The much-anticipated Blackmagic Cinema Camera is just weeks away from finally being released after an impressive NAB showing. John Brawley, a Director of Photography from Australia who has been posting video samples from the camera and has also frequented our comments section to answer questions, sits down with Chris Zwar from ProVideo Coalition. The topics range from the history of his work, to his philosophy about shooting, to the history of Blackmagic as a company, to a complete overview of the Cinema Camera. The entire conversation runs a little over an hour, but the sheer amount of material covered will likely answer any questions you have about the camera.
If you're watching the video and wondering about the audio, this is what Chris had to say:
I have to apologise again for the poor audio, and can only suggest that you shouldn’t send a compositor to do a sound recordist’s job, but perhaps the annoying hum is a reminder that this isn’t a professional production, just a casual chat amongst friends- and we’ve invited you to join us. If you’d like to get in touch with me and offer tips on the correct way to plug in a microphone, or you’re interested to know if I’m better at compositing than I am at sound recording, head over to my website and look around.
Recapping everything he just said would be a little redundant, but it is absolutely worth it to listen to the entire conversation. One point that he makes that I probably haven't reiterated enough is just how solid the Cinema Camera feels. For anyone who might think this looks like a toy, the actual device couldn't be further from that description. It's actually quite a bit heavier than any DSLR, and feels far sturdier. While not everything is going to be perfect about a first generation camera, Blackmagic definitely got a lot of things right and is entering the market with a camera that does not really have any competitors at the moment in terms of price, performance, and flexibility. This camera was always designed to be an accompanying camera (not a do everything camera), and while it's likely going to be a B camera on bigger productions, there's no question it's going to be the A camera on plenty of films.
If you're interested, Chris also has an accompanying article to go along with these videos.
Link: Blackmagic’s camera - The dark art of digital cinematography - Provideo Coalition
[via planet5D]
