[Marco Solorio]

Thanks, Dave. I have it mounted to a V-mount plate, which then mounts to the V-mount battery mount (it has a V-mount plate on each side). I’ll try and snap a pic of it closer up when it’s rigged up again and I get a chance. It’s very rare when I don’t use the MixPre-D with the BMCC!

Cheers,

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[Marco Solorio]

[Pedro Ricardo] “On a single shoot we will chew up 3 to 5 Canon 5D bodies”

I’ve never heard of anyone going through 3 to 5 DSLR bodies on one shoot due to stop-motion photography, but if that’s your experience, then I’m shocked. I’ve owned everything from a 10D to my current 5D Mk III (about five DSLRs in total) and to this day none of my shutters have failed through constant time-lapse shooting (I have a huge library at this point). I’m sure my 20D is on its last leg, but after all these years, it’s still working fine, again, through countless time-lapse shoots that is still used to this day. Yes, I know shutters eventually die out after heavy use, but I guess I’ve been lucky all these years.

With that said, I’d still prefer a DSLR for stop motion work (and possibly even to the extent of time-lapse), even against a BMPC 4K; bit-depth, dynamic range, frame size, and low-pass filtration are all better on a DSLR for dedicated still image work. Now, if shooting video in 4K, 2.5K, or HD, then I’d definitely prefer the BMCC solutions without a second thought.

But if you’re set on using a BMCC or BMPC 4K for stop motion work when it’s released, then go for it, in the hopes that they’ll add it to the firmware. At current state, use a LANC controller to start and stop the recorder for each frame in time-lapse mode. That can work for you now, if even a two-button-push process.

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[Marco Solorio]

[David C Jones] “We shot 2.5K RAW and as far as we can tell, didn’t have any dropped frames (which I’ve heard can be a problem with the BMCC).”

It’s only a problem when using non-approved SSDs. I’ve been shooting with the BMCC for about a year now, and have had the MFT model for some time as well. In all my shooting to date, we’ve never had a single dropped frame in both RAW and ProRes HQ using the SanDisk Extreme 480GB.

[David C Jones] “I’m a fan of SoundDevices stuff and I know they have a small mixer they’ve touted for DSLR use but, would love to hear what others are using”

We’ve been using the Sound Devices MixPre-D with the BMCCs and the unit is totally solid. The creme de la creme! Shown here in my latest rigging configuration:

https://instagram.com/p/YoKMf-pqa7/

We’ve been using the BMCCs in all sorts of shooting genres, including documentary and it has been excellent. It’s like you said, David, if you’ve shot docs with 16mm film cameras, the BMCC shouldn’t be any more difficult. Sure it’s not as easy as an ENG camera, but the images are to die for and worth the extra effort IMO.

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[Marco Solorio]

Peter’s correct. No shutter release control for individual frames, other than the time-lapse feature. For stop motion, you’d be better served using a DSLR with remote shutter control, larger sensor, higher bit-depth, and larger frame size since, after all, you’re shooting individual photos rather than motion video.

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[Marco Solorio]

A lot of good advice has already been shared in this thread, but I’ll add my own two cents. We’re currently in several projects right now, one of them is a BMW documentary, and I’d say at least 80 to 85% of it is being shot on the BMCC (both our EF and MFT models), 90% of it in ProRes HQ. Anyone is fooling themselves thinking the BMCC can operate on its own (without any additional rigging), unlike a tried and true ENG style camera for doc work. But with enough creativity, ingenuity, patience, and money, you can turn your BMCC into a fully operational doc acquiring machine. Is it as streamline as a true ENG camera? Not by a long shot. But the killer image quality outweighs the non-ENG-like form factor.

I’ve been using the BMCC for almost a year at this point, and the image quality never ceases to impress me. So much so that I rarely use my HDSLRs anymore, except for multicam and I’ve run out of BMCCs on set. Because the image quality is so damn good, I made it a mission to make it functional as a psuedo ENG camera for this BMW documentary.

Here’s an Instagram snap shot of my current rig that I typically use for doc shooting, and pretty much everything else (commercial, corporate, stock, VFX plate shooting, etc.). It’s about as compact as I can make it, while still retaining a much required matte box (ND and IR are imperative), audio, and external power to juice up the entire rig and all its components. The entire rear section pivots down for screen access, or removed completely with QR knobs.

https://instagram.com/p/YoKMf-pqa7/

Our Sony EX1 is still the easiest camera in our facility to operate, especially for doc style work, with little required rigging (except I still use a matte box and follow focus on it too). But the EX1’s limited DR, compressed-everything, and even smaller CMOS sensor than the BMCC just doesn’t compare to the amazing image quality of the BMCC. Because of this, I do everything I can to make the BMCC work for us when shooting in any conditions, including documentary work. Although there are some work-arounds, I’ve found the BMCC an incredible tool, even for traditional documentary work. You have to judge for yourself the final ratio: incredible image quality versus ease of use.

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[Marco Solorio]

Hi Charles. Matthew pretty much said it all. As for rolling shutter, it’s *exactly* the same as the 5D Mk III, so your practices controlling it there will need to carry over to the BMCC. I showed this in great detail in my Cinema Camera & 5D Mk III Comparison video earlier last year on Vimeo. I also created a Part 2 follow-up video delving more into 12-bit RAW.

Part 1: https://vimeo.com/49875510
Part 2: https://vimeo.com/52269416

And yeah, I agree that the BMCC sits well in what you’re trying to do with it. Definitely much better than HDSLR quality by all accounts, even when clean HDMI is available, as the 5D still has scaling issues, lack of fine detail, and still trapped in an 8-bit cage. Even if you don’t shoot 12-bit RAW with the BMCC, 10-bit ProRes HQ with it is still FAR superior than 8-bit alternatives.

Cheers!

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[Marco Solorio]

LOL!!!!! I like your pro-active approach, Chris! Good on ya! Hopefully IKAN will follow the lead and adjust their flange depth as well and be a done issue. Cheers!

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[Marco Solorio]

Yeah, there’s no question those four screws should have been flanged just a hair deeper and those gashes wouldn’t be gnarled into the camera body like that. Would only need 1 or 2mm worth. That’s a shame… totally avoidable at the manufacturing stage.

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[Marco Solorio]

I agree with Matthew 100,000%. At least wait and see what NAB has to show in a couple of weeks.

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[Marco Solorio]

That’s great to hear, Richard! Looking forward to meeting you! Cheers!

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