BMPCC 6K Pro freezing up

I've had my Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro since 2021. Most of my work with it has been documentary, short interviews and narrative shorts. I've filmed long days outdoors in 35°C temperature all without issues. This month I've started filming events and started having several issues with the camera freezing up and refusing to shutdown without the battery being removed. Before, the camera would record for a couple hours before freezing up, now, it records for 15 - 30 minutes before freezing up. Sometimes the screen turns a dark grey colour when the camera freezes.

I've had my Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro since 2021. Most of my work with it has been documentary, short interviews and narrative shorts. I've filmed long days outdoors in 35°C temperature all without issues. This month I've started filming events and started having several issues with the camera freezing up and refusing to shutdown without the battery being removed. Before, the camera would record for a couple hours before freezing up, now, it records for 15 - 30 minutes before freezing up. Sometimes the screen turns a dark grey colour when the camera freezes.

Reset camera with reset procedure and refresh firmware

Switch the power button on the camera to OFF and unplug the power adaptor


- Connect the camera to the computer using a USB-C data cable.


- Start Camera Setup software on your computer.


- Connect the power cable to the camera (DO NOT power ON).


- Press and hold the Auto focus button on the camera and switch the power switch to ON, and wait until you see the Camera Setup on the computer detecting your camera, prompting Software update available.


- Click on "Update Now" to start the firmware update again.


* Ensure camera is not connected via USB.

* Hold down focus button while powering on camera. It will start up with a black screen.

* Connect camera to computer via USB.

* Run the Blackmagic Camera Setup again

To put the camera into recovery mode. To do this:

i. Disconnect all power sources and remove the battery to ensure that the camera is totally powered down.

ii. Connect power to the camera and power it up while holding down the focus button.

iii. Camera will power up with a blank screen and the fan should be running.


2. Once the camera is powered up in recovery mode, launch Blackmagic Camera Setup and connect the camera to the computer via USB. This should now allow the camera to be detected by the computer. Click on the ‘Update’ button and allow the process to complete.


3. Once the update is completed, power cycle the camera. Then install Camera

This procedure (sequence thanks from Robert or Rick, I don’t remember who is the Good Samaritan who wrote it on forum) reset camera and clean up many things.
I past solve a lots of strange behavior.
If cam continue to work in the wrong way, contact Blackmagic Design assistance by support page, here you can find phone number and email to be directly in contact with them.


Inviato dal mio iPad utilizzando Tapatalk

Thank you for taking the time to reply @carlomacchiavello I am going to try this and will post the results when I conduct further testing.

Thank you for taking the time to reply @carlomacchiavello I am going to try this and will post the results when I conduct further testing.

i cross the fingers for you

I've tried the steps multiple times but the problem with the freezing persists. To be clear, I'm on the latest firmware which is 8.1 as of this post. I have tried downgrading to an older version because I heard there were issues after 7.9 but I still got the issue. I upgraded back to 8.1 and tried resetting the camera multiple times. I have tried different brands of SD cards: Sony, Lexar and SanDisk.

I reached out to Blackmagic support for help. Unfortunately they haven't been helpful. I live and work in the Caribbean and the process of sending the camera back is impossibly complicated. I purchased the camera sealed in a box from someone who didn't want it back in 2021. The warranty has probably expired by now. This is a real nightmare as I'm a small one-man operation and this camera represents a huge investment for me.

Hi VIncent,
have you tried with Usb disk or Cfast? may be that there is something on sd card holder that give you problem, like problems on contact.
May be that humidity give you some oxidation on contact of Sd card holder.
i try to suggest all that i can think to help you.

Vincent, from your original post, it does seem to be related to long term use in a hot and humid climate which initially was tolerated but now results in shorter and shorter run times.

To see if that’s the source of your problem, can you cool (and reduce the internal humidity of) the camera kit and media in your refrigerator for a few hours? Then see how long it will run before freezing?

Thanks for offering to help, guys. I've discovered that the issue is definitely the fan. Since my warranty has expired, I'll share what I did to confirm this:

-I disassembled the camera as far as the mainboard
-Then I detached all cables connected to the board
-Next, I reconnected all cables to the board
-I reassembled the camera and switched it on

Immediately, the fan (which was not spinning prior to the above steps) started spinning as soon as I switched the camera on. I borrowed someone else's Pocket Cinema Camera 6k Pro power cord to power the camera. Everything worked fine: no overheating or freezing up even in hot, humid conditions.

Then I unplug the borrowed power cord, and used my power cord to power the camera. I switch the camera on and the fan is no longer spinning. The overheating and freezing begins to happen again. I disassembled the camera again and perform the same steps above. When I reassembled the camera, the fan starts spinning again. No overheating, no freezing.

Then I purchased a v-mount battery and run a d-tap from the battery to the camera. I switched the camera on: no fan spinning. The camera overheats and freezes. At this point I'm beyond frustrated. How am I supposed to work with a camera that clearly has some sort of factory defect? This camera has spent most of the last few months in a dark cabinet because it's basically useless. Just an expensive rock at this point.

Amazing that the fan and camera worked with the borrowed power adapter and then failed when connecting two other power sources. This is understandably frustrating. That does seem to rule out a loose electronic contact somewhere since it did work temporarily. Will BMD repair the camera or will you purchase a replacement?

[Kristian Lam]

Looks like you're comfortable with disassembling the camera. Perhaps we can send you a replacement fan? I'll have to check if that's feasible but PM me your ticket number with support.

Looks like you're comfortable with disassembling the camera. Perhaps we can send you a replacement fan? I'll have to check if that's feasible but PM me your ticket number with support.

Thanks for offering to help. I should have worded my previous post more clearly: the overheating is being caused by the fan not spinning while the camera is on. However by opening the camera and disconnecting and reconnecting the ribbon cables connected to the board, the fan would start spinning while powered by an internal battery. If however I plug the power adapter into the 2-pin port at the side of the camera, the fan shuts off and will no longer spin regardless of whether I restart the camera or try to power the camera with an internal battery only. The fan will only start to spin if I open the camera and disconnect and reconnect the ribbon cables.

I'm not a camera technician, and I definitely don't have the schematic for this camera so that I can fully understand what each ribbon cable is connected to, but if I had to hazard a guess it would be this:

-Plugging the power adapter into the camera is tripping off something inside the camera.
-When I open the camera up and disconnect, and then reconnect the cables to the board, something is being reset which causes the fan to function normally.
-Hence there might something wrong with the 2-pin port or something else inside the camera.

This will probably be my last post on this forum topic. The camera screen randomly stopped responding to touch input last Saturday. I was on a video shoot when this suddenly happened. I restarted the camera several times since and the issue persists. Additionally, when I press the Review button to review my footage, the camera freezes up and I need to shut it down and start it again.

Obviously this camera is no longer useable for client work. I suspect that because I was trying to squeeze some useage out of it, despite the overheating issue, something got damaged internally. Someone recommended I get a Blackmagic Assist to get around the screen issue, but with the overheating issue still persisting, this would be a poor investment.

I really wished I could make the camera work for me. The footage was superb. The workflow with DaVinci Resolve was beautiful. When the camera worked well, I got a lot of value out of it. If I hadn't encountered this issue, I'd probably even have considered adding the latest Blackmagic PYXIS to my kit. As it stands, however, I simply cannot trust Blackmagic's quality control.

This experience has been painful due to the money I invested, and the time I wasted trying to work around all of the issues. Meanwhile, I've got an old Canon C100 that's been working consistently and reliably for the past 8 years without a single issue, and it's now become my main camera despite the 1080p resolution. I'll continue using DaVinci Resolve because it's an excellent product, but I'm saddened that I must search for another camera from another manufacturer.