Social Feed

If you have a Blackmagic camera, you owe it to yourself to update it. You can download the latest camera software here. You'll find the Blackmagic Camera Software as one of the downloads. It may not be at the top of the list depending on when you read this. But it's worth the time and effort to do it.

Really? Now my camera needs an update?

I'll be really honest with you, friends. I didn't want to believe it either. After all, we surround ourselves with things that need updates. Two decades ago you would buy something and then it would just work as intended, for the entire time you get it. Now, if it has a plug it probably has an update every few months. It's to the point where I have a laptop I just take out once a month to keep it updated. I don't use it often but when I do I don't want to wait an hour for everything to update.

So yes, your camera needs an update. To be fair, cameras like Blackmagic's Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro are a lot fancier than that SLR from 1996 you probably still have somewhere. They're probably fancier than practically any handheld device you have, when you consider the combination of mechanical and computerized elements.

So yes, it needs an update now and again. Some updates add features while others just fix bugs while hopefully not creating new ones.

How to update your Blackmagic camera

The process is easy, but can take up to 10 minutes so block out some time.

1. First, save any presets you have created on the camera. You can use any memory card or hard drive you have connected to the camera. Not every update will wipe all your presets but a lot of them will.
2. Take a moment to look through the menus and make note of any settings changes you've made, because the camera may remove them.
3. Download the camera software from here. This is a 2GB installation package so it's going to take a minute to come down from the internet.
4. Unzip the installer package. There are different ways of doing this, but the easiest is just to double-click on the ZIP file and drag the installer file out of the folder that opens up.
5. Connect the camera to your computer by attaching a cable to both your computer's USB port and the camera's USB port.
6. Double-click the installer to run.

Some things to be aware of

Unfortunately, this process does require up to 6GB of hard drive space to be free at the time you're doing it. That's not a huge amount and if you have a Blackmagic camera you're probably used to working with large files.

The installer will also give you some utilities that let you test hard drives and play RAW files directly. They're good to have on hand.

Finally, if you don't feel like you need those utilities you can uninstall the software when you're done with it. On Windows, right-click on the start menu and choose Apps. On Mac, just throw away the Blackmagic folder.

What you'll get

The latest version of the software (as I write this) lets you orient your Blackmagic camera vertically so you can shoot true 4K vertical videos. I will just say that once you do this, you should check to see if your tripod is sturdy enough to hold the camera sideways. The Blackmagic camera is one of the heaviest cameras of its type and believe me, if it falls over and breaks, nobody wins.

Want more tips?

If you're new to this blog, keep reading for tips on all sorts of things to help you live your best digital life. If you need help choosing a Blackmagic product or upgrading any of your entertainment products, call us at 888-233-7563. We're here for you! We can handle video equipment upgrades, activations, and so much more!


The post HEY BLACKMAGIC USERS: Update your camera software appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.

Continue reading...