New Upgrade Applies to BMCC, Pocket, and Production Camera 4K
If you were one of the Blackmagic Design camera users confused by the appearance, then disappearance, of new camera firmware on the web yesterday, stop worrying — the firmware has been officially released and is ready for download.
It doesn't have all of the features users were hoping for, however. Some improvements have been pushed off until the next firmware release. Blackmagic said it felt it was more important to start releasing updates to the user base than to withhold the new code until everything was included and working. "We've broken up the software update we were working on because it was big, with a lot of stuff in it, and we're going to be releasing it over the next few months," CEO Grant Petty said in a video posted to the Blackmagic website. "Version 1.8 has got a whole bunch of features for our cameras."
The firmware incorporates a new code base for the original Blackmagic Cinema Camera (BMCC), the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, and the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. The most anticipated improvement for 4K shooters, the addition of compressed raw CinemaDNG for on-board recording on the 4K camera, did make it into this update. Other improvements include a new debayering algorithm in the BMCC, broader lens support (including image stabilization on lenses without on-off switches for the feature) on the Pocket camera, and an enhanced focus-peaking display system for all three cameras.
Other widely anticipated features like audio meters and histograms will, presumably, be rolled out later this year. "We've got a big pile of things to do and you'll see mroe updates coming over the next few months," Petty said.
Blackmagic Design: www.blackmagicdesign.com/support
