[Marco Solorio]

[Steven Hacker] “I have the Crucial 512 M4 and on long takes (over two minutes) with my BMCC in ProRes I get a flashing Rec button instead of a solid one. Reviewing my footage I discovered I lose sync. I called BMD and they think it might be the Crucial. They are very surprised it is happening in ProRes. So I bought the Kingston on the list. Same issue.”

The Crucial 512 M4 SSDs are a known drive to not work well with the BMCC. The drop frames every second in ProRes and can drop frames in RAW once in a while. In short, do not use Crucial M4 drives with the BMCC. I’ve outlined this here, in other forums, and on my OneRiver Media Facebook page. I owned two of them before shelving them for other work than the BMCC.

The only SSD I use at this point is the SanDisk Extreme 480GB. Works perfectly in both ProRes and RAW, including live event production I’ve done with the BMCC where record times were as long as two hours. It’s the only SSD I trust at this point as it’s been 100% rock solid. Fast boot times too (the Crucials were much slower). I have not tried the smaller 240GB version of the SanDisk, nor is it on the approved list. Keep in mind that larger SSDs work faster with the BMCC. For me, the 480GB is the only choice.

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[Marco Solorio]

[Axel Arzola] “In my opinion, if we can not see visually the effects of a poor compression, then that’s is the perfect codec and will make life easier.”

Just to note that there is a difference: Not visually seeing compression/subsampling artifacts by the naked eye on untreated footage, and visually seeing said artifacts once you start pushing levels and comping footage. 😉

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[Marco Solorio]

That’s actually an excellent post, Matthew. To the original comments in this thread, any high-end format (CinemaDNG being one of them), the post workflow is going to take more time, CPU power, and storage space. It’s no different than working with the likes of DPX and such. 12-bit RAW is a huge format, but extremely high quality. With this kind of quality, it’ll take a hit on speed for now.

Personally, I’d rather have the 12-bit RAW lossless/uncompressed slowness, than a faster “RAW” method for realtime playback that loses some quality in the image. For that, I’ll use 10-bit ProResHQ instead. But man, once you really start seeing the power of true 12-bit RAW, it’s pretty damn awesome. And addicting! (hard to even use ProResHQ when RAW is there staring at you in the menu option).

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[Marco Solorio]

It’s only automatic IF you hit the Iris button. Every time you mount a lens, it defaults to wide open. From there, you can close/open the aperture by hitting the FF and REW buttons by 1/3rd stops. And yes, you can also use manual aperture lenses to manually control aperture… both methods work fine to give you the DOF you need.

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[Marco Solorio]

Thanks so much for saying so, Steve! You guys are really going to enjoy using the camera for sure. Thanks!

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[Marco Solorio]

Thanks so much for saying so, Jeremy. That’s very kind of you to say! Honestly, I think you’ll quite enjoy the camera! =)

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[Marco Solorio]

Thanks for the very kind words, Tim. You’re always good to me! (check is in the mail, LOL!)

Here’s a snippet from one of the Vimeo replies I posted, in regards to some of those that don’t truly understand why we shot this video, and why we shot it this way:

We [OneRiver Media] think outside of the box, step outside of the status quo, and play by our own rules. This is due in part why we have been a successful operation for over 20 years now. But alas, I still don’t think [some people in particular who’ll remain nameless] get the point of why we did this, as a technical exercise that taught us and the viewing audience what this camera can do, without being distracted by gravy grades and the like. We knew people would do the beauty shots once they got their hands on the camera; we didn’t want to go that route. Instead, I wanted to test the hell out of it in an extreme environment and learn what it could REALLY do. But again, to each their own. I have no regrets and cherish the knowledge I now posses using the camera in the manner we did.

To add clarity to why we shot this video and shot it in the manner we did, I created two blog posts to cover that ground, which can be viewed here:

Part 1: https://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/?p=700
Part 2: https://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/?p=709

Part 2 really spells it out clearly, and if it doesn’t I don’t know what else to do! But in the end, it doesn’t matter, because as I mentioned in another Vimeo post, I have in my back pocket an understanding of how this camera works in specific conditions in a real-world production environment in stress situations. Had I stuck with the status quo, I wouldn’t have gained all that knowledge pushing the camera as hard as we did. Without chances, you learn nothing in life or your profession.

Cheers!

Marco Solorio | CreativeCow Host | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Media Batch

Tweets by OneRiverMedia

[Marco Solorio]

Thank you, Matt. You too are very kind in your response! Yes, there has been some chatter of rolling shutter complaints in the video, but like you, I was actually very pleased with the results, considering it was mounted to a Porsche! In a way, the vibration kind of added to the excitement. And yes, I’m very relieved the camera has no issues at all shooting wide. The Sigma really held its own, and then some. And this is coming from a guy who’s lens collection resides mostly with Canon L! Great job on Sigma’s part of the equation. Thanks again, Matt!

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[Marco Solorio]

Thank you again for your generous remarks, James. Yes, the Sigma worked out better than I would have imagined as well! Really held up well. I’m happy you picked up on the direct headlight shot… my intention was to show how well it handled that, then into the interior Porsche, then into the Mercedes with its lightbar on full blast (again into the camera), while still showing detail inside the Mercedes and the actor’s face. Truly amazing dynamic range this camera has. No ramping of exposure or post-grade exposure was done on that shot. All single exposure shot!

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[Marco Solorio]

Thanks so much for the kind words, James. Much appreciated!

Yes, I’m planning on doing a video overlay just as you describe, listing which shot used which lens. Glad there’s interest in that! As a loose reference, anything tight in, the Sigma 8-16mm was used. Anything wider out was usually the 24mm and sometimes the 50mm. The rear view mirror shots was the 135mm.

Thanks!

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