Please Please Please Give an Indication Timelapse Mode is on

Hi Blackmagic Design,

I love all your products, especially the 6K, however recently I've been having one major issues which could cost us as operators:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GIVE AN INDICATOR ON THE MAIN SCREEN THAT THE CAMERA IS IN TIMELAPSE MODE!!!

I've had two shoots now where the previous shoot was in timelapse and there is no clear indication on the main screen that you are recording in timelapse.

I now have to go and completely re-shoot yesterday's shoot as a result.

The only indicator is a tiny switch on the third page of the record menu.

(To anyone who is thinking of being a knucklehead and saying well make sure your camera is set up properly before you film, that isn't going to help anyone)

+1 I’ve been burned by that, too. Bmpcc4k in my case. There may be some indicator, like a tiny letter somewhere, but there ought to be a very obvious one, like a colored border around the whole frame or something.


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Uhm, there is an indicator - the record button on screen changes and shows a clock symbol.

Also the timecode starts running.

Uhm, there is an indicator - the record button on screen changes and shows a clock symbol.

Where? I've never seen it, which means it's NOT OBVIOUS.

Also the timecode starts running.

That is the most asenine answer I've ever heard. Time code starts running whenever you record anything. Your comment has nothing to do with the obvious display of TIMELAPSE mode.

Uhm, there is an indicator - the record button on screen changes and shows a clock symbol.

Where? I've never seen it, which means it's NOT OBVIOUS.

There is a picture of the "record" button in timelapse mode on page 66 in the manual.

Also the timecode starts running.

That is the most asenine answer I've ever heard. Time code starts running whenever you record anything. Your comment has nothing to do with the obvious display of TIMELAPSE mode.

The timecode counter only updates when a frame of video is recorded. So in timelapse mode the timecode will run slower depending on the interval.

Hi Blackmagic Design,
(To anyone who is thinking of being a knucklehead and saying well make sure your camera is set up properly before you film, that isn't going to help anyone)

I'm assuming you mean here that you shouldn't need to go through all the menus to check everything - which I agree with, but you should check your camera is set up properly before you film.

Also I believe the record symbol changes as has been mentioned, and also it's obvious as soon as you start recording as the time code will move much slower than when you're recording normally.

Hey Dean, you seem rather agitated, people here are trying to answer your question. There are TWO (some would say rather obvious) indications that your timelapse in recording. Your timecode runs at the speed of the final recording, which means it ticks by very slowly, which would look very different from any other instance where the timecode is running. Secondly, there's a big red clock in place of the record button on the screen once you start recording.

Actually there are four indicators that you are in timelapse mode:

1. rec button changes to clock
2. timecode is ticking slowly
3. no audio levels because no audio gets recorded
4. remaining space on your media raises to hundreds or even thousands of minutes

I had this happen to myself that I forgot that the camera was in timelapse mode but it is easily recognized after the first start of the recording. Never lost a day of shooting because of that.

I have to say to you must work pretty carelessly if you manage to shoot two days in timelapse mode without ever realising that.

This almost happened to me.

I shot a time-lapse outside, and then started an indoor event recording. Luckily I noticed the record button was still showing it was recording time-lapse before anyone at the event started talking so I was able to change modes.

I would not be against having the time-lapse notification being larger and in the center of the screen. It would also be helpful to be able to disable the time-lapse from the monitor view without going into the menus.

Yea I can agree to this as well. Its not the most obvious. It's happened to me before. But only for one or two quick b-roll shots before I noticed it, maybe just because I played back a clip to check it. Otherwise who knows how long I wouldve been rolling it for. I wouldn't mind have a border around the screen or some other sort of indicator that is a lot more obvious when you are in time lapse mode.

If you're a DP, in a controlled studio environment, then yes, you should absolutely take the time to check your settings before you shoot.

If you're shooting a reality doc about meth, you don't want to be futzing with settings on angry bee day.

Hmmm...on my Pocket 6K Pro the timecode was running as normal while recording and my audio levels were normal....I was recording with an external XLR mic to both channels, so maybe with the internal mics the record levels look different? I noticed no difference in how the timecode was playing back.

It needs to be VERY VERY obvious that the camera is in Time-lapse mode....much more than a very slightly different red record button at the bottom.

This kind of reminds me of an old DOS computer that actually allowed me to reformat the same drive that the operating system was on. Ended up with a completely blank drive after that one! I thought to myself, why in the world would they even allow that?

Kind of like this....why is timelapse not a huge gigantic flashing message on the screen when you hit record?

I agree that there should be a clear warning when starting to record with HFR active. The placement of that button is an example of bad industrial design.
It is not always obvious from TC, since your HFR might be in the same ballpark as regular speed.

I agree that there should be a clear warning when starting to record with HFR active. The placement of that button is an example of bad industrial design.
It is not always obvious from TC, since your HFR might be in the same ballpark as regular speed.

Uli, this is about timelapse mode - not HFR mode

Ooops, thanks, you're right. It was such an old thread, I didn't really look back. To my excuse, the lowest fps with HFR can be considered time-lapse too.
But I have to admit that shooting time-lapse is quite a bit more obvious for those who care

As said above, always check before shooting.
But I agree that it would be nice to have bit more clearer indicator for timelapse being set.