Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

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Simon Bachofen

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Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostWed Apr 23, 2014 4:02 pm

Hy

We just unpacked the new Studio Camera. All in all a great piece of technic, but we discovered some problems:

We set the camera to 1080i50 and connected to a ATEM2 Switcher. Strangely the video was fluent on the internal monitor, but not at the output (through the ATEM2 Programm Out). We recorded some video with a hyper-deck studio and viewed it on our computer and: The recording was in 1080p25. This explains the stuttering while recording. Does anybody else has this bug? We double-checked and the camera was really in i50 mode.

Also: Is the camera really not capable of 720p50? It doesn't say that on the tec. specs, but it would be great to have this feature, sometimes the production needs to be in 720p50…
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Robert Betzner

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostWed Apr 23, 2014 5:00 pm

That is exactly the problem that I wrote in another thread.

"It's a feature not a bug".
If you read the specs carefully you will see that BMD never said that the BMSC can produce 1080i50. They only said that the output resolution can be switched to 1080i50. I doubt that this camera will ever do real interlaced 1080i50. It's the same as for the BMCC and BMPCC.

Sorry that I don't have a better answer for you. I don't think you will ever get 1080i50 out of this thing.

Cheers
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Peter Butterworth

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostWed Apr 23, 2014 8:50 pm

Well that's very misleading, well spotted, they should state 1080psf25 in the specs. I've never seen a camera spec state 50i when it's actually segmented P.
The specs do state 1080P50, if true the sensor could do 50i from the 50p, do such external converters
exist without paying a much as the camera costs ?

The cine world is P but I still has it's uses in the uncontrollable live world.

I can't see any vents on this camera, that's fine for the pocket shooting short clips but leaving this
camera running all day in 1080p50 in a hot venue would be interesting. This is just conjecture, it may be fine.

BMD, such brilliant products but there's usually a catch for no good reason.
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Raf Smolak

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostFri Apr 25, 2014 8:00 am

An up/down/cross converter will cost you about $600 and will convert the signal to just about any format you need.
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Sam Jones

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostFri Apr 25, 2014 10:21 am

why not use the format that it works in and then use a Terranex to convert to your desired format when outputing from the mixer? I know this adds to the chain and is more money, but for a work around now so then its not a paper weight and that the Terranex will be worth while in the future, that i can guarantee!
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Sander Vreuls

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostFri Apr 25, 2014 9:07 pm

Because a teranex has a 4 frame latency.. which is pretty much useless for live work.. It creates all sorts of issues..

Unless you only have the teranex before the recorder and send 1080p50 to projectors/monitors etc.. But then you need everything in your multicam setup to be 1080p50..
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Robert Betzner

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostSat Apr 26, 2014 10:02 am

Guys,

you cannot get 1080i50 from a 25p source. Any conversion from 25p to 50i will result in 25psf not a real interlaced 50i signal. If you want to convert to 50i to get a "real" interlaced signal you must use a 50p source.

Cheers
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Simon Bachofen

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostSat Apr 26, 2014 11:43 am

Thanks for all the replies…always the same with blackmagic products. They release a great product (overal concept, price point, etc) but then is some "small" issue, you would never expect, which ruins almost the whole product or makes it really difficult to use it in real world. :?
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Simon Bachofen

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostSat Apr 26, 2014 11:15 pm

I just discovered a new problem:

Because the internal mic is…just ok (sounds a bit thin and metallic to me), I tried to use a mic which requires phantom power. It just doesn't work, (I turned "phantom power" on in the menu) the xlr connections are working, with a non phantom powered mic like a Shure SM58.

I hope they're going to fix that, but right now it's not usable.

Also the camera can only do 2 audio channels...so you can't record external mics and the internal at the same time…at least not the biggest problem for a studio camera.
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Chris Hocking

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostSun Apr 27, 2014 2:22 am

If possible, would you be able to record some dialogue with the camera and share it?

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera has frequency attenuation bug that BMD have yet to address, and I would love to know whether the Studio Camera also has this issue?
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Kristian Lam

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostSun Apr 27, 2014 6:36 am

Cmon wrote:Because the internal mic is…just ok (sounds a bit thin and metallic to me), I tried to use a mic which requires phantom power. It just doesn't work, (I turned "phantom power" on in the menu) the xlr connections are working, with a non phantom powered mic like a Shure SM58.


Hi,

Which specific microphone is this? We'll look into it.
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Simon Bachofen

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostSun Apr 27, 2014 3:32 pm

I tried it with two Neumann km184, both require phantom power. The camera was running on battery, maybe this was the problem? I haven't tried it plugged in yet...but as I told before, the wires were ok, it worked with a Shure SM58. If it's not working in battery mode, it should be at least mentioned somewhere or be like "grey" in the menu.
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Melvin Chen

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostSun Apr 27, 2014 6:34 pm

I have found new problems with the Studio Camera.

- extremely disgusting horrible aliasing/moire with certain textures.

completely unusable.

- external audio goes off randomly and unexpectedly.

External audio can disappear and lose signal for no apparent reason, the camera has to be reboot to 'detect' the signal again.

I agree and as mentioned in another thread too, the 1080/50i spec is misleading...

The entire camera is just unusable for anything...its unreliable and risky. A major regret purchasing this.
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Kristian Lam

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 6:24 am

Cmon wrote:I tried it with two Neumann km184, both require phantom power. The camera was running on battery, maybe this was the problem? I haven't tried it plugged in yet...but as I told before, the wires were ok, it worked with a Shure SM58. If it's not working in battery mode, it should be at least mentioned somewhere or be like "grey" in the menu.


Phantom power is active even when you're running on batteries.

I believe this is a bug but I'll check and get back to you.
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Kristian Lam

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 6:26 am

melvinchen wrote:I have found new problems with the Studio Camera.

- extremely disgusting horrible aliasing/moire with certain textures.

completely unusable.

- external audio goes off randomly and unexpectedly.

External audio can disappear and lose signal for no apparent reason, the camera has to be reboot to 'detect' the signal again.

I agree and as mentioned in another thread too, the 1080/50i spec is misleading...

The entire camera is just unusable for anything...its unreliable and risky. A major regret purchasing this.


Hi Melvin,

Were you on Mic or Line levels when the external audio is disappearing? If you're on a microphone, which specific mic is it?
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Melvin Chen

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 2:34 pm

Hi Kristine,

I was on Line level, with two sets of Shure ULXD wireless receivers plugged in.

I checked the receivers were still indicating levels and RF, while it went dead in the camera. Rebooting the camera 'solved' the issue.
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Simon Bachofen

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 9:28 pm

Today our audio guy also tried to get a microphone with phantom power to work with the studio camera and he also wasn't able todo it. Power plugged in or not, no difference.

PS: Why are the studio converters able to work with 1080p50, but the hyper-deck studio not? And they are called "3G SDI"....
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Chris Hocking

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostMon Apr 28, 2014 9:32 pm

melvinchen wrote:I was on Line level, with two sets of Shure ULXD wireless receivers plugged in.


If you have time, do a quick test. Plug in the wireless setup again, and make sure it's working. Now yell into the microphone for a few seconds making sure it peaks - does that kill the audio?

As discussed on another thread, my GUESS is that it might be the overload protection kicking in.

If you have the camera set to Mic Level, the camera will automatically switch over to line if it receives a really hot signal. If the signal is still really hot once in Line Mode, it will automatically switch off the audio all together requiring a camera re-start. This has been an issue with all of the Blackmagic Cameras.
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Kristian Lam

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Re: Problems with the new BM Studio Camera

PostTue Apr 29, 2014 8:26 am

Chris Hocking wrote:
melvinchen wrote:I was on Line level, with two sets of Shure ULXD wireless receivers plugged in.


If you have time, do a quick test. Plug in the wireless setup again, and make sure it's working. Now yell into the microphone for a few seconds making sure it peaks - does that kill the audio?

As discussed on another thread, my GUESS is that it might be the overload protection kicking in.


Chris,

There's no overload protection in the Studio Camera.

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