UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

The place for questions about shooting with Blackmagic Cameras.
  • Author
  • Message
Offline

Erkki Juurus

  • Posts: 6
  • Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:46 pm

UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

PostFri Mar 09, 2018 12:10 am

I was shooting outdoors with my Ursa Mini 4.6 today, and the camera came up with a rather peculiar issue, something I've never encountered before.

Although the issue is now resolved, sort of, I still have no idea what caused it. That's why I'm curious to know if someone else has had the same issue, and might be able to tell what exactly was it about.
Or, if someone happens to encounter similar symptoms, my story might be worth reading before going into panic or depressed mode. Or perhaps the BM engineers might find something to look into.

At first everything worked as expected, and I got a couple of clips recorded without any issues. After about fifteen or twenty minutes of recording short clips and standing by between them, about 20 seconds into recording normally I noticed that all the indicators like battery, shutter angle, the red dot for recording etc. had vanished from the LCD screen, and there was only one weird looking thin red rectangle, a bit like a tally light in the middle of the screen, nothing else. I've never encountered anything like that before.
When I stopped recording and then started a new recording, the screen showed the image through the lens only, with nothing else, not even the usual lines, and even that weird "tally light" was now gone.

At first I thought the camera had frozen and refused to record any longer, but there were no warning screens whatsoever, and when I pushed the menu button, everything else worked, I could even turn the safe area lines on and off, and all the menu screens worked fine, but the only thing that was missing were those status indicators and the default lines. I would only see a clean image through the lens, nothing else.

When I later got back home I discovered that the camera had indeed recorded each time I pushed the record button just like it's supposed to, even though there was no way to tell if the camera was recording or not. Turning the camera off and on again did not help, the screen remained clean, lacking all the usual indicators.

It was a rather cold Nordic winter weather during that shoot, temperature was around -8 degrees Celsius, (17F), freezing cold wind on a seashore, but the camera or the battery didn't seem to mind. The charging level indicator on the battery showed healthy levels, and the camera worked normally except for this one weird LCD display issue.

My first guess was that the camera itself had frozen, after all, but the problem persisted even after several hours warming up indoors. The camera was working fine, only the LCD screen status indicators were still on strike.

Finally I decided to go into the menu and do a full factory reset, and after the camera rebooted, the status indicators were back, as if nothing had happened. So it was a big relief, but somewhat puzzling, too, not knowing why the screen lost all the status and screen data.

If anyone has encountered something similar with an Ursa Mini, feel free to chime in. Especially if you've figured out what was causing the issue. Or did I stumble on a software bug, perhaps? Just curious.
Offline

Tim Schumann

Blackmagic Design

  • Posts: 621
  • Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2012 6:21 am

Re: UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

PostFri Mar 09, 2018 12:26 am

Swiping up or down on the 5" LCD screen with your finger will hide your 'status text'.
This will leave you with a clean feed that still shows the thin red record tally indicator.

...If you then swipe up or down again on the 5" LCD again your 'status text' will reappear.

Don't panic. This is normal behaviour and is documented in the manual.
Offline
User avatar

Robert Niessner

  • Posts: 4948
  • Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:51 am
  • Location: Graz, Austria

Re: UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

PostFri Mar 09, 2018 8:45 am

Or in other words: Just read the f...antastic manual ;-)

Just kidding: I saw several people freaking out when using my camera because they didn't know you could swipe away (and back) the indicators - and like you - thought the camera is broken.
Saying "Thx for help!" is not a crime.
--------------------------------
Robert Niessner
LAUFBILDkommission
Graz / Austria
--------------------------------
Blackmagic Camera Blog (German):
http://laufbildkommission.wordpress.com

Read the blog in English via Google Translate:
http://tinyurl.com/pjf6a3m
Offline

Erkki Juurus

  • Posts: 6
  • Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:46 pm

Re: UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

PostFri Mar 09, 2018 11:24 am

D'oh! :oops: :lol:
Yes, now I remember it. Suppose I should have read the bleeping manual for the latest OS version instead of just skimming it.

I don't actually remember ever touching, let alone swiping the screen, though, because there was no need, and I was wearing gloves all the time. But suppose I must have, somehow.

What I'm still a bit puzzled about is the disappearance of the red recording indicator. The 'tally light' did not come on after the first appearance, which made me believe the camera had frozen and no longer recorded, even though the camera did in fact start and stop a new recording with each push of the button, as it turned out. Just without any indicator.

Now that I just tested it again indoors, even if I swipe the screen blank, the tally light always comes on in the LCD screen when I start a recording. I wonder why it stopped doing that yesterday when I was out in the cold.

So... maybe there was a slight freezing screen issue of some sort, after all.
Or maybe I'm still missing something. Oh well, something to keep an eye on whenever shooting in the cold.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your replies.
Making a fool of oneself in public is an extremely efficient way of learning things. :D
Offline

John Brawley

  • Posts: 4267
  • Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:57 am
  • Location: Los Angeles California

Re: UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

PostFri Mar 09, 2018 7:19 pm

Erkki Juurus wrote:D'oh! :oops: :lol:
Yes, now I remember it. Suppose I should have read the bleeping manual for the latest OS version instead of just skimming it.

I don't actually remember ever touching, let alone swiping the screen, though, because there was no need, and I was wearing gloves all the time. But suppose I must have, somehow.

What I'm still a bit puzzled about is the disappearance of the red recording indicator. The 'tally light' did not come on after the first appearance, which made me believe the camera had frozen and no longer recorded, even though the camera did in fact start and stop a new recording with each push of the button, as it turned out. Just without any indicator.

Now that I just tested it again indoors, even if I swipe the screen blank, the tally light always comes on in the LCD screen when I start a recording. I wonder why it stopped doing that yesterday when I was out in the cold.

So... maybe there was a slight freezing screen issue of some sort, after all.
Or maybe I'm still missing something. Oh well, something to keep an eye on whenever shooting in the cold.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your replies.
Making a fool of oneself in public is an extremely efficient way of learning things. :D



From memory if you had double tapped the screen (punch in 1:1) then I don't think it shows a rec tally ? Maybe you had it double tapped ?

JB
John Brawley ACS
Cinematographer
Currently - Los Angeles
Offline

Erkki Juurus

  • Posts: 6
  • Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:46 pm

Re: UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

PostSat Mar 10, 2018 8:29 pm

John Brawley wrote:From memory if you had double tapped the screen (punch in 1:1) then I don't think it shows a rec tally ? Maybe you had it double tapped ?

JB

I did indeed double tap to check focus at first before hitting record, as usual. But since you mentioned it, I tried it several times just now, before writing this reply. Yup, the tally light does come on every time, as one would expect. Double tapping only magnifies the screen, and it doesn't seem to affect the red indicator.

So the disappearance of the rec indicator in the cold still remains a mystery. Either I'm still missing something, or maybe exposure to freezing but moist wind does have something to do with it, after all. Suppose that's something to keep an eye on, just out of curiosity.
Cheers.
Offline

John Brawley

  • Posts: 4267
  • Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:57 am
  • Location: Los Angeles California

Re: UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

PostSat Mar 10, 2018 11:32 pm

Erkki Juurus wrote:So the disappearance of the rec indicator in the cold still remains a mystery. Either I'm still missing something, or maybe exposure to freezing but moist wind does have something to do with it, after all. Suppose that's something to keep an eye on, just out of curiosity.
Cheers.


I have sometime seen this happen on the UM (NOT PRO) when remote rolling through LANC. I have the screen swiped clean and roll the camera. It's rolling, shows rolling on the video feed, but not the red bar at the bottom. Swipe up and bring status up and it says it's rolling and then when you swipe again to hide the status the red bar is there.

So it's rolling all the time, it's just the indicator SOMETIMES doesn't show up when you have the status hidden. I've never found a way to make this reproducible.

I think maybe a bug ? I've never seen a UMP do it.

JB
John Brawley ACS
Cinematographer
Currently - Los Angeles
Offline

Erkki Juurus

  • Posts: 6
  • Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:46 pm

Re: UM46, All Status Indicators Disappeared in LCD screen

PostSun Mar 11, 2018 7:43 pm

John Brawley wrote:I have sometime seen this happen on the UM (NOT PRO) when remote rolling through LANC. I have the screen swiped clean and roll the camera. It's rolling, shows rolling on the video feed, but not the red bar at the bottom. Swipe up and bring status up and it says it's rolling and then when you swipe again to hide the status the red bar is there.

So it's rolling all the time, it's just the indicator SOMETIMES doesn't show up when you have the status hidden. I've never found a way to make this reproducible.

I think maybe a bug ? I've never seen a UMP do it.

JB

Looks like I can't try to retest the matter in such a freezing wind any time soon, either, so I'll just call it a bug. That seems quite likely to me, too. Apparently the bug can occur with or without LANC, in a regular UM46.

Oh well, I'm just happy that there's nothing wrong with my camera, and I happened to "discover" a feature I hadn't even noticed or used so far. :)

The tally bug, if it appears again, is rather insignificant, anyway, now that I'm aware of it, and it's probably something that is easily fixed in a future firmware update.

Return to Cinematography

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Peter J. DeCrescenzo and 94 guests