Playing around with Blackmagic’s most affordable camera

The Micro Studio 4k G2 definitely isn’t a typical choice when it comes to filmmaking, but is it possible to use for filmmakers? I figured I would do a quick run through of the camera and talk about it’s features, image quality, design, and more. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy.
Micro Studio Camera 4k G2 - bhpho.to/3TmLhA5
Pocket Cinema Camera 4k - bhpho.to/48X4cHd
Main camera - bhpho.to/3uyHyH5
Main lens - bhpho.to/49cO6tY
Shotgun mic - bhpho.to/49ceOmx
Audio recorder - bhpho.to/3w6tqFm
Music and SFX by Soundstripe - soundstripe.com/start/?fpr=ja...
/ jhayden998
Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:33 Size
0:56 Designing a rig
1:35 What the Micro Studio is good at
2:12 The cons
3:04 Navigating the menus
3:39 Recording externally
4:05 Lens mount
4:25 Sensor
4:37 Image quality
9:14 Wrap up
#microstudio4kg2 #blackmagicdesign #davinciresolve #davinciresolvecolorgrading #bmpcc4k #pocketcinemacamera4k #bmpcc #colorgrading #blackmagic #filmmaking #filmmaker #cinematography #cinematic #cinemacamera #videography

[@popfpv]

Also this camera is amazing for FPV Drones. We used to fly with the big pocket cinema but this is superb alternative.

[@TallManMedia]

Do you have examples of this being used for FPV?

[@mediamaker6828]

Try a BGH1 or z-Cam

[@TallManMedia]

@@mediamaker6828 At this price point? Might be hard

[@popfpv]

@@mediamaker6828 Those are much bigger and more expensive. Also the Black magic raw is amazing.

[@VliDono]

Does it have gyro data?

[@ScottyRoddis]

The people that did the M-lite for the eos m already have a few different versions of printed housings and adapters for this thing.

[@simon-altcinecam]

Hey there! Thank you for mentioning. Yes we have a lot of stuff coming out for this camera. The extension pack fits every version of the Micro, the Phase 2 gonna be a full rebuild of the Micro Cinema OG and the Phase 3 an aluminium rehousing of the G2 Micro Studio.

[@ANamelessNetwork]

Yeah the M-lite creators Alt-Cine are the guys for anything micro related. I've seen there products in person and no expense is spared whilst being super affordable, productive and most importantly needed.

[@crank_FPV]

Hey where can I find stl for the printed housings?!

[@genji5312]

@@crank_FPVI think they’re only offering the full product as they want the end user to have the best experience especially with the amount of research and testing that’s gone into figuring out the best materials

[@phatofx]

I just ordered it! I'm gonna 3d print hella stuff and make turn it into a DSMC body lol

[@maxvorobey1316]

You should make a video! Would be interested in seeing the result

[@AndyLSB]

Im interested to see the results, keep us posted !

[@lightboardsaustralia4448]

Me 3…!

[@SurajBoddu]

What's uppppp phato my man

[@SMGJohn]

Inb4 camcorder body with this would been perfect.

[@tubeman1983]

Great! I'd love to see more videos about this camera being used as a cine cam! 👍😊

[@MilliBlom]

You have a very relaxing voice, especially paired with the softness of the piano and the very filmic shots

[@andrewcoonsmedia]

I could see getting this as a dedicated interview B-cam or even A-cam. This would be a beast on any sort of tripod rig. I have all the peripherals already for my current setup, this video is really making me want to pick up one of these too 😂

[@Trident_Media7104]

It's a very expensive webcam for those team meetings 🤣

[@EMTOHyt]

easiest tax write off ever ;)

[@SereneBobcat]

great video. Crazy that this camera has the I/O that the pockets should have.

[@andilematomela2043]

Love your videos man. Just wanted to say I think the reason that one shot was a little 'bitey' (lol ) is just because there isn't a lot of room to push the contrast. I always find that when I try to create contrast that just isn't there, I end up making the shot a lot sharper than it would have otherwise been and it tends to look really unnatural. Nothing wrong with a flat shot, they work great sometimes, but this is just one of those ones you can't do much with. Unlucky. The lighting in the the shot looks pretty consistent through out and the histogram confirms that there isn't much of a difference in the highlights and the shadows anyway, and that's if there are any shadows at all. I'm sure you knew that already but I just wanted to point it out 'cause it's something i had to learn as well. 🤞🏾 thanks for the great videos and I love the series on the blackmagic cameras. Would love to see what you would put together with a c70.

[@DJTI99]

Thank you for this comprehensive review. I'm about to start filming a music documentary, and I've been contemplating getting a few of these as secondary cameras to go along with my pocket 4K. I really like the fact that you can jam sync LTC using the audio input jack like the pocket 4K.

[@TaylorPassofaro]

It would be cool to see a roundup of your favorite budget c mount lenses for micro four thirds

[@harlemwoodstudios]

Bro, you dropped some gems here!

[@SourceAwareness]

Thanks, Jake! 😎

[@cinemaipswich4636]

I have the original Micro 4K, with DeckLink PCIe 4K Recorder card. Set and forget. Small, with wonderful image. Solid build and excellent quality. Originally paired the Micro with my Video Assist 7, and went roaming my town, filming a doco. Now its my HDMI monitor (with 1080p backup to cards), with amazing audio capture. 6 years of great performance, and flawless service.

[@definingslawek4731]

This is the ultimate fpv drone cine cam!

[@EveryTongue]

Didn’t even know this was a thing, awesome

[@shadwellsong]

thank you I enjoyed this

[@jdsmedia]

Great vid man! Thinking about getting one of these, only thing holding me back is the lack of playback... i see a work around is setting a trigger to an external recorder like your atomos, so you can record proxies in parallel to check what you recorded that way. Have you tried that? Ive seen people mention it, but no videos or tutorials to confirm it.

[@ThomasDeWeerdt]

I like the style and content of your videos. Will buy one, and play around with it, with the great manual 7artisans lenses. As the camera is difficult to control, manual lenses make a lot of sense to control light 😅

[@Croissinate]

I love Aspen with all my heart

[@willeditsvids]

Great video, new sub! What screen recording software did you use that has the keyboard keys showing up on the screen?

[@BrendanEvan]

Like an odd 4k baseball Love the take, thanks Jake

[@markpullar8159]

I use the first one all the time. I want to get the G2 so badly.

[@chrisbogart687]

I am using some Blackmagic video assists I already had as my monitor and that also can record to a SD card. You can go SDI to that or HDMI. For hooking to a SSD - I use the Crucial X9 and X10. Their size and speed work best with this camera. I got it as a studio camera, but have been thinking of some field work, where the size would really come in handy. For a classic look - you mentioned C mount lenses and I have a selection of Angenieux C mount cinema lenses that I use with my BMPCC OG. Simply amazing lenses for size, quality, and price. This camera opens so many doors. BTW - I did confirm the micro cinema 4K G2 also has an internal like its big brothers, a gyro that records, so you can stabalize in Resolve.

[@kaithefilmgeek]

Does the touchscreen work directly with the camera settings?

[@chrisbogart687]

@@kaithefilmgeek Not on the camera settings. You need to use the buttons to navigate. Remember that HDMI is not a bidirectional protocol.

[@krishnansrinivasan830]

Awesome & Thanks :)

[@greentokyo]

Glad to see someone else review this camera! I'm still iffy on it after buying it, wanting a small handheld setup. But those SDI ports get crazy hot when recording and I'm still looking for a good way to cover them while using it. I use the ACCSOON seemo for wireless transmission to my phone, and a small high speed flash drive for recording rather than a samsung drive, so i can avoid cables altogether. I discovered that on a drone channel using this camera.

[@Bamsambam33]

I use the accsoon RF system and I have this camera I was worried too I got it and now I love it the picture quality is amazing and I love how you can connect to an atem via hdmi and be able to control Db, gain, game, shutter, white balance etc its great

[@cakespinner]

This is the exact setup I would use this camera with! Considering getting this as a run and gun camera. Wondered if it’s easy to turn off the overlays easily and just use the seemo to record.

[@Bamsambam33]

@@cakespinner the hdmi overlay with the camera menu? I would just connect the SDI out (clean feed) and hdmi dirty feed to a monitor so you’re good

[@MePeterNicholls]

Those sandisk ssd’s are great!

[@offshoretom2380]

I have one and I really do like the form factor. I think the big miss was with the gyro stabilization which is basically worthless unless using a m4/3 lens with electronic contacts. Which is hugely limiting given the fact most people would want to adapt lenses to it. I hope they can fix that in a firmware update. All they need is an option to manually add the lens focal length. Just can’t believe that isn’t already a feature.

[@AdrianEddy]

You can use Gyroflow instead

[@kennyadvocat]

Very nice. I wish they made a pro ENG lens for M4/3 sensor. All the nice pro video zooms are either 2/3 or super35. Looks great with your vintage glass tho!

[@cinemaipswich4636]

This little camera can be controlled by Blackmagic Design's ATEM 12G 4K switches. Their ATEM camera control software allows remote control, without a camera monitor.

[@Qimchiy]

This is the camera The Grand Tour used for interior shots in Sand Job.

[@chrisnielsen9885]

Fantastic video! I was just looking at these the other day, thinking whether I could replace the GoPro on my motorbike with one of these to film myself riding but I’m thinking the vibrations will be too much for it, even the GoPro with its stabilisation struggles

[@zenjohnson6120]

looks good ! can I ask you how do you get the square mask with the roundedcorners and the landscape mask with the round corners ? many thanks from uk

[@azamulashraff365]

Hi ! Cool video ! I ve question. Did this camera capturing gyro data as bmpcc 4k as well ?

[@JacobdelaRosa]

Honestly this would work so well on a gimbal with an external monitor. The OG pocket 4k body is an absolute nightmare to balance on a gimbal.

[@JonasStuart]

I love the idea of getting one of these and rigging it to be as small a fully rigged cine cam as possible. Same image as my P4K - as you say, really beautiful and flexible in post! Which was the lens that was giving you the nice swirly bokeh in those trees? Was it the same lens giving you lovely colours and sharpness in your hallway, beach and dishes scenes?!

[@gabrielanulak9897]

I'm already thinking if it's not a better option than Sony A7S III for real estate videography. With some accessories it could be a wonderful camera for this workflow!

[@FairlyDisturbedOnion]

What do you use to take your vids? I like the style of it!

[@chiokehart-kelly3481]

I like this.

[@uriitarded]

i'm working on a setup that uses these cameras to record dj sets. i've got one complete rig so far. working on the 2nd; it would be nice to get a 3rd going but it gets pricey! i've been camping out on 2nd hand markets and recently bought one of these bodies from a homeless guy in a tent for $350 lol

[@xWood4000]

This camera makes so much less sense without Bluetooth, because an app could be a lot easier to use than the buttons. They even have their API documented for DIY purposes. I want this cam with BT and a SD card slot so bad

[@ninethirtyone4264]

This exactly. The main advantage of this camera is that it is so compact you can pretty much shove it anywhere. Having to use the buttons cripples it's capabilities greatly.

[@hung8969]

Only issue I’ve had is overheating. But it’s pretty fun little guy. Leave it in the Texas sun and it will shut off/break and need to be sent in for warranty

[@Eissen_meteor]

question: how you make pre programed no tree like on 4:39 ??

[@imabigsandwich1292]

Hey man good video, But at 7:45 you said the noise is very granular and that there is no fpn, but as someone who've had the og pocket 4k (both a newer braw version and an older modded version with cdng) I can say that the pocket 4k sensor has a lot of fpn especially at those iso where you are giving more highlight stops, once you pause the frame it might not look too bad and pretty granular, but once you unpause the footage you can immediately see rolling bands of horizontal fixed pattern noise, it's a common issue on all almost all of the blackmagic cameras, I think either they just haven't got their blackshading/sensor profiles perfect to counteract the fpn in their sensors or they haven't tuned the sensor properly.

[@billyoung9538]

If you're pausing it, then it's not FPN. Fixed Pattern Noise is literally a fixed noise pattern that is visible at all times if the dark areas are boosted above a certain point. People often confuse gain noise and CMOS contrast noise with FPN. If a camera suffers from dark area FPN then the way to deal with the FPN is to let a camera warm up to operating temperature and then record a consistent shadow tone as the source image for about 30 seconds, then do a frame average, and it will isolate the FPN pattern which can be inverted and blended with footage shot while the camera was still running. The reason one does this is because FPN patterns can shift around between shoots aka days for various reasons.

[@mannyb4265]

@@billyoung9538 this is great advice. I have the Blackmagic Production 4K which has very strong FPN, but letting it warm up and run a while certainly improves it.

[@TerenceKearns]

Dope

[@stranger5357]

What’s the difference between the G1 and G2? Do you know if 1st Gen record BRAW?

[@coin777]

Does the SDI out have only full hd like hdmi?

[@chiefdenis]

Its a great way to use up all those surplus bmpcc sensors 😂

[@Phantastik33]

is the sensor different in comparison to Blackmagic 4k?

[@fail_fast]

Great take on an unqiue camera. Why are your talking head shots so soft? Your B-roll is nice and crisp.

[@JamesBalazs]

That confused me. Filmmaking channel with out of focus 720p looking talking head shots and the whole thing inexplicably cropped to 4:3 so every other shot is too tight?

[@definingslawek4731]

Lovely looking video! Is your talking head technically in focus?

[@abulka]

Looks out of focus or soft in a bad way, to me. Stopped watching.

[@definingslawek4731]

@@abulkayeah, it may be described as “character” but if this is character, I don’t want it.

[@addairobi]

can we use smartphone to replace that external monitor ?

[@FritsJanSmit]

the video podcast cam?

[@evgeniylivevlog7619]

camera perfect

[@ubacow7109]

Weird that it doesnt use the same locking lemo as the other cameras

[@AAD91]

Nice! How would you compare it against the Sigma FP?

[@sunlightwings]

Some time ago I did a quick video comparing both. In the meantime I changed my method of using the fp, which improved the dynamic range, but I still think the BMMCC holds up very well.

[@sunlightwings]

I'm sorry, I commented on this before watching the video. I thought the review was about the original Micro Cinema Camera.

[@diskomiks]

Can this be used for streaming? Any way to to get constant power?

[@KCameronJ]

Did you watch the video…?

[@MrHaydnSir]

cool last name, even if misspelt 😉

[@wiktorpp]

I don't know much about cameras, but it seems it would be a cool pairing with a tablet for a viewfinder and easier controlls (and you could shoot and post to social media right away). It would be the camera running Android that never was Edit: Damn, that stuff's expensive

[@ozzythemighty2767]

Can't you ajust the settings via your phone threw Bluetooth?

[@mungewell]

It's remotely controllable from ATEM, via the SDI in.... Perhaps some 'hacker' can get Pico/ESP32 to output something to trigger config changes.

[@imothy]

so i could probably sell my BMPCC OG and a couple lenses and buy this thing?

[@deltacx1059]

At this point you could use a astrophotography camera, I'm sure some can record in 4k.

[@SuperbAudio]

Add lidar and you're done!

[@liamb2064]

hows that node tree tho...

[@XIGuyIX]

Black Magic really is just a meme machine now.

[@mortgagechampions6832]

So... why buy this over the BMPC4K for just a few hundred extra, which is cheaper than buying an Atomos and cage for the G2?

[@CartyCantDance]

It’s for broadcast. Possible use cases: Drone FPV Action/POV cam Etc. if you already have all the rigging necessary, then you can make a very tiny rig

[@AudioArcturia]

I think i just found my drum cameras... oh my god

[@annekedebruyn7797]

BM shooters: we want a BM box camera BM: we have a box camera the box camera:

[@mediamaker6828]

Cuz...BGH1, BS1H and Z-CAM...way better in my opinion.

[@rooketube]

Big fan of my used BS1H that I got a couple months back. FF 6K open gate, raw over HDMI, great color. Only drawbacks are 3G SDI, no in-body image stabilization, and hard-to-find batteries (though there is a dummy battery, 12V input, and PoE).

[@WillvonTagen]

If you end up keeping the camera and need a cage let me know. I’d be happy to set you up 👌🏻

[@GmailNexus]

Why is everything so blurry?

[@JelleDHulster]

There are settings in KZbin. You can choose for HD.

[@robertdouble559]

sharps

[@backyardwindow]

2:40 Wait, what is SDI input for?!

[@KCameronJ]

I didn’t question the existence of SDI in until you said this…now you got me wondering too!

[@KCameronJ]

Ah! It’s for remote control via an ATEM controller!

[@BillKinnon]

Control from an ATEM SDI switcher

[@pirateradioFPV]

Is that a blackmagic camera in your pocket or are you just happy to see me . .

[@JaydenLawson]

Good for FPV, but riiisskkkkkyyyyy

[@SebasSant87]

settle for a ninja V lol

[@timekeepermedia5142]

coming from a filmmaker perspective, the z cam e2-m4 kinda makes this camera irrelevant. especially how cheap i've seen some used packages go for on fb.

[@berndeckenfels]

Depression Glass? 😂

[@mungewell]

This camera is looking like a better option than the FX-30 for budget DPs. I just found out that it also embeds gyro data in the raw file! There's tight integration with Gyro-Flow with Davinci too.... kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3uph4VteMeYpLssi=Ws_vjxPoN8-bPMfq

[@FoolishMidas]

I got the 1000th like lmao

[@ChrisParayno]

Not so cheap after rigging it iut to actually be useable😂😂

[@c73w]

What is funny that you get free davinci resolve studio when buying this instead of paying a bunch of thousands

[@hodoyoku]

ぼくは以前HDバージョンを持っていました。16mmフィルムカメラのレンズたちはとても素晴らしく、現代のマイクロフォーサーズのレンズはとてもシャープです。 ぼくはこのカメラの画質がとても好きでしたが、操作ボタンはクソ。クソ中のクソで、2度と触りたくありません。

[@user-kf3ix2kd1o]

blackmagicのハードデザインはいつまで経っても進化しないよねw

[@hoodiekid8439]

what a silly

[@truthseeker36]

whoa, I thought that was an effect but your head is really shaped like an inflatable pineapple. 🤯

[@mediamaker6828]

Funny how my comments keep getting deleted.

[@gaarax0x]

For IQ run the footage instead of showing a stills sheesh

[@Curionimbus]

@EvanMonsma