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Given that for most macro filming you will be using lights, the 25,600 ISO with this camera is all you’ll ever need.” I think Blackmagic have their ISO at a sensible level. There are other cameras with insane ISO levels, but they become incredibly grainy which means a lot of work in post. I tended to stay around ISO 2500 but you can go as high as 25,600. The other great thing about this camera is the really high native ISO. Which is very good when you are using hard lights, because you have detail well into the shadows under leaves and things.
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“I have to say the 13 stops of latitude was also really great, because you can see into all of the dark spots. So the smaller micro four thirds sized 4K sensor used by Blackmagic Design, is much better for this kind of shooting.” Larger 4K sensors tend to play havoc with your depth of field with this sort of work.
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The great thing about the probe is it will cover all of the 4K sensor. “This was the first time I had shot with the Laowa probe or the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. ‘Bugs is a unique project where Peter could try out the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K in the world of macro filmmaking. Peter Nearhos talks about using the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and the Laowa probe lens for the first time. You expect all of this from big cameras, but not something this small with that little of a price!” Also the ability to shoot a Log image and drop a LUT straight onto it in the camera, was super handy. Having all of this in a package that small, was truly amazing. It was incredible to see all of these proper filmmaking features like false color, that I rely on with the bigger cameras also included. But because of the price, it all seemed a little too good to be true. I had checked out the specs of the camera and thought it was pretty amazing to get all of that into something that small. “I went into this camera test with an open mind. I wanted it to look like I was running along with the rider with as much variety as possible.” The direction I went with was to break up the slow motion tests with as much life as I could to juxtapose into the flow. “I really wanted to mix my shots up as much as possible, because it can look pretty boring when you shoot mountain bikes all in slow mo.
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‘Mountain Bike’ is Joey’s test of the camera’s high speed performance. Joey Knox talks about using the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.
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