How do you feel as a collective digital film and video community now three weeks into receiving the news of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K? Are you still in shock like the rest of us? Have you donated your BMPCC4K to your 12-year-old nephew with the rest of your obsolete toys? Are you using your speedbooster as a coffee table coaster?
In the wake of this 6K craziness. We’ve found that we’ve woken up in a new world where nothing is stable and everything is changing. (For the better perhaps, but at what price?) If you are on the fence about what you should do as you face down the decision of whether or not you should buy a BMPCC6K, here are the six reasons why you simply have no choice.
1) It’s 6K
Boom! 4K is now officially the way of Full HD, SD and flip-phone cameras. Regardless of the workflow concerns as to how you could actually work with 6K footage with all your recently upgraded to 4K storage, monitors and processing powers. 6K is absolutely the here and the now.
Until, you know, 8K replaces it. Which apparently is happening very soon.
2) It EF-Mount
For many filmmakers and videographers who for years worked with their Canon 5Ds, 7Ds, etc… and invested heavily into EF-mount lenses, this might have been one of the few drawbacks to diving all in on the BMPCC4K. It’s both great and a shame that Blackmagic recognized this only after the fact of the BMPCC4K being released.
However, if we’re going to nitpick, the BMPCC4K has plenty of adapter options to work compatibility with EF lenses. It just adds costs, which gets it pretty close to what you’re getting with the BMPCC6K now.
3) It’s Super 35
This point only matters for those who believe that Super 35 matters. To some, Super 35 filmmaking is the only true form of coverage. For others, the argument is usually that the format is simply a filmmaking tool, and it’s not the tools that make a job. It’s the tool-user. (That’s you, the filmmaker.)
If you are curious and don’t know if you care if this matters, here is a good article for you.
4) It’s only $2,500
What a price! And technically speaking, it’s actually $2,495.00 over at Adorama. But what’s in a price? According to Lewis McGregor (aka UglyMcGregor on Youtube), the true cost of the BMPCC4K eventually adds up to between $2,800 to $3,600 once you add in everything you need to feasibly go and start filming professionally. We also covered this idea of the cameras 'real price' recently.
While the BMPCC6K might not cost you as much additionally if you were going to need to invest in some sort of EF-mount adapter, it does require some start-up costs. But then again, what camera doesn’t?
5) It’ll be a great A-cam partner for your B-cam BMPCC4K
A while ago wrote about comparing the BMPCC4K with the old Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro. Obviously, the URSA Mini Pro is going to be the superior camera. And the new URSA Mini Pro G2 even more so.
However, if you don’t own or want to rent an URSA Mini Pro and if you are a BMPCC4K owner and looking at the BMPCC6K for whatever your reasons may be, having the 4K serve as your B-cam to your 6K A-cam does make a little bit of sense.
6) The BMPCC8K will come out in 6 months
And the number one (er, #6 reason I guess?) why you should absolutely buy the BMPCC6K camera right now is… because we can only assume a BMPCC8K will be coming out in another 6 months. SO! If you want to maximize the amount of time in which you’re utilizing one of the best pieces of filmmaking equipment currently on the market, you’ll have to act fast.
If you wait a few weeks or months, you might find yourself in the unlucky spot of paying the new price for something that drops in (perceived) value a few days after your first shoot. Don’t let that happen!
