Camera 9.3 update

[Tim Schumann]

Happy to announce that Camera 9.3 is now available on our support site.

What's New in Blackmagic Camera 9.3

Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65

• Adds support for Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65.

Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF

• Adds user pixel recalibration.
• Adds ability to be remotely controlled via Blackmagic Camera App.
• Improved proxy clip playback behavior for off-speed recordings.
• Fixed exposure traffic lights in 8K and 4K modes.
• Updated 8K and 4K Constant Quality record settings.
• Updated information menu page.
• General performance and stability improvements.

Blackmagic PYXIS Monitor

• Adds compatibility for URSA Cine 17K 65.
• General performance and stability improvements.

New features in Blackmagic RAW 4.5

• Adds support for Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65.
• Adds support for updated Constant Quality record settings on URSA Cine.

Resolve 19.1.4 is also now available to download from our support site. This version will be required for viewing URSA Cine 17K 65 camera original Blackmagic RAW clips or 8K or 4K Constant Quality clips shot on URSA Cine 12K LF from Camera 9.3 or above.

Sample videos from the URSA 65 are now available on our URSA Cine gallery pages.

AMAZING!!!

And still no updates for pocket 4k or UMP 4.6K G2 ...

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Will there be a stable firmware update for the BMCC6K Full Frame? We've been stuck on version 8.6, which is still a beta, for quite a while now. It would also be great to see anamorphic options and camera control from the Blackmagic Camera app, like the Pyxis has. Any news on this?

Plenty of updates for cameras that few people uses but no updates for cameras lots of people uses. Use to be the other way.

And still no updates for pocket 4k or UMP 4.6K G2 ...

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I'm not worried about the UMPG2 anymore. I ordered the 12K. So that will replace the UMPG2.

However, I will be selling the UMPG2 in time. So the understanding will be that the UMPG2 is what it is and no firmware updates will ever come to it. It served me well for 5.5 years so far. I'm almost close to getting 6-years use out of it.

Fingers crossed I get as long a life out of the UC12K.

I'm at the point in my career I doubt I'll really do a major upgrade in camera again. That 4.6k G2 really does everything I could possibly need and then some.

So just a firmware upgrade .... please ...

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Will there be a stable firmware update for the BMCC6K Full Frame? We've been stuck on version 8.6, which is still a beta, for quite a while now. It would also be great to see anamorphic options and camera control from the Blackmagic Camera app, like the Pyxis has. Any news on this?

I doubt that there will be anything coming. They seem to clearly favour bringing out new products one after one instead of maintaining existing ones.

I still think there’ll be more for the FF and the 4K. Seems really unlikely they won’t make release versions of what’s already in beta.

Yes, for whatever reason recording prores crashes my bmpcc 4k in the last supported firmwares... and what I really want to see is a way for hdmi output to mirror the magnification mode for 1 to 1 critical focus checking :/

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85584

Will there ever be a update for the cinema camera 6k full frame, or they just dropped the whole thing like they did with the original ursa cameras?

So many people want a real update for the cinema camera 6k full frame , why do the bmd leaders and engineers can't see it and reply it?

DAY 1293821 without a real update for BMCC 6K FF.

DAY 1293821 without a real update for BMCC 6K FF.

Are you sure about that?

DAY 1293821 without a real update for BMCC 6K FF.

That's not close to accurate. But If you wanted number of days without a real update you should talk to the URSA Mini Pro G2 owners who bought in 2019, got one update in August and never got an update again. Everyone else got features for the Pockets, but the UMPG2 was forgotten about.

I'm not too angry as the UMPG2 served me so well for nearly 6 years now. And, the URSA Cine 12K is the upgrade I wanted for moving on from it.

I've even come to love that AC Side LCD Screen. It's so amazing and awesome! I still want a Cine Mini that doesn't have it for more run and gun shooting. But now that I have it I've come to love it.

DAY 1293821 without a real update for BMCC 6K FF.

That's not close to accurate. But If you wanted number of days without a real update you should talk to the URSA Mini Pro G2 owners who bought in 2019, got one update in August and never got an update again. Everyone else got features for the Pockets, but the UMPG2 was forgotten about.

I'm not too angry as the UMPG2 served me so well for nearly 6 years now. And, the URSA Cine 12K is the upgrade I wanted for moving on from it.

I've even come to love that AC Side LCD Screen. It's so amazing and awesome! I still want a Cine Mini that doesn't have it for more run and gun shooting. But now that I have it I've come to love it.

Why should one risk buying a new camera, knowing that blackmagic will most probably move on from it within a year, and stop releasing updates?

DAY 1293821 without a real update for BMCC 6K FF.

That's not close to accurate. But If you wanted number of days without a real update you should talk to the URSA Mini Pro G2 owners who bought in 2019, got one update in August and never got an update again. Everyone else got features for the Pockets, but the UMPG2 was forgotten about.

I'm not too angry as the UMPG2 served me so well for nearly 6 years now. And, the URSA Cine 12K is the upgrade I wanted for moving on from it.

I've even come to love that AC Side LCD Screen. It's so amazing and awesome! I still want a Cine Mini that doesn't have it for more run and gun shooting. But now that I have it I've come to love it.

Why should one risk buying a new camera, knowing that blackmagic will most probably move on from it within a year, and stop releasing updates?

Blackmagic typically supports cameras for years with firmware updates, though there are exceptions like the UMPG2. But it sort of lives as a next iteration of the UMPG1. It functioned so well as marketed. Is it a pity it didn't get any firmware updates past August of 2019? Yes. But it doesn't mean it's a bad camera that doesn't function. And, Blackmagic has been selling new models of it even to today.

With NAB approaching, I suspect Blackmagic may officially retire the UMPG2 and introduce a new Broadcast G3 with improved frame rates and rolling shutter performance, possibly incorporating the Broadcast G2’s 6K sensor resolution as a basis.

The URSA Cine 12K is Blackmagic’s best camera to date, and the upcoming 17K 65 will take that mantle for large-format cinematography. A Cine Mini could be an ideal B-cam, complementing the current model rather than replacing it.

This new URSA Cine line is going to be brilliant. Totally worth buying into.

Even though I’ve moved on to the URSA Cine 12K, my UMPG2 is still useful and will be in action for an upcoming shoot where the UC12K isn’t the right fit.

Tim, I think most of the angst is coming from people who bought the FF 6K and people on the beta for the 4K.

Both cameras have a stagnant beta out and the FF is still quite new, plus lots of people got into it when they were deeply on sale. So it feels to them like they’ve been left in the lurch with their new high end for them purchase.

I still hope that they’ll do more work on these after the NAB dev push is over. If they really let them die it’ll be a big blot on their reputation imho.

… I still hope that they’ll do more work on these after the NAB dev push is over. If they really let them die it’ll be a big blot on their reputation imho.

NAB is often an occasion to make announcements of items that aren’t ready for prime time. They used to say the new products or updates were coming in July or September, but they might not be available until nearer to year end. So difficult to know when the “push is over.”

Although it’s unfortunate that the BMCC6K operators are feeling abandoned, the attention has shifted to the URSA Cine line and the Pyxis to fulfill the announcements of NAB2024 or add new generations to those lines.

Still waiting for Grant Petty’s annual email to the faithful as a teaser for NAB2025.

As much as I understand frustration with the Beta Firmware for the BMCC6K, Pocket 4, and Pocket 6K models... those are voluntary Beta Firmware. You can always install the older Firmware on the camera that was before the Beta.

I've been keeping the Beta on my Pocket 6K Pro and it has been working completely fine. But I know how to downgrade if there was a problem to arise. I love the Firmware and it really sings on the URSA Cine 12K. So it's nice to have it also on the P6KPro for use as a B-Cam. Keeps some uniformity on set.

But again, the Beta Firmware is voluntary. It would be great for a stable release to happen for those specific models. Yet the stable release is there for the PYXIS and the URSA Cine line as I believe that is what the firmware was meant for in the first place. Blackmagic allowed other cameras to get it as a way to test it out.

So you guys are saying you think BMD has abandoned the 6K FF? The camera that Grant said was so different inside that it no longer was a pocket and deserved the Cinema Camera moniker? The one he said had lots of room for more features and that we’d see lots more coming in firmware updates?

That’s what I remember him saying but my memory may be faulty. I’ll go look for his announcement presentation and see if I’m totally off.

To be honest, Blackmagic Design support many times along years many cameras, but no one are obligated to do that.

I own many others cameras that never seen firmware upgrade with full addition of new features like newer color science, gyro support, newer codec, io feature, web cam feature and more…

When you buy a product, you buy for actual feature, not for feature that they could add in future, are not a smartphone, but a camera.

All my cameras served well to me, give me back money spent on them and ready to buy newer IF and WHEN I will need.

Please tell me when canon Sony jvc Panasonic give you more than small bug fix or smaller improvement for free?
I ever should pay to add raw external recording, log (Panasonic) and more.

I would like to see supported forever my cameras but I understand that is not ever possible.

Anyway p4k reiceved upgrade also after many years, I’m quite sure that ff6k will gain more in future.


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We are talking past each other.
I’m saying it would be a dangerous customer perception move to so quickly abandon a camera that had just been bought in droves by many customers new to BMD cameras.

I hear others saying that BMD doesn’t owe anybody anything and that other companies (with much more reputational clout) have done the same.

These comments don’t address my assertion. They’re non responsive to my point.

Of course none of this matters as BMD will do what it will do. I’m just explaining why I THINK there WILL be more updates for the BMCC6K FF.

We are talking past each other.
I’m saying it would be a dangerous customer perception move to so quickly abandon a camera that had just been bought in droves by many customers new to BMD cameras.

I hear others saying that BMD doesn’t owe anybody anything and that other companies (with much more reputational clout) have done the same.

These comments don’t address my assertion. They’re non responsive to my point.

Of course none of this matters as BMD will do what it will do. I’m just explaining why I THINK there WILL be more updates for the BMCC6K FF.

My comment is not directly to you, obviously

In my latest line I wrote the same hope of you, also p4k received later more update, it’s a matter of waiting, me too I hope to see more update.

We not have the road map of cameraOS and their priorities, we don’t know when they update something.
Me too I would like to see an update on pocket line leaves in beta limbos of newer feature and bug with support and gimbal connection, but… who know when and what they give us?


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

Any chance you might finally move the firmware of the new camera I bought JUST last year on from BETA status? Been over a year. Been multiple revision to the camera update throughout the last year with no mention of the Cinema Camera 6k. Maybe let me choose my Squeeze factor independent of the resolution... you know... like I can with the same sensor on the PYXIS. 'cause that would be great.

And to the person saying we should compare it to other cameras updates-don't just point to the cameras that DO NOT do it. Look to other brands that DO continue to elevate the hardware as much as possible and consider them the standard bearer. I have several LUMIX cameras that keep shooting out major feature updates. And what are the "major features" we are talking about? Like the ability to view individual clips without having to scrub through ALL the footage? Or being able to delete a bogus clip or footage? That should have been there YEARS ago... honestly. The last major feature upgrade was the color science gen 4 to gen 5 a few years back.

As there are several requests but no answer up to now, maybe a petition would help?

If a new camera comes out at NAB, forget 9.3 and anymore firmwares for the older models. It’s usually what happens and I have learned to deal with it since owning the BMPCC original, URSA 4K, other BMD cameras including the still being “sold” today URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 (which I love so dearly and a great camera) whose firmware stopped receiving updates several years ago, and the BMPCC 6K. I just stop having such hope and expectations for firmwares and fixes.

Why make such absolute statements? Unless you’ve got special access to BMD this is pure speculation.

The BMPCC4K was launched at NAB in 2018. 8.1 was released 5 years later. There’s a beta for it that may yet be released 7 years after the camera’s debut.

The BMCC6K FF was released in late 2023. So if one follows the 4K rather than UMPG2 pattern it’s not unreasonable to think it MAY get releases through 2028.

Why make such absolute statements? Unless you’ve got special access to BMD this is pure speculation.

The BMPCC4K was launched at NAB in 2018. 8.1 was released 5 years later. There’s a beta for it that may yet be released 7 years after the camera’s debut.

The BMCC6K FF was released in late 2023. So if one follows the 4K rather than UMPG2 pattern it’s not unreasonable to think it MAY get releases through 2028.

MAY get released? For the 4k-sure. Maybe not every release it gets a tweak. That tracks with the hardware. But the Cinema 6k and the even BMPCC 6kPro? The former not getting some of the sensor based features that its newer sibling gets-like independent anamorphic de squeeze control? I have both the PYXIS and CC6k and I want to run anamorphic 2x lenses. I can do it on the Pyxis just fine. But I have to add a Atomos Ninja to my CC6k to see the desqueeze in full open gate. Which defeats the purpose of that camera-portability. I use it handheld or on a gimbal. Same Sensor, but one has received 8 updates in firmware and they are less than a year apart for my purchase.

Let's be clear on BlackMagic being a wonderful camera and company offering great products. We are a loyal fan base of many of their products. I migrated over to Resolve and that is my go to now. But any company should take a look at the bigger picture view of user retention-striking a balance between keeping faithful people on older cameras and upgrading to the newer shiny ones. Six years into a camera you start to reach a limitation with the hardware. I get it. But they leave their camera firmware by the way side very quickly (6 months) into owning the new Cinema Camera FullFrame for the current BETA and then crickets. All resources and interest went to PYXIS and URSA. But I'm hoping with each successive firmware release (8 so far) that they MAY throw us a bone with 75% of the features that the newer cameras (again 6 Months of buying and the same sensor). They could develop in tandem. But it seems they have an inferiority complex and are always trying to impress the highest production users of the market to validate they are worthwhile as a professional camera. If they released the market share comparison of the BMPCC or BMPCCPro versus the URSA, I am sure it would be heavily weighted towards the former for sales even if they were half the price. You may impress 5%, but risk alienating the other 95%. They make a big (often rushed) NAB announcement. Cool. Send it out to a bunch of YouTube camera reviewers to stoke the FOMO. That's the business. But then all the support switches to addressing any negative comments that the YOUTUBE reviewer brings up (monitor on side of camera) more than the customers who actually BOUGHT the camera before it. Who said "well I thought we MAY get a box camera this time since we have been asking for it for years, but I'll support the company and get this one".

No offense to old school BM 4k users, but you've had a good ROI on that investment-still a great camera with a great image, but every piece of hardware has a limit.

But to ignore one of your top cameras released 1.5 years ago through 8 releases of firmware upgrades and leaving it on a BETA 8.7 for a year so far... That makes my interest start looking at other options in the price range. If the response is "Don't run it on Beta"... Well I have to in order to have to basic feature that many have been pleading to have which would be the option to simply REVIEW and DELETE specific clips on the camera. A director or client on set wanting to see take 3 of 5 takes for a performance and I'm scrolling through a touch screen trying to find a clip? or having to pull out a computer to download the footage to confirm the clips when it should be a quick and simple task? It makes you and your camera look like complete rookies. Simply looking at a clip on set is a feature that should have been there a looooong time ago and that we all endured because of our love for BM. But we hung in there with the promise that the MAY add that feature... for like 5 years of MAYBE.

You can still love a company and the products it brings to the market, but...Its a fair criticism. I have called them directly and asked them about this and the response is "I can put the request into our future development department". How about "We are working on it and recognize the importance of keeping some parity with relatively new cameras"? Hire another engineer to help out on "legacy" products as long as you are still selling them at full price. Again "Legacy" for me started 6 months into my nearly $3k camera. It's not the 17k camera, but its still worth not forgetting.

And the hope of these boards (outside the community of course) is that they MAY look at them for guidance or suggestions, right? Anyway...

As a friend used to say: we’re in violent agreement.

I was only commenting on people altering the forum that BMD has abandoned the FF. I don’t believe this conclusion is justified. I dislike that they leave us in an information vacuum. But that’s their way right now. Will all this hand wringing be worth it if they’re planning another update and just haven’t told us?

I don’t think folks are saying that FF is being abandoned. It is a pattern of BMD MO firmware support that made many of us think that firmware support for older cameras falls of the ledge after its first 2 years of releases. And if you think that the UMP4.6K G2 is old, yes it is but it is a product that is still being sold as of the time of this post. So I wouldn’t call that an old product. Is it speculation, yes and no. No being BMD history on supporting their previous model’s firmwares so you can go from there. I want to be wrong but I have set my expectations.

If a new camera comes out at NAB, forget 9.3 and anymore firmwares for the older models.

This is what I was responding to. I think it’s way too certain and defeatist. We want updates. Go ahead and shout from the rooftops that we want it and that it’s important for BMD’s customers to believe they’ll keep their cameras up to date for some reasonable period.

But why people it’s not going to happen when we absolutely don’t know that?

When I send old school BM 4k... I was talking about the Pocket 4k.

But if they are going to sell it...They should support it.

They have not done anything major since color gen 5. But anamorphic options and the playback interface are reasonable asks. And letting people operate with a finalized version. Automatic upload of proxies and such is just gravy. Just meat and potatoes control.

Hire one more guy-those guys are hustling. Let the guy shadow the main interface programmer and test it on the other cameras. I don't know how it goes around there... but lets hope for some backward support a long with the new bells and whistles they wave at NAB.
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If a new camera comes out at NAB, forget 9.3 and anymore firmwares for the older models.

This is what I was responding to. I think it’s way too certain and defeatist. We want updates. Go ahead and shout from the rooftops that we want it and that it’s important for BMD’s customers to believe they’ll keep their cameras up to date for some reasonable period.

But why people it’s not going to happen when we absolutely don’t know that?

That’s me who said it and that’s because I am hoping I’m wrong. So far, for a decade more with Blackmagic ecosystem, my experience is just that firmware for older hardware doesn’t follow through when new hardware comes out. Do I want the firmware that’s beta version in 9.3 for my BMPCC 6K, of course but not as betas. It’s been like a year now that it has been in beta. It seem to have just went sideways. I want to keep cameras for a long while and for me a reasonable support period is 5 years. Is has not happened so far therefore I have lessened my expectations.

But still no Update for URSA Min Pro 12K why so!

Word. Rumors are there is 8k or 12k Pyxis being announced at NAB. Maybe all their energy is going that direction.

Are you able to run 9.3? I could only get to 8.7b on my cinema camera 6k.

I assume all their energy till now has been on the new stuff. Hoping that there will be enough of a lull that they can port their new work back to the old cameras.

Unlike with the Cut and Edit pages, it’s likely that work on the newer camera software will be mostly applicable to the older software so it’s not like it’s double work.