BMPCC6K2G clock runs slow?

Hi all

I have been having lots of fun with my 6K2G camera. But one niggle I have found is that... for some strange reason, the internal clock seems to run... slow?

What I mean is that I set the clock. Everything seems to run fine. Clock ticks up seconds minutes, hours etc... But.. if I leave it for a few days. Very quickly, it goes really out of sync. Often I find that the files it writes on the SSD is a day or two off. So I have to go back into the settings of the camera and update the clock manually.

I have been keeping its firmware up to date. But I see no real change in behaviour. I wonder, is there an issue inside the camera that can't be fixed with a firmware update. Or is it just not reported enough? Searching the forum gave me no indication that others have seen this issue.

I mean. I can get into the habit of updating the clock manually each shooting day. But... I'm suspecting I shouldn't have to? I don't have an external timecode thing to sync it too either really so maybe that could be a workaround?

Is this a known thing and I have not found out about it? Or is it just a faulty clock in my camera that doesn't seem to affect anything else?

This is the case across all Blackmagic Design cameras as far as I know, and has been discussed on some previous threads. Unlike other cameras that have an internal battery to maintain clock time, the Blackmagic cameras use a supercapacitor that loses its charge over time. Normally if you use the camera every day it should maintain time, but if you let it go unused for several days or weeks you have to reset the time before you use it again. Often the simplest way to do that is to connect it to a computer using USB, which will reset the date/time automatically and accurately without you having to go into a menu.

I'm using the older BMD cameras (original Pocket and Micro) and the time starts drifting very quickly if you haven't used it for a day or so. I think the newer cameras hold their charge longer.

See for example (this thread is about the BMPCC 4K but applies to the 6K and other cameras as well:

viewtopic.php?p=656813

Definitely a design constraint but I’m very much in the habit of resetting the time on my BMD cameras before the actual shoot. That’s not an issue for me. When actually recording the cameras are driven by Tentacle Syncs anyway. If you’re only shooting frequently with one camera on a shoot, I can how having to reset the camera is a pain. In the early days prior to the Tentacles I’d get caught occasionally with recordings that used the incorrect camera time.

Ah, that explains a lot yes. I guess it was a way to avoid having a coin cell battery in there or something when a supercapacitor basically is a light weight rechargable battery.

I guess I could look into getting one of those tentacle sync things. But lately I have been getting into the habit of using the DJI Mic as a remote sound input. So I have it on the 3.5mm jack on the camera. So the tentacle thing would only temporarily be input on that jack.

Maybe I should look into getting a 3.5mm to stereo mini-XLR so I can route the DJImic to the XLR input. So I can have the 3.5mm jack for just timecode syncing.

I also had a look with my Zoom M4. It has a timecode jack like the Tentacle Sync. I tried entering the wrong time and date on it and jammed the timecode to the camera. The camera did take in the timecode, but not the time of day. Does the Tentacle Sync give both timecode and time and date to the camera?

I am curious about that thing mentioned to get a correct clock over USB from a computer, when I try that myself, The clock does not update in the camera. Is there a special setting I need to set for that timecode over USB trick?

For the time being I'll continue updating the clock manually until I find a better solution.

I am curious about that thing mentioned to get a correct clock over USB from a computer, when I try that myself, The clock does not update in the camera. Is there a special setting I need to set for that timecode over USB trick?

Edited after I tried it (it's been a while): For this to work, you need to open the Blackmagic Camera Utility app on your computer while the camera is connected and on. Then the utility will recognize your camera and update its date and time; I just confirmed this works with my original Pocket Cinema Camera.

The only hassle I've found with this approach is in my original BMMCCs, which have bottom plates attached that hide the USB input. If I want to update date/time this way I have to remove the bottom plate first which is almost as laborious as entering the date and time by hand using the menu and those awful little buttons.

ah, I see.

And yes. I have a similar issue as I remembered I have a USB cable almost permanently attached to get data from the camera to my 2TB SSD. For extra security I use a cage from smallrig and a clamp on it to secure the USB cable there and a similar clamp on the SSD holder. I too find it easier to simply go into the menu than unhooking the USB.

One other possibility I see is the Bluetooth app. But now I'm in the realm of things that can be there in the future as opposed to what is actually there now.

The menu option is probably what I'll stick to.

I asked this question 11 years ago, for the first BMD camera:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7960

There is also the original first hand info from BMD’s Kristian Lam about the super capacitor.