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.
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.
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.
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.
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