Firmware Friday: Heads-up display for Blackmagic Production Camera 4K; Zeiss tweaks 50mm Touit
posted Friday, July 25, 2014 at 2:01 PM EDT
The folks at Blackmagic are at it again! For the third time in a month, they've taken a place in our weekly Firmware Friday roundup, and this week they're joined by optics legend Zeiss.
A month ago, Blackmagic shipped v1.8 updates for the Cinema Camera, Pocket Cinema Camera and Production Camera 4K. Last week, another update took all three cameras to v1.8.2, adding support for various Apple ProRes file formats. Now, the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K gets another step forwards to v1.9 firmware.
So what's new in for the Production Camera 4K in v1.9? The key addition is what Blackmagic is calling a "heads-up display" -- essentially, an on-screen display that includes a real-time histogram, audio meters with peak hold function, and recording time remaining. THe heads-up display is shown during capture, and the last option in particular is interesting, because it will update the time remaining based on the current compression settings. It also changes color to red when you're nearing the end of your storage space, a handy warning that you need to wrap things up quickly.
The new display will be coming to other Blackmagic camera models as well, according to the company, with release expected "in the coming weeks" -- so expect to see more Firmware Friday appearances for Blackmagic soon! Get the new firmware at the links below:
Switching to lenses, we have one update on which to report this week. German optics brand Zeiss has updated firmware for the Touit 2.8/50M lens in E-Mount trim, but you won't be able to apply it yourself. You'll likely want to have it upgraded, though, because the changes are quite significant!
The new Zeiss Touit 2.8/50M firmware v02 resolves issues with autofocus hunting in Continuous-servo shooting, and also reduces the delay when the attached camera's shutter button is pressed with flash active. To get the update, you'll need to return the lens to Zeiss for upgrading. (Zeiss Service addresses can be found here.)
(Camera parts image courtesy of Kelly Hofer / Flickr; used under a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license. Image has been modified from the original.)