Firmware Update 6.1: test battery life, format media, and more

The very first firmware update for the BMPCC4k is now available for download and install. Does it have the much anticipated BRAW? Some are openly posting on forums that it will never reach our cameras but apparently the delay has caused much doubt.

Scroll all the way to the bottom to see my test results. Unfortunately BRAW was not included in this update but here are a few cool things that were updated:

What’s new for Pocket Cinema Camera 4K

  • Added support for pixel remapping in camera.
  • Added 2:1 monitoring frame guide.
  • Improved media formatting user interface.
  • Improved audio monitoring latency performance.
  • Improved auto focus performance.
  • Improved signal to noise ratio performance of camera internal microphone.
  • Improved power efficiency for improved battery life.
  • Improved 3.5mm audio input selection interface.
  • Improved AV sync performance.
  • Fixed an issue where time and date is not updated on camera when connected to the Blackmagic Camera Setup utility.
  • Fixed an issue where the 3.5mm audio input level is 6dB lower than expected.
  • Fixed an auto focusing issue with Lumix 20mm f/1.7 lens.
  • Fixed an issue where some USB-C external SSDs were not detected when connected before camera is powered up.
  • Fixed an issue where some batteries might shut off earlier than expected.
  • Fixed an issue where low battery indicator is not displayed appropriately.
  • Fixed an issue with camera not being detected by host computer when connected to certain USB ports.
  • Updated dynamic range and ISO chart in user manual.

Here is the link to download on your MAC OS or Windows

Battery test #1: 53 min record time
4k dci, 4:1, 24 fps, ssd, Viltrox adapter, OEM battery

37 min the battery indicator turned red
battery died at 52 min

Battery test #2: 46 min record time
4k dci, 4:1, 24 fps, ssd, third party battery

38 min the battery indicator turned on, 20%
battery died at 46 min, 4%

Battery test #3: 56 min record time.
4k dci, 4:1, 24 fps, ssd, OEM battery
I forgot to push the record button on the other camera but the OEM battery with no Viltrox adapter lasted 56 min.

Conclusion of the battery tests: The OEM batteries have improved by roughly 20-15 minutes when recording 4k dci, 4:1, 24 fps, ssd, Viltrox adapter, OEM battery and approx. 15-10 min with third party batteries. Keep in mind these tests were conducted by constantly recording and Prores will consume more battery power and reduce battery life by about 10 min. Also an adapter with electronics (aperture control) will consume a little bit of battery and so does the SSD. According to my test the Viltrox reduced the battery life by roughly 4 minutes.

Another helpful feature included in the update was a 3 second format media selection so that you do not accidentally format the media by just pushing it once. Now you will need to make the selection and keep it pushed for 3 seconds before the drive is formatted.

Also a “pixel remapping” function that should fix any dead or hot pixels .

One downside is that my grid display feature no longer works : ( Another problem is that the Viltrox efm2 adapter may stop working but that can be fixed by simply downgrading the focal reducers firmware to 2.3

All in all, good job BMD for improving an already amazing camera and I look forward to the next update.

Keep the magic alive,

MT
editor/founder

Resolve 15.2 Update!

I got an email from BMD this morning and wanted to pass on the great news that Davinci Resolve has been updated and could be signal that Blackmagic Raw will soon come to the BMPCC4k. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and until then update Resolve for additional features. 

Keep the magic alive,

MT
editor/founder

From BMD

Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 15.2

Major new release adds over 30 features customers have asked for including even faster editing, visual keyboard customization, new beauty correction tools, audio mastering plugins and more!

Fremont, CA – November 14, 2018 – Blackmagic Design today announced DaVinci Resolve 15.2, a major update to its editing, color correction, visual effects and professional audio post production software. DaVinci Resolve 15.2 has been designed based on feedback from professional customers around the world. It includes over 30 new features that simplify and streamline everyday tasks so editors, colorists and sound engineers can work even faster.

DaVinci Resolve 15.2 is available today for immediate download from the Blackmagic Design website. DaVinci Resolve 15.2 will also be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design InterBEE 2018 booth at #8216. A video showing these new features can be viewed on the Blackmagic Design website at www.blackmagicdesign.com

The editing timeline in DaVinci Resolve 15.2 draws at a higher frame rate which makes editing and trimming feel faster, more responsive and more fluid than ever. In addition, new animations have been added so clips slide in and out of position, making it easier to see exactly how different edits affect other clips in the timeline.

Visual dup detection lets customers see when the same clip has been used more than once. In addition, clips displayed in the bin now display usage indicators for the current active timeline. White vertical lines highlight the currently marked portion of a clip, while red horizontal lines show which frames are used. The timeline can also be cleaned up by flattening down unused clips, and timecode entry has been simplified throughout the application.

DaVinci Resolve 15.2 also adds features that make pancake editing, which is the editing of clips between multiple timelines, much easier and faster than before. Timelines or compound clips can now be loaded into the source viewer and edited into the current timeline in their decomposed state. Most importantly, editors can tap the X key to instantly mark a clip in the source timeline and edit that clip directly into the active program timeline.

The inspector, on-screen controls and metadata viewer on the Edit page now automatically update to show the relevant information for the highest visible clip under the playhead. That means customers no longer have to manually select a clip to change a parameter.

Keyboard customization has been completely redesigned in DaVinci Resolve 15.2. The new visual interface lets editors quickly see which keys are in use and assign shortcuts. The included keyboard sets emulate other popular editing applications, making it easier for editors switching to DaVinci Resolve. Keyboard sets can be shared between systems and shortcuts can now be assigned to different pages and user interface panels within the application. Shortcuts can even be assigned to commands in contextual pop-up menus. New highlights make it easier to see which portion of the interface is active so customers know which keyboard shortcuts they can use.

DaVinci Resolve 15.2 also includes new ResolveFX plugins. The Blanking Fill plugin automatically fills black letterbox or pillar box areas of the screen with defocused video. This makes it easier to use vertical video or photos in standard widescreen timelines because customers no longer have to manually create a background. The new Beauty plugin is designed to gently and realistically smooth textures and blemishes on skin and other surfaces. Colorists will also find new plugins for ACES transformations and limiting gamut. In addition, colorists can now bypass mixer node inputs by turning off connected nodes and can export gallery stills with custom label names.

The Fairlight page includes dozens of refinements along with new FairlightFX plugins that make fixing common problems and mastering final audio faster and easier than before. The new Stereo Fix plugin features presets for the most common channel mapping operations so clips can be fixed with a single click. This lets customers quickly fix problems such as dual-channel mono dialogue that was edited in stereo tracks.

The new Multi-band compressor features realtime spectral analysis and four different independently adjustable frequency bands. This lets customers achieve the desired overall volume without creating artifacts when mastering sound. The Fairlight page also adds new VCA groups for ganging channel strips together. This makes it possible to adjust the gain on multiple tracks simultaneously.

Since it was announced at NAB last April, Blackmagic Design engineers have been listening to feedback from professional customers around the world and have been working hard to add the features they need. Over 110 new features have been added to DaVinci Resolve since April.

“The momentum of DaVinci Resolve and the speed at which it’s being adopted is incredible,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “It’s exciting because many of the new features in DaVinci Resolve 15.2 are things that will make a difference to artists that use it each and every day. This is a massive release that customers are going to love!”

New features added since the release of DaVinci Resolve 15

Edit

  • High frame rate timeline refresh with animations.
  • Visual keyboard customization.
  • Support for custom shortcuts in different parts of the UI and contextual menus.
  • Highlight indicators showing active portion of interface.
  • Live save and backup support for new, unsaved projects.
  • Import and export dialog boxes now remember last used location.
  • Undo history available in edit menu.
  • Keyword dictionary management tool.
  • Duplicate frame detection with visual indicators on clips in the timeline.
  • Clean up timeline feature to remove and flatten unused clips.
  • Simplified timecode entry.
  • Clip usage and marked range indicators in media pool icon view.
  • Split dual pane media pool option on edit page.
  • Shortcut for editing compound or nested timeline source clips into current timeline.
  • Inspector, overlays and metadata view now update based on highest clip under playhead.
  • Dynamic zoom automatically turns on when on screen controls are moved.
  • Temporary snapping toggle while dragging.
  • Maximum number of characters per second setting for subtitles.
  • Subframe audio transition editing.
  • Blanking fill ResolveFX plug-in automatically fills frame for clips with different aspect ratio.
  • Match frame for the selected clip in the timeline (for a stack of two clips that intersect the playhead).
  • Create subclass from media pool markers.
  • Add flags to clips in media pool.
  • Show source timecode overlays for audio and video tracks in the timeline viewer.
  • Keyframing for OpenFX dropdown and checkbox based parameters.
  • Show clip marker annotations on the timeline viewer.
  • Create clip annotations for a selected clip on the timeline from the timeline viewer.
  • Display marker annotations and overlays for the selected clip marker under the playhead.
  • Delete transitions across clips when one of the clips is deleted.
  • Swap clips in the edit timeline using cmd/ctrl+shift and dragging.
  • Perform insert and swap edits by holding cmd/ctrl+shift while dragging clips from the media pool or source viewer.
  • Custom clip colors for subtitle elements.
  • Insert nested and compound clips in decomposed state during edit operations.
  • Keyword support added to clip and timeline markers.
  • Marker keywords column on the edit index.
  • Display multi-cam angle name in the timeline and source viewer.
  • Clip level panning in the edit and Fairlight inspectors.
  • Export subtitles from timeline track context menus.
  • Export the current subtitle track in the timeline from the file menu.
  • Constrain motion with shift key while modifying title, transform and dynamic zoom viewer overlays.

Fusion

  • Create new Fusion compositions independent of the edit timeline.
  • Saver nodes and loader nodes.
  • ResolveFX plugins on the Fusion page.
  • GPU accelerated OpenFX plugin support.
  • Temporal OpenFX plugins.
  • Frame range sliders automatically scale to render range.
  • Console dialog now accessible from all pages.

Color

  • ResolveFX ACES transform plug-in.
  • ResolveFX gamut limiter plug-in.
  • ResolveFX beauty smoothing plug-in.
  • Bypass mixer node input by turning off connected nodes.
  • Support for exporting gallery stills with custom label names.
  • Tool usage badges.
  • LUTs can be applied on compound nodes.
  • Shared nodes can be converted to a corrector node.
  • Change clip color from the thumbnail context menu on the color page.
  • Display multi-cam angle name on color page clip information.
  • Support for ResolveFX and OpenFX static keyframes in the color page.
  • Hard clip option in the tone and gamut mapping sections of color space transform ResolveFX.
  • Access and select between multiple inputs for OpenFX nodes.

Fairlight Audio

  • FairlightFX multi-band compressor.
  • FairlightFX stereo fixer.
  • Support for modifying transitions created on edit page.
  • Navigate timeline by typing timecode.
  • Darker clip colors for modified clips.
  • Support for adding FairlightFX to multiple select clips at the same time.
  • VCA grouping for ganging channel faders together.
  • Audio ducking using side chain compression in track dynamics.
  • Search field in the Fairlight page track and marker index.
  • Default audio crossfades changed to 0dB.
  • Reset command for edited audio samples in a clip.
  • Round trip audio clips to third party audio processing applications.
  • Cache clips with FairlightFX and AudioFX.
  • Bounce clips with FairlightFX and AudioFX to a new layer.
  • Paste attributes for audio tracks.
  • Remove attributes for audio tracks.
  • Solo-safe for audio tracks and buses by cmd/ctrl-alt-clicking solo buttons in the mixer.
  • Fairlight FX soft clipper.
  • Sub-bus and aux-bus routing in nested timelines.
  • Automatically disable source audio clips after bouncing audio effects.
  • Show source timecode overlays for audio and video tracks in the timeline viewer.

Deliver

  • Added support for exporting alpha when rendering TIFF files.
  • Added support for encoding at maximum bit rate for Kakadu JPEG 2000 when rendering DCP and IMF in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
  • Added support for Kakadu based lossless JPEG 2000 encoding in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
  • Improved performance when rendering H.264 clips on Windows.
  • Added support for rendering with Dolby Vision/HDR10+ tone mapping applied.
  • Added support for modifying the filename field in the deliver page.
  • Added support for delivering supplemental IMF packages with versioning metadata for frame replacement and shot replacement workflows.
  • Added support for importing IMF packages and supplemental compositions as timelines.
  • Added support for encoding per frame timecode metadata in Grass Valley HQ and HQX clips.
  • Added support for Photon validation of IMF packages in the media pool and in the render settings in the deliver page.

Collaboration

  • Support for collaboration across different network subnets.
  • Support for Fusion in collaborative projects.
  • Adding or modify markers without locking a bin.
  • Indicator for clips with color grading and Fusion comp updates on edit page.
  • Command to refresh single clip or all clips on edit page.

General

  • Supports hardware accelerated decode of long GOPonic AVC clips on NVIDIA hardware.
  • Supports stereoscopic 3D multi-view EXR files.
  • Improved scripting with ability to add and query markers, flags and clip color metadata.
  • Support for storing alpha channel when caching to uncompressed 16-bit float – HDR.
  • Support for storing alpha channel when caching to uncompressed 10-bit float formats.
  • Support for caching compound clips, Fusion clips and nested timelines.
  • Support for tetrahedral 3D interpolation in DCTLs.
  • Support for ACES 1.1.
  • Processing Fusion compositions in linear gamma in color managed and ACES workflows.
  • Copy and paste actions for Dolby Vision trim data in the application menu.
  • Alt/option + middle click to copy Dolby Vision trim metadata for the current target display.
  • Alt/option + shift + middle click to copy Dolby Vision trim metadata for all target displays.
  • Clip thumbnail indicator can show clips analyzed for Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
  • Support for importing clip markers from a Final Cut Pro 7 XML file.
  • Support for preserving bin hierarchy when importing media and metadata from a Final Cut Pro 7 XML file.
  • Support for importing marker colors and duration markers on clips when importing media using FCP7 XML files.
  • Support for exporting subtitle files in project archives.
  • Support for automatic generation of MD5 media hash lists from clone tool operations.
  • Display audio channel names in clip attributes.
  • Show clip color indicator on media pool thumbnails.
  • Change clip color from the application menu on the media, edit and color pages.
  • See bin name in the title bar of a floating media pool bin.
  • Add information about synced audio name option, audio channel metadata.

Availability and Price

DaVinci Resolve and DaVinci Resolve Studio 15.2 are now available for download from the Blackmagic Design website free of charge for all current DaVinci Resolve customers.

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve 15, as well as all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

What’s new in Blackmagic Camera Setup 6.0

Improvements for URSA Mini Pro

  • Improved ISO range on URSA Mini Pro.
  • Improved in camera playback.
  • Improved status display info for off-speed.
  • Improved responsiveness of color corrector.
  • Improved timecode support.
  • Improved metadata support.
  • Improved shutter metadata.
  • Add HDR metadata support in SDI stream.
  • Add 2:1 monitoring frame guides.
  • Add ability to lock timecode from SDI Input.
  • Add frame guide options in SDI Camera Control Protocol.
  • Fixed LCD clean feed record indicator bug.
  • Fixed stills bug.
  • Updated URSA Mini and SDK manual.

New features for URSA Viewfinder

  • Add Generation 4 Color Science.
  • Add 4.6K Film to Extended Video LUT.
  • Add support for 2:1 frame guides.
  • Improved anamorphic frame guides.
  • Improved false color.
  • Fixed Extended Video 6.0 Beta LUT bug.
  • General performance improvements.

New features for URSA Studio Viewfinder

  • Add Generation 4 Color Science.
  • Add 4.6K Film to Extended Video LUT.
  • Add support for 2:1 frame guides.
  • Improved anamorphic frame guides.
  • General performance improvements.

News: Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic eGPU Pro

Just got word from BMD that they will be releasing a new “external graphics processor featuring the blazingly fast AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics processor”! For those of you using the BMPCC4k, Resolve is a must to unlock all the true pixel data retained by the sensor and pairing it with this new Blackmagic eGPU Pro your only limitation is your creativity.

The Blackmagic eGPU Pro is a bolt of lighting for your graphics and “delivers nearly twice the performance of the original Blackmagic eGPU model and up to 22x faster performance than the built-in graphics on a 13-inch MacBook Pro”.

Slide
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/release/20181031-01
images are from Blackmagic Design

If you haven’t made the conversion to Resolve please do yourself a favor and do so ASAP. You will find a new world of color correction and grading with an ease of use. Considering that it comes for FREE with your BMPCC4k how can you not convert?

Keep the magic alive,

MT
editor/founder

Read more about the new Blackmagic eGPU Pro below in the official press release:

New model features blazingly fast AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 for up to 22x faster performance!

Fremont, CA – October 30, 2018  Blackmagic Design today announced the Blackmagic eGPU Pro, an external graphics processor featuring the blazingly fast AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics processor. Designed to accelerate pro creative software such as DaVinci Resolve, 3D games and VR, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro delivers nearly twice the performance of the original Blackmagic eGPU model and up to 22x faster performance than the built-in graphics on a 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The Blackmagic eGPU Pro features a built-in AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a new DisplayPort for connecting 5K displays, HDMI 2.0, 85W of charging power and four USB 3.1 connections. Designed in collaboration with Apple, the integrated design brings cutting-edge workstation-class graphics processing and computational acceleration to customers working in professional video, playing 3D games or using the latest virtual reality software.

The Blackmagic eGPU Pro will be available in November for only US$1,199 from apple.com.

The Blackmagic eGPU Pro features 8GB of HBM2 RAM, a massive 2048-bit memory interface with 410 gigabyte per second bandwidth, and 56 discreet compute units for up to 10.5 teraflops of processing power. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 can fill 94 billion textured pixels per second. In addition, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro supports Metal graphics technology from Apple, which provides near-direct access to the GPU for maximizing graphics and compute performance with games and applications.

With nearly 2x faster performance than the previous eGPU model, customers running DaVinci Resolve will get more realtime effects and color correction than ever before. That means they can spend more time exploring creative options and less time waiting. Customers running DaVinci Resolve on a 13-inch MacBook Pro will find that GPU-intensive operations, such as noise reduction, are up to 22x faster with the Blackmagic eGPU Pro. DaVinci Resolve 15 also supports multiple GPUs as well as Metal, so it’s the best way to get the full benefit of the Blackmagic eGPU Pro. Customers can download DaVinci Resolve 15 now free of charge from the Blackmagic Design website for the best editing, color correction, audio post and visual effects solution available.

For gamers and customers using VR software and headsets, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro delivers higher resolution images, higher frame rate gameplay, better lighting and more detailed textures for truly immersive experiences, even on a laptop computer. Plus, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro features a DisplayPort connection that can drive a 5K display.

The elegant, textured finish of the Blackmagic eGPU Pro is extruded from a single piece of aluminum and features a unique thermal cooling system that’s been designed to perfectly balance the airflow and dissipate heat more efficiently. The cooling system also enables extremely quiet operation, which is vital for those working in video production and audio engineering environments.

In addition to graphics and computational acceleration, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro is also the perfect docking hub for connecting devices such as keyboards, mice, Thunderbolt monitors, big screen HDMI televisions, 5K displays, VR headsets, high speed storage and more. It features two 40Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 connections, a built-in 4 port USB hub, DisplayPort and HDMI. Plus, the connections are ergonomically spaced, making it easy to connect and disconnect peripherals.

When it comes to power, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro has a built-in power supply that powers the GPU while also providing 85W of downstream power via Thunderbolt 3 for charging laptop computers and powering peripherals. The power supply works from 100V to 240V and features a standard IEC power connector so it can be used anywhere in the world.

“The new Blackmagic eGPU Pro is exciting because it delivers nearly twice the performance of the original model of the Blackmagic eGPU,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design. “Whether you’re editing and color grading professional video with DaVinci Resolve, playing 3D games or working in VR, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro gives you the latest cutting edge graphics performance and computational acceleration available. It simply makes everything faster and makes everything look better!”

Availability and Price

The Blackmagic eGPU Pro will be available in November for only US$1,199 from apple.com.

 

Who Is Shipping The Camera!?

With so much anxiety, nervousness and anger of when the BMPCC4k will ship and preorders dating from April 2018 it seems there is a lot of mixed messages and possible misinformation.  Some big retailers are now saying December 2018 for April orders and January/February for orders placed today or recently. So what’s the big delay?

Image result for b&h photo
Image result for adorama images

I do not know of anyone that has publicly stated how many preorders were made from the date of announcement, April 9, 2018, to present but some estimate 10,000+. I do not think that sensors and many of the components are made immediately much less the QC process. You also must understand that BMD may be dependent on vendors which I am sure do not stop everything to ramp up production just because they need it. We will inquire from BMD about the manufacturing process and the time to make each camera. I hope they provide information not necessarily ship dates.

Some ask, “why are the big box stores like B&H and Adorama not shipping large quantities and smaller retailers are shipping more?” Well it’s all relative. If you think about it B&H must have orders in the thousands were as smaller retailers may have 10-20. So if you do the math if the smaller store ordered 25 on the first day they might be able to fulfill their orders and if they have any left over they can put them on out there. Which has happened in a few instances. So then, many people think that the big stores didn’t get enough and the smaller ones did which we do not believe is the case.

But the fact that many big box stores have been giving out conflicting statements on ship dates to customers fuels theories of why their order has not shipped.  The market demand may have been underestimated or there may be production delays. But that is pure speculation since no one has issued an official statement. 

It’s safe to say watching videos and downloading clips of this amazing camera only intensifies the urgency. Let’s not mention the notorious “unboxing videos”! So now that you don’t have a clue and already sent the vendor emails, called, and chatted what do you do now? If you believe the camera is the game changer we have all been waiting for then you learn as much as you can from blogs, Youtube, Vimeo that way when your camera arrives you already have filled the noggin with more than delayed gratification. 

Keep the magic alive,

MT

editor/founder

If you want to submit information/videos (links)/news/tips for our blog please email us: info@BMPCC4k.tech 

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