MacBook Pro Thunderbolt not detecting BMCC

Hey guys,

I just got my BMCC and having a tough time getting the footage from my camera onto my laptop. It says to playback or record footage once the BMCC is connected to a power cable and your laptop, but nothing seems to happen. My laptop doesn't seem to be able to detect it at all. Anyone else having this same problem? My MacBook Pro is a Mid-2010 model, if that means anything. And yes, the BMCC utilities are all installed.

Thanks in advance.

Hey guys,

I just got my BMCC and having a tough time getting the footage from my camera onto my laptop. It says to playback or record footage once the BMCC is connected to a power cable and your laptop, but nothing seems to happen. My laptop doesn't seem to be able to detect it at all. Anyone else having this same problem? My MacBook Pro is a Mid-2010 model, if that means anything. And yes, the BMCC utilities are all installed.

Thanks in advance.

With respect, have you read the manual? I may be wrong but it sounds like you are expecting to transfer recorded video from the camera's SSD by connecting the camera via the Thunderbolt connection. That's not how you transfer the video you have shot. Apologies if I have misunderstood your intent.

At this time, you need to power down the camera, remove the SSD from the camera, and insert it in a dock that is connected to your laptop either via USB3 or Thunderbolt. Using the Media Express software provided for the laptop, you can transfer your SSD media to other storage.

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hi Rick,

Thank you for your reply. You are correct in what I'm trying to do. This is a copy + paste from the manual.

Connecting the Blackmagic Cinema Camera to your computer
Step 1.
Connect power to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera using the included power adapter. Battery
power can be used but you'll usually want to connect the power adapter for longer sessions.
Step 2.
Connect a Thunderbolt cable between the Thunderbolt port on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera
and a Thunderbolt port on your Mac OS X computer, or to a Thunderbolt disk array which is
attached to your Mac OS X computer.
Step 3.
Use the camera to record or play back video so that your video software can obtain a video signal
from your camera.

I just assumed that, as per the manual that I'd be able to do it this way.

Hi Rick,

Thank you for your reply. You are correct in what I'm trying to do. This is a copy + paste from the manual.

Connecting the Blackmagic Cinema Camera to your computer
Step 1.
Connect power to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera using the included power adapter. Battery
power can be used but you'll usually want to connect the power adapter for longer sessions.
Step 2.
Connect a Thunderbolt cable between the Thunderbolt port on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera
and a Thunderbolt port on your Mac OS X computer, or to a Thunderbolt disk array which is
attached to your Mac OS X computer.
Step 3.
Use the camera to record or play back video so that your video software can obtain a video signal
from your camera.

I just assumed that, as per the manual that I'd be able to do it this way.

When you use the Thunderbolt connection to your computer that is allowing your computer to capture compressed ProRes 4:2:2 (HQ) 10 bit video as the camera records video. The two programs which will support this on your laptop would be Media Express or FCP 7 (not FCP X at this time). Is that what you are using?

You cannot use the Thunderbolt connection to record raw or to transfer raw from the SSD mounted in the BMCC. It's getting late so if I've made a mistake in my advice, please shoot me and end my misery.

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Yes, I'm trying to transfer over compressed ProRes video (not raw) to FCP 7. Is there a specific option in FCP 7 that does this? When I try to use the capture device, it can't locate it on my computer.

Try using media express for the captures. Make sure you check the preferences for what file type it is capturing and that your media express settings match the camera settings.

I am currently having the same exact problem. I'm trying to get ProRes files onto my macbook (all my hardware hits the minimum requirements), I downloaded the most recent drivers and I have tested Resolve lite, Media Express, Premiere for capture and none are able to see that any device is connected. I am trying all sorts of configurations, but based on their manual I should be doing everything right; powering the camera, connecting via thunderbolt, and pressing play for playback of the clips I shot. Nothing. Anyone have suggestions or more experience with this?

Yes, I'm trying to transfer over compressed ProRes video (not raw) to FCP 7. Is there a specific option in FCP 7 that does this? When I try to use the capture device, it can't locate it on my computer.

Why on earth would you want to re-capture your material?

Just take out the SSD from the camera, stick it in a cheap dock and copy over the original files.

As of this very moment I don't have any sort of dock for the SSD and I would like to get these clips out of the camera today. So with that said, according to Black Magic you should be able to connect the camera to a computer via the thunderbolt. To do this you must use software the captures the footage. The problem for me is that none of these programs are registering that a device is connected.

I'm curious how everything worked out for Arturito. Were you able to solve your problem?

What the manual is saying is that you can connect the camera to the computer to capture live footage. Not already shot footage. Think tethered shooting. To get footage already shot on the ssd drive you have to use a dock. Confusing but true.

If you have a sata external drive you can pull the drive a plug in your ssd drive if it fits. I use a small gtech FireWire 800 case that had a dead drive as my dock.

that makes sense, but I still don't understand why it won't read the camera, even for capturing live footage. Anyways, I do have a data external drive at work, which should work.

thanks

I don't know how this works, too.

I connected the blackmagic cinema camera to my mac via thunderbolt, opened media express and it shows the blackmagic cinema camera under "device" but how do I capture?

Hi guys,
does that means we can't copy our files directly from the camera?
so, can you please write down what should I have to copy my files from SSD to my Computer.
and what is so important things that I have to buy with my new camera?

" I pre-paid for Black magic Production camera",
Did I aspect to get a thunderbolt connection with it?

and insert it in a dock that is connected to your laptop either via USB3 or Thunderbolt.

what is that? NAME + LINK

thanks

You remove the SSD from the camera and connect it to your computer using a hard drive dock which is a device that allows you to connect a drive to your computer. There are many different docks that use different connections such as USB 2, eSATA, firewire, USB 3 or Thunderbolt

If you're on a mid 2010 MacBook Pro you don't have Thunderbolt... You only have a mini displayport which looks the same physically, but is only an output for video and audio. There is no way to connect your camera through this interface I'm afraid..

Ooops, old thread... Oh well