Rick Lang
Forum Replies Created
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[Bill Davis] “Considering the power efficiency and HVAC load differential, I suspect maybe not.
Schiller noted that the power consumption was cut from around 167 down to 40 or so watts at idle – and the unit needs only a single fan to cool, due primarily if I understand it correctly, to the flow through tube heat sink design.
So at least here in AZ where power for AC is a huge deal, having a smaller, energy efficient computer that generates a lot less heat is a pretty significant cost saving over years of service. Also it being that QUIET means some of us won’t have to pay extra any longer for sound deadening enclosures.- particular for a media production machine where the chance of needing to open a mic to do VO or narration near the unit is a significant possibility.
Smaller, lighter, faster & way more power efficient – all around the same price points where a robustly configured MacPro from the last generation sat.
Seems like quite a LOT of technological progress happening with this.
And sorry, but the dual GPU deal alone has got to leverage it WAY past any iMac or MacBook Pro – both units that aren’t really all that far behind in terms of cost.
$500 bucks is $500 bucks for sure, but for a professional tool, I’m not sure that’s anywhere in the ballpark of a number that would cause a working artist to feel forced to go with a less capable unit then they would prefer.
The wildcard, of course, is monitors. You get those included with iMacs and Laptops. Be interesting to see what Apple comes up with when it comes to displays. That’s where the cost bump will likely show up I suspect.”
Looking at the total lifetime cost of ownership, those things you mentioned are appealing. I was taking a short-term view and ignoring the fact that you are going to supply external storage (which can apply to the existing Mac Pro and 3TB iMac too). I agree the cost over my initial estimate was perhaps too low, but I was betting Apple wanted to turn some heads with the price as well as the design. I think the new price is reasonable but it was eerie that you could hear a pin drop when the price was announced. The guy who holds up the applause sign must have been on sick leave today.
I think someone needs to produce a 4K calibrated monitor with true 10bit colour (and 12bit inputs) that doesn’t cost more than the entry-level Mac Pro. Will Apple do it?
I think this new Mac Pro will do well and will be interesting to see how people are configuring their machines and putting them to work.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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[Gary Huff] “Are you sure it’s not 1.5GB on each for a total of 3GB?
“The D300 has 2GB on each card, the D500 has 3GB per card, and the D700 has 6GB on each card. Surely having 6GB will be enough… until the next great thing we can’t imagine being without arrives at least.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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[Michael Hendrix] “Four $4k, you get a 6-core, 16 GB of RAM and 3GB of video ram. Still no monitor.”
That’s 3GB on each of the two GPUs so 6GB VRAM in total. Still your point is valid. If you are working in HD video, a high-end iMac appears to do the job just fine. If you plan to shoot in 4K, the DaVinci Resolve 10 Configuration guide suggests the high-end iMac can still be an option if you do your grading of the 4K video on a HD timeline. You would then render your completed project out to a 4K deliverable if you needed that. Going to be interesting when BMD upgrades the guide to include the new Mac Pros. Wonder what they’ll say for a full 4K workflow.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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[Herb Sevush] “I wouldn’t want the base model, but it leads me to believe that at around 4K there might be something I would want.”
I agree the 6-core with four-way memory interleaving looks like it will perform better but I may need to increase that 256GB flash storage to 512GB. My boot drive on the iMac (with 3 TB internal) is already more than 256GB so would hate to spend all that money and find out you are cramped for boot space (don’t want to boot from an external drive although I know that option works well).
Going to be $500 more than I had predicted a while back to join the party (was hoping for $2,499 entry, $3,499 mid-level, $4,999 high-end). A fully maxed out 12-core Mac Pro (like Apple uses for all those performance comparisons) looks like it might be just under five figures but we need to wait I suppose until December. The existing Mac Pro remains a value competitor given the price differences.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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Carlos Rubio, no hay ningún problema. Mi esposa es Colombiana y yo amo Colombia.
Estaba haciendo un chiste y siendo tonto al comentar que un sitio no es civilizado si no tiene Intetnet. Como dicen en Colombia “mamando gallo”.Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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Apologies for the lateness of this response. I have been travelling in an uncivilized part of Colombia for the last week. I define uncivilized as not having Wifi access! Now I’ve returned to civilzation although still travelling here.
As you have pointed out, there are no lenses designed specifically for the BMPC4K camera sensor size. However any lens with an image circle that covers Canon APS-C or larger including EF and EF-S mount lenses and other lenses such as Nikon mount lenses with an adapter will work. As for traditional cine lenses such as PL mount, very few will work when adapted to the EF mount. Many people hope that BMD will release a version of the BMPC4K in native PL mount. BMD has commented on that as a possibility but made no commitment to any timeframe for native PL mount support.
The only other consideration I can think of at the moment is that you may want a lens designed to resolve 4K but most modern stills lenses will do that. I say “may want” because some people feel the cinematic quality of some video may suffer with too great an emphasis on image sharpness. Compared to watching the beauty shots of an old movie shot on film, perhaps the digital age can be obsessed with sharpness to the point of it being a distraction in a narrative film. Seems to suit men that have battle-scarred craggy faces. but perhaps not as desirable for your leading lady.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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Marcus, interesting observations and I suspect marketing is thinking the same thing–working in 4K?–buy a Mac Pro.
At least they have a very impressive GPU with more VRAM (4GB) than NVIDIA offers on their stock cards (3GB).
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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When the BMPC4K was announced at NAB 2013, most references to the sensor were calling it a 35mm sensor. The BMPC4K sensor is very close in size to Academy 35mm film in terms of the width although the sensor is in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The marketing dept at BMD likes to refer to it as a Super35 sensor but as you point out, that is taking some liberties with terminology. Apparently other camera manufacturers have been known to also describe sensors as Super35 when they are not really quite that size.
When we are talking about digital camera sensors, most appear to have an aspect ratio of 16:9 so it may not be the best practice to compare the diagonal to 135 film since that aspect ratio is 3:2. The physical size of digital sensors are all over the map and often have a 4:3 aspect ratio. But the active size of digital sensors is often 16:9 regardless of physical size. When you look at digital sensors, I think you will find Super35 like sensors are a truly not at all consistent. Some are very generous like the Epic and some are cheating a little but are close to what one expects. If you normalize all sizes to have the HD aspect ratio, I think you will find the crop factor of digital Super35 compared to 135 film is closer to 1.45x, not 1.3x.
Although the widest possible horizontal angle of view will not be achieved with the BMPC4K sensor, there is one advantage of the sensor being a little smaller and that is that you will avoid the slight vignette and loss of sharpness that many lenses have in the corners.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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Craig Seeman:
“Obviously this is wildly speculative but just a possibility given where Apple seems to be moving with their utilities. Consider what some are guessing on the price (high) of the new MacPro, including FCPX would be a good incentive/give back from Apple. It seems like the right carrot to dangle.”I don’t expect the cost of the entry and mid-level Mac Pros to change from their current price, starting at $2,499 I believe. Apple has a history of keeping prices the same while enhancing the specs (or lowering them). Keeping the hardware price down is the best carrot to promote adoption of the much maligned new Mac Pro if one assumes they really do want to sell a lot of these.
The FCP X 10.0 user community is expecting that version 10.1 will be a paid version at $299. If Apple wanted to make a bigger splash with the upgrade to FCP X 10.1, they would just make it a free upgrade like all the other upgrades on the Mac App Store. I don’t know how they would do it in the Mac App Store, but they may have a way to knock $100 off the price if a person ordered FCP X with their Mac Pro purchase as they used to do with software items bundled at the time of a computer purchase and pre-installed by Apple.
Occasionally Apple is generous, but I don’t see them giving away a free copy. The path DaVinci Resolve has taken could always be an option: free forever with a few key omissions such as only good for HD deliverables and some key elements omitted. However that wouldn’t fly well since the Mac Pro is being touted as a 4K video machine.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB
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If the $3,500 is for the machine only, wait for the new Mac Pro if you can so you at least know what you can get their and then consider all options. You may want to add at least one 4K monitor and one fast RAID at a minimum to that machine of course so I assume that is outside the $3,500 budget or you already have that.
Rick Lang
iMac 27” 2.8GHz i7 16GB