It’s designed in Australia and it combines the dimensions of a compact system camera with the ability to record cinema-quality Full HD video. Meet the remarkable Pocket Cinema Camera. By Paul Burrows
Video is the new photography. Thanks to its availability on everything from a smartphone to Pentax’s digital medium format 645Z, video is quickly becoming an integral part of today’s imaging landscape. Many snapshooters now fire off a quick video clip rather than taking a still, and there’s a growing band of enthusiast-level users who are trying their hand at everything from D-I-Y documentaries to short films. And, of course, the numerous variations on the ‘action cam’ theme are allowing video shooting to be taken to extremes.
As more and more people start playing with video, many of them are getting hooked and they’re starting to look for more specialised hardware, particularly as most CSCs and D-SLRs are first and foremost still cameras (Panasonic’s dual-personality GH4 excepted) so some elements of their video capabilities are compromised to varying degrees. This is where cameras like Canon’s Cinema EOS models and the Blackmagic Design line-up come in. They turn the emphasis around so they’re video cameras which have borrowed some elements and from still camera design. Blackmagic Design first came to our attention a few years back when it popped up on a list of new companies joining the Four Thirds Standard for digital cameras. We’d heard of Sigma and Voigtländer (a.k.a. Cosina), but who was Blackmagic Design? A quick Google revealed it to be an Australian company already reasonably well known in professional video circles for its broadcasting and professional postproduction equipment, and it was now developing a range of cameras, including one that would use the Micro Four Thirds lens mount and sensor format.
This has become the Pocket Cinema Camera, undoubtedly one of the most interesting of a new breed of higher-end video cameras aimed at enthusiast-level shooters and even semi-pro operators.
MOUNTING UP
It’s very similar in looks and dimensions to a rangefinderstyle compact system camera such as Sony’s Alpha 5000 so it’s essentially a slimline bodyshell with a fairly substantial handgrip at one end. However, it’s an all-metal construction based around a diecast magnesium alloy chassis and, of course, the lens mount is MFT. This means the Pocket Cinema Camera (we’re just going to call it the PCC from now on, OK?) can be fitted with a huge variety of lenses, not just those with the MFT mount (from Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Tamron, Samyang and Voigtländer), but all those that can be fitted via a mount adapter (which is just about everything).
However, because the sensor in the PCC has an imaging area of 12.48x7.02 mm – which, in video terms, is essentially the ‘Super 16’ format – rather than the normal MFT area of 17.3x13.0 mm, the lens focal length magnification factor blows out from 1.97x to 2.88x. This means even an ultra wide-angle becomes a not-so wide-angle; for example the Voigtländer 12mm f5.6 Ultra-Wide Heliar becomes a 35mm. Conversely though, you get a serious telephoto boost for nothing so the AF Nikkor 35-105mm we also tried on the PCC effectively becomes a 100-300mm telephoto... still with a maximum aperture range of f3.5-4.5. For fun, we even used an AF Nikkor 300mm f2.8 telephoto which becomes a 864mm f2.8 supertelephoto… great for shooting sports action like motorcycle racing, surfers from the beach or hang gliders.
For a lot of the time we shot with Olympus’s 14-42mm ‘pancake’ power zoom on the camera, partly because it fits in with the whole concept of unobtrusiveness, but also because the powered zoom works well when shooting video. The effective focal range becomes 40-121mm which is actually pretty good for general purpose shooting and, as the PCC’s mount is active, autofocusing and auto exposure control are also available (plus optical image stabilisation if a lens has it). With any of the lenses mounted via a passive adapter, both focusing and aperture (or iris, as it’s more commonly called in the video world) control is, of course, manual. The exception here is the Speed Booster adaptors from Metabones – made specifically for the PCC – which allow for auto aperture control and also reduce the focal length magnification factor to 1.75x. They also increase the maximum aperture by 1.3 stops. These adaptors are currently available for the Canon EF (but not EF-S), Leica R (assuming you can still find one in captivity) and Nikon F G-type mounts.
DATA CRUNCHING
The big deal with the PCC – as opposed to any still camera shooting video – is that it records 12-bit RAW video footage internally to its memory card in the losslessly compressed Adobe CinemaDNG format. Alternatively, it uses the Apple ProRes 422 HQ compression to record 10-bit video – in a QuickTime MOV container – which represents a bitrate of 220 Mbps. Only the Lumix GH4 gets close at 200 Mbps when recording 1080p video in either MOV or MP4 containers using MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 compression.
Not surprisingly, this data stream puts considerable demand on the memory card and so the PCC is extremely choosy here… with our reference Lexar Professional 600x 64 GB ‘Speed Class 1’ SDXC card loaded, the shooting display resolutely showed ‘No Card’ which is why Blackmagic supplied us with a San Disk Extreme Pro card (that has exactly the same spec). However, even with 64 GB of storage on tap, you’ll still only manage around 15 to 16 minutes of RAW video because, put simply, the files are absolutely massive. If you want to shoot RAW video – and, frankly, you’ll really need to know what you’re doing when it comes to post-production – then you’ll probably have to think about upgrading a number of elements in your system from the card reader on. Shooting in ProRes is going to make a lot more sense logistically for most non-professional users and the image quality is still miles ahead of anything out of most D-SLRs or CSCs.
In a similar vein, we also wondered why Blackmagic had supplied three battery packs with the test camera… that is, until we started shooting. Even with just the monitor screen running, the power remaining display (expressed in a percentage) ticks down alarmingly fast and, when shooting, the best estimate is that you’ve probably got an hour of power, but with the typical stop-review-restart operation, it’s actually less. The good news here is that Blackmagic has adopted a fairly commonly available Nikon form factor for its battery pack – it’s the same as the EN-EL20 as used in many of the 1 Nikon CSCs – so third-party spares aren’t particularly expensive (we found them for as cheap as $20) and neither is a recharger… which you’ll also need because, as supplied, the PCC only comes with a 12 volts AC adapter for in-camera charging that won’t be much use in the field.
OK, so here’s something you’ll have to get used to about shooting video if you’re going to get serious… it’s never just about the camera. There are accessories and numerous other bits and pieces that you’ll just have to have if you’re going to do the job properly and, for most users, the PCC will be just the starting point for a rig that will also include an external microphone, perhaps an external monitor (or at least a loupe to facilitate eyelevel viewing), possibly a light source and maybe a focus puller kit. You’ll also need a fluid head for your tripod plus all those extra memory cards and battery packs we just talked about.
DIFFERENT WAYS
So what’s all this about a ‘pocket camera’ then? Well, the PCC can certainly be used handheld, and with the likes of the ultra-compact Olympus 14-42mm EZ lens fitted, it’s still exceptionally compact for a camera that shoots 12-bit video, but ‘run and gun’ is only one shooting technique – and the footage can get pretty tiring to look at after a while – so inevitably you will want to do other stuff that will require the camera to be configured differently… just as is the case with CSCs and D-SLRs.
The key difference with the PCC is that it’s designed purely as a video camera – it can’t capture stills – so it works like one too. So, for example, the aperture is set by pressing a button market ‘IRIS’ and the focus via a button marked ‘FOCUS’ (assuming the fitted lens allows for these). There are no exposure modes as such and the shutter settings are in degrees. When shooting video, the shutter speed is basically determined by the frame rate – i.e. 50 fps or 50 Hz is 1/50 second – but the PCC also has the option of setting the shutter angle which is a terminology left over from the days when movie cameras had rotary disc shutters, so 360 degrees equals a slow shutter speed and 11.25 degrees is a fast one. This is relative to the frame rate (the choice here is 24 or 25 fps for PAL; and 30 fps for NTSC) and so is mainly a way of dealing with motion blurring/freezing in video. At 50 fps, a shutter angle of 180 degrees is the equivalent of a shutter speed of 1/100 second.
There are no white balance presets either and, instead, you set the colour temperature manually from a range of 2500 to 8000 degrees Kelvin. You can also adjust the sensitivity from ISO 200 to 1600. When shooting RAW video, the dynamic range is a massive 13 stops and it’s only marginally less with the 10-bit ProRes files. There’s the choice of ‘Film’ or ‘Video’ dynamic range presets which basically determine the ‘look’ of your footage and also what you can achieve later on in post-production with adjustments to colour and contrast (such as rescuing blown-out highlights).
The PCC has built-in stereo microphones with a wide selection of level adjustments for either or both channels, but an external pick-up will deliver far better sound, particularly when shooting handheld. There’s also a stereo audio output for hooking up a pair of headphones.
IN CONTROL
A largely manual control system is typical for semi-pro and pro-level video cameras, although the PCC does facilitate autofocusing and auto exposure (well, sort of) with compatible MFT lenses.
Manual focusing is assisted by a magnified image and a focus peaking display that’s engaged by pressing the ‘FOCUS’ button twice. Manual aperture control – with an active MFT mount lens – is performed via the up/down navigator keys. Overexposure warnings are provided by a zebra pattern with a variable threshold that can be set to 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 or 100 percent.
The full set of four navigator keys is used to get around the camera’s menus which are divided into four sections – namely Camera, Audio, Recording and Display – but as there isn’t a lot to set on this camera, none are longer than a page. The live view display comprises audio level meters, a time remaining display (as per the memory card’s capacity), a real-time histogram and a set of camera set-up readouts including the exposure settings, ISO, recording mode and frame rate, the colour temperature setting and the battery power level. The monitor is adjustable for brightness and dynamic range (i.e. either the Film or Video setting). In practice, we found that it needed to be cranked up to maximum brightness nearly all the time – but especially outdoors – which exacerbated battery drain. There is no touch control.
Anybody who is familiar with a contemporary CSC or D-SLR and who uses some of these cameras’ systems in manual mode will have no trouble getting to grips with the PCC. However, everything has to be done via the menus – there are no function keys for things like the ISO or colour temperature settings – and that’s time-consuming if you need to make any changes in a hurry. Additionally, the AF is quite slow, especially compared to, say, Olympus’s own E-M10 in conjunction with the 14-42mm EZ lens so, in practice, manual control is usually more efficient. However, it doesn’t take too long to become familiar with what the PCC can and can’t do, and adjust your working practices accordingly. Interestingly too, the camera gets quite hot, but although it’s not fan-cooled – and we did quite a bit of shooting in direct late-spring sunlight – there was never an issue with temperature.
Image quality is what this camera is all about, so the actual shooting is really just the start of the process. RAW DNG files need to be handled either in Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve Lite software (which is available as a free download) or the latest version of Adobe’s Premier Pro CC and you’ll need to know all about colour grading to make the most of their potential. ProRes 422 files can be edited and graded in popular video software such as Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro, and the main advantage over H.264 or AVCHD is that you can manipulate away to your heart’s content without unduly compromising image quality. The wide dynamic range and 10-bit colour deliver exceptional detailing and definition which isn’t compromised by noise or artefacts, plus beautifully deep blacks and a real ‘cinematic look’ which even makes simple ‘snapshot’ clips look great. Put simply, the footage is lush, with a depth and dynamism that you simply don’t get with lower video bitrates and more aggressive compression regimes.
THE VERDICT
The Pocket Cinema Camera is primarily designed to do one thing – deliver the highest video image quality possible from a very small camera priced at under $1300. Consequently, it’s a bit ‘no frills’ in some areas and, to be honest, the user interface is very clunky, but none of this gets in the way of producing some fantastic looking footage… and without a huge amount of effort compared to some semi-pro and pro-level video cameras.
Yes, you’ll have to be prepared to spend more than just the cost of the camera – even if you already have Micro Four Thirds mount lenses – but this is par for the course if you’re planning to be at all serious about shooting high-end video. Spare batteries and memory cards are standard outlays (although PCC needs very high spec cards), but even if you add an external mic and an ultrawide MFT lens, you still have a very compact and manoeuvrable rig at a fraction of the price you’d normally pay for a video camera capable of shooting 12-bit RAW or 10-bit ProRes footage. And if you do want to shoot ‘incognito’, the PCC looks just a like a consumer camera, especially with any of the ‘pancake’ type MFT lenses fitted. Its size and weight also makes it better suited than a D-SLR for mounting on vehicles, boats or aircraft. But it will work equally well in a big rig for bigger productions.
However, for the still photographer interested in getting into video on a more serious level, the most compelling reason for buying the Pocket Cinema Camera is that it’s not primarily a still camera and so mastering its workflow is a valuable learning process which will take you beyond simply pointing and shooting into more advanced productions.
And, of course, the truly beautiful image quality also takes you beyond the everyday and into the fantastic.
VITAL STATISTICS
Type: Compact Full HD digital video camera with active Micro Four Thirds bayonet lens mount.
Sensor: CMOS with 12.48 x 7.02 mm imaging area (Super 16) and 16:9 aspect ratio. Sensitivity range equivalent to ISO 200-1600.
Focal Length Magnification: 2.88x.
Video Recording: 12-bit Lossless CinemaDNG RAW, 10-bit Apple ProRes 422 HQ, Apple ProRes 422, Apple ProRes 422 LT, Apple ProRes 422 Proxy. Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. Frame rates = 23.98 fps, 24 fps, 29.97 fps, 30 fps; progressive scan. Stereo microphones built-in with manual levels control. Stereo audio input provided.
Formats: CinemaDNG RAW and QuickTime MOV.
Focus: Automatic with AF MFT lenses. Manual focus assist via focus peaking display.
Exposure Control: Auto iris control with compatible lenses, or manual iris setting. Scene average auto exposure.
Shutter: Angles = 11.25 to 360 degrees (depending on frame rate).
White Balance: Manual colour temperature setting from 2500 to 8000 degrees Kelvin.
Recording Media: Selected SDHC and SDXC memory cards. Single card slot.
Viewfinder: Fixed 8.89 cm LCD monitor screen (384,000 pixels resolution). No eyelevel viewfinder.
Interfaces: USB 2.0, HDMI micro connector (Type D), 3.5 mm stereo audio input, 3.5 mm stereo audio output, 2.5 mm LANC.
Main Features: Magnesium alloy bodyshell, 13 stops of dynamic range, Film Log and Video dynamic range settings, built-in mono loudspeaker, ¼-inch mounting sockets on top and bottom panels, zebra pattern generator (adjustable for brightness level).
Power: One 7.4 volt/800 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack (Nikon EN-EL20 type).
Dimensions (WxHxD): body only = 128.0x66.0x38.0 mm.
Weight: body only = 355 grams (without battery or memory card).
Price: $1239 body only.