We often have to blindly trust spec sheets and compressed online footage before purchasing a camera. Sony, Nikon, Canon, and anyone else that builds cameras are all guilty of this -- at best we get a few 720p YouTube or Vimeo videos, and at worst, we don't get any footage at all. Thanks to Blackmagic and John Brawley, you won't have to do the same thing with the Cinema Camera because just this morning, he posted RAW files (in Cinema DNG format) on the new Blackmagic forum. Five short clips were selected from a film he had been shooting that range from internal lighting, to external lighting, to low-light -- all in a completely adjustable RAW format. So what are you waiting for? Download the files now and start pushing this footage as far as possible.
Here is a quick grade of that footage thanks to Shian Storm:
Here are the shots - you can download them by clicking on the photos themselves or using the links below. Remember they are in Cinema DNG format so you'll either need Resolve, one of Adobe's products, or any other specific color program that might be able to handle them.
Shot 1: ISO 800. 24 FPS 172.8 Deg shutter. 5600K. 85mm @ Zeiss Compact Prime T2.1. Schneider sapphire ND 6.
Shot 2: ISO 800. 24 FPS 172.8 Deg shutter 5600K 35mm Zeiss Compact Prime @ T2.1 Schneider Sapphire ND 6
Shot 3: ISO 800. 24 FPS 172.8 Deg shutter. 5600K 50mm Zeiss Compact Prime. T 5.6 2/3
Shot 4: ISO 1600. 24 FPS 172.8 Deg Shutter. 5600K. 50mm EF Canon "L" @ F1.4
Shot 5: ISO 1600 24 FPS, 172.8 Deg Shutter. 5600K. 50mm EF Canon "L" @ F1.4
The biggest thing that people have been wondering about is how this camera performs at a higher ISO setting and in lower light -- and thanks to this footage -- we can see both of those things in action, and actually get to mess around with the files ourselves. All of these clips just reinforce the things I have been saying about the camera. There is something about the way this camera renders colors and skin tones that I haven't seen in any other camera under $10,000.
I have to applaud both John and Blackmagic for releasing footage like this for people to mess around with. While it would have been nice to play around with some of it sooner -- we honestly can't complain if we consider that none of the big manufacturers have done anything remotely like this before their cameras are released. On the one hand, I understand why they do it, but on the other, it forces people to trust compressed web footage and reviews from sites like this one.
Download the footage and let me know what you guys think. Even better -- upload the footage that you've graded and post it here in the comments. It will be interesting to see how far people can push these RAW files.
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