[akptc]

Howdy, I recently acquired the original Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and am in the process of getting some lenses to use with it. I wonder if anyone on this forum has used any Pentax lenses on one of the Blackmagic pocket cameras and would be willing to share their thoughts.

Here is the camera

(credit: LINK)

[repaap]

Howdy, I recently acquired the original Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and am in the process of getting some lenses to use with it. I wonder if anyone on this forum has used any Pentax lenses on one of the Blackmagic pocket cameras and would be willing to share their thoughts.

Here is the camera

(credit: LINK)

I have BMPCC4K and I have -Fotasy DA-m43 adapter, which allows me to use all pentax lenses with control over aperture. So i can adjust aperture even with DA lenses. I have no idea, what aperture it is, but I can estimate. And it is also 'de-clikced' so works well in video. No controll from camera thou, only manually twisting the open/close iris. No problem, I quite like my pentax lenses on my BMPCC4K cameras. I have also one Olympys lens, 12-40/2.8. It is great too, but there is no difference in quality IMO. Only perk with m 4/3 lens is that you will get to controll aperture from the camera it self. But since there is not really 'auto' mode, you won't loose much.

[akptc]

...Fotasy DA-m43 adapter ... I quite like my pentax lenses on my BMPCC4K cameras...

Thank you for the tip, I will definitely give this adapter a try. Did you find any of the DA lenses giving a particularly pleasing look on the BMPCC4K?

[repaap]

Thank you for the tip, I will definitely give this adapter a try. Did you find any of the DA lenses giving a particularly pleasing look on the BMPCC4K?

I just use what I have. 15-30 is huge, but it is great! DA 10-17 has still FE character, but not crazy. FA31 and 77 does give nice Bokeh. I believe what you have will work well. I’m going to buy cine lenses for this later/or for my next camera, PL or EF mount, but havingthat adapter and my lenses for Pentax get me covered for sure, for long time.

Edit: sorry, so not so many DA lenses, mostly DFA what i have used, and FA. I forgot DFA 28-105 from that list, little stopped8to 5,6) down you get similar aperture for whole zoom range. Sharp, beautiful colour, not much to not like. it becames 56-210/5,6 lens on this camera(ofcourse Dof will be bigger too). Spoken the truth, I do thik that going for a little faster lens, let's say for zooms xx-xx/2,8 are useful. and that is why I have used 15-30 for example, and that is why I purchased 12-40/2.8 from Oly to give me lighter option with possibility for filters...that said, I did also give a goooood look of that 11-18/2.8 from pentax, but still aperture controll is nice to have..

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Last edited by repaap; 06-17-2020 at 11:02 AM.

[PiDicus Rex]

Pentax lenses on the BMDPC,... yuuuup, shot this on it - I Miss The War (2018) - IMDb

Also had my K/KM/KA lenses in front of the original BMD 2.5K camera on M4/3 and EF, and in front of the BMD Production Camera 4K with EF mount, as well as my AJA Cion with the same sensor as the original BMD's and Ursa's use for 4K.

It's very much a case of the Lenses being superior to the Camera

On the Pocket, make sure you use a cage to protect the DC input - the factory power pack is stupidly fragile.

Those BMD's all have a little error in the mounts, as they were made to accept a wide range of lenses of varied machining quality, so be prepared to adjust the shimming of your PK-to-M4/3 adapter, to get the correct Flange Focal Distance. Once done, the focus at wide open, especially at infinity, will be much more accurate, and very crisp.

Forget relying on the internal battery - even if the camera is switched off, you'll only get 20 to 25 minutes battery life, so a DC adapter with an NP-F cradle on the top of your camera cage is a must.

So is using external Audio Recorder - I use the Tascam DR-70D, which is slim enough to fit under the BMDPC and can feed Mic or Line level out to the BMD's Stereo Jack Input.

One issue that's popped up in the last year, is changes to the SD-XC cards by the card manufacturers - there were very few SD-XC cards that could write the speeds needed for Internal Raw, and some of the changes made since mean that versions that should work in the BMDPC, don't any more. There's more info on this over on the Blackmagic Design user forum.

The other issue with the BMDPC, is that it's Rolling Shutter Skew (how much vertical objects warp as you pan past them) is pretty woeful. To the point we decided to not shoot handheld at all for the short film I linked above. I mounted the BMDPC on the hotshoe of my K-01, so they were on the same tripod, with a 50mm on the K-01 and 24mm on the BMD to give nearly identical Field of View, then panned side to side. At the speed of moving side to side that made the BMD footage unusable, the skew was barely noticeable on the K-01.

Hand Held on the BMDPC ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES the use of a Gimbal.

Also, Protect Your Highlights. The BMDPC blows out highlights real fast, even faster then the AJA Cion, and once they're gone, there's no post recovery that can help.

It's very much a camera of Expose To Highlights and then get the Gaffer to add ambient fill to get the scene where you desire.

Once all that is done, the imagery is beautiful, retaining detail and subtlety that many cameras can't come close too. The Colour Science and Skin Tones aren't anywhere close to what the K-01, K-3, K-1 can do, and all of them have better dynamic range, but the advantage of the BMDPC is much more detail due to the much higher data rate and lower compression.

[akptc]

... 28-105 from that list ... Sharp, beautiful colour, not much to not like..

Ouch, I wish I'd though of this a month ago, I just sold this lens

[repaap]

Ouch, I wish I'd though of this a month ago, I just sold this lens

Oh, well then there is no sense to get one now. I bought 12-40/2.8 from oly to get me ‘normal’ but fast zoom. Was going for 12-100/4 but wanted 2.8 for the moment when I need it. I suppose there are nice inexpensive zooms available if zooms are your thing. I’m going to figure out focal I want most for video and then just get prime -cine- lenses for those being used the most. Luckily I have lenses already to try it first. And can wait for buying anything more for yrs..

[akptc]

... Once all that is done, the imagery is beautiful, retaining detail and subtlety that many cameras can't come close too....

Thank you, PiDicus Rex, for the advice! Especially about the highlights, I didn't hear that before when trolling for tips all over Youtube. There I was inspired a bit by this

You Tube

You Tube

I would love to see the feature you created but somehow the IMDb site doesn't want to show it, I can't get past movie info (I can view other films there). I wonder if it has to with geographic regions.

My BMPCC kit so far includes these accessories - a cage, a "regular" K mount adapter (no focus ring that I can see), the "Fotasy DA-M4/3" adapter (it has a focus ring), and the dedicated Metabones EF mount adapter that is supposed to reduce the crop factor and increase lens speeds. For that last mount, I ordered the Canon 28-135 IS lens.



Also planning to get a decent external battery + adapter, something like this one I think; I do want to keep the whole rig as small as possible though..



I am taking time off this coming week just to try this rig out.. next step is a right-sixed gimbal and a good audio recorder, but audio-wise I have near ZERO idea of what I am doing.. this should be exciting

[repaap]

Thank you, PiDicus Rex, for the advice! Especially about the highlights, I didn't hear that before when trolling for tips all over Youtube. There I was inspired a bit by this this review.

I would love to see the feature you created but somehow the IMDb site doesn't want to show it, I can't get past movie info (I can view other films there). I wonder if it has to with geographic regions.

My BMPCC kit so far includes these accessories - a cage, a "regular" K mount adapter (no focus ring that I can see), the "Fotasy DA-M4/3" adapter (it has a focus ring), and the dedicated Metabones EF mount adapter that is supposed to reduce the crop factor and increase lens speeds. For that last mount, I ordered the Canon 28-135 IS lens.



Also planning to get a decent external battery + adapter, something like this one I think; I do want to keep the whole rig as small as possible though..



I am taking time off this coming week just to try this rig out.. next step is a right-sixed gimbal and a good audio recorder, but audio-wise I have near ZERO idea of what I am doing.. this should be exciting

Have fun!

I chose fotasy, just because you can control the Iris with that close<->open ring. With some other options you are down to have a lens with aperture ring. And then you go by clicking from one aperture t other.

If size does give o you any concern, then it should be better to stick with small m 4/3 primes for wide end and then some for example DA limiteds for longer end(IMO), FF lenses are big(FA limiteds are small too...)There are plenty to choose from. I like my FA limiteds + oly 12-40. DFA + DFA* lenses are big.

Audio...that is one another beast to tame.

[PiDicus Rex]

I would love to see the feature you created but somehow the IMDb site doesn't want to show it, I can't get past movie info (I can view other films there). I wonder if it has to with geographic regions.

More likely, Andrew never uploaded it to IMDB
It's a short, not a feature, little under 27 minutes.
This is the youtube link, but I'm pretty sure there was some weird futzing going on when the Audio edit was done after the edit and grade were locked down.

You Tube

You Tube

Battery adapter - mount it to a cage or rig, not to the camera. If you can find one, grab one of the SmallRig units, I've found their products to be pretty decent quality.
Look for a shoulder rig, that puts the battery behind your shoulder, it'll help balance out the mass of the camera and lens out front.
Should be able to spot one that does the V-Lock batteries - a 90WattHour or above one of those should run the BMPCC for most of a whole days shoot.

[akptc]

Thank you for the link to your video, I enjoyed it, and I have to say, it's always a bit of a shock for me to hear a pretty woman swear with an Australian accent, no joke.