoding in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
  • Improved performance when rendering H.264 clips on Windows.
  • Added support for rendering with Dolby Vision/HDR10+ tone mapping applied.
  • Added support for modifying the filename field in the deliver page.
  • Added support for delivering supplemental IMF packages with versioning metadata for frame replacement and shot replacement workflows.
  • Added support for importing IMF packages and supplemental compositions as timelines.
  • Added support for encoding per frame timecode metadata in Grass Valley HQ and HQX clips.
  • Added support for Photon validation of IMF packages in the media pool and in the render settings in the deliver page.

Collaboration

  • Support for collaboration across different network subnets.
  • Support for Fusion in collaborative projects.
  • Adding or modify markers without locking a bin.
  • Indicator for clips with color grading and Fusion comp updates on edit page.
  • Command to refresh single clip or all clips on edit page.

General

  • Supports hardware accelerated decode of long GOPonic AVC clips on NVIDIA hardware.
  • Supports stereoscopic 3D multi-view EXR files.
  • Improved scripting with ability to add and query markers, flags and clip color metadata.
  • Support for storing alpha channel when caching to uncompressed 16-bit float – HDR.
  • Support for storing alpha channel when caching to uncompressed 10-bit float formats.
  • Support for caching compound clips, Fusion clips and nested timelines.
  • Support for tetrahedral 3D interpolation in DCTLs.
  • Support for ACES 1.1.
  • Processing Fusion compositions in linear gamma in color managed and ACES workflows.
  • Copy and paste actions for Dolby Vision trim data in the application menu.
  • Alt/option + middle click to copy Dolby Vision trim metadata for the current target display.
  • Alt/option + shift + middle click to copy Dolby Vision trim metadata for all target displays.
  • Clip thumbnail indicator can show clips analyzed for Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
  • Support for importing clip markers from a Final Cut Pro 7 XML file.
  • Support for preserving bin hierarchy when importing media and metadata from a Final Cut Pro 7 XML file.
  • Support for importing marker colors and duration markers on clips when importing media using FCP7 XML files.
  • Support for exporting subtitle files in project archives.
  • Support for automatic generation of MD5 media hash lists from clone tool operations.
  • Display audio channel names in clip attributes.
  • Show clip color indicator on media pool thumbnails.
  • Change clip color from the application menu on the media, edit and color pages.
  • See bin name in the title bar of a floating media pool bin.
  • Add information about synced audio name option, audio channel metadata.

Availability and Price

DaVinci Resolve and DaVinci Resolve Studio 15.2 are now available for download from the Blackmagic Design website free of charge for all current DaVinci Resolve customers.

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve 15, as well as all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

What’s new in Blackmagic Camera Setup 6.0

Improvements for URSA Mini Pro

  • Improved ISO range on URSA Mini Pro.
  • Improved in camera playback.
  • Improved status display info for off-speed.
  • Improved responsiveness of color corrector.
  • Improved timecode support.
  • Improved metadata support.
  • Improved shutter metadata.
  • Add HDR metadata support in SDI stream.
  • Add 2:1 monitoring frame guides.
  • Add ability to lock timecode from SDI Input.
  • Add frame guide options in SDI Camera Control Protocol.
  • Fixed LCD clean feed record indicator bug.
  • Fixed stills bug.
  • Updated URSA Mini and SDK manual.

New features for URSA Viewfinder

  • Add Generation 4 Color Science.
  • Add 4.6K Film to Extended Video LUT.
  • Add support for 2:1 frame guides.
  • Improved anamorphic frame guides.
  • Improved false color.
  • Fixed Extended Video 6.0 Beta LUT bug.
  • General performance improvements.

New features for URSA Studio Viewfinder

  • Add Generation 4 Color Science.
  • Add 4.6K Film to Extended Video LUT.
  • Add support for 2:1 frame guides.
  • Improved anamorphic frame guides.
  • General performance improvements.

A Couple Dollars A Month Keeps BMPCC4k User Tech Blog Going!

I need your donations to continue writing, filming, and creating content focused on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4k. I am a one man crew that dedicates many hours to create content for users looking for knowledge and information for this innovative camera. Only with your support can I continue to create the tests, reviews and in-depth articles about the BMPCC4k. 

I have owned the BMPCC4k since October 15, 2018 and immediately starting doing in-depth tests to discover the potential and performance of this amazing camera. Hence, the blog was born so I could share my user knowledge of the camera. 

www.BMPCC4k.tech
 is the first user tech blog dedicated to the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 4k. I publish articles, videos, how-to’s, news and reviews of anything and everything relating to the innovative BMPCC4k. 

Donate safely on Patreon Today!

Keep the magic alive, 

MT
editor/founder

A Surprising Cage For The BMPCC4k! SmallRig cage and handle

I took a look at the SmallRig BMPCC4k cage 2203 and handle 1638. I was very surprised by the results with the cage and handle at an astonishingly low price of $88! Currently the cage is on sale for $69 (regular price $99) and the handle is $19. You get a total of 89 potential screw mounts on the cage and handle combined! 

You must watch the video! 

Keep the magic alive,

MT
editor/founder

Can The BMPCC4k Do Well In Lowlight?

I initially doubted the lowlight capability of the BMPCC4k. Especially after owning the BMPCC and BMCC which were prone to noise and FPN in lowlight settings. Yes, they stated on the spec sheet of the BMPCC4k a dual native iso of 400 and 3200 with capability of reaching 25,600! But how noisy will it be? Any FPN? Will the footage be usable or correctable?!

At the moment I cannot release too much footage of my projects and that is why I do more tests that can illustrate the same point. But after looking at some footage I shot I came across this frame and really liked it and felt it demonstrated some of the power of the lowlight capability.

Keep in mind this was given a simple grade in Resolve by changing the gamma to extended video, increase the exposure +1, saturation by 10. This was shot with a speedbooster at 1.2, Sigma 18-35mm, Raw 4:1, and iso 3,200. I also denoised the image but this was a quick correction and grade of the footage and not a final correction or grade.  When shooting in Raw there is no in camera noise reduction. This allows all the Raw data to be captured. 

Davinci Resolve is a must to truly unlock the potential within each of the data pixels. So do yourself and footage a favor and at the least perform corrections and grading in Resolve. This footage was obtained at night in a parking lot with only a few lights in the distance. No lighting was used just a super fast lens and the higher native iso of 3,200.

iso 3,200 no corrections or grading

The initial ungraded footage shocked me and I thought it was garbage and unusable because of the noise and extremely dark shadows. I wondered if any detail was available. Yes, I shot in Raw 4:1 but I have never had to pull so much information from an image. 

iso 3,200 slight correction and grading. 

I was happy to see that so much information was captured and I was able to bring back to life in Resolve. I removed some of the noise, increase the exposure slightly, boost some of the color and overall the image after a quick grade and correction looks very usable. I breathed a deep sigh of relief! 

No we will take a closer look at the focal point of the image to see the shadows, color, and detail retention.

ungraded no corrections zoomed in
slight grade and corrections zoomed in

The corrections and grade might be a little too much because it has a soft look but some noise can be put back in or film grain to give it a “cinematic” look. But everything is to your personal taste the main point is having the pixel data retained and being able to correct and grade the raw footage in such a lowlight situation is amazing. 

If you are still not convinced checkout this extreme zoom side by side and look at the colors, skin, and shadows. It truly is an amazing lowlight beast! Noise is always an issue when increasing iso but at 3,200 and correcting/grading in Resolve you can make your images go from garbage to usable with a few clicks of the mouse. Of course, starting with Raw cannot be emphasized enough. 

left is graded/corrected. right is ungraded/no corrections. 

I hope this post will help you understand the power of the BMPCC4k and the innovative dual iso that must be paired with Resolve for the greatest results. 

Keep the magic alive, 

MT
editor/founder

STOP! READ! Before you buy the Viltrox ef M2 .71x speedbooster

I purchased the Viltrox ef M2 .71x speedbooster and after initially testing I realized it wasn’t as sharp as the low budget Pixco .71x but considering that it had iris control I decided to keep it. But I wanted to conduct one more test to verify how sharp and how much color the Viltrox was able to transmit. I did not plan on writing an article or releasing a video but what I discovered may help you make your decision before you purchase.

When I received the Viltrox the focus was horrible (watch the first Viltrox video) I turned the glass clockwise and kept rechecking until the the focus was as best as possible. The glass could not turn anymore. As far as I know the Viltrox is genuine and all the packaging appears to be OEM. Nothing indicates that this is a “knock-off”.

I conducted the test using my super sharp Sigma 18-35 1.8, camera settings: 400 iso, 4k dci, raw lossless, 24 fps, cokin ND filter, film, both speedboosters at 1.2 aperture. All the variables are the exact same the only thing that was adjusted on each test was the focus. The lens was set to 18mm, 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm. I did not adjust the aperture of the Viltrox because I wanted to see what both speedboosters could do wide open and the Pixco could not be adjusted. Why would I want a speedbooster that could not keep up with a low budget at 1.2? Also, why buy fast glass if you need to increase the iris beyond its native 1.8? Something is wrong if you need to close the iris beyond the native 1.8 to get a focus shot and color retention. That can only be an indicator of cheap/poor quality glass on the speedbooster. 

Keep in mind, many times when lenses are declared sharp or that they have great color transmission the images are not focus and color charts which provide a baseline that can be closely examined. I initially filmed a fence that served the primary purpose but using the chart will truly unlock everything in question. 

Viltrox 35mm, ungraded
Pixco 35mm, ungraded

Initially it appears the Viltrox is slightly lighter and after we change the gamma in Davinci Resolve to extended video the pixel data becomes more apparent. 

Viltrox 35mm, extended video
Pixco 35mm, extended video

Now the center is zoomed in to see how much color and focus is captured. Keep in mind each lens was focused as much as possible on the chart and the focus peaking on the camera lit up the chart. 

Viltrox 18mm, zoomed in at center
Pixco 18mm, zoomed in at center
Viltrox 18mm, extreme zoom center
Pixco 18mm, extreme zoom center

The Pixco at 18mm clearly is sharper and has more color than the Viltrox. At 18mm the lens is wide and now we will take a look at 35mm in the center to see how it performs. 

Viltrox 35mm, zoomed in at center
Pixco 35mm, zoomed in at center
Viltrox 35mm, extreme zoom center
Pixco 35mm, extreme zoom center

With the lens at the wide 18mm and zoomed in at 35mm the Pixco clearly out performs the more expensive Viltrox. The corners of the charts reveal the same thing, the Pixco is sharper and has more color than the Viltrox. Although the Pixco on the “t” focus lines on the right and left have slightly more aberrations than the Viltrox but I am not sure if those appear because of the sharpness and the Viltrox cannot transmit the slight aberations. 

Another thing being discussed on forums is the Viltrox costs $229 on Amazon from the manufacturer but other sellers have them on Ebay for $129 in the USA. Not sure what is going on with that but considering the Pixco is $88 and has a sharper focus and more color transmission I will be sending back the Viltrox because electronic iris control is not more important than sharpness and color transmission in my opinion. 

Keep the magic alive,

MT
editor/founder

Coming Soon: Speedbooster Color Focus Chart Review! $88 vs $229 (or $129?)

I just wrapped up doing extensive testing of the Pixco ef-mft .71x and Viltrox ef m2 .71x speedboosters with a color focus chart and you will be blown away by the results! I was debating on keeping the Viltrox for the electronic iris but wanted to do this last test. 

It’s one thing to look at an object in a shot and proclaim it to be sharp or to look at a shot of the sky and declare it blue. But when you shoot a chart and all the variables are equal only the sharpest and truest color will win!

One last point the manufacturer sells the Viltrox on Amazon for $229 but there is some sellers on Ebay based in the USA for $129? Are they really the same retailer? Is it the same product? 

There is a price difference between the Pixco and Viltrox and some people prefer electronic iris control but will the pixel data suffer? Find out next week!

Keep the magic alive, 

MT
editor/founder

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