Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera EF manual

Installation and Operation Manual Blackmagic Cinema Camera Windows ™ August 2 0 12 Mac OS X ™[...]

W elcome W elcome Thank you for purchasing Blackmagic Cinema Camera! We have worked har d to produce a camera that's designed fr om the gr ound up to have a very wide dynamic range and to produce files that ar e "flat" which means they preserve this wide dynamic range. This will allow you make your creative decisions by using the i[...]

Contents Blac k magic Cinema C ame r a Getting Started Attaching a Lens 5 T urning the Camera On and Off 5 Inserting an SSD 6 Begin Recording 6 Choosing the Recording Format 6 Playing Back Clips 7 Using Remote Control 7 Charging the Internal battery 7 Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility 8 How to Set Up Thunderbolt ™ to Capture and Monitor V ideo 9 S[...]

Contents Blac k magic Cinema C ame r a 29 30 38 50 52 Attaching Accessories Sun Sheild 27 Carry Strap 27 Blackmagic Cinema Camera Handles 28 Working with Thunderbolt T echnology What Can I Do With the Thunderbolt Port on My Camera? 29 Using Blackmagic Media Express Using Blackmagic UltraScope Help Getting Help 50 Blackmagic Design Online Support Pa[...]

Get ting S t ar ted 5 Getting started with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is as simple as attaching a lens, turning the camera on and inserting an SSD. Y ou can test the camera by recor ding and playing back your first shot and of course don't forget to char ge the battery before you start shooting! Attaching a Lens Before you attach a lens to [...]

Get ting S t ar ted 6 Inserting an SSD Y ou can insert any 2.5" SSD formatted in the Mac OS Extended format, also known as HFS+: Step 1. Open the SSD door on the right hand side of the camera. Step 2. W ith the gold SA T A contacts facing towar ds the camera door , insert the SSD until you feel it pr ess into place. Step 3. Close the SSD door [...]

Get ting S t ar ted 7 Playing Back Clips Recorded clips can be played back on the camera's touchscr een. Once you have recor ded your video, you can use the T ransport Control buttons under the touchscreen to play back your video. Press the play button once for instant playback and you'll see your video on the touchscr een and on any disp[...]

Get ting S t ar ted 8 Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility is used to change settings and update the internal software in your camera. How to Update Y our Cinema Camera Softwar e on Mac OS X After downloading the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility software and unzipping the downloaded file, open the resulting disk image [...]

Get ting S t ar ted 9 How to Set Up Thunderbolt to Captur e and Monitor V ideo This section guides you through how to set up your Blackmagic Cinema Camera with your computer for video capture and waveform monitoring. Connecting the Blackmagic Cinema Camera to your computer Step 1. Connect power to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera using the included pow[...]

Set ti ngs 10 Camera Settings T o configure camera settings on your Blackmagic Cinema Camera, pr ess the MENU button in the T ransport Control and tap the onscreen camera menu icon. Camera ID If you're using mor e than one Blackmagic Cinema Camera, it can be helpful to set a camera ID which will be included with any metadata recor ded with yo[...]

Set ti ngs 11 White Balance Y our Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes 6 white balance presets for a variety of color temperature conditions. These are  3200K for tungsten light  4500K for fluorescent light  5000K, 5600K, 6500K and 7500K for a variety of daylight conditions such as time of day T o adjust the White Balance settings, tap the a[...]

Set ti ngs 12 Audio Settings T o adjust audio input and audio monitoring settings on your Blackmagic Cinema Camera, press the MENU button and select the microphone icon to the left of the touchscr een display . Microphone Input Microphone input adjusts the built-in micr ophone. Drag the audio slider icon to incr ease or decrease levels. The mono mi[...]

Set ti ngs 13 Recor der Settings The recor der settings are used to set the video format recor ded to the built-in SSD recor der . T o set recor der settings on your Blackmagic Cinema Camera, press the MENU button in the T ransport Control panel and then tap the onscr een REC icon. Recording Format Y ou can choose to record to CinemaDNG RAW 2.5K vi[...]

Set ti ngs 14 Display Settings T o adjust the display settings for the camera's touchscreen, pr ess the Menu button and select the television icon on the touchscreen. Dynamic Range The touchscreen serves as your viewfinder , allowing you to view your video as you are r ecording. Y ou can set the dynamic range of your viewfinder by tapping th[...]

Set ti ngs 15 Adjusting Settings Y our Blackmagic Cinema Camera supports electronic iris control and focus peaking and is compatible with cinema style EF , and some ZE mount lenses, all of which have the highest optical quality . Iris Button and Control Y ou can also manually adjust the iris of your lens by using the forward and reverse button on t[...]

Set ti ngs 16 Status Strip Along the bottom of the touchscreen is a status strip that contains a convenient summary of the r ecording settings that have been chosen through the various menus. This information is displayed in the following order fr om left to right on the strip: Format - ProRes RAW 2.5K Scene / Shot / T ake number Frame Rate SSD Sta[...]

En tr y of Metadata 17 What is the Slate? - Single T ap The large touchscr een on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera has many purposes, one of which is to allow you to easily log metadata directly into the camera. T ap the display once with your finger and a data entry window called the ‘slate’ will appear . This data is referr ed to as metadata. Th[...]

Connec tions 18 The Blackmagic Cinema Camera features standar d connections, so custom cables are not requir ed. Connections are located on the left side of the camera and ar e protected from dust and dirt by rubber hoods. Remote The 2.5mm sterojack for r emote connection uses the standard LANC protocol to support r ecord start, recor d stop, iris [...]

Connec tions 19 3.5 mm Headphone Socket LANC 2.5 mm Remote Control 12-30 V DC Power Input ¼” balanced jack mic and line level audio inputs 3 Gb-s SDI Output Thunderbolt Port Blackmagic Cinema Camera[...]

Sof t w a re C o m p ati b ilit y 20 Accessing Clips File Naming Convention The Blackmagic Cinema Camera uses the following file naming convention when recor ding video. [Camera ID]_[Reel Number]_[yyyy-mm--dd]_[hhmm]_C[Clip number].mov This is an example of how this would appear on the touch screen of the camera: BMC01_1_2012-08-08_1631_C0002.mov [...]

Sof t w a re C o m p ati b ilit y 21 Capturing from the Thunderbolt ™ connection The Thunderbolt port of your camera outputs uncompressed 4:2:2 10-bit HD1080 video while r ecording live with the camera. Y ou can capture video from the Thunderbolt port with a variety of video softwar e supported by your camera including: Apple Final Cut Pro 7, Ado[...]

Sof t w a re C o m p ati b ilit y 22 RA W Files Why do my RA W shots look overexposed? The 100% Zebra level in the Display Settings helps you adjust your exposure to ensur e that you don't overload the sensor and clip your highlights. It is based on the full dynamic range capability of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and not on video levels. A qu[...]

Sof t w a re C o m p ati b ilit y 23 W orkflows There ar e many powerful ways to use Blackmagic Cinema Camera with your favorite video software. The following steps detail one of the most common workflows. Step 1. Shoot with Blackmagic Cinema Camera and recor d to CinemaDNG RAW files. Step 2. T ake the SSD out of the camera and dock it to your c[...]

A bout SS Ds 24 Important Information About SSD Speeds Some SSD’ s can have up to 50% lower write speed than the manufacturer’ s claimed speed, so even though the disk specifications claim an SSD is fast enough to handle video, in reality the disk is not fast enough for real time video data r ecording. Hidden data compression mostly af fects r[...]

A bout SS Ds 25 Supported Disk Format SSD’ s used by Blackmagic Cinema Camera must be HFS+ formatted which allows long clips to be recor ded in a single file per clip. Simply connect the SSD to your computer via an external dock or cable adapter and format it as you would a regular disk. Make sur e you check there’ s nothing important on your [...]

A bout SS Ds 26 Recommended SSDs for RA W Recording SSD’ s recommended for use with Blackmagic Cinema Camera and RAW 2.5K video r ecording include:  Crucial 256GB C300  Crucial 512GB M4 (firmware 009)  Kingston 64GB SSDNow V+100  Kingston 128GB SSDNow V+100  Kingston 240GB SSDNow V+200  Kingston HyperX 240GB  Sandisk Extreme[...]

At t aching Acces sor ies 27 Sun Shield Y our Blackmagic Cinema Camera includes a detachable sun shield to shade the touchscreen in bright conditions and ensure optimum viewing is possible at all times. Place the sun shield over rear of camera and, with the shield positioned at the top, line up the locking tabs and gently push in to the camera. T o[...]

At t aching Acces sor ies 28 Blackmagic Cinema Camera Handles The Blackmagic Cinema Camera has optional handles for shooting in locations where you need to move around quickly with your camera. The handles let you steady your shot and keep up with the action! On the underside the camera, locate the ¼” screw thr ead and insert the guide pin locki[...]

W or k ing w ith Thu nder b olt T echnolog y 29 What Can I Do With the Thunderbolt Port on My Camera? When connected to a Mac OS X computer with Thunderbolt technology , your Blackmagic Cinema Camera can be used as a powerful solution for video capture, waveform monitoring and color corr ection. Regardless of which recor ding format you choose on t[...]

Usi ng B lac k magic Me dia E x p res s 30 What is Media Expr ess? Blackmagic Media Express 3 softwar e is included with every Blackmagic Cinema Camera to perform video and audio capture to files. Blackmagic Media Expr ess 3 is a great tool when you don’ t need the complexity of NLE software but simply want to captur e the live video output of y[...]

Usi ng B lac k magic Me dia E x p res s 31 Capturing V ideo and Audio Files Selecting Y our Blackmagic Cinema Camera If you have more than one Blackmagic Design captur e product installed or connected to your computer , go to the Device menu in Media Express and select your Blackmagic Cinema Camera. In the example pictured on this page, an Intensit[...]

Usi ng B lac k magic Me dia E x p res s 32 Media List Search Field Timecode List, Thumbnail and Favorites view VTR / deck timecode Video Preview Clip Bins Capture options T ransport Controls Grab Still Frame Project name, video format and frame rate Remote indicator Logging Information Mark In / Mark Out Audio Meters Audio channel enable/disable[...]

Usi ng B lac k magic Me dia E x p res s 33 Capture Capturing video is easy , all you need to do is connect your Blackmagic Cinema Camera via a Thunderbolt cable, set the Media Express pr eferences and press the Captur e button. Open Media Express and set its pr eferences to the desired pr oject video format. Click the red Log and Captur e tab and e[...]

Usi ng B lac k magic Me dia E x p res s 34 Clip Bins Favorites Selection T ransport Controls Grab Still Frame Project name, video format and frame rate Remote indicator Clip Information Mark In / Mark Out Audio Meters Media List Search Field Timecode List, Thumbnail and Favorites view VTR / deck timecode Video Preview Audio channel enable/disable[...]

Usi ng B lac k magic Me dia E x p res s 35 Playing Back V ideo and Audio Files Importing Clips Y ou can play back your video and audio files after capturing video or importing media in to Media Express in any of the following ways: • Double-click an empty area of the Media List. • Right-click an empty area of the Media List and select Im[...]

Usi ng B lac k magic Me dia E x p res s 36 Br owsing Media In the Media List, you can view your clips in Thumbnail view or Timecode List view by clicking on the desired view button at the top-right of the Media List. Thumbnail View Thumbnails are the most intuitive way to display your clips. T o get information for a clip, hover your mouse over the[...]

Usi ng B lac k magic Me dia E x p res s 37 Deleting Clips and Bins T o delete clips, select the unwanted clips and press the forwar d delete button on your keyboard. This will only delete the clips from the Media List and they will safely r emain on your disk storage. T o delete bins, right-click within a bin and choose “Delete Bin”. This actio[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 38 What is Blackmagic UltraScope? Now with Blackmagic Cinema Camera, you get the incredible featur es of Blackmagic UltraScope which you can even use with compatible iMac and MacBook Pro notebook computers with Thunderbolt technology! Blackmagic UltraScope software is installed by the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Insta[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 39 Blackmagic UltraScope Interface 1. Parade Display 2. W aveform Display 3. V ectorscope Display 4. Histogram Display 6. Audio Metering Display 7. Picture Display 5. Error Logging[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 40 Understanding Blackmagic UltraScope V iews Blackmagic UltraScope has two differ ent views available depending on your workflow needs and screen resolution. Y ou have the choice of viewing six displays in “Full Screen” view , or for more compact viewing, choose any 2 displays in “2-up” view . The display[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 41 Zoom Function Blackmagic UltraScope allows you to zoom in on various displays for a more detailed analysis. This helpful function will also pan and zoom the graticules for each display in high resolution. The zoom function is available in the Parade, W aveform, V ectorscope and Picture displays. T o zoom in, sim[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 42 Blackmagic UltraScope is included for use with your Blackmagic Cinema Camera so you can always use it on set whenever your computer is connected to the camera's Thunderbolt port. The following pages explain how each waveform display is used for tasks such as editing and color correction, as well as with you[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 43 W aveform Display on Mac OS X always shows Luminance view. 2. W aveform Display The W aveform Display is similar to traditional composite waveform monitors seen in many broadcast studios. On Mac OS X, B/W is always selected to show the luminance view which provides a digitally encoded waveform similar to traditi[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 44 3. V ectorscope Display The V ectorscope Display uses a vector view to show the colors in a video signal. Y ou can see color bar video levels by using the color boxes in the graticule. All you need to do is select 75% or 100% color bars, depending on the standard of color bar test signals used in your facility! [...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 45 4. Histogram Display Histogram Display is most familiar to graphic designers and camera operators. Histogram Display shows the distribution of white to black information and lets you monitor how close the detail is to being clipped off in the whites or blacks of the video. Histogram Display also lets you see the[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 46 5. Err or Logging Display Error Logging r ecords errors in video and audio and is indispensable when r eviewing video and for unattended operation. Errors may be logged for color , brightness or audio threshold levels as well as loss of video signal, change of video format or audio silence. After setting the par[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 47 How to Customize Error Logging T o customize error logging, go to the Err or Logging menu and choose Profiles to open the Err or Logging Profiles window . Saved profiles appear in the profile list at the left and the curr ent, active profile appears in bold above the list. The standard EBU-R103 pr ofile ca[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 48 6. Audio Metering Display Audio Metering Display shows you the audio levels in the embedded audio of the camera's video signal. The 2 channels of embedded audio from your Blackmagic Cinema Camera ar e de-embedded and then displayed in either dBFS or VU format. The VU button switches between dBFS and VU audi[...]

Using Blac k magic Ult r aSc op e 49 7. Pictur e Display The Picture Display is a handy confidence monitor so you can see the video that is being r eceived by Blackmagic UltraScope. The Picture Display has thr ee settings: COLOR, B/W (black & white) and BLUE (Blue Only). Set to COLOR or B/W depending on the needs of your facility . Black &[...]

Help 50 Getting Help The fastest way to obtain help is to go to the Blackmagic Design online support pages and check the latest support material available for your Blackmagic Cinema Camera. Blackmagic Design Online Support Pages The latest manual, software and support notes can be found at the Blackmagic Support Center at www .blackmagicdesign.com/[...]

Help 51 Replacing the Fan Y our camera contains a fan which is necessary for cooling. If you detect that the fan is not working, or that it is making a strange noise, switch off the camera and or der a replacement fan by contacting Blackmagic Design Support. Y ou should use an anti-static strap to avoid damaging the camera while opened. T o replace[...]

W ar r a nt y I nfor matio n 52 12 Month Limited W arranty Blackmagic Design warrants that this product will be fr ee from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 12 months from the date of pur chase. If a product proves to be defective during this warranty period, Blackmagic Design, at its option, either will repair the defective pr o[...]