Blackmagic Camera App - Issues/Bugs

Try ProRes or H.264. Still the same?

[Peter Chamberlain]

I tried the App for the 1st time but out of 5 clips 3 of them are unusable due to strange video recording. All looked perfect on the screen but when I get into the media tab within the App I get this view. Strange is that if I close the App for 0.1sec I can see the preview properly but then I get the wired and unusable output. Please help & fix !
I am on latest iOS and latest App version.

IMG_0473DC7F146A-1.jpeg

R u using iPhone 14 Pro?
HEVC (h.265) codec to record?
Are you recording to local or attached drive?

I tried the App for the 1st time but out of 5 clips 3 of them are unusable due to strange video recording. All looked perfect on the screen but when I get into the media tab within the App I get this view. Strange is that if I close the App for 0.1sec I can see the preview properly but then I get the wired and unusable output. Please help & fix !
I am on latest iOS and latest App version.

IMG_0473DC7F146A-1.jpeg

R u using iPhone 14 Pro?
HEVC (h.265) codec to record?
Are you recording to local or attached drive?

Yes I am using an iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 17.1.1 and 256GB
Yes I set it to HEVC h.265 in your App
No local of course. I doubt that you can record via Lightning cable to an external device.

I tried it as well in the morning and still same results. I created as well a video. As I am not allowed to post URLs please delete the blank space after com
youtube.com /watch?v=gI2dfqIjisM

I got contacted as well by Jay Chastney Team Lead - Broadcast Support as I contacted the support team as I could not believe the error/issue. He has got as well a google drive link where I uploaded 4 video clips 1 one and 3 others where you can see the issue and footage. I would love to get a feedback what caused the issue. At the beginning I thought maybe its the wind recording but no as the one clip in the morning there is no wind at all. You can see as well it might be a layer issue. Check 2:00 as for 0.1 sec you can see the clip but then gets on this strange overlay in the media tab.

I get some weird frame rates when shooting 25fps.
I open my clips in DaVinci, FCPX or QuickTime. Sometimes, the frame rate is 24.99, sometimes it’s 25,01.

That's unfortunately normal with smartphones, they all do VFR, and I doubt BM can do much about it.
If I use airplane mode, I get very small variations, like between 29.985 fps and 30.030 (if set to 30 fps).

Attempting to diagnose audio irregularities with my new iPhone 15 Pro Max, I discovered that the BMD camera app is using my hearing aids as its audio input. I can walk twenty feet away from the phone and still record perfect, close-mic'd audio.

Changing mic input in the app from "auto" to front, rear or bottom of the phone has no effect. In fact, there appears to be no way to get the BMD app to record audio other than through the hearing aids.

The native Apple video app doesn't exhibit these characteristics. Audio recording there is done by the phone's microphones. Playback of that audio through the hearing aids is excellent but I can't monitor live audio from the phone the way I can when using the BMD app.

I took the hearing aids off and put them in another room and started a recording on the phone in an adjacent room. I entered the hearing aids room and approached them, talking all the time. The app recorded no audio. Not even when I spoke directly into them. It appears they'd lost Bluetooth connection with the phone.

Playback of a previously recorded file and audio was fine.

This explains the notifications I was getting in the hearing aids the other day when I walked away from the camera while it was recording time lapse. The BMD app was telling me that it had lost audio input.

The good news is that I have a wireless mic. The bad news is that it only works to record me.

The other bad news is that the hearing aids mics, while of excellent quality, are fairly susceptible to wind noise.

If the devs are reading this, the hearing aids are Phonak. High end units, standard Bluetooth link to the phone.

I'd really like to choose to disable or control this behaviour.

In Apple iPhone / Settings / Bluetooth you should see all your Bluetooth enabled devices including the hearing aid. Select the hearing aid and then Forget This Device.

In Apple iPhone / Settings / Bluetooth you should see all your Bluetooth enabled devices including the hearing aid. Select the hearing aid and then Forget This Device.

Rick, that would disable all other hearing aid/phone/internet functions until I go through the pairing function again. A workaround, but a sub-optimal solution. Web searches, notifications, podcasts, music, audiobooks via hearing aids is game changing. FAR better than earbuds.

It gets worse. Something is mysteriously and unpredictably resetting my ringtone/alarms/other notifications audio levels to max. A phone call results in the inside-my-head sound so loud I jump when it appears. I'm suspecting that this is related to the BMD app, too.

First world problems...

While you are using Blackmagic Cam app, if there are no other aspects using the app that relies on Bluetooth, then you can disable Bluetooth just for Blackmagic Cam.

[Peter Chamberlain]

What was set as the audio input? iPhone Microphone or the Bluetooth hearing aid?

What was set as the audio input? iPhone Microphone or the Bluetooth hearing aid?

Aghhh! I never knew such a choice existed! How embarrassing.

Thanks, Peter

A few of times while shooting in H.265 log, hand held with image stablization set to "extreme", I've noticed that as soon as the recording begins, the image will suddenly jump from the set exposure to something a few stops lighter and AF will jump out of "lock" to auto. I can restore the settings immediately, manually. It doesn't always happen, just "sometimes". I'll test more to see if I can duplicate this issue.

Further to my embarrassing audio inputs posts, if I set the hearing aids intentionally as the mic input, the wireless microphone function works really well. It's not perfect, but it seems only limited by the hearing aids microphones and wind and handling noise. I tested this morning and made a recording fifty feet from the camera. Fortunately, there was no wind.

I wonder if this function will also work with earbuds...

I was able to use the "Files" app on my new iPhone to get into the Blackmagic Media directory and upload my first test video to my Google Drive. Downloading from my Drive to my Windows workstation was a lot faster. Then I used "Files" to delete the test video.

I was hoping that I could connect to my PC via USB and just transfer files like I do with Android. Unfortunately, the Blackmagic directory was not available. iOS has some strange quirks.

I checked into PhotoSync. The iOS app comes from the German company that Robert mentioned. The PhotoSync app at the Microsoft store comes from a Chinese company. I'll go with the German version on their website.

When it came time for a new phone the Blackmagic Camera app convinced me to switch to an iPhone. Without that I would have stayed on Android which I find easier to use.

Without that I would have stayed on Android which I find easier to use.

I'm suffering the same changeover difficulties after ten years of Android phones.

A nice lady at Apple support said that my difficulties were typical and that it usually took about three weeks to adapt. So far, I agree.

The "Files" app on my phone, while quirky, is functional and fast. Transfers of tens of GB from iPhone to PC via a USB SSD are pretty seamless now.

The Files app on my iPhone won't recognize my SSD. How did you get that to work? I was able to use PhotoSync over USB to my desktop.

The Files app on my iPhone won't recognize my SSD. How did you get that to work? I was able to use PhotoSync over USB to my desktop.

The phones recognise some models of SSD and not others. For example, they won't work with at least some Gen 4 SSDs, possibly because they draw more power than the phones can deliver.

Thanks. I got it to work this time on a Samsung T5 and T7. It's taking me a while to get used to the iPhone. I miss the regular file tree I see on Windows, Linux and Android.

The phones will also apparently work with a Samsung 980. If you want to send footage on your phone to an external SSD, the attraction is that the data rate is almost double that of a T5/T7: However, there's no speed benefit if you're using the SSD to record to. The T5/T7 already run faster than the phone can record. Samsung's and Amazon's current price for a 1TB 980 is $70.

One nice thing about the T7 is that, on my medium-spec system at least, I can edit directly from the drive.

Hi, i found this topic, and I mean, this is the correct place to tell the bug I found:

Device 13 mini

BUG:

After recording a video—during, every thought is okay—the image stays upside down when I change between the font and the rear cameras, after save the file. Start the video correctly, but after changing, it turns upside down in the other camera(s) and returns to normality after I return to the original camera.

I desire its solved in 1.3 version!

@Peter
Well, I wouldn’t do that without making a backup first.
@Guliano
Do you change cameras mid recording?
@Mark
How is your SSD formatted? The iPhone will not recognise NTFS drives. But if you want cross compatibility, I'd suggest exFAT, which works. OTOH, it's less reliable than HFS+ (Apple's older format) and there is software to read those on a PC.
The only other reason I can imagine is a drive pulling too much power, which is true for a Samsung 980 Pro, for example. Then an externally powered hub would help.

@Those who changed from Android: I know how you feel. When I was reviewing the older Sony Xperia for event docs (where it failed in one important aspect), I also decided to xperience it in daily use, not only for testing photos and film. Took me quite a while to adapt…

The only other reason I can imagine is a drive pulling too much power, which is true for a Samsung 980 Pro, for example.

Maybe worth noting that a Samsung 980 and a 980 Pro aren't the same thing, the former working because it's Gen 3, and the latter being Gen 4.

Absolutely, thanks, Rob.

Hi everyone,

I've had an issue where, regardless of using a connected external mic (Rode VideoMic NTG) or one of the internal mics for my iPhone 15 Pro Max, the auto gain adjuster is grayed out and therefore not adjustable. Though the slider is stuck at zero, the mic records audio just fine, albeit because there is no way to adjust gain it easily peaks. I have checked settings and the website "user guide" (though one doesn't really exist) to ensure that I didn't miss something and somehow lock the auto gain slider like one can with some of the camera settings and have not found that the issue is on my end.

I have also noticed that the gain control on my Rode VideoMic NTG has no affect on the gain within the app like it does with other video recording apps (Filmic Pro, for example), and in cases where the in-app auto gain is functional, I can still easily peak the audio despite the auto gain being at zero unless I enable the -20db pad on the Rode.

Unless I've just totally missed something, I would love to see this bug addressed, and I would love to see external mic gain control functionality built into the app similar to Filmic Pro where one has both in-app gain control, but also on-mic gain control working in tandem.

Placing iPhone in landscape mode, whit volume buttons upside (and the cameras on the right side), all the interface remain upside down; it's very difficult to use controls in this orientation (on gimbals for example); please, correct this issue.

The app is amazing!

@Guliano
Do you change cameras mid recording?

I olny instaled the app and this issue stay there. After i try solve them changing the options (like stay orientation, or flip to lens), but the issue continuous, all the time i change from frontal to main and UW or vice-versa.

Unless I've just totally missed something, I would love to see this bug addressed, and I would love to see external mic gain control functionality built into the app similar to Filmic Pro where one has both in-app gain control, but also on-mic gain control working in tandem.

Have you updated the firmware on the Rode Mic? And are you connecting via USB-C rather than the 3.5mm jack?

I'm using an Iphone13 pro and the stabilisation doesn't work. No matter what setting I use, it doesn't change the stabilisation. I'm currently using Filmic so I know it works. The other thing that would be beneficial is playback speed. In Filmic you can change that, so you can watch the slowmo, but in the BM app I haven't been able to change it.

They're the two biggest reasons I haven't switched, but otherwise, the app is great and once these features have been added, would be happy to change.

First few frames clobbered

Just a heads-up on a reproducible "hiccup" - here ProRES recording - but I suspect it is a general hardware behaviour to varying degrees based on options selected - and not necessarily the codec used. The following data should not be regarded as more, than a general tendency varying with the actual exposure environment. The examples were "construed" to make certain, that the effect was seen.

I've recently mentioned, that "Cinematic mode" has a "nasty" side effect in some situations (compared to "standard mode" stabilization). It is easily reproduced.

In the following, assume 25fps and 1/25s, ProRES 422 (similar results with ProRES 422HQ) fully manual settings (no autofocus either), white balance locked from start. Internal recording in local folder (not Photo library). Choose a high ISO value (in my case, highlights would be blown at virtually any ISO).

Aim the camera at a bright window (purpose is to really blow the highlights). A few seconds recording will suffice nicely. Frame numbers are manually counted, frame by frame, in the sample imported into Davinci Resolve Studio.

60Hz flicker setting (Cinematic mode)
The two frames will show near perfect exposure (in effect, camera is in automatic mode). The following two frames are exposed slightly "warmer". Following frame (5) will be nearing "blowout", the following frames will quickly adjust to "fully blown", and continue in a stable fashion from around frame 17.

Key frame rate data:
Billedratemodus : Variabel
Billedfrekvens : 24,922 FPS
Minimum billedfrekvens : 20,007 FPS
Maksimum billedfrekvens : 25,021 FPS

50Hz flicker setting (Cinematic mode)
First four frames will show near perfect exposure. The following frame "varmer", then same development toward a stable "blowout" around frame 25. Difference to 60Hz flicker compensation may not be significant.

Key frame rate data:
Billedratemodus : Variabel
Billedfrekvens : 24,927 FPS
Minimum billedfrekvens : 20,007 FPS
Maksimum billedfrekvens : 25,021 FPS

50Hz flicker setting (Standard mode)
Stable from first frame (fully "blown").

Key frame rate data:
Billedratemodus : Variabel
Billedfrekvens : 25,000 FPS
Minimum billedfrekvens : 24,990 FPS
Maksimum billedfrekvens : 25,021 FPS

The "Standard mode" stabilization is very near constant frame rate. The "Cinematic mode" stabilization introduces some wild speed variations, as well as hugely varying content (in fully manual mode, specified in the start of this post).

Note, that in all three samples, the metadata were identical:

com.blackmagic-design.shutterMode : Speed
com.blackmagic-design.shutterSpeed : 1/25
com.blackmagic-design.camera.iso : 568
com.blackmagic-design.camera.whiteBalanc : 7220

I have other examples of "Cinematic mode", in fully automatic, 25fps, 1/25s (the After Snow, After dark sample in an earlier post), where the original ProRES file exhibited these data:

Billedratemodus : Variabel
Billedfrekvens : 25,000 FPS
Minimum billedfrekvens : 24,979 FPS
Maksimum billedfrekvens : 25,031 FPS

Since automatic mode was selected from start, no problems arose in the first frames.

I assume, that the "processing pipeline" was less affected in this case, hence the system as a whole was less stressed from the beginning.

I have not (yet) established, if it is a case of only the first frame(s) being affected. Neither have I tested, if the last single or few frames in a recording can vary also, and if so, degree also depending on settings.

Maybe, just maybe, the VBR status of files is depending on settings, and just especially pronounced by the selection of "Cinematic mode" stabilisation. Other settings may also have some significance here, but the "blowout" samples (easily reproduced by you), indicates, that we may also see initial "flutter" in the frame rate in the first few frames of a recording ("flutter" affected by some initial "heavy lifting" from an "initial" default (semi-)automatic exposure state).

I'm looking for a tool, that makes it possible to extract imbedded timestamps of a ProRES recording, but until then: "beware of the gremlins"

This behaviour is probably caused by the Apple hardware not always able to get up to speed in all settings, initially "dropping" the correct timing for the first one or two frames (ideally) or worse in some situations. Both Cinema P3 and Blackmagic Camera exhibit similar behaviour.

If you have knowledge of a usable tool, or even can supply a link to a free tool (including script if required) to extract pertinent info, I'd be very grateful.

Whether an option postponing the start of a recording has any meaningful effect is unknown.

Regards and remember to have a bit of fun every day

First few frames clobbered (continued)

Forgot to mention, that ALL Camera Apps automatically activates Focus mode "Do Not Disturb", when started (and automatically disables the Focus Mode, after exit).

Regards and remember to have a bit of fun each day

This might be a new one...

I'm finding that having an SSD connected to the iPhone (15 Pro Max, iOS 17.2b4) disconnects the Tilta Nucleus Nano.

I've tried with a hub, without a hub (both powered and unpowered) and different SSDs, but the result is the same; the BMC app stops recognising the Nano either immediatly, or after a very short while.

Without an SSD it all works perfectly as expected.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen the same result.

It's reported to Apple under feedback ID: FB13438314, should you want to add to the report.