Blackmagic Design CINECAM26KMFT, CINECAM26KEF User manual

Installation and Operation Manual

Blackmagic Cinema Camera

Mac OS X

Windows

August 2012

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Welcome

Thank you for purchasing Blackmagic Cinema Camera!

We have worked hard to produce a camera that's designed from the ground up to have a very wide dynamic range and to produce ﬁles that are "ﬂat" which means they preserve this wide dynamic range. This will allow you make your creative decisions by using the included DaVinci Resolve 9 color correction tools!

We think this means you get a cinema style shooting experience where you capture and preserve more of the image so you have as many creative options as possible. An added beneﬁt of the 2.5K sensor is you capture more pixels than you need for HD so your HD images get a wonderful anti aliased look, similar to shooting ﬁlm!

We have also included a large screen for easy focus and metadata entry as well as standard ﬁle formats that work with all video software. We hope you connect to this camera in a creative way and produce some amazing looking images! We will be extremely excited to see what creative work you produce!

Grant Petty

CEO Blackmagic Design

Contents

Blackmagic Cinema Camera

Getting Started

Attaching a Lens 5

Turning 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

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to Capture and Monitor Video 9

Settings

Camera Settings 10

Camera ID 10

Setting Date and Time 10

ISO 10

White Balance 11

Shutter Angle 11

Audio Settings 12

Recorder Settings 13

Display Settings 14

Adjusting Settings 15

Iris Button and Control 15

Focus Button 15

Focus Zoom - Double Tap 15

Status Strip 16

Entry of Metadata

What is the Slate? 17

How to Enter Metadata Information 17

Connections

Remote 18

Headphones 18

Audio In 18

SDI Out 18

Thunderbolt

Power 18

USB 18

Blackmagic Cinema Camera 19

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Software Compatibility

Accessing Clips 20

RAW Files 22

Workﬂows 23

Using Blackmagic Video Software 23

About SSDs

Important Information About SSD Speeds 24

Supported Disk Format 25

Recommended SSDs for RAW Recording 26

Contents

Blackmagic Cinema Camera

30 38 50

Attaching Accessories

Sun Sheild 27

Carry Strap 27

Blackmagic Cinema Camera Handles 28

Working with Thunderbolt Technology

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 Pages 50

Contacting Blackmagic Design Support 50

Checking the Version Currently Installed 50

How to Get the Latest Software Updates 50

Battery Replacement 50

Replacing the Fan 51

Warranty Information

Getting Started

Removing the dust cap

Getting started with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is as simple as attaching a lens, turning the camera on and inserting an SSD. You can test the camera by recording and playing back your ﬁrst shot and of course don't forget to charge the battery before you start shooting!

Attaching a Lens

Before you attach a lens to the camera, you'll need to remove the camera's dust cap from the lens mount. You can then attach and remove your favorite EF and ZE mount lenses. When no lens is attached to the camera, don't forget to replace the camera's dust cap.

Dust Cap

To remove the protective dust cap from the lens mount, hold down the locking button and rotate the cap in a counterclockwise manner until its dot reaches the 12 o’clock position. The mounting points should now be aligned, and the cap should easily lift off.

To replace the dust cap, align the dot on the mounting ring with the dot on the dust cap and turn in a clockwise fashion until locked into place.

Attaching and Removing a Lens

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera is compatible with EF and ZE mount lenses. We recommended that you always turn off your Blackmagic Cinema Camera prior to attaching or removing a lens.

Attaching and removing the lens

Turning the camera on and off

To attach a lens, ﬁrst remove the protective dust cap from the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and also the rear cover from your desired lens. Many lenses have a colored dot (typically blue, red or white) or other indicator, which you should align with the dot on the camera mount. Then twist the lens in a clockwise direction until the lens locks into place.

To remove the lens, hold down the locking button, rotate the lens counterclockwise until its dot or indicator reaches the 12 o’clock position and gently remove.

Turning the Camera On and Off

The camera's power button is located below the touchscreen. Press the power button to turn it on and the status strip will appear along the bottom of the touchscreen. Hold the power button for 2 seconds to switch off the camera.

Getting Started

Inserting an SSD

You 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. With the gold SATA contacts facing towards the camera door, insert the SSD until you feel it press

into place.

Step 3. Close the SSD door.

When you ﬁrst switch on Blackmagic Cinema Camera, or any time you insert an SSD into the SSD slot, the status strip will change from NO SSD to a moving dot while checking the SSD, and then READY. If the SSD has not been formatted correctly, or fails to work, the status strip will show NO SSD. Remove the SSD and refer to the later section "About SSDs" to check if the SSD is formatted correctly and also check that it works with a computer. If it doesn't work with a computer, there's something wrong with the SSD and it's not going to work with your camera. Try another SSD and preferably use a model that is on the recommended SSD list in the "About SSDs" section of this manual.

Begin Recording

To record with your Blackmagic Cinema Camera, insert an SSD and press the REC button on the front face of the camera or the record button in the Transport Control under the touchscreen. Press record again to stop recording. This is all you need to do to record unless you prefer to record in a different video format.

Press the REC button on the front face

or on the Transport control on the back of the camera

Choosing the Recording Format

You can choose to record to CinemaDNG RAW 2.5K video or to the Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) video format in high deﬁnition. To select the desired video format:

Step 1. Press the MENU button below the touchscreen.

Step 2. Press the REC menu icon on the touchscreen.

Step 3. Press the left-right selection arrows to set the desired recording format.

Step 4. Press the MENU button again to exit.

Your camera is now ready to record in the video format you have selected. The current recording format is shown at the bottom left of the touchscreen display.

Getting Started

Playing Back Clips

Recorded clips can be played back on the camera's touchscreen. Once you have recorded your video, you can use the Transport 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 touchscreen and on any display connected to the SDI output. Hold down the forward or reverse buttons to fast forward or reverse through the clip. Playback will ﬁnish when the end of the current clip is reached.

Simply press the Play button on the transport controls to view your clip.

Use a LANC remote cable to control the cinema camera

The controls of your camera work just like a CD player so pressing the forward button will skip to the start of the next clip. Press the reverse button once to go to the start of the current clip or press twice to skip back to the start of the previous clip.

Using Remote Control

The remote port on your camera can be used to remotely control the following functions of your camera including starting and stoppping record, iris adjustments and also focus adjustments when using a compatible lens.

The remote port can be found under it's dust cap on the left face of the camera. The port is a 2.5 mm stereo jack which uses the standard Sony LANC protocol.

Charging the Internal battery

The camera's internal battery can be charged using the supplied DC adapter. Alternatively you can use any DC power source between 11V and 30V to charge the battery.

The camera can be charged and operated while connected via DC power. You can also charge the camera via a powered USB connection. However, it takes a longer time to charge the camera via USB so we recommend using the DC adapter when possible.

Getting Started

Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility

Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility is used to change settings and update the internal software in your camera.

How to Update Your Cinema Camera Software on Mac OS X

After downloading the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility software and unzipping the downloaded ﬁle, open the resulting disk image to reveal its contents.

Launch the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Installer and follow the on screen instructions.

To remove Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility from your Mac, open the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Installer disk image and launch the Uninstall Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility. Follow the on screen instructions to remove the software.

How to Update Your Cinema Camera Software on Windows

After downloading the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility software and unzipping the downloaded ﬁle, you should see a Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility folder containing this PDF manual and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility installer.

Double-click the installer and follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation.

To remove Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility from Windows 7, go to the Programs and Features control panel, select Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility and click on Uninstall.

How to Update the Internal Software

After installing the latest Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility on your computer, connect a USB cable between the computer and the camera. Launch Blackmagic Cinema Camera Utility and follow any onscreen prompt to update the internal software in your camera.

Getting Started

How to Set Up Thunderbolt to Capture and Monitor Video

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 power adapter. Battery

power can be used but you'll usually want to connect the power adapter for longer sessions.

Step 2. Connect a Thunderbolt cable between the Thunderbolt port on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera

and a Thunderbolt port on your Mac OS X computer, or to a Thunderbolt disk array which is attached to your Mac OS X computer.

Step 3. Use the camera to record or play back video so that your video software can obtain a video signal

from your camera.

Settings

Camera Settings

To conﬁgure camera settings on your Blackmagic Cinema Camera, press the MENU button in the Transport Control and tap the onscreen camera menu icon.

Camera ID

If you're using more than one Blackmagic Cinema Camera, it can be helpful to set a camera ID which will be included with any metadata recorded with your clips. You can change the camera ID by tapping the current name and then changing or entering a new camera ID with the onscreen keyboard. Use the Enter button to save the new camera ID or press Cancel to discard any changes.

The Camera Settings screen

You can change the camera ID with the onscreen keyboard

Setting Date and Time

To set date and time on your Blackmagic Cinema camera, press MENU button and change the year, month and day settings to the correct date.

To set the time, adjust the time settings on the screen to the desired time in 24 hour format. You will need to manually change the date and time to local time zones if traveling with your Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

If you have your Blackmagic Cinema Camera stored for a length of time, the clock may become inaccurate. It is always a good idea to check the time and date prior to recording. If you connect the camera via USB to your computer and run the Blackmagic Camera Utility, the camera time will also be synced with your computer's time.

ISO

ISO settings are helpful when you are shooting in a variety of light conditions. The optimum ISO setting for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is 800ASA. However depending on your situation you may choose a lower or higher ISO setting. For example, in low light conditions 1600ASA would be suitable but might introduce some visible noise. In bright conditions 400ASA would be best to record richer colors.

To adjust the ISO settings, tap the arrow icons on the touchscreen.

Settings

The Camera Settings screen

White Balance

Your 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

To adjust the White Balance settings, tap the arrow icons on the touchscreen.

Shutter Angle

Shutter angle compliments the ISO setting by regulating the amount of light on the sensor. 360 degrees is considered wide open and will retain a signiﬁcant amount of motion blur. This would be best for extremely low light conditions as it allows maximum light on to the sensor however it is best suited to low impact sequences otherwise motion blur will be obvious.

While 180 degrees is commonly regarded as a normal shutter angle, you may need to use a Shutter Angle of 172.8 degrees to minimize ﬂickering lights when shooting 24p in countries with 50 hertz power supplies. You can use any shuttle angle to shoot 24p in countries with 60 hertz power supplies and most people will choose 180 degrees for a normal look.

To adjust the shutter angle settings, tap the arrow icons on the touchscreen.

Settings

The Audio Settings screen

Audio Settings

To 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 touchscreen display.

Microphone Input

Microphone input adjusts the built-in microphone. Drag the audio slider icon to increase or decrease levels. The mono microphone input is recorded to audio channels 1 and 2 when no external audio source is connected to the camera.

Channel 1 and Channel 2 Input Levels

The external audio inputs accept audio at microphone level or line level. It's important to select Mic or Line level audio as appropriate to avoid your external audio sounding almost inaudible or too hot and distorted.

Set the external audio input levels by using the left and right arrows. To prevent damage, the camera will automatically switch to line level input if it the input levels are over the limit for a sustained period of time.

Channel 1 Input

Drag the audio slider icon for channel 1 to increase or decrease levels. The external audio input overrides the built-in microphone and is recorded to audio channel 1.

Channel 2 uses Channel 1 Input

Use this setting if you only have channel 1 input and want to record the same external audio to channels 1 and 2. Press the Off button to change it to On. Press the On button if you want to change it back to Off.

Channel 2 Input

Drag the audio slider icon for channel 2 to increase or decrease levels. The external audio input overrides the built-in microphone and is recorded to audio channel 2.

Headphone Volume, Speaker Volume

When headphones are connected, a headphone icon will be displayed. When no headphones are detected, a speaker icon will be displayed. Headphones will always be active when recording or playing back, however speakers will only work when playing back. Drag the volume slider to increase or decrease volume levels for audio monitoring.

Settings

The Recorder Settings screen

Recorder Settings

The recorder settings are used to set the video format recorded to the built-in SSD recorder. To set recorder settings on your Blackmagic Cinema Camera, press the MENU button in the Transport Control panel and then tap the onscreen REC icon.

Recording Format

You can choose to record to CinemaDNG RAW 2.5K video or to the Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) video format in high deﬁnition. Choose RAW 2.5K for maximum quality especially if you intend to color grade your video. Choose ProRes if you want to record in a high deﬁnition format suitable for broadcast.

To select the recording format, tap the arrow icons on the touchscreen.

Dynamic Range

Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera has two dynamic range settings, Film and Video which is available when ProRes is selected as the recording format.

Film

The ﬁlm setting shoots video using a log curve and gives you 13 stops of dynamic range which increases contrast levels to help you get the most out of color grading software such as DaVinci Resolve.

Video

The video setting uses the REC709 standard for high deﬁnition video which lets you work faster by recording directly to the Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) video format which is compatible with popular post production software.

To select the dynamic range, tap the arrow icons on the touchscreen.

Frame Rate

Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera has ﬁve different frame rate settings for shooting common ﬁlm and video frame rates: 23.98 fps, 24 fps, 25 fps, 29.97 fps, 30 fps.

To select the frame rate, tap the arrow icons on the touchscreen.

Settings

The Display Settings screen

Display Settings

To adjust the display settings for the camera's touchscreen, press 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 recording. You can set the dynamic range of your viewﬁnder by tapping the onscreen television icon and selecting video or ﬁlm.

The dynamic range of the display is set independent of the recorder settings. Some people prefer to monitor video with the touchscreen display set to “video” even when the recording format is set to “ﬁlm”.

To select the dynamic range, tap the arrow icons on the touchscreen.

Brightness, Contrast

Adjust the brightness and contrast settings by tapping the touchscreen and sliding the control to the left or right to achieve desired levels for comfortable viewing.

Zebra + Warning Level

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera has a zebra feature which gives an indication of exposure levels. Diagonal lines will appear across any part of the video which exceeds the zebra exposure level.

Frame Guides display on monitors attached to the SDI output

Turn zebra on and select the desired zebra warning level by using the left and right arrows.

SDI Overlays

The SDI Overlays setting lets you display useful information on your SDI monitor including frame guides, recording format, recording time and battery life. Turn this setting off if you want a clean SDI feed.

Settings

The IRIS button is located near the top-left of the touchscreen and the FOCUS button is near the top-right.

Adjusting Settings

Your 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

You can also manually adjust the iris of your lens by using the forward and reverse button on the Transport Control panel.

When shooting using the Video dynamic range, the exposure will set using an average of scene similar to what you're used to on a stills camera. However, in Film dynamic range, the IRIS button adjusts your exposure to ensure that nothing in your scene is clipped.

Focus Button

The focus button allows you to sharpen the images without affecting your recorded picture, as it creates a peaking edge around the sharpest part of the image to conﬁrm focus.

To turn on, press the FOCUS button located near the top-right of the touchscreen.

The FOCUS button turns on focus peaking which highlights the edges in your scene which are in focus and helps you get accurate focus when using manual lenses.

When focussing the camera, double tap the touchscreen display to zoom in to the image to help you adjust focus.

Focus Zoom - Double Tap

Double tap the touchscreen display to zoom in to the image to help you adjust focus at the 1:1 pixel scale. Double tap the display again to zoom out.

Settings

Status Strip

Along the bottom of the touchscreen is a status strip that contains a convenient summary of the recording settings that have been chosen through the various menus. This information is displayed in the following order from left to right on the strip:

Format - ProRes RAW 2.5K Scene / Shot / Take number Frame Rate SSD Status Timecode / Record duration / Playback duration (based on entire clip) ISO Setting Shutter Angle Setting White Balance Setting Battery Life Indicator

There are two important indicators on the status strip to note.

Battery Life Indicator

When the remaining charge drops below 25% capacity, the status strip will show the battery status in red to warn you that battery life is running low.

SSD Status

The status strip displays important information showing the state of the SSD that has been inserted into the camera.

Moving Dots When you see the moving dots, this means that the camera is checking and

preparing the SSD.

No SSD This means no SSD is detected in the camera or that an SSD that is inserted is not

recognized.

Ready Ready to Record. Rec Recording. Rec ﬂashing Dropped Frames were detected. Disk Full Flashes when disk is almost full. Playback mode Shows play, fast forward and reverse icons. Time During capture, this shows the duration of the current shot. When playing back

clips from the SSD, this shows the time of the clip in relation to the clips on the SSD.

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