BMPCC turns back on by itself, overheats

Has this happened to anybody else. I turn off the BMPCC, the screen goes black, and then a second later it turns back on. Sometimes I have not noticed, put it down, and come back to find it overheated and with a dead batter.

This is with a recent camera, latest firmware, Panasonic 14mm pancake lens.

Has anybody seen this?

BTW, I would love if it had an automatic sleep or shutdown.

Normal behaviour is press for instant ON! Press and Hold for approx. 4 seconds to turn OFF!. Can get warm to the touch when operating for a while. If charging the battery with the camera on, could get a little hotter, but should not get to a point that you cannot comfortable hold it.

Yes, that has been my experience in general. But a couple times a day I find it turning back on about 2 seconds after I turn it off. I've watched it happen.

To be clear, exact behavior is:

1) camera is on
2) I hold the power button for several seconds and the screen goes black
3) I let go of the power button
4) A second or two later the camera turns on again by itself

The over heating is just a symptom of it sitting in a confined space while powered on for 20 mins or so (because I thought it was off).

Has nobody else seen this?

If BMD is reading this, here's what I'd like to see:

1) a diagnosis and fix for this problem. it should of course never turn on by itself
2) A timeout (ideally configurable) that would shut the camera off after a few minutes idle. With very limited battery life this would be useful even for those not experiencing this problem.

Because of this problem, I now remove the batter before storing the camera in my bag, afraid that it will turn on while enclosed and overheat. This of course is not ideal.

Thanks in advance for any info on this!

I have noticed my camera turning on a few seconds, sometimes instantly after powering down as well.

I've never had it overheat in its pelican case...I am using the padded divider sets instead of foam...I've heard that when placed in the foam inserts they can power on while in the case. Perhaps a static issue?

Just let the camera sit before putting it away, I usually take a few minutes to break down my rig before putting the camera away.

Interesting, I wonder if anybody else sees this issue or if BMD is looking into it. I filed a support case a couple days ago, but have not heard back.

happened to me 3 times -same thing turn off-screen shuts down -wait 2-3 sec-turns back on by itself

We haven't heard too many of these come up but that doesn't mean it's not possible. If the problem persists and you haven't already called into support after updating your firmware, I would do that and see if there's a way they can run you through the steps to make sure this isn't something that can be easily fixed without sending it in.

Im from the Philippines, and i also experienced this issue.
My theory is that, maybe if you put it in a bag not in a camera case, maybe something triggers the turn on button...
but i don't know, maybe there's really something.

It is definitely not caused by being in a bag or pressing up against something. It happens to me often right in my hands and I notice it more now that I am looking out for it. In fact I took a video of it happening if anybody doesn't believe it.

This is a serious problem because if you put the camera in a bag while it is still on it will get blazing hot fast (not to mention drain the battery).

I have contacted support, but never heard back. I just filed another ticket. Also, I can confirm that this still happens with 1.5.

The emails may take a bit longer to get a reply back this week as we have some support folks out at CCW this week. You may want to call in during the support hours 6-5 Monday thru Thursday, 6-4 Fridays Pacific time.

Do you mean 6PM to 5AM or 4AM Pacific time?

6AM-5PM Mon-Thurs
6AM-4PM Fridays
Pacific time

Just posting to say that I have experienced this problem as well. I noticed it last night when I was doing some RAW test recording… I turned it off, set it on the table, and then looked a few seconds later and it was on again.

I wasn't sure if I was imagining this. Definitely needs to be addressed.

I'd like to report that I too have experienced this occurence. At first I was wondering why my BMPCC wasn't turning on because I know the battery inside the camera had a full charge. So I tried swapping the battery and found out that it was drained. So after reading this thread a few days back, I checked if the camera will turn back on after I've switched it off. Sure enough it did power up again on its own. BMD, please look into this. It is apparent that this is not a rare occurrence. Probably the only reason this is not being reported is because no one is watching out for this to happen.

On another incident, the BMPCC reports the SD Card is full even if it is only half used. Please fix this!

I'd like to report that I too have experienced this occurence. At first I was wondering why my BMPCC wasn't turning on because I know the battery inside the camera had a full charge. So I tried swapping the battery and found out that it was drained. So after reading this thread a few days back, I checked if the camera will turn back on after I've switched it off. Sure enough it did power up again on its own. BMD, please look into this. It is apparent that this is not a rare occurrence. Probably the only reason this is not being reported is because no one is watching out for this to happen.

On another incident, the BMPCC reports the SD Card is full even if it is only half used. Please fix this!

yeah... i agree with this.
the camera should indicate accurately how much time/space is available while shooting.

Thanks, BMD! I believe you'll address this issue.

+1 on the power down issue. It seems intermittent, and if I hold the power button down for long enough it will turn off.

So the word from Blackmagic support is that I have to send the camera back in for them to take a look at it. I am planning to send it in after Thanksgiving and will let you guys know the results.

For now I just have gotten in the habit of double checking that it stays off and avoid putting it in the bag unless I remove the battery.

A few other notes on this. I have been trying to consistently reproduce the problem, but have not been able to 100%. It is not consistent, which of course will make it harder for BMD to QA. However, it seems to never (or not often at least) happen if I just turn the camera on and then turn it off. It seems like it happens more after I record for a while.

I have mostly been using the 14mm Panasonic 2.5 MFT lens, and it definitely happens with that. My other lenses are mostly C-mount. It seems like it happens less often with those. Perhaps it has something to do with the software interface to the active MFT lens?

For those of you who have posted about having this issue as well, what lenses are you using?

While setting up a Pelican 1610 case with the foam inserts I noticed that the BMCC turns itself on when the camera is inserted into the foam. If the camera is turned upside down an inserted (power button at the top) the power will stay off. I assume that this must be caused by static? Anyone else had this problem?

Strangely there was no issue with the BMPCC.

Chris

I've had this happen a few times on my BMPCC as well. Definitely seems to be an issue.

Has this happened to anybody else. I turn off the BMPCC, the screen goes black, and then a second later it turns back on.

This was happening to me initially but now it has stopped.

I experienced the same issue just the other day (day 3 of shooting- first day of prolonged filming: 2+ hours). Aside from capturing problems, it only happened once but took 3x to finally shutdown. It may be good practice to just remove the battery when changing locations to eliminate the issue just in case, though, this wouldn't do much in certain situations.

In regards to the auto-off, I would imagine the only problem that could arise from an auto off/sleep would be the excess strain on the battery and system from the power-on and power-off/sleep functionality itself. Though I don't think BMD did any testing on it, it would be worth looking into, especially with the overheating problem as well. Otherwise, just like lighting, it may not put unneeded strain on the camera.

We haven't heard too many of these come up but that doesn't mean it's not possible. If the problem persists and you haven't already called into support after updating your firmware, I would do that and see if there's a way they can run you through the steps to make sure this isn't something that can be easily fixed without sending it in.

Now we are beyond that assumption, right?

I have the exact same problem with my BMCC, it comes on randomly, and it could be hours or days before it occurs, luckily i have the camera on a tripod next to my desktop and often notice it, but now its on again, after a whole night on, for all i know, i keep the charger on to make sure its fully charged dues to this.
PS, it also happens without the charger plugged in.

Now imagine if the camera is in my bag, with no ventilation, it would burn up, and worst case catch fire.
Whos gonna cover that damage?

This has happened to me but I wonder if its because were accidently releasing pressure slightly and then accidently turning it on. No one I don't think has had it turn on by itself just at the point of turning off?

It has to me, three times only today, camera is placed on a tripod, not even remotely touched it...

I thought I was going crazy when this also happened to me.
Only I left mine overnight connected to two Sony NPF batteries, which run it for 10+ hours.

When I woke up the camera was hot and I was confused and worried.

Has this happened to anybody else. I turn off the BMPCC, the screen goes black, and then a second later it turns back on.

This was happening to me initially but now it has stopped.

Update to my previous comment... If I press and release power button one time and then hold power button for shut down it remains' off.

Probably just a coincidence, and not the solution.

Same happened to me, picked up my PELI case from the table to put it in the storage after a coffee break, noticed it was warm. Opened it up, camera was really hot and battery drained out. I have foam also insets also. The way i see the sun-visor fits on the screen there should be a mountable shield to protect monitor and disable buttons.

(Patent pending )

I have experienced the same behaviour when shutting the camera down and holding down the button too long. The impulse seems to be given twice (first "off" then "on" again") in this case, although the button remains held down. This seems not to be totally correct, as the camera should only turn on again, if it gets an obvious impulse (pressing the button after it has been in released position). You should take the finger off the button immediately after the display turns black. For me, this is the case after approx. one second. If I hold the button some time longer and release, the camera turns on again with a certain delay, which might result in putting it away without noticing, although there is a noise coming from the aperture adjustment on my Lumix lens. Just try to figure out, how long you have to hold the button with the camera turning off and not turning on again. Then, just count the second(s) next time and things should be ok

Tried 250 versions of that, maybe i have to hold it down for hours to make it work?

Sorry to hear, seems to be a non linear behaviour then.

SOlution found: Place it upside down... weird but works every time.

SOlution found: Place it upside down... weird but works every time.

LOL

Honestly it has nothing to do with how long you press a button, 1 sec is enough to switch it off, 2 secs wont harm either. Holding longer will reset it.

Regarding PELI foam insets, I have spent 1 hour monitoring my actions by constantly placing the camera in and out. If its done slowly its mostly ok, but if its placed rapidly then the camera has 50% chance of switching on. I have made a special video for it, enjoy.

Since i cant post URLs please visit youtube and just paste that after the dot com, with a slash.

watch?v=dOXDT1682YU

(The foam opening is not tight at all, camera moves freely in and out, its impossible for button to be pressed accidentally)

Looks like you guys are referring to two different kinds of issues here, the camera accidentally switches on by unwanted pressure on power button, and the one where no interactions with the button turns it on and off by itself.
Personally i dont believe static has anything to do with it, the button is a short circuit type, which means you have to apply pressure hard enough to feel the click, and the moment the surface of the button and the circuit touches, it engages or disengages the power.
You can also compare it to a much larger power switch like the ones you have in your home, light switches etc. Its not possible to engage those with static, its just a coincidence in this case...

Placing the camera upside down is no solution either, its a coincidence as well.

If the camera had a gyroscopic meter or an accelerometer controlling the power, like some pocket cameras have to power it off in case you drop the camera, i would be willing to accept that as a possible reason, but im pretty sure thats not the fact in this one.

My bet is that it simply is a software issue for some reason...

Hi,
I've posted just a new topic before seeing this thread here. Maybe my problem is related to the issue being disscussed here.
Press the power-on button shortly and wait between 30 sec to 1'45" min for the LCD screen to show anything! Sometimes, if you power on the camera not the first time you have the chance that you get the picture in seconds. But normally there is a huge delay. (I didn't had the "self-awakening" issue until now.)
I guess there is a real managing problem between the software and power-on/off mechanism.
Regards
Ümit

@gr8pics

This is a responce from BM support.

"Thanks for the video,
Is the case you are using static proof? As the static discharge of the case is likely to cause the issue. "

I rest my case

Well, then there is a gyroscopic sensor inside, cause there are no way a traditional electric switch would react to that... The power button is a traditional membrane switch.
Membrane, or touch, switches are commonly used in electronic calculators and other low-voltage devices containing microelectronic chips. The switching circuit is printed in two parts; each part is on a plastic film and the two films are separated from each other by a sheet of insulating material. The circuit is closed by lightly pressing one of the plastic films (or a key located directly above the film) so that the two parts make contact through an opening in the insulating sheet.

I get exactly the same issue.

The problem seems to be that that when you hold down power button, if you hold onto the button a fraction of a second too long after screen goes black, the system seems to think you're pressing the button to power it on again. Totally inconvenient, as I wasted most of my batteries today via this. It was sitting there heating up doing nothing.

I am quite surprised that even after posting an official response from BM, an actual video showing that this has nothing to do with pressing a button... most of the users still go on the button issue. Wrong topic people.

I still think that Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is the culprit. ESD can happen in any number of ways some of which are noticeable and others not. I have a pair of shoes I cannot ware when running electronics. Sometimes the only way you can tell if its happened is when the symptom shows up. In this case the camera powers itself back on. A small buildup can discharge via your finger and -- pow there you are. Static via foam - yes. Static in the air even? Like the post about the one on a tripod -- its possible...though not common for sure. Since a BMCC is supposed to be professionally used, its still a "Fix" by BMD in some way. Next firmware its likely going to quietly go away.

I have the BMCC and BMPC and they both have this problem. I was actually surprised to see right out of the box, the new BMPC doing it too. I've narrowed it down to this: I'm using the same drives in both cameras. It's the only thing that is the same between the two. When the BMCC is doing this consistently I take the drive out and the camera stays powered off when I turn it off. I don't know if it's related, but it sure sounds like it is. I wonder if it's having trouble with drives overheating and turns immediately back on so the fans can run to cool the drive off. The drives are what usually heats up so I'm wondering if this has anything to do with it. If anyone is experiencing this, please try taking the drive out and powering down. Let me know if it stays powered off or not.

I get exactly the same issue.

The problem seems to be that that when you hold down power button, if you hold onto the button a fraction of a second too long after screen goes black, the system seems to think you're pressing the button to power it on again. Totally inconvenient,.

Exactly what I've experienced...

.

Totally thought I was going crazy here... My BMPCC was doing this when I was running around in the city. Almost every other time I power off it seemed to turn back on. Shutting it off the second time seems to be okay but kind of a pain if you rely on only two spare batteries

I am just joining this forum after getting my camera yesterday... this on/off weirdness is happening to my camera as well but I first noticed it when I inserted a WATSON Nikon EN-EL20 (900mAh/6.66Wh) battery, which I am assuming is OK to use in the camera. The very first battery I used was the standard Blackmagicdesign EN-EL20 (800mAh/ 5.92Wh)... could this have something to do with it? Whenever I use the Blackmagicdesign batteries I do not have the problem—so far.

I get exactly the same issue.

The problem seems to be that that when you hold down power button, if you hold onto the button a fraction of a second too long after screen goes black, the system seems to think you're pressing the button to power it on again. Totally inconvenient, as I wasted most of my batteries today via this. It was sitting there heating up doing nothing.

Totally agree with this.

And totally disagree with Raybox, sorry.

I have tried it many times, and I have found when you hold the button to Power off for too long, it goes black, then I let go, then a few seconds later it comes back on. I liked someone's idea of an idle auto off.

And for me personally I'd rather have it stay on the iris setting I had it on last. Turned off at f22, please turn back on at f22, I don't care what the surrounding lighting is. Since I'm often turning it off to save what precious little battery I have, I don't wanna readjust the settings all the time.

Either way these are both not huge issues and can be avoided by double checking, but seem simple enough to address.

the problem goes away if you connect your camera to wall charger. i'm experiencing the same issue with my 4k

Has black magic serviced any cameras with this issue? My new BMPC has this issue.

The problem seems to be that that when you hold down power button, if you hold onto the button a fraction of a second too long after screen goes black, the system seems to think you're pressing the button to power it on again.

I also get this with my BMCC.
The length of button press time for on and off changed a slight bit after one of the earlier firmware updates, but this issue remains.
The on-to-off-to-on issue can be fully reproduced every time I turn the unit off, just keep the button pressed and back on it comes.
Most likely the firmware code for power on/off is not looking for or accounting for the button state transition, but just whether the button is down.
Just keep an eye on your camera for a few seconds after you turn it off to make sure it doesn't come back on, until a BMD fix is issued.