Blackmagic Cinema Camera spontaneously self-combusts during video shoot

Oh my. This is probably one of the worst things that could possibly happen to any photographer or videographer. During the shoot for a Kickstarter campaign in his apartment, producer Forest Gibson's Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5K decided to spontaneously burst into flames, taking with it the SSD drive and all data stored on it. Fortunately, nobody was hurt during the incident, but camera and footage are all gone.

After leaving the room, Gibson immediately grabbed another camera, went back in there (armed with a damp cloth in front of his mouth) and filmed the aftermath of the Blackmagic's spontaneous self-combustion. The camera was still spewing smoke when Gibson entered the room again, and it is evident in the video that vital parts of it had molten from the heat. However, contrary to the initial statement that the battery exploded, it later turned out that the cause of the meltdown must've been something else, as the battery was cool and still in working condition when Gibson disconnected it.

The only good news in all this is that Gibson's BMCC seems to be the only one that encountered such a horrific failure, as no other reports about Blackmagic Cinema Cameras catching fire are known of so far. Also, Blackmagic is looking into the matter and is trying to figure out whether it was an internal short that cause the fire. So here's to hoping that it was a one-time incident. Whether or not Blackmagic will have to recall some (or all) Cinema Cameras – or indeed other products as well – remains to be seen.

(via planet5D)