Wow, Camera Firmware 1.6.2 Out, fixing a 4K Issue <yawn>

For those of us looking for a quick turn around on repromised firmware fixes, I had hoped 1.6.2 was the answer. Alas, no such luck.

I return to my studio to make beautiful music.

In case you missed it:

whoa....

no changes at all for bmcc or pocket. Good lord.

Was excited for 30 seconds. Then read it only fixes 4K issue.

Was crushed for 30 seconds. Then thought about it.

No am glad to see, that BM was really fast to fix this rare 4K problem. Hope they will show the same flexibility when other "real" problems arise.

one could hope that...but given past history with this issue yu should not hold your breath. I am just glad to see BMD added yet another camera product to draw down company resources even more....by the time they get around to finishing the 2.5k, there will be no one left to finalize the firmware code.

sad.

Let's look at this positively. This is the first firmware update where BMD actually say what the changes are and indicate which cameras have no changes. Previously, there was lots of head scratching about whether they slipped in something for the BMCC or not.

I think it's pretty clear that Blackmagic is working on an update that will fix a lot of issues and add functionality. They want this to be a camera wide update, one that unifies all the cameras, and when it's done they'll release it.

That there was a bug that actually caused some 4ks to be dead on arrival, and they fixed that is hardly a betrayal to the BMCC. There still isnt RAW on the 4k. Obviously this is a small company on the bleeding edge of what they can do.

DO you know why Canon is able to hit their release dates so well? It's because they have a long pipeline. They are already working on the camera that will come after this one, and the one after that. That means they have technical features they are holding back.

Blackmagic is innovating and releasing as fast as they possibly can. Only the most paranoid person would imagine that they are holding anything back on purpose. They have pushed the envelope significantly in the past few years, which not only offers their products, but puts pressure on other brands to step it up as well. This is nothing but good for the consumer.

But people are complaining left and right on this board. They want to know exactly when everything is going to happen, and they want it NOW. But then they also have no patience for incomplete products, and updates.

SO how does that make any sense? You're just spoiled rotten, and you want it all and cheap, in an unprecedented way, and you want it right NOW? That's just not realistic.

Now I agree that BM has poor communication regarding their products. In part I think that's because things change as they develop them.

So you want a REAL answer? OK I'll give you one. Here is the realistic timetable for all BM products:

1) They will be announced at NAB, and we will get a basic idea of what's coming.

2) It will take up to a year for the very first examples to ship

3) Those first examples will be incomplete, and require updates

4) Full updates and implementation will be finished around a year after first release.

THERE, stop saying you don't know what's happening. Stop asking if we're there yet.

Instead, let's focus on the fair things to investigate and possibly complain about: Noise, banding, dynamic range, rolling shutter etc etc

These are amazing tools folks, and I doubt youre hurting BM's feelings - it's just getting embarrassing to read.

Let's look at this positively. This is the first firmware update where BMD actually say what the changes are and indicate which cameras have no changes. Previously, there was lots of head scratching about whether they slipped in something for the BMCC or not.

I agree.

I also find it helpful to whistle, "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life", while reading ReadMe files!

Speaking of which: Don't ReadMe files seem like a funny little passive-agressive mind game that developers play with end users? And the way tech writers hide critical info in product documentation? I suspect it's often the product manager who's at the root of it, the puppet-master behind the curtain! Bless them, bless them all! Ah, makes me nostalgic for my days working at dot-com companies … not!

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...You're just spoiled rotten, and you want it all and cheap, in an unprecedented way, and you want it right NOW? That's just not realistic.

It has been over a year since the BMCC has been in the wild and things like black holes, poor frequency response and usable power/space indicators haven't even been addressed. You can argue that audio meters should be included with a camera that touts the ability to record professional quality audio as well. It's been over 1 whole year now, I don't think it's unreasonable for people to expect more.

Also, I don't think the customers that took a $1k hit right out of the gate, haven't received basic PATCHES to fix ISSUES, and receive no communication on their concerns take lightly to being told to shut up and wait while we work on a new camera and divert resources to said camera before making you whole. This is basically what the response from BMD was when pressed on the 1.5 firmware update not addressing any problems with the original camera.

As for actual feature requests...yeah, ok. It would be nice to get compressed raw and a few other reasonable features, but we can't even get patches and communication.

"Yawn," indeed; and not in support of the OP.

I think it's pretty clear that ... getting embarrassing to read.

All of that. +1

Okay, I've got to ask ¿How do you uninstall Blackmagic Camera Utility, so you can do the Firmware update without bricking your camera? I'm a Mac user and don't see anywhere the uninstaller thing ¿Will AppZapper do the trick correctly? Thanks.

Okay, I've got to ask ¿How do you uninstall Blackmagic Camera Utility, so you can do the Firmware update without bricking your camera? I'm a Mac user and don't see anywhere the uninstaller thing ¿Will AppZapper do the trick correctly? Thanks.

When you open the installer .dmg there's a remove software utility. Click on it and it'll walk you through.

Okay, I've got to ask ¿How do you uninstall Blackmagic Camera Utility, so you can do the Firmware update without bricking your camera? I'm a Mac user and don't see anywhere the uninstaller thing ¿Will AppZapper do the trick correctly? Thanks.

When you open the installer .dmg there's a remove software utility. Click on it and it'll walk you through.

Hehe thanks, I didn't notice it.

I think it's pretty clear that Blackmagic is working on an update that will fix a lot of issues and add functionality. They want this to be a camera wide update, one that unifies all the cameras, and when it's done they'll release it.

That there was a bug that actually caused some 4ks to be dead on arrival, and they fixed that is hardly a betrayal to the BMCC. There still isnt RAW on the 4k. Obviously this is a small company on the bleeding edge of what they can do.

DO you know why Canon is able to hit their release dates so well? It's because they have a long pipeline. They are already working on the camera that will come after this one, and the one after that. That means they have technical features they are holding back.

Blackmagic is innovating and releasing as fast as they possibly can. Only the most paranoid person would imagine that they are holding anything back on purpose. They have pushed the envelope significantly in the past few years, which not only offers their products, but puts pressure on other brands to step it up as well. This is nothing but good for the consumer.

But people are complaining left and right on this board. They want to know exactly when everything is going to happen, and they want it NOW. But then they also have no patience for incomplete products, and updates.

SO how does that make any sense? You're just spoiled rotten, and you want it all and cheap, in an unprecedented way, and you want it right NOW? That's just not realistic.

Now I agree that BM has poor communication regarding their products. In part I think that's because things change as they develop them.

So you want a REAL answer? OK I'll give you one. Here is the realistic timetable for all BM products:

1) They will be announced at NAB, and we will get a basic idea of what's coming.

2) It will take up to a year for the very first examples to ship

3) Those first examples will be incomplete, and require updates

4) Full updates and implementation will be finished around a year after first release.

THERE, stop saying you don't know what's happening. Stop asking if we're there yet.

Instead, let's focus on the fair things to investigate and possibly complain about: Noise, banding, dynamic range, rolling shutter etc etc

These are amazing tools folks, and I doubt youre hurting BM's feelings - it's just getting embarrassing to read.

your post is rude and condescending. I was an early adopter....paid and waited months for a camera promised to shoot prores with professional quality audio and in camera color applied for my prores clients. Paid $3000 for it, waited for 5 months to get it from order. It arrived. Does not shoot professional quality audio (you must fix in post), and in-camera color has problems. Been that way for a year now. Also add in that a few months after I recieved this camera, BMD dropped the price by 1/3rd, killing any chance at a decent resale for me.

Calling us who have given money and faith to BMD spoiled brats after this much time and aggravation is throwing fuel on the fire. Many of us are working professionals who bought this product to provide better service to our clients. I cannot trust, after over a year, this camera to do that in many situations.

BTW.....I think unified frmware is BS....BIG BS....how do you unify a firmware package for 2 cameras that shoot entirely differently? 2.5k vs. 4k? Global shutter vs. standard? I believe it is a BS line used to keep stringing the 2.5k owners along, when the truth is the 2.5k will NEVER be right in audio, maybe never right in video mode with regards to color. How bout BMD quits dicking around with global firmware and just gets the 1st damn camera working as promised? Can't do it? well, lets drop the price by 1/3rd boys and clear these 2.5k 1st gens off the shelf!!

Yeah, Im neither rude nor condescending. My point was not that BM is fine. My point was that there are reasons things are happening as they are, and that it is what it is. To continue at this late date to act like you don't know what's going on is silly. We can all see what's going on. You may choose to deal with it and be a customer, or not and buy something else.

The main point here is that complaining that things arent happening fast enough, and then to complain that things are incomplete is illogical. Either you want BM to keep everything behind the curtain until it's all ready, or you want them to release as they can, and you'll play along with updates.

I'm sorry you're frustrated, I can see why. These things do need to be fixed in the camera, and like I said BM communication hasn't been good. But I think they have communicated enough now that we all now the fixes are coming, probably in the next couple months. So now we know this, and we either wait, or we write all kinds of nasty stuff on a bulletin board.

Like I said, I doubt the people at Blackmagic get their feelings hurt, it probably just encourages them to keep more details to themselves, and communicate less, until they can be 100% sure of anything they say. For me, Id rather have more communication early, but that would require some of the information and deadlines to be more fluid, and since we as a community obviously can't tolerate that, we get less information as a result.

I DO want the fixes, and I DO feel your pain. I just think that complaining is making it worse, or possibly has no effect.

Sorry, but how can I truly know they are working on it? They say that, but since they have been saying that for several months now, we have seen the pocket and 4K get developed and sold, and still no update. You can say it till you are blue in the face, but until a firmware FIX comes out to resolve the blatant issues, I have no reason to believe they are truly committed to making it happen. What they are committed to now is the 4K, and unless they hired a new team of engineers to make that product happen, they are probably pulling resources that should be working on the 2.5k, thus delaying again the process of getting these fixes.

No complaining usually never helps, nor does blind optimism, nor does lack of responsibility. But if no one complains, there is no pressure to ever get things resolved.

BMD appears to want a somewhat "unified" firmware across their camera line. I'm not certain if this is true or not. Reasonable arguments can be made for and against the value of such a goal.

I suppose there's a chance the "delay" for additional firmware for the BMCC is related to the fact that the BMPC-4K has only recently started shipping, and its visually lossless compressed CinemaDNG RAW (I'll call it VLCCR) feature isn't finished yet. There may be a link if BMD is working toward offering VLCCR as an option for its other cameras.

Likewise, I suppose it's possible BMD is working on implementing other firmware changes "across the board". This is conjecture on my part, and I'm not convinced it's a good idea, but I have an open mind about the possibility.

Another very real possibility is that BMD has not found a way to add significant functionality to the original BMCC hardware via firmware. This would be a major drag if true, but I don't think it's reasonable to fault BMD if it's true, given that the BMCC was their first camera.

However, as many of us have said before, it would be very welcome if BMD would give us a status report about what's actually going on in this regard. Specifically if they've decided whether or not the BMCC can no longer be siginificantly modified through firmware. Whatever the truth is, it would be best if they'd tell us. Worst case scenario: Apparently BMD has previously made "end of life" announcements for some of their other products, so it wouldn't be the first time. Whatever the situation is with the BMCC, I'd like BMD to tell us.

I don't think BMD "owes" their customers anything other than what they've promised in writing, except perhaps to communicate better and more often.

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Hey Peter,

I appreciate the attempt to set out a decision tree of possibilities, but I think you can knock the last one off the list.

The scenario whereby the camera simply cannot be improved doesn't make sense. The frequency response of the audio for example, was different already in v1.2 so that can certainly go back to it's previous configuration. I also don't think that adding a time remaining or audio meters would be particularly taxing on the camera.

I think the most likely scenario is that they're working on it, and one fix is going to deal with all of these things at once. My guess is that we will see it before NAB, and then we'll start the whole thing over again with whatever new thing they announce then.

It's too bad that BM doesn't communicate better, but we see what happens when they try to let us in on things halfway, people get irate if everything doesn't go exactly as predicted. I do think there's a middle ground that BM could find, but it is as it is, and I think we'll see all of this very soon.

With Speedboosters and OLPFs only weeks or months away, I bet by April or May, you will be able to buy a BMCC MFT that's in stock, that will have upgrades for everything were discussing available, and a self powered MFT to EF speedbooster adapter in addition to a Mosaic OLPF.

Of course if NAB brings a 4k cinema cam with either global shutter OR overcranking but not both, then we can all be in hell again LOL

I hope you're right Kyle! But I also know that sometimes hardware can be an unforgiving beast. We'll see.

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Yup. If you're talking about overcranking, or even shooting like 40fps, or whether or not we can see compressed RAW on hte BMCC or something, then I think you're absolutely right, who knows what the hardware can and cant do. People's idea that you can just magic lantern anything is a fantasy for sure.

BUT, I think the things on this list; record time remaining, VU meters, returning low end frequencies to the audio and such are such obvious and low processor things, that it seems like they should be able to do them. To be fair, this is why people are rightly frustrated with having had to wait so long.

But it is what it is, and so people should accept that, not cuz it's fair, but because it simply is how it is.

And even so, how it is is pretty awesome. I can't wait to see what the next few months bring for the BMCC 2.5 cam. I still like it better than the 4k. I worry NAB is gonna kick all our butts tho.

Hey Peter,

I appreciate the attempt to set out a decision tree of possibilities, but I think you can knock the last one off the list.

The scenario whereby the camera simply cannot be improved doesn't make sense. The frequency response of the audio for example, was different already in v1.2 so that can certainly go back to it's previous configuration. I also don't think that adding a time remaining or audio meters would be particularly taxing on the camera.

I think the most likely scenario is that they're working on it, and one fix is going to deal with all of these things at once. My guess is that we will see it before NAB, and then we'll start the whole thing over again with whatever new thing they announce then.

It's too bad that BM doesn't communicate better, but we see what happens when they try to let us in on things halfway, people get irate if everything doesn't go exactly as predicted. I do think there's a middle ground that BM could find, but it is as it is, and I think we'll see all of this very soon.

With Speedboosters and OLPFs only weeks or months away, I bet by April or May, you will be able to buy a BMCC MFT that's in stock, that will have upgrades for everything were discussing available, and a self powered MFT to EF speedbooster adapter in addition to a Mosaic OLPF.

Of course if NAB brings a 4k cinema cam with either global shutter OR overcranking but not both, then we can all be in hell again LOL

I will take that bet. When they don't deliver for several months more, perhaps the money I win from you will offset the money I lost when BMD dropped the price. I can put it towards another camera that can do the jobs I bought this one for.

I will take that bet. When they don't deliver for several months more, perhaps the money I win from you will offset the money I lost when BMD dropped the price. I can put it towards another camera that can do the jobs I bought this one for.

OK so Im saying the update will be out by May 15th. Hows that? We wont bet money, but if May 15th comes and goes, then I'll agree that you were right and I was being an optimistic fanboy And if it does come before May 15th then you gotta admit that Blackmagic is awesome.

Deal?

Walking off the desert, you see mirages. The long wait for the 2.5k updates have clouded minds into ignoring the words of the very people BMD employed, to inform us of an upcoming update. Was there credibility in those words or not!
Now we are beginning to carve each other up for supper, or simply playing a game of speculation. Huh.

I will take that bet. When they don't deliver for several months more, perhaps the money I win from you will offset the money I lost when BMD dropped the price. I can put it towards another camera that can do the jobs I bought this one for.

OK so Im saying the update will be out by May 15th. Hows that? We wont bet money, but if May 15th comes and goes, then I'll agree that you were right and I was being an optimistic fanboy And if it does come before May 15th then you gotta admit that Blackmagic is awesome.

Deal?

Ha....I will admit I am wrong about my statement they will not deliver by then, but after this much frustration for this long as an owner, I cannot stand behind a statement like "they are awesome". If they were " awesome", we would not be in a situation in which we are betting, a year after release, that they can release firmware to bring the camera to advertised standards they set. I will also add a "thank you BMD for the birthday present", as May 16th is that day for me, so If I can download firmware for the bmcc that resolves audio and color issues I would consider that a bit of a present.

LOL that's OK I dont wanna be a fanboy either.

I think the point of the game was to recognize that although we have different beliefs on this one, we could still laugh about it and share a virtual beer.

Like I said in another thread recently, this board can be contentious, but I'm learning a lot here, and the process has uncovered a lot of information too.

Cool!

I noticed I cant record RAW since the last update on the pocket. Has anybody else experienced this?

1.6.2 wasn't for the pocket-- it was for the 4K, you should've stayed on the previous firmware. Rollback if you can.

So anybody out there have an opinion on the best firmware version so far for the BMCC?

So anybody out there have an opinion on the best firmware version so far for the BMCC?

Yeah: the latest one. (Future-proof response)