The Blackmagic is more than enough to tell a story. If you have this camera, the challenge is not whether or not you have a decent camera anymore but whether or not you have a decent story to tell, with decent actors and you will be able to have production value, such as access to great locations, etc....Yes there is a difference, but not one any audience not interested in camera will be bothered by.
Agree. At the end what I found more cinematic in the Alexa example, wasn't the camera that much, but the type of location with that gorgeous background and Ana Kendrick herself.
Yup, that's totally true! But if you spent enough money on locations, actors, crew, lightning, lenses, another 200-500$ for camera rental won't make a huge difference I suppose.
My only critique would be to speak less and show more. If you're going to continue to speak why not show us some broll of you setting up. Keep us engaged! Either way dope content.
I concur. You are very informative and explain well and I like your approach to more scene / shot based comparison. However, you could show more visuals while doing the preparatory explanation.
Nice comparison! But low contrast overcast lighting is always more forgiving. It'd be great to see how the BMPCC4k compares to the Alexa in a scene with bright backlit sunlight. But the takeaway is clear, if you can't get your film to look "cinematic" with today's offerings of affordable cameras including the BMCC4k, you can't blame the camera.
I totally get your point and agree with it somewhat but just yesterday I saw a comparison between the GH5s Log and the Log C from ARRI and the dynamic range is simply INSANE. I feel like a great video idea would be to use the ALEXA footage as reference and judge the log footage from two other manufacturers and compare them on the ARRI scale of details
daniel maks the Alexa can take a beating. It’s a production camera the Pocket is not. I have a GH5s and was thinking about switching to the pocket because the pocket gives me a clean image at ISO 1250 in film mode while the GH5s always has some shadow noise in V-LogL that’s makes exposing low light more difficult. The pocket also has better codecs. I don’t care much for RAW but I’d prefer ProRes to the codec the GH5s gives me. Now I don’t ever have to worry that my GH5s will overheat, freeze in the cold or get water damage from rain while the pocket just isn’t reliable enough. It’s pretty well build but it’s just not a camera I’d ever trust and that’s not taking software into consideration (it’s practically a gamble to shoot an important project on the pocket because it can be so buggy). $1.300 is amazing for a camera like the pocket it gives so much power to the people but when we’re talking about a professional production let alone a multi million dollar Hollywood movie the camera just has to work. It has to work, it can get into the way of the production and the company that’s manufacturing and renting out the camera must have great reliable service. That’s why so few movies are shot on RED in compression to Arri and Panavision cameras. And that’s why I’m sticking to my GH5s for now.
@@VariTimo You're spot on. I only went with the pocket because of codecs and price. If i went with the gh5s ill want to update my computer but with pro res, i can delay for now. It is better for video imo but far from being the better camera overall. if i had the gh5s i wouldnt switch to a pocket. But ill consider buying an atomos ninja v or because youre invested in the mft, buy a p4k to use with the gh5s. its just cheaper overall even when you count the nagatives and add ons, I might buy another p4k to use as a back up.
daniel maks that’s a good idea. My partner has the pocket and we us it for lowlight and high intensity raw grading and we use the GH5s for rougher situations and extreme HDR situations because of the slightly smoother highlight roll off. Although both camera are very comparable and a look shouldn’t be defined by the camera anyway.
@@VariTimo I use the GH5, which is about a stop noisier than the GH5s, and I find the visibility of noise in V-Log a huge advantage because it makes it easier to denoise. With non-log image profiles you can't see the noise as consistently (if at all) and that makes it a lot harder to denoise. The denoising plugin has to be able to see the noise clearly in order to clean it.
its funny , you right! most people when they show off a new camera they just show 120p slow motion of a dog running people at the forest , a baby or a cat, its never a real world situation, you get a few people like Tom Antos and Philp Bloom, but i wanna see a review where the camera is in a real situation!
I can see distinct differences, but I think they're mainly due to the setting. Arrival has beautiful locations, set design, and an incredible DP. Had you shot in the exact same setting side by side with the Pocket 4k and the Arri Alexa, I think it would be a very small difference. I personally own a Ursa Mini Pro and have shot side by side with the Alexa Mini, and honestly they produce incredibly similar end results.
Do more vids like this one! Great to see a camera such as the BMPCC 4K being used in a “professional” manner not just back yard slo Mo shots. Please make more.
I’m an intermediate level photographer and wannabe filmmaker and I’ve been scouring videos reviewing the black magic. This is EXACTLY the video I was looking for to help someone like me who is absolutely clueless where to begin
I think your camera work was perfect however the reason the shots from Arrival are superior is not necessarily due to lighting but rather set design/location. Look how that first beginning shot frames her perfectly with the layout of the glass panel frames around her. You cant really compete with that, because a cinematographers best friend is the set designer but you did awesome some of the shots other than that one look fantastic
How does your camera feel? What was it before? I am looking for confirmation to purchase BMPCC 4k There are projects coming up that require more from me and my knowledge. I am sure that my Sony a7s camera is not so flexible in the picture and I need more
@@nik_b1807 I love it. There’s Always something I want to change about all my cameras but the black Magic’s do great. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy. Especially since it works with canon EF mounts !
Great effort at replicating the shots from the movie Spenser. Also, good work on matching the color palette. You are always reminding me that it is more about the ingenuity and creativity as a filmmaker rather than how expensive your camera is. Thx!
6:21. The lamp shade is the same shape as the alien spaceship. This is deliberate, to give us the "cone" image early on, in a subtle way, to plant this shape, subliminally, so that when we see the ship later, we feel as if we have seen it before. It's a visual subtext, that is "unspoken" but "present".
2020 and I'm still impressed as hell on this comparison!!! people might be stalling on the location differentiations, but you can't do enough compared to an 20men army!!
Spenser, a really interesting comparison, I think it shows all of these cameras alone are just part of the tool box, and with accessories, lighting, filters, and environmental conditions, entirely different sets of technical tools can give cinematically similar results.
Leslie Schwartz yeah, presenter did a great job in his flat with with the P4K, but imagine how much closer to the Arri it would have been had he access to all the lighting and set, etc.... Makes me think that for amateurs and low budget film makers...P4K will never be the weak link. Amazing something like this is available for the price.
Thanks, I have a BMPCC4K and I have been looking for a budget solution for prime lenses. I already have a full FD lens kit that I purchased at a yard sale years ago., Thanks to you I will be able to convert my lenses into something that will suit my needs, One of them is a 500 mm. I didn't have high expectations of the lens but I put it on and the mid-range F/stops are pretty sharp. I love how light distorts with a zoomed-in narrow depth of field.
bro I had to skip through all the talking but the comparison was awesome, you killed it. What I just learned is while the Alexa is the best camera out today it still isnt $50000 times better than the $1300 Black Magic.
Ordered mine before travelling. But Black magic kept on delaying the damn thing. Gotta wait till i get back to put it to use. Earned a SUB. Good stuff dude
You should really watch more videos about this camera. It is not easy to use and you have to go through the trouble of grading the footage as well. You will spend $1300 on the camera and another $500-$800 to rig it out to actually shoot with it and on top of that you are going to need a fairly powerful computer to work with the files that it can produce. The file sizes are huge. Now you can shoot compressed raw, but its still a very editing workflow heavy camera.
Of course if you are willing to accept a camera that will be much harder to work with while producing excellent results go for it. Just think you should be aware that it is not an easy camera to use and shoot with. Good luck
Looked very good . As Arris do they have so much information in their highlights. This is where it really shines over this and most any camera. But that being said the BlackMagic looked great.
Depends if you’re trying to make money with it. Alexa plus would be tight. Still one of the best sensors ever made. But clients will ask for 4k at some point and then the idea gets iffy. I still want to buy one at some point lol.
@@spensersakurai That is kind of what I have heard, that Netflix pretty much requires 4k, but then again, there are many exceptions to that it seems, so as long as your script/actors etc are all good, i very much doubt they would pass right now when good content it king, and honestly most people could not tell the difference between 4k vs 2880x1880 scaled up to 4k, especially when the sensor, as you mentioned on the Alexa seems like a beast. I guess it probably comes down to the project, I bet if you were only shooting inside under very controlled lighting, then it would be better to have the extra res. But if you wanted a more versatile, shoot in daylight and just in general be able to shoot under more varied conditions the Alex plus would not let you down. Also though, the black magic is light enough to put on some drones, the AlexaPlus will give me a nice pulled back by the end of a demanding production I bet. Still, still I love the Alexa when you are playing with an image, so nice. But yea, nice to have options right now at the price range.
Yeehaw. Let's go brother. No excuses for anyone to not make their film with cameras like these and others out there. Good stuff man. Nice work on your lighting matches.
Unless we have behind-the-scenes footage we can’t truly compare those shots. The 2 window scene yes maybe. The drinking scene they could of added reflectors to lights or other things. The Black Magic is a beast for price and features. Arri are great but without the budget, the BMC and da Vinci resolve is the best camera hands down for making movies in the world. It allows anyone on the planet to have Arri and Red look and feel for 20th of the price. Great video
I don't know almost any camera can shoot good in low contrast environments. High contrast lighting that is pushing dynamic range capabilities is where the Alexa is king. Would love to see a practical comparison test between the Alexa and BMP4K in a high dynamic range scene.
There is a huge difference, but yes, if you understand how to use your tools, this is a great camera. The problem is in the blacks. You want them slightly flatter than they appear in your comparison. That is the major difference and it is all the difference in the world. With Davinci you can create windows to help control different parts of the frame.
Lower iso for shadows higher iso for highlights (within each bracket ie 1250 or 200 for lowlight gives more detail in shadows) 400 and 3200 is the middle ground above and below middle grey) but either way you can do whatever you want haha. The clips look great, just saying the charts show where that DR is being allocated.
Just found you on here, love to absorb more video production knowledge as it’s my day job, so thank you. UA-cam content creation has given me highs and driven me to lows, but the one thing that’s you must stay true to is create what you feel happy making and ignore what others think you should be doing. 10 minutes and under is cool to me and keep up the quality work.
Very cool and effective comparison. Excellent job. The footage looks beautiful! And finally, a comparison video that wasn't annoying! As someone else mentioned, most comparison videos go into charts and technical information that can easily be looked up elsewhere. They almost feel like "hey, look at me, here's all this technical info I know" rather than just explaining their methods of comparison and then showing the results. Would love to see more tests/comparisons/etc in the future.
Very good comparison! The main difference is in the blacks.. have less details. That's always (together with the whites) the main difference from an top gamma camera to a prosumer.
You can see the difference particularly in sharpness, however it doesn't matter. Great composition and physical storytelling/Intention will almost always blow camera tech out of the water. In fact with this particular short scene in the same space, same lighting you could probably get similar results with an iPhone Xs. It's a personal thing, but I wouldn't have used a mist filter...I know it's old school and all of that, but having more precise control of image "softness" is of much greater value to me.
Apreciate you, you try hard on your videos and you're dedicate and passionate about it. Sadly this place has way too many BMPCC4K owners in the comments of their own videos replying to comments with shit like "I don't do this for a living, this isn't what pays my bills, I do this for you and you come here to complain" Kudos!
There are! So from what I have researched the 24 1.4, 55 1.2 and the 85 1.2 are the same glass as the K35s. There are other focal lengths that are unique to the k35 line but these should be extremely close if not the exact same.
Yeahhh, super unfortunate but even just the regular FDs would be a fun little set to cinevise. You can get those much cheaper and they are compact and well built little lenses.
Wow. I was on set with Spencer yesterday and he was talking about this video. Now it's at the top of my recommendations. I don't appreciate the spying, but great comparison nonetheless.
This video was very interesting and eye opening. I have been interested in the black magic pocket camera for a while and seeing this comparison was a new perspective. Thanks Spencer, great video.
Great test, thanks, but I wish you or someone would do a comparison of the two cameras with a scene outdoors in full sun with clouds and blue sky in background, along with person nearby for skin tones.....with areas of shadow where detail is retained. Shoot the pocket in lossless raw, and see how well it can handle a difficult but practical high contrast outdoor scene. Thanks again and thumbs up, thought your indoor comparison here replicated very much the Alexa.
i certainly enjoyed the comparison. i’ve been comparing cameras by using SHOT ON WHAT choosing a camera and watching all the films shot on that camera - on films using multiple cameras - i try to work out where the change over occurs. i notice colour shifts and roll offs to be the most obvious differences. I also liked what you said about a lens making a sensor shine - so many sensors out there and like a roll of film used to define a a camera - today the lens you choose defines the shot/film. ty so much for taking the time to compare.
Well done. Thanks for posting and educating! I think both cameras make great images. I liked that the Arri did get a bit more color on the face of the subject. However, that could have been pushed up a bit more in Post. Do you like the workflow of your Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera?
I recently worked on a production with two cameras. The URSA G2 and and an Arri Amira. We were in the middle of the forest, worries: The ursa has the fans on the top protecting the highlights the screen leaves the CFST cards exposed, also the risk of breaing it if getting hit. The flimsy buttons underexpose and welcome the noise (FPN on the ursa, and yes, in most of them) to your image And some others. However 0 worries with the amira. You are not only paying for better image quality, you are paying so you dont have to worry about anyting and just focus in telling the story. That is what people forgets
Hey, thanks for the comparison! I loved it! Just one question. You're using 77 mm filter on Sigma 18-35... But it is 72 mm. Do I miss something? Please advice since I was looking for that kind of filter for my Sigma. Thanks!
Thanks for doing this video, great comparison. I have this camera and the .64 Speedbooster with Sigma 30mm, Tokina 11-16 etc etc and after a lot of testing I'm favoring my native Lumix lenses (12-35 & 35-100). They seem just a bit cleaner and sharper. And with RAW and a Film Looks LUT and other minor tweaks in Resolve I'm getting pretty cinematic looking images with MFT lenses. In my experience I'm able to get the same Super 35 like DOF and perspective with MFT if I step back about 5 feet from where I was with a Speedbooster rig. But 5 feet is a lot in some situations for sure.
A lot of GH5s owners seem to enjoy attacking the P4K, without ever using one or even seeing one in the wild. It's as if they have buyers remorse, even though they should feel fine about their purchase as the GH5s is a perfectly good camera, but the P4K is a beast, and costs half as much. That's impressive no matter which way you cut it.
Spenser Sakurai So here’s the next logical questions... would you choose the Ursa Mini over the P4K once you factor in the cost vs. benefit analysis of the two cameras.
Jace LeRoy the DR on the Ursa and the amazing form factor would have me always pick it. But the small size and price of the pocket makes its very appealing too. It’s really a simple cost thing. I got my Ursa used for 3k so it was an easy sell for me. The pocket would be great for most small budget projects tho. You do need an external monitor and a bigger battery to make it worth while tho.
Shots look Excellent. The point is you can do well with a number of less expensive cameras like the sony a7s2 and get that cinema thing going. What is the most important is that script acting and organization .
First of all, great job! The two shots at the end don't look exactly alike obviously, but you got a very pro/filmic look and feel to yours. Personally, on the last shot, I think you should have shot it @ ISO 1250 and added more light (with a blue gel, diffused) to the side of her face, and angled it more in front of her to get more of her face/body. You probably wouldn't have had to de-noise and the colors would have looked more natural and closer to the actual movie instead of having to grade as much. Or perhaps tweaking the White Balance to make the white light on her face a little colder/bluer. My goal is to always get as close as I can in-camera and move knobs as LITTLE as possible in Resolve. It would have also had the benefit of keeping the background darker, instead of the higher ISO raising it to a dark gray. Natural contrast is always better IMO. But these are very nit-picky tweaks to try and match the two shots exactly. I like that you used a BPM filter; makes it a little bit softer and has less of that 'video sharpness' the 4k sensor seems to have. You've definitely captured the same feel of the original, so again, great job!!
Great video...Some can make a cheaper guitar sound like a $3000, it’s no different with cameras.. in the right hands-lighting , framing and lens choice. Yeah an expensive guitar will be more reliable & easy to work with but that doesn’t mean you can’t make beautiful music, just the same for these modern 4K cameras. Create stories not spec sheets! Love the video man, thanks for sharing bro
I think the issue is you were not really comparing the hard shots. There are shots in Arrival during the day outside, or possibly in the area with the tank that would be much harder to capture with the BlackMagic. I love the Camera, and think with the right prep, and adjusting the shot for the strengths of the camera you can do ok. The biggest difference is if you have big named actors/directors a crew worth a gazillion dollars and hour you can shoot under less ideal conditions with the Arri and know you still likely have useable footage. That being said, wow, what a great time we live in for Camera technology, it is finally a reality that people can shoot a full movie for a fraction of the costs of a big budget movie, script and actors are key now, because if you honestly had to, you could figure out how to shoot an entire movie with a phone and get something watchable if you have the right actors/script/crew. Still appreciate your comparison, it's always just cool to see these cameras in different scenarios...
LOL! I actually didn't like the DP in Arrival, but I understand why other people think its cool. Having said that, the Blackmagic actually looks better... But that could also be because you are a better DP :D
Is metabones speedboster a little bit loose when it paired up with sigma 18-35? Especially when you pull focus. Also are you using speedbooster optimised for BMPCC4k or normal 3/4 one?
I'm a tad late commenting on this vid. But these are the types of camera presentations that I believe are extremely helpful to filmmakers. Thank you 👍🎬
Thanks for making the video. My only issue is that it's really hard to gauge the quality difference between the videos, esp. the scenes at the window, as the lighting conditions are very different. Arrival's has almost a pure slate of light to silhouette against (for definition), while the building in the background blocks a lot of the light, and the Blackmagic video looks a little murky and muddy in comparison. . . or it's hard to tell if the issue is the camera, or the light in the shot.
The Blackmagic is more than enough to tell a story. If you have this camera, the challenge is not whether or not you have a decent camera anymore but whether or not you have a decent story to tell, with decent actors and you will be able to have production value, such as access to great locations, etc....Yes there is a difference, but not one any audience not interested in camera will be bothered by.
Could not agree more!
Agree. At the end what I found more cinematic in the Alexa example, wasn't the camera that much, but the type of location with that gorgeous background and Ana Kendrick herself.
No matter what camera you have I'd say story is always priority number 1, whether it's this or just a cheap DSLR.
@@alquimistadelaoscuridad that is not Ana Kendrik...
Yup, that's totally true! But if you spent enough money on locations, actors, crew, lightning, lenses, another 200-500$ for camera rental won't make a huge difference I suppose.
man a 9 min video with 6:20 of talking hmmm
kinda reminds your of school huh, sometimes ya gotta take notes
EXACTLY !!!
I speed it up to 1.75x times than its okay.
Most filmmaking channels mostly talk, so whats the problem.
do you wannaknow what affiliate marketing is? duuuuuuuhhhhhhh.......................
My only critique would be to speak less and show more. If you're going to continue to speak why not show us some broll of you setting up. Keep us engaged! Either way dope content.
I concur. You are very informative and explain well and I like your approach to more scene / shot based comparison. However, you could show more visuals while doing the preparatory explanation.
true. i just skip to 7:00 to see the result.
Or put the audio brakdown in the background of the recreation footage. Either way, great idea for camera comparison.
@@Portreplus yeah, I did the same thing. I just skipped to the end after 2 minutes of just talk.
he’s in love with himself.
Nice comparison! But low contrast overcast lighting is always more forgiving. It'd be great to see how the BMPCC4k compares to the Alexa in a scene with bright backlit sunlight. But the takeaway is clear, if you can't get your film to look "cinematic" with today's offerings of affordable cameras including the BMCC4k, you can't blame the camera.
I totally get your point and agree with it somewhat but just yesterday I saw a comparison between the GH5s Log and the Log C from ARRI and the dynamic range is simply INSANE. I feel like a great video idea would be to use the ALEXA footage as reference and judge the log footage from two other manufacturers and compare them on the ARRI scale of details
Buy a Tiffen Black Mist Pro filter 1/4..... Instant Arri soft look. Thank me later
Its a clear difference but not as much of a clear differnce as $65k to $1,300k
daniel maks the Alexa can take a beating. It’s a production camera the Pocket is not. I have a GH5s and was thinking about switching to the pocket because the pocket gives me a clean image at ISO 1250 in film mode while the GH5s always has some shadow noise in V-LogL that’s makes exposing low light more difficult. The pocket also has better codecs. I don’t care much for RAW but I’d prefer ProRes to the codec the GH5s gives me. Now I don’t ever have to worry that my GH5s will overheat, freeze in the cold or get water damage from rain while the pocket just isn’t reliable enough. It’s pretty well build but it’s just not a camera I’d ever trust and that’s not taking software into consideration (it’s practically a gamble to shoot an important project on the pocket because it can be so buggy). $1.300 is amazing for a camera like the pocket it gives so much power to the people but when we’re talking about a professional production let alone a multi million dollar Hollywood movie the camera just has to work. It has to work, it can get into the way of the production and the company that’s manufacturing and renting out the camera must have great reliable service. That’s why so few movies are shot on RED in compression to Arri and Panavision cameras. And that’s why I’m sticking to my GH5s for now.
@@VariTimo You're spot on. I only went with the pocket because of codecs and price. If i went with the gh5s ill want to update my computer but with pro res, i can delay for now. It is better for video imo but far from being the better camera overall. if i had the gh5s i wouldnt switch to a pocket. But ill consider buying an atomos ninja v or because youre invested in the mft, buy a p4k to use with the gh5s. its just cheaper overall even when you count the nagatives and add ons, I might buy another p4k to use as a back up.
daniel maks that’s a good idea. My partner has the pocket and we us it for lowlight and high intensity raw grading and we use the GH5s for rougher situations and extreme HDR situations because of the slightly smoother highlight roll off. Although both camera are very comparable and a look shouldn’t be defined by the camera anyway.
@@VariTimo I use the GH5, which is about a stop noisier than the GH5s, and I find the visibility of noise in V-Log a huge advantage because it makes it easier to denoise. With non-log image profiles you can't see the noise as consistently (if at all) and that makes it a lot harder to denoise. The denoising plugin has to be able to see the noise clearly in order to clean it.
+VariTimo.........at the price you can buy 2x blackmagic pocket cameras and have one for backup
You did an awesome job of recreating the look and feel of that scene. Killer work.
its funny , you right! most people when they show off a new camera they just show 120p slow motion of a dog running people at the forest , a baby or a cat, its never a real world situation, you get a few people like Tom Antos and Philp Bloom, but i wanna see a review where the camera is in a real situation!
Philip bloom always use slomotion
Man I think it was a potatojet dissing btw
This kind of video def takes the cake. Scene recreation lets you know how close to real, high end movie wuality you can get.
Nobody noticed, But he roasted Potato Jet in the Beginning
the dynamic range of the Arri is amazing but also the blacmp is stunning, considering you did it with limited equipment.
I can see distinct differences, but I think they're mainly due to the setting. Arrival has beautiful locations, set design, and an incredible DP. Had you shot in the exact same setting side by side with the Pocket 4k and the Arri Alexa, I think it would be a very small difference. I personally own a Ursa Mini Pro and have shot side by side with the Alexa Mini, and honestly they produce incredibly similar end results.
Bruh. Those windows are filming gold, i need a studio with that
🥔 ✈️ “today we are gonna compare the Arri Alexa to the pocket 4K. And here is Sam in slow mo and my girlfriends 50 dogs in slow mo” 😂
Thank you as a New owner of this camera Its refreshing to see whats capable at affordable levels.
Fantastic looking shots - would love to see a breakdown of how you graded it all as the shots are almost perfectly matched.
Do more vids like this one! Great to see a camera such as the BMPCC 4K being used in a “professional” manner not just back yard slo Mo shots. Please make more.
I’m an intermediate level photographer and wannabe filmmaker and I’ve been scouring videos reviewing the black magic. This is EXACTLY the video I was looking for to help someone like me who is absolutely clueless where to begin
Ears perked up when you mentioned 'Canon FD' -- those were my bread and butter lenses a generation ago, and I still have a few kicking around.
Ahhh I fucking love arrival! I'm so glad I found someone who shares my love for this movie! 😍
I think your camera work was perfect however the reason the shots from Arrival are superior is not necessarily due to lighting but rather set design/location. Look how that first beginning shot frames her perfectly with the layout of the glass panel frames around her. You cant really compete with that, because a cinematographers best friend is the set designer but you did awesome some of the shots other than that one look fantastic
Just picked up a BMPCC 6k and it’s sweet! Thanks for the dope content, I’d love to see more Adobe / editing videos 🥂
How does your camera feel? What was it before?
I am looking for confirmation to purchase BMPCC 4k
There are projects coming up that require more from me and my knowledge. I am sure that my Sony a7s camera is not so flexible in the picture and I need more
@@nik_b1807 I love it. There’s Always something I want to change about all my cameras but the black Magic’s do great. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy. Especially since it works with canon EF mounts !
@@mikaelsant7980 thank!)
6:12 your welcome.
Great effort at replicating the shots from the movie Spenser. Also, good work on matching the color palette. You are always reminding me that it is more about the ingenuity and creativity as a filmmaker rather than how expensive your camera is. Thx!
What I'm taking away from this is the white paper bag over LED trick
That was the biggest take away for me too lol. I was like oh shit I need to try that.
The BlackMagic looks better in my opinion.
8:48 WOW. That is the most cinematic image I've seen from this camera. Fantastic grading too.
6:21. The lamp shade is the same shape as the alien spaceship. This is deliberate, to give us the "cone" image early on, in a subtle way, to plant this shape, subliminally, so that when we see the ship later, we feel as if we have seen it before. It's a visual subtext, that is "unspoken" but "present".
Amazing. from what I've seen so far the image from the BMPCC is just priceless. Thanks Spenser!
2020 and I'm still impressed as hell on this comparison!!!
people might be stalling on the location differentiations, but you can't do enough compared to an 20men army!!
Spenser, a really interesting comparison, I think it shows all of these cameras alone are just part of the tool box, and with accessories, lighting, filters, and environmental conditions, entirely different sets of technical tools can give cinematically similar results.
Leslie Schwartz yeah, presenter did a great job in his flat with with the P4K, but imagine how much closer to the Arri it would have been had he access to all the lighting and set, etc....
Makes me think that for amateurs and low budget film makers...P4K will never be the weak link.
Amazing something like this is available for the price.
Thanks, I have a BMPCC4K and I have been looking for a budget solution for prime lenses. I already have a full FD lens kit that I purchased at a yard sale years ago., Thanks to you I will be able to convert my lenses into something that will suit my needs, One of them is a 500 mm. I didn't have high expectations of the lens but I put it on and the mid-range F/stops are pretty sharp. I love how light distorts with a zoomed-in narrow depth of field.
bro I had to skip through all the talking but the comparison was awesome, you killed it. What I just learned is while the Alexa is the best camera out today it still isnt $50000 times better than the $1300 Black Magic.
This is seriously amazing! Have been debating on whether or not to pick up this camera for a while..... This might have just convinced me. Subbed 🤙
Totally the right approach - intentionality. Beautiful nod to the fact that filmmaking is in reach of all of us. And I liked your grade better.
what a great video! Thanks a lot - I am really impressed how close you came with the look, image, feel and action of your model - just great!
I agree, Arrival is a great looking film - the BMPC certainly holds up and at $1300 is amazing.
Ok why nobody on utube uses it then... Why all a7iii gh5 canons 5d....nobody bmpc4k
Impractical for UA-cam shooting but not for other film related paid work.
Ordered mine before travelling. But Black magic kept on delaying the damn thing. Gotta wait till i get back to put it to use.
Earned a SUB. Good stuff dude
ChubaObi Yeap, cancelled the preorder and got the Fuji X-T3 with a Lens Turbo from Zhongyi. Will get back Bmpcc when it really arrives.
I'm impressed, when I'm looking to replace my Canon EOS Rebel for videography I'll probably look to this camera. Thanks for your comparative review.
You should really watch more videos about this camera. It is not easy to use and you have to go through the trouble of grading the footage as well. You will spend $1300 on the camera and another $500-$800 to rig it out to actually shoot with it and on top of that you are going to need a fairly powerful computer to work with the files that it can produce. The file sizes are huge. Now you can shoot compressed raw, but its still a very editing workflow heavy camera.
Of course if you are willing to accept a camera that will be much harder to work with while producing excellent results go for it. Just think you should be aware that it is not an easy camera to use and shoot with.
Good luck
Looked very good . As Arris do they have so much information in their highlights. This is where it really shines over this and most any camera. But that being said the BlackMagic looked great.
This is incredible. I am speechless, that looked the exact same
I subscribed once I saw you take a beer break. My type of cinematographer. Keep me coming bro!
QUESTION: Would you rather have an Arri Alexa Plus which I have seen on sale for as low as 5k US or would you rather have the blackmagic 6k???
Depends if you’re trying to make money with it. Alexa plus would be tight. Still one of the best sensors ever made. But clients will ask for 4k at some point and then the idea gets iffy. I still want to buy one at some point lol.
@@spensersakurai That is kind of what I have heard, that Netflix pretty much requires 4k, but then again, there are many exceptions to that it seems, so as long as your script/actors etc are all good, i very much doubt they would pass right now when good content it king, and honestly most people could not tell the difference between 4k vs 2880x1880 scaled up to 4k, especially when the sensor, as you mentioned on the Alexa seems like a beast.
I guess it probably comes down to the project, I bet if you were only shooting inside under very controlled lighting, then it would be better to have the extra res. But if you wanted a more versatile, shoot in daylight and just in general be able to shoot under more varied conditions the Alex plus would not let you down.
Also though, the black magic is light enough to put on some drones, the AlexaPlus will give me a nice pulled back by the end of a demanding production I bet. Still, still I love the Alexa when you are playing with an image, so nice. But yea, nice to have options right now at the price range.
Yeehaw. Let's go brother. No excuses for anyone to not make their film with cameras like these and others out there. Good stuff man. Nice work on your lighting matches.
Unless we have behind-the-scenes footage we can’t truly compare those shots. The 2 window scene yes maybe. The drinking scene they could of added reflectors to lights or other things. The Black Magic is a beast for price and features. Arri are great but without the budget, the BMC and da Vinci resolve is the best camera hands down for making movies in the world. It allows anyone on the planet to have Arri and Red look and feel for 20th of the price. Great video
What are you filming yourself with? Because the roll off on your skin looks really smooth.
Ursa Mini 4.6k
I don't know almost any camera can shoot good in low contrast environments. High contrast lighting that is pushing dynamic range capabilities is where the Alexa is king. Would love to see a practical comparison test between the Alexa and BMP4K in a high dynamic range scene.
Great video tutorial great real world comparison. This is what we aspiring film makers want to see. Thanks again.
Great work ! And really great quality
hello lovely to see you:) can you recommend any vintage lenses for my panasonic g80
@@danyalvisuals Knock-Knock.
-occupied
-hello lovely to see you:) can you recommend any vintage lenses for my panasonic g80
Владимир Панченко sorry 😂?
There is a huge difference, but yes, if you understand how to use your tools, this is a great camera. The problem is in the blacks. You want them slightly flatter than they appear in your comparison. That is the major difference and it is all the difference in the world. With Davinci you can create windows to help control different parts of the frame.
Lower iso for shadows higher iso for highlights (within each bracket ie 1250 or 200 for lowlight gives more detail in shadows) 400 and 3200 is the middle ground above and below middle
grey) but either way you can do whatever you want haha. The clips look great, just saying the charts show where that DR is being allocated.
Just found you on here, love to absorb more video production knowledge as it’s my day job, so thank you. UA-cam content creation has given me highs and driven me to lows, but the one thing that’s you must stay true to is create what you feel happy making and ignore what others think you should be doing. 10 minutes and under is cool to me and keep up the quality work.
New video will be up later today.
Great video subbed I shoot my channel with a a7r3 do you think the black magic would be a better option?
Very cool and effective comparison. Excellent job. The footage looks beautiful!
And finally, a comparison video that wasn't annoying! As someone else mentioned, most comparison videos go into charts and technical information that can easily be looked up elsewhere. They almost feel like "hey, look at me, here's all this technical info I know" rather than just explaining their methods of comparison and then showing the results. Would love to see more tests/comparisons/etc in the future.
Thanks for the feedback man! I plan to do many more. :-)
Very good comparison! The main difference is in the blacks.. have less details. That's always (together with the whites) the main difference from an top gamma camera to a prosumer.
Love it :) Question: did you actually use the speedbooster for this?
I did use the speedbooster
Thanks for taking the time to do this video.
That was a super cool comparison ... loved the shots especially the last shot with the led light
You can see the difference particularly in sharpness, however it doesn't matter.
Great composition and physical storytelling/Intention will almost always blow camera tech out of the water. In fact with this particular short scene in the same space, same lighting you could probably get similar results with an iPhone Xs.
It's a personal thing, but I wouldn't have used a mist filter...I know it's old school and all of that, but having more precise control of image "softness" is of much greater value to me.
Apreciate you, you try hard on your videos and you're dedicate and passionate about it.
Sadly this place has way too many BMPCC4K owners in the comments of their own videos replying to comments with shit like "I don't do this for a living, this isn't what pays my bills, I do this for you and you come here to complain"
Kudos!
Wait, which exact Canon FD lenses are the same K35s? You mentioned a few focal lengths, but aren’t there multiple versions of the FD lenses?
There are! So from what I have researched the 24 1.4, 55 1.2 and the 85 1.2 are the same glass as the K35s. There are other focal lengths that are unique to the k35 line but these should be extremely close if not the exact same.
Damn, looks like other folks have noticed. The only one I see on eBay, remounted for EF, is over $2000 😳
Yeahhh, super unfortunate but even just the regular FDs would be a fun little set to cinevise. You can get those much cheaper and they are compact and well built little lenses.
There is a video about the fd Versions from the k35 line up over @media Division
Look up media division canon fd. They have an epic hour long masterpiece discussing exactly this.
You really nail these shots. I'm loving the BMPCC4K a lot more now.
Does XT shoot raw internally or with another recorder?
Wow. I was on set with Spencer yesterday and he was talking about this video. Now it's at the top of my recommendations. I don't appreciate the spying, but great comparison nonetheless.
This video was very interesting and eye opening. I have been interested in the black magic pocket camera for a while and seeing this comparison was a new perspective. Thanks Spencer, great video.
This video sold me on the camera, appreciate your content, time, and effort👌🏽
Great test, thanks, but I wish you or someone would do a comparison of the two cameras with a scene outdoors in full sun with clouds and blue sky in background, along with person nearby for skin tones.....with areas of shadow where detail is retained. Shoot the pocket in lossless raw, and see how well it can handle a difficult but practical high contrast outdoor scene. Thanks again and thumbs up, thought your indoor comparison here replicated very much the Alexa.
You did an astounding comparison! Thank you.
Brilliant! This is what I was looking for..
Just blown away. I'm an alpha shooter but that 12:1 😍
Wow. thank you for doing this. Arrival is one of my favorite movies as well. Love the Blackmagic!!!
I think you did a good job. In the arrival footage it seems like the shadows are lifted a bit more than in your shots, but overall I am impressed
well at least those first two shots. the tv shot is really close.
i certainly enjoyed the comparison. i’ve been comparing cameras by using SHOT ON WHAT choosing a camera and watching all the films shot on that camera - on films using multiple cameras - i try to work out where the change over occurs. i notice colour shifts and roll offs to be the most obvious differences. I also liked what you said about a lens making a sensor shine - so many sensors out there and like a roll of film used to define a a camera - today the lens you choose defines the shot/film. ty so much for taking the time to compare.
Well done. Thanks for posting and educating! I think both cameras make great images. I liked that the Arri did get a bit more color on the face of the subject. However, that could have been pushed up a bit more in Post. Do you like the workflow of your Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera?
I recently worked on a production with two cameras.
The URSA G2 and and an Arri Amira.
We were in the middle of the forest, worries:
The ursa has the fans on the top
protecting the highlights
the screen leaves the CFST cards exposed, also the risk of breaing it if getting hit.
The flimsy buttons
underexpose and welcome the noise (FPN on the ursa, and yes, in most of them) to your image
And some others.
However 0 worries with the amira.
You are not only paying for better image quality, you are paying so you dont have to worry about anyting and just focus in telling the story.
That is what people forgets
Please provide a link to the lens and filters you used so we can customize our cam.. cheers. Great vid!
Good lighting and good composition will always look good
Hey, thanks for the comparison! I loved it! Just one question. You're using 77 mm filter on Sigma 18-35... But it is 72 mm. Do I miss something? Please advice since I was looking for that kind of filter for my Sigma. Thanks!
You need a step up ring. 77 is more universal.
@@spensersakurai thanks, man!
Lovely imagery. Arrival is one of my favorites. This inspires me to try to film something cinematic
Dude your loft kicks ass
Thanks for doing this video, great comparison. I have this camera and the .64 Speedbooster with Sigma 30mm, Tokina 11-16 etc etc and after a lot of testing I'm favoring my native Lumix lenses (12-35 & 35-100). They seem just a bit cleaner and sharper. And with RAW and a Film Looks LUT and other minor tweaks in Resolve I'm getting pretty cinematic looking images with MFT lenses. In my experience I'm able to get the same Super 35 like DOF and perspective with MFT if I step back about 5 feet from where I was with a Speedbooster rig. But 5 feet is a lot in some situations for sure.
Btw, the white paper bag trick is fantastic!
That sneak Diss to potato jet tho 😂
Dynamic range in the highlights, that golden look, hard to recreate without Alev 3 sensor.
BMCC 2.5 and Bmpcc OG come closer then any other camera.
ARRI handle highlights, the backlit TV better and also add more detail in the face by window scenes etc. But, dang that BM looks good. :)
A lot of GH5s owners seem to enjoy attacking the P4K, without ever using one or even seeing one in the wild. It's as if they have buyers remorse, even though they should feel fine about their purchase as the GH5s is a perfectly good camera, but the P4K is a beast, and costs half as much. That's impressive no matter which way you cut it.
I sold the gh5s and bought an Ursa Mini but the pocket and gh5s are both great!
@@spensersakurai How well does the Ursa Mini perform in low light?
Jace LeRoy the shaky shot of my windows during the lowlight portion of this video was on the Ursa. You be the judge haha.
Spenser Sakurai So here’s the next logical questions... would you choose the Ursa Mini over the P4K once you factor in the cost vs. benefit analysis of the two cameras.
Jace LeRoy the DR on the Ursa and the amazing form factor would have me always pick it. But the small size and price of the pocket makes its very appealing too. It’s really a simple cost thing. I got my Ursa used for 3k so it was an easy sell for me. The pocket would be great for most small budget projects tho. You do need an external monitor and a bigger battery to make it worth while tho.
Shots look Excellent. The point is you can do well with a number of less expensive cameras like the sony a7s2 and get that cinema thing going. What is the most important is that script acting and organization .
First of all, great job! The two shots at the end don't look exactly alike obviously, but you got a very pro/filmic look and feel to yours. Personally, on the last shot, I think you should have shot it @ ISO 1250 and added more light (with a blue gel, diffused) to the side of her face, and angled it more in front of her to get more of her face/body. You probably wouldn't have had to de-noise and the colors would have looked more natural and closer to the actual movie instead of having to grade as much. Or perhaps tweaking the White Balance to make the white light on her face a little colder/bluer. My goal is to always get as close as I can in-camera and move knobs as LITTLE as possible in Resolve. It would have also had the benefit of keeping the background darker, instead of the higher ISO raising it to a dark gray. Natural contrast is always better IMO. But these are very nit-picky tweaks to try and match the two shots exactly. I like that you used a BPM filter; makes it a little bit softer and has less of that 'video sharpness' the 4k sensor seems to have. You've definitely captured the same feel of the original, so again, great job!!
Really enjoyed your knowledge of these cameras. Keep the videos coming
Great video...Some can make a cheaper guitar sound like a $3000, it’s no different with cameras.. in the right hands-lighting , framing and lens choice. Yeah an expensive guitar will be more reliable & easy to work with but that doesn’t mean you can’t make beautiful music, just the same for these modern 4K cameras. Create stories not spec sheets! Love the video man, thanks for sharing bro
I think the issue is you were not really comparing the hard shots. There are shots in Arrival during the day outside, or possibly in the area with the tank that would be much harder to capture with the BlackMagic. I love the Camera, and think with the right prep, and adjusting the shot for the strengths of the camera you can do ok. The biggest difference is if you have big named actors/directors a crew worth a gazillion dollars and hour you can shoot under less ideal conditions with the Arri and know you still likely have useable footage. That being said, wow, what a great time we live in for Camera technology, it is finally a reality that people can shoot a full movie for a fraction of the costs of a big budget movie, script and actors are key now, because if you honestly had to, you could figure out how to shoot an entire movie with a phone and get something watchable if you have the right actors/script/crew.
Still appreciate your comparison, it's always just cool to see these cameras in different scenarios...
1st of all thanks for posting this video, a lot of hard work was put into creation of the video. keep it up I've subscribed just now
It just goes to show that technology is making quality film making easier to access for low budget, independent film makers.
This is why I pay for internet, SUBBED.
Hey mate, I really loved this video, thanks for posting! Also, I love your loft!
The led in the paper bag is genious!!! Cool vid
LOL! I actually didn't like the DP in Arrival, but I understand why other people think its cool. Having said that, the Blackmagic actually looks better... But that could also be because you are a better DP :D
Is metabones speedboster a little bit loose when it paired up with sigma 18-35? Especially when you pull focus.
Also are you using speedbooster optimised for BMPCC4k or normal 3/4 one?
No the Metabones is rock solid.
Spenser Sakurai thanks! Glad to hear that! Which metabones do you use, BMPCC optimized or BMPCC 4K optimized with cine lock one?
Great stuff man, thanks for all your work, and for sharing it with us. I'm loving the BMPCC4K
I'm a tad late commenting on this vid. But these are the types of camera presentations that I believe are extremely helpful to filmmakers. Thank you 👍🎬
I was going to get the sigma 18-35, but I dislike zooms - so gonna build up a set of vintage lenses.
Thanks for making the video. My only issue is that it's really hard to gauge the quality difference between the videos, esp. the scenes at the window, as the lighting conditions are very different. Arrival's has almost a pure slate of light to silhouette against (for definition), while the building in the background blocks a lot of the light, and the Blackmagic video looks a little murky and muddy in comparison. . . or it's hard to tell if the issue is the camera, or the light in the shot.
This is pushing me to leave the GH5 behind and pick one of these puppies up. Well done.