Blackmagic Cinema Camera - John Brawley

Hello and welcome to the page I've created for some early tests I've done with the new super awesome Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

First off, these are some of the initial tests I've been able to shoot. I will hopefully be uploading some more footage soon from the more organised tests I've been doing with BMD. Remember, these clips were shot with fairly early builds of the camera.

DUSK
I wanted to see how the camera would perform in low light. Again, using the EF mount "R" series Leica lenses, I went for a walk down my local street just as it went towards dusk.
It was hand held, and I only had the 35mm F2 prime. I was still able to get some pretty amazing results. A lot of people think you need super high ISO for low light, and to some degree that's true, but you still also want high dynamic range. At night time, you still want things to actually feel like it's dark, and you also often have lights on in shot. This means you have very high contrast.

There are also some IRIS pulls done in camera. I was trying to get my head around the exposure range of the camera. I chose an exposure that gave me the best setting in terms of DR, and then applied that grade to the entire clip so you can see how it performs as you over or under-expose the camera.

BEACH
On the beach, I shot these clips watching the sun go down and into night. There are a lot of colour changes and the clips are in and out of order here. It was a beautiful sunset and the colours were changing very quickly. Night here was 1600 ISO with a 360 deg shutter. Lighting by LCD screen and tally light !

BONDI
Taken just this weekend, I shot a few clips as it went dark over Bondi Beach. I was hoping for sunshine, but it wasn't to be. Still some lovely stuff. I was really impressed but the fine detail in the sand, and also in the background on the houses.