Blackmagic 4K Production Camera - First Aerial footage

BMPC first aerial footage

Here's the first aerial footage from the 4K Blackmagic Production Camera

Tasmania-based Aerial Inspections has kindly sent us their footage taken with a flying Blackmagic Production Camera.

Here are their production notes (With thanks to Aerial remote operator Tom Waugh).

Aerial Inspections was lucky to take delivery of one from the first small batch of Blackmagic 4K production cameras in Australia.

We have been busy rigging it on our custom X8 configuration octocopter and Freefly Movi stabiliser. We had to work out the best way to consolidate the HD-SDI to HDMI converter and Teradek Clip on to the rig so we used the Ikan Blackmagic Baseplate Kit and underslung the camera from the centre top 1/4” 20 screw mount.

For us, the Blackmagic Production camera is great. The simplicity of the form factor and strong aluminium mounting points make setup and balancing easy on the MoVI. Global shutter means our fly bys, pans and fast flying forward moves aren’t affected by rolling shutter artefacts that we have had previously, particularly with BM pocket cam and DSLRs. The vast majority of our aerials work is in daylight so ISO 200-800 satisfies. We can also fly Red Epics or Canon 1DCs on our setup, so if we needed low light sensitivity we can use those cameras. We haven’t had any sensor issues (bright pixels etc) that a few others have had so far with the BM4K.

Next week we will rig our RTmotion MK3.1 wireless follow focus and our very soon to arrive Teradek Bolt Pro 2000 HD video link. The Bolt Pro will mean no more SDI to HDMI converter for either the BM 4K or Red Epic setups. We will then power the whole rig off a 4S 2600mAh LiPo, meaning no cables interfering with the MoVI’s stabilisation.

This footage was shot at 3840x2160px 25fps on the Nikon 20-35mm @ 20mm f8 with Tiffen WW-IRND1.2, all shot at ISO 200. It was a windy day down here in Tasmania so we didn’t get to fly much before the gusts were just too strong.

The total weight of the flying rig was 3,425g

We are looking forward to more flights and handheld MoVI shoots with the BM 4K around beautiful Tasmania soon.

We will be sure to share the results!

You can download the original ProRes files here

See the video after the break