Blackmagic Studio Camera User Manual Touchscreen Controls

Your Blackmagic Studio Camera’s LCD touchscreen features a tap and swipe gesture based interface. By tapping and swiping on the status display and icons, you can quickly open the head up display and access the camera’s settings while shooting.

Your studio camera’s LCD touchscreen lets you monitor the image and change settings

Changing Settings using the Head up Display

The head up display is a quick settings menu you can open and change by tapping on a setting. Simply tap on an item to open the head up display, then make changes using the touchscreen or rotating the settings dial. After making your selection, tap the screen to quickly close the selection menu.

Tap a setting on the touchscreen and make a change by turning the settings dial

Touchscreen Features

This section of the manual describes the settings you can change using the head up display and settings dial.

LCD Monitor Options

Tap the ‘monitor’ icon at the top left of the touchscreen to access the LCD monitor settings. These settings let you toggle and adjust the appearance of your studio camera’s monitoring features, including zebra, focus assist, frame guides, grids, safe area guides and false color. When accessing LCD monitor options, the controls for these features appear in a tabbed menu along the bottom edge of the LCD touchscreen.

Tap the icon at the top left of your camera’s LCD touchscreen to access LCD monitor options

Zebra

The ‘zebra’ setting toggles the appearance of the zebra on the LCD touchscreen, as well as setting the zebra level.

Zebra displays diagonal lines over areas of your image that exceed a set exposure level. For example, setting zebra to 100% shows which areas are completely overexposed. This is useful for achieving optimum exposure in fixed lighting conditions.

Tap the ‘zebra’ icon while accessing ‘LCD monitor options’ to access the zebra settings

To toggle the zebra for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the ‘zebra’ tab.

Set the exposure level at which the zebra appears by dragging the slider left and right, or tapping the arrow buttons next to the zebra level percentage. Zebra level is adjustable in five percent steps between 75 and 100 percent exposure.

For information on enabling zebra on your camera’s HDMI or SDI output, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

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TIP If you’re shooting in variable light such as outdoors on a partly overcast day, setting your zebra level lower than 100 can warn you of potential overexposure.

Focus Assist

The ‘focus assist’ setting toggles the appearance of focus assist on the LCD touchscreen, as well as setting the level of focus assistance for all outputs on your studio camera.

Tap the ‘focus assist’ icon while accessing ‘LCD monitor options’ to access your camera’s focus assist settings

To toggle focus assistance for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the ‘focus assist’ tab. To set the level of focus assistance move the slider left and right along the bottom of the touchscreen.

The optimum level of focus assistance varies shot by shot. When focusing on actors, for example, higher level of focus assistance can help resolve edge detail in faces. A shot of foliage or brickwork, on the other hand, may show distracting amounts of focus information at higher settings.

For information on enabling focus assist on your camera’s HDMI or SDI output, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

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TIP Your Blackmagic Studio Camera has two focus assist modes. You can switch between ‘peaking’ and ‘colored lines’ focus assistance in the ‘monitor’ settings menu. For more information, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

Frame Guides

The ‘frame guide’ setting toggles the appearance of frame guides on the LCD touchscreen. Frame guides include aspect ratios for various cinema, television and online standards.

Tap the ‘frame guides’ icon while accessing ‘LCD monitor options’ to access your frame guide settings

To toggle the appearance of frame guides on the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen.

Choose the frame guide you want to use by dragging the slider left and right, or tapping the arrow buttons on either side of the currently selected aspect ratio. You can also enter a custom frame guide ratio by tapping on the ratio between the arrow buttons.

The available guides are:

2.35:1, 2.39:1 and 2.40:1

Displays the broad widescreen aspect ratio compatible with anamorphic or flat widescreen cinema presentation. The three widescreen settings differ slightly based on the changing cinema standards over time. 2.39:1 is one of the most prominent standards in use today.

The LCD touchscreen with 2.40:1 frame guides enabled

2:1

Displays a ratio slightly wider than 16:9 but not as wide as 2.35:1.

Displays another common flat widescreen cinema aspect ratio. This ratio is slightly wider than HDTV 1.78:1 but not as wide as 2.39:1.

16:9

Displays a 1.78:1 aspect ratio compatible with 16:9 HD television and computer screens. This ratio is most commonly used for HD broadcasting and online videos. The same aspect ratio has also been adopted for Ultra HD broadcasting.

14:9

Displays a 14:9 aspect ratio used by some television broadcasters as a compromise between 16:9 and 4:3 television sets. Ideally, both 16:9 and 4:3 footage remains legible when center cropped to fit 14:9. You can use this as a compositional guide if you know your project may be broadcast by a television station that uses 14:9 cropping.

4:3

Displays the 4:3 aspect ratio compatible with SD television screens, or to help with framing when using 2x anamorphic adapters.

1:1

Displays a 1:1 ratio slightly narrower than 4:3. This square ratio is growing in popularity on social media.

4:5

Displays a 4:5 aspect ratio. This vertical aspect ratio is ideal for portraits and viewing on smartphones.

Custom Frame Guide Ratio

To create your own frame guide ratio for a unique appearance, tap on the ratio displayed between the arrow buttons. On the ‘custom frameguide’ screen tap the backspace button to delete the current ratio, then use the numeric keypad to specify a new ratio. Tap ‘update’ to apply your custom frame guide ratio and return to shooting.

Use the numeric keypad on the ‘custom frame guide’ screen to enter a new guide ratio

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TIP You can change the opacity and color of frame guide overlays and enable or disable them on your camera’s HDMI or SDI output. For more information see the ‘monitor settings’ section of this manual.

Grids

The ‘grids’ setting toggles the appearance of a rule of thirds grid, horizon meter, crosshair or center dot.

Tap the ‘grids’ icon while accessing ‘LCD monitor options’ to access the grid settings

Grids and crosshair are overlays that can help with image composition. When ‘grids’ are enabled, the LCD shows a rule of thirds grid, horizon, crosshair or dot.

To toggle the appearance of grids on your camera’s touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the ‘frame guides’ tab.

To set which overlay you want to display on the LCD, tap the ‘thirds’, ‘horizon’, ‘crosshair’ or ‘dot’ options. With thirds selected, you can also display either the horizon, crosshair or dot indicators. For example thirds plus horizon, thirds plus crosshair, or thirds plus dot.

The rule of thirds grid automatically scales to any on screen frame guides

Thirds

The ‘thirds’ setting displays a grid with two vertical and horizontal lines placed in each third of the image. Thirds are an extremely powerful tool to help compose your shots. For example, the human eye typically looks for action near the points where the lines intersect, so it’s helpful to frame key points of interest in these zones. An actor’s eyeline is commonly framed along the top third of the screen, so you can use the top horizontal third to guide your framing. Thirds are also useful to maintain framing consistency between shots.

Horizon

The ‘horizon’ meter indicates when your camera is rolled left or right and tilted up or down. Use this meter to ensure your image always has a level horizon.

The distance the lines move away from the central crosshair is proportional to the amount of roll or tilt. After you calibrate the camera’s motion sensor, the moving lines turn blue when aligned to their axis.

Note that if the camera is tilted straight down for an overhead shot or straight up, the horizon meter takes this into account. If you roll the camera to shoot in portrait orientation, the horizon meter rotates its axes 90 degrees.

This table shows examples of the horizon meter indicating tilt and roll of the camera.

Horizon meter	Description
	Straight and level
	Tilted down and level
	Straight and rolled left
	Tilted up and rolled right

For normal use, calibrate the horizon meter for straight and level operation. If you want to use the horizon meter to help maintain a consistent ‘dutch angle’ or a consistent tilt for a low or high shot, you can calibrate the horizon meter at an incline. For information on how to calibrate the horizon meter, see the ‘motion sensor calibration’ section.

Crosshair

‘Crosshair’ setting places a crosshair in the center of the frame. Like thirds, the crosshair is a very useful compositional tool, making it easy to frame the subject of a shot in the very center of a frame. This is sometimes used when filming scenes that will be assembled using fast cuts. Keeping viewers’ eyes focused on the center of a frame can make rapid editing easier to follow.

Dot

The ‘dot’ setting places a dot in the center of the frame. This works in exactly the same way as the ‘crosshair’ setting, albeit with a smaller overlay that you may find less intrusive.

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NOTE For information on enabling grids on your HDMI or SDI output, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

Safe Area Guides

The ‘safe area guides’ setting toggles the safe area guides on or off the LCD touchscreen, as well as setting the size of safe area guides for your camera’s HDMI or SDI outputs.

Safe areas can be used in broadcast production so the most important parts of a shot can be seen by viewers. By keeping the most important parts of your shot inside a central ‘safe area,’ you can avoid cropping on some televisions, as well as leaving space for a broadcaster to add bugs, news tickers and other overlays along the edges of the screen. Many broadcasters require footage to be submitted with important content, such as titles and graphics, contained inside the 90% safe area.

Safe area guides can also be used to assist with framing your shot where you know that the shot will be stabilized in post production, which can crop the edges of the image. They can also be used to indicate a specific crop. For example by setting it to 50% when recording at Ultra HD 3840x2160 you can see what a 1920x1080 crop of the frame would look like. The safe area guides also scale to your frame guides, so they will adjust to indicate the chosen percentage of your target frame.

The ‘safe area’ indicator set to 85%

To toggle safe area guides for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the ‘safe area guides’ tab. To set the level of safe area guides for your camera’s LCD touchscreen, tap the left or right arrows on either side of the current numerical value at the bottom of the touchscreen. Alternatively, you can drag the slider left or right.

For information on enabling safe area guides on your camera’s HDMI or SDI output, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

False Color

The ‘false color’ setting toggles the appearance of false color exposure assistance on the LCD touchscreen.

False color overlays different colors onto your image that represent exposure values for different elements in your image. For example, pink represents optimum exposure for lighter skin tones, while green is a good match to darker skin tones. By monitoring the pink or green false color when recording people, you can maintain consistent exposure for their skin tones.

Similarly, when elements in your image change from yellow to red, that means they are now over exposed.

The IRE false color chart on the left side of your camera’s display shows you how to interpret the different false colors.

To toggle false color for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the ‘false color’ tab.

The ‘false color’ exposure assistance tab

Screen Brightness

Tap the ‘screen brightness’ icon and drag the slider to the left or right to adjust the brightness of your studio camera’s touchscreen.

The ‘screen brightness’ setting set to 50%

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TIP You can also change the LCD screen brightness in the LCD tab of the ‘monitor settings’ menu. The same screen brightness value is displayed on both the head up display and in the ‘monitor’ tab in the settings menu.

Frames Per Second

The ‘FPS’ indicator displays your currently selected frames per second.

Tap the frames per second indicator to access frame rate settings

Tapping the ‘FPS’ indicator lets you change your camera’s sensor and project frame rates via a menu at the bottom of the LCD touchscreen.

Project Frame Rate

The project frame rate is the camera’s recording format frame rate and provides a selection of common frame rates used in the film and television industry. This frame rate should normally be set to match your broadcast delivery format.

8 project frame rates are available including 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 frames per second.

To adjust your camera’s project frame rate while in the ‘FPS’ menu, tap the left or right arrows next to the current frame rate at the bottom left of your touchscreen. Alternatively, you can drag the slider left or right.

Tap the arrows on either side of the project frame rate or move the slider to make adjustments

Off Speed Frame Rate

The off speed frame rate sets how many actual frames from the sensor are recorded every second. This frame rate will affect how fast or slow your video will play back at your set project frame rate.

With ‘off speed frame rate’ enabled, tap a preset or the arrows on either side of the frame rate indicator or move the slider to make adjustments

By default, the project and sensor frame rates are matched for a natural playback speed. However, by tapping the ‘off speed frame rate’ switch icon in the bottom right hand side of your camera’s ‘FPS’ menu, you can independently set the sensor frame rate.

To change the off speed frame rate, tap the arrows next to the frame rate indicator on your touchscreen. You can also drag the slider left or right to increase or decrease the frame rate. Above the slider, you can tap on a common off speed frame rate. These are based on your current project frame rate.

You can create dynamic and interesting speed effects in DaVinci Resolve by varying the off speed frame rate for your recorded video. Setting the off speed frame rate higher than your project frame rate will create slow motion during playback.

Shutter

The ‘shutter’ indicator displays your shutter speed or shutter angle. By tapping this indicator, you can manually change your camera’s shutter values or configure shutter priority auto exposure modes. The shutter measurement setting can be used to select whether to display shutter information as ‘shutter speed’ or ‘shutter angle’. See the ‘setup settings’ section in this manual for more information.

Tap the shutter indicator to access shutter settings

Shutter speed defines the level of motion blur in your video, and can be used to compensate for varying light conditions. The shutter speed setting for natural motion blur, and the settings available, depend on the frame rate you are using. For example, when shooting at 30p, a 1/60 of a second shutter speed is the equivalent of a 180 degree shutter angle, a very common setting for film projects. However if you are shooting at 25p, you will need to set the shutter to 1/50 for the same look. As lighting conditions change, or the amount of movement in your scene increases, you may decide to adjust accordingly.

For natural motion blur you can calculate the shutter speed by doubling your frame rate. So at 30p, set your shutter speed to 1/60 of a second for natural motion blur.

If you need more light on the sensor, you can set the shutter at the slowest setting corresponding with your frame rate. For example, 1/25 for 25p, or 1/30 for 30p. At the slowest shutter speed, your motion blur will appear slightly exaggerated.

If you want to reduce the motion blur so action appears sharper and more defined, set the shutter to a faster speed, such as 1/120 of a second for 30p, or 1/100 of a second for 25p. If you are familiar with shutter angles, this equates to a shutter angle of 90 degrees.

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NOTE When shooting under lights, your shutter can affect the visibility of flicker. Your Blackmagic Studio Camera will automatically calculate a flicker free shutter value for your current frame rate. Three suggested flicker free shutter options will appear at the bottom of the touchscreen display when adjusting your shutter. These shutter values are affected by mains power frequency in your region. You can set your local power frequency to 50Hz or 60Hz in the camera’s setup menu. See the ‘setup settings’ section in this manual for more information.

Tapping the ‘shutter’ indicator brings up the suggested shutter values along the bottom of the touchscreen. If you have auto exposure set to ‘off,’ this screen will show you your currently selected shutter value, as well as the available flicker free shutter values, based on the mains power frequency you have selected in your camera’s setup menu. The characteristics of individual light sources may still cause flicker even when using flicker free values. We recommend always performing a test shoot when not using continuous lights. For more information, see the ‘setup settings’ section in this manual.

To select one of the flicker free shutter values, simply tap on one of the displayed shutter values. Using the arrows on either side of the current shutter value indicator, will cycle through some of the most commonly used values.

Your camera will suggest flicker free shutter values based on the mains power frequency you choose in the ‘setup’ menu

If you would like to choose a specific shutter value, you can do so by double tapping the current shutter indicator at the bottom left of your screen. This will bring up a keypad that allows you to type in any shutter value you wish.

If you type in a shutter value that is less than your current frame rate, for example 1/25th when shooting at 29.97 frames per second, the nearest achievable shutter value will be used. The nearest shutter speed in this example would be 1/30th.

Use the manual shutter keypad to enter your shutter timing of choice when shooting outdoors or under flicker free lights

Your Blackmagic Studio Camera has three shutter based auto exposure modes. To select one of these, tap the ‘auto exposure’ button in the far right of the shutter menu.

Shutter

This setting automatically adjusts shutter value to maintain a constant exposure while keeping iris aperture consistent. If you want to maintain a fixed depth of field, this is the setting to choose. It’s worth mentioning that the subtle automatic adjustments of the shutter may have an effect on motion blur. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for any flicker that may be introduced from various light fixtures on indoor shoots. The auto iris feature is not available when the ‘shutter’ auto exposure mode is selected.

Shutter + Iris

Maintains the correct exposure levels by adjusting the shutter, then the aperture. If the maximum or minimum available shutter value is reached and exposure still cannot be maintained, your camera adjusts the aperture to keep exposure consistent.

Iris + Shutter

Maintains the correct exposure levels by adjusting the aperture, then the shutter value. If the maximum or minimum available aperture is reached and exposure still cannot be maintained, your camera adjusts the shutter value to keep exposure consistent.

While in the shutter menu, tap ‘auto exposure’ to access shutter based auto exposure modes

When an auto exposure mode that effects the shutter or iris is enabled, a small ‘A’ appears next to the shutter or iris indicator at the top of the LCD touchscreen.

Iris

The ‘Iris’ indicator displays your current lens aperture. By tapping this indicator, you can change the aperture of compatible lenses and configure iris based auto exposure modes.

Tap the iris indicator to access iris settings

Tapping the ‘iris’ indicator once brings up the iris menu along the bottom of the touchscreen. You’ll see your current lens aperture at the far left of this menu. You can change the aperture by tapping the left and right arrows on either side of the current aperture, or moving the slider left or right.

While in the ‘iris’ menu, tap the arrows on either side of the iris indicator or use the slider to adjust iris settings

Tapping the ‘auto exposure’ switch icon at the far right of the iris menu opens the iris auto exposure menu.

This gives you the following auto exposure options.

Iris

This setting automatically adjusts the aperture to maintain a constant exposure while keeping shutter speed consistent. This will keep motion blur unaffected, but may affect your depth of field.

Iris + Shutter

Maintains the correct exposure levels by adjusting the aperture, then the shutter value. If the maximum or minimum available aperture is reached and exposure still cannot be maintained, your camera adjusts the shutter value to keep exposure consistent.

Shutter + Iris

Maintains the correct exposure levels by adjusting the shutter, then the aperture. If the maximum or minimum available shutter value is reached and exposure still cannot be maintained, your camera adjusts the aperture to keep exposure consistent.

While in the iris menu, tap ‘auto exposure’ to access iris based auto exposure modes

When an auto exposure mode that effects the iris or shutter is enabled, a small ‘A’ appears next to the iris or shutter indicator at the top of the LCD touchscreen.

Duration Display

At the top of your camera’s LCD touchscreen, you’ll see your camera’s duration display.

Your camera’s duration display will turn red while recording.

The duration display provides a timecode counter for checking the duration of your clips and monitoring timecode during recording. The counter displays a time sequence showing Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames and will change accordingly as you record or play back clips. During recording the timecode is red.

The displayed duration starts from 00:00:00:00. The clip duration of the current or last recorded clip is displayed on the touchscreen. Time of day timecode is embedded into clips for easier post production.

To see the timecode, simply tap the duration display. Tap the duration display again to return to clip duration.

Additional status indicators may appear around the duration display:

	Appears to the right of the duration display when showing timecode.
	Appears to the right of the duration display if an external timecode signal is connected and valid. This can be fed from an ATEM Mini via HDMI, an ATEM switcher via SDI Program return or from an analog mini jack or XLR timecode source.
	Appears to the right of the duration display if the camera is running off an internal timecode after being ‘jam synced’ and disconnected.
	Appears when a valid reference source is connected and locked, based on the reference input settings.
	Appears to the left of the duration display when Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro is using a windowed sensor mode.

When connected to ATEM switchers, your studio camera will display a small tally status overlay on the LCD touchscreen below the timecode. This means you can disable the tally light on the camera, but still see if your studio camera has been switched to the preview output or is live to air.

ATEM switchers automatically synchronize the timecode on your studio camera to match the switcher’s timecode when connected. This makes it easier to perform accurate multi camera edits in DaVinci Resolve.

Gain

The ‘gain’ indicator displays your studio camera’s current gain setting, or light sensitivity. Tapping this indicator lets you adjust your gain to suit varying lighting conditions.

The optimum setting for your studio camera is 0dB. Your camera has a dual native ISO sensor, meaning that 10dB and 18dB are excellent for low light situations, producing clean images with very little noise.

The slider and arrows below the presets let you adjust the gain in 1/3 stop increments

Depending on your situation, you may choose a lower or higher gain setting. For example, 32 or 36dB can be used in ultra low light but may cause noise.

Dual Native Gain

The sensor in your Blackmagic Studio Camera is optimized for shooting in low light conditions as well as bright daylight.

Adjust the gain for the varying lighting conditions and the dual native gain feature will operate in the background to make sure your footage is clean and has minimal noise at low and high gain settings.

When the gain setting is between -12dB and 8dB the native gain of 0dB is used as a reference point. The gain range between 10dB and 36dB uses the native gain of 18dB as a reference. If you are shooting in conditions where you have a choice between 8dB or 10dB we suggest closing down one stop on your lens’ iris so that you can select 10dB as it will engage the higher native gain and provide much cleaner results.

The dynamic range charts in this section show the relationship between the gain selection and dynamic range allocation.

Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Plus and Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro Models Dynamic Range

Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro Dynamic Range

White Balance

The ‘WB’ and ‘TINT’ indicators display your camera’s current white balance and tint. Tapping these indicators lets you adjust your camera’s white balance and tint to suit varying lighting conditions.

Tap the white balance and tint indicators to access white balance and tint settings

Every light source emits a color. For example, a candle flame emits a warm color, and an overcast sky emits a cool color. White balance settings are used to color balance your image so white stays white by adjusting the mix of orange and blue in your image. For example, when shooting under tungsten lamps which emit a warm, orange light, selecting 3200K adds some blue to the image. This balances the color so white is accurately recorded.

Your Blackmagic Studio Camera comes with white balance presets for a variety of color temperature conditions. These are:

	Bright sunlight	(5600K)
	Incandescent bulbs	(3200K)
	Fluorescent bulbs	(4000K)
	Mixed light	(4500K)
	Cloud	(6500K)

To customize the presets, tap or tap and hold the arrow icons to the left and right of the temperature indicator. Each tap moves the color temperature up or down 50K. Holding the arrow icons down will increase the speed. Alternatively, you can drag the temperature slider left or right.

To further dial in your image, you can adjust the ‘tint.’ This adjusts the mix of green and magenta in your image. For example, adding some magenta can compensate for the green cast of many fluorescent lights. Many of your camera’s white balance presets include some tint.

Tapping the white balance and tint indicator gives you access to five presets, as well as a white balance indicator and slider on the left, and a tint indicator on the right. Adjust these to set a custom white balance for your lighting conditions.

In a similar fashion to white balance, tap the tint indicator’s left and right arrows to make a change. The available range is -50 to +50 in one unit steps. Holding down on the arrows speeds up adjustment.

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NOTE Customizing the white balance or tint will change your preset to ‘CWB,’ or custom white balance. Custom white balances are persistent; your CWB settings will stay configured between power cycles, and when switching to a preset and back to CWB. This makes it easy to compare a custom white balance to the last preset used.

Auto White Balance

Your Blackmagic Studio Camera can set white balance automatically. Tapping ‘AWB’ will open the white balance screen.

When setting white balance automatically, a square will be overlaid on the center of your image. Fill this square with a neutral surface such as a white or gray card and tap ‘update WB’. The camera will automatically adjust its white balance and tint values so the average of the white or gray inside the white balance square is as neutral as possible. Once updated, this will be set as your camera’s custom white balance. Holding the WB button on the top of your camera for three seconds also selects automatic white balance and activates the ‘update WB’ function.

Tapping the ‘AWB’ icon in the white balance menu will bring up the auto white balance screen. Use this with a white or neutral gray surface to automatically set a neutral white balance.

LUT Indicator

When you are using a LUT as a preview tool on set, a white LUT icon will be displayed in the top left corner of the screen to indicate that a LUT is currently active. This icon will be blue if you have ‘Apply LUT in File’ switched on in the ‘record’ settings. For more information refer to the ‘record settings’ section.

ND Filter Indicator

Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro has an ND filter indicator in the top left of the LCD touchscreen and any SDI or HDMI outputs set to show status text. The indicator uses the format you have selected in the ‘setup’ menu.

Histogram

At the bottom left of your camera’s touchscreen you can see the histogram. The RGB histogram shows the tonal distribution of the image separated into individual red, green and blue channels.

The histogram gives you an indication of the tonal range between shadows and highlights in your clip.

The left edge of the histogram displays shadows, or blacks, and the far right displays highlights, or whites. When you close or open the lens aperture, you’ll notice the information in the histogram moves to the left or right accordingly. You can use this to check ‘clipping’ in your image shadows and highlights. When clipping occurs in the red, green or blue channel, the respective indicator on the right side of the histogram lights up. If the left and right of your edges of the histogram come to an abrupt stop rather than falling off gradually, you may be losing highlight or shadow detail.

If you don’t see a histogram in the bottom left of your touchscreen, your LCD monitor settings may be set to display ‘codec and resolution.’ See the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual for more information.

Record Button

Next to the histogram at the bottom of your studio camera’s touchscreen is the ‘record’ button. Tap this button once to begin recording and tap it again to stop. While recording, the button, media bar icon and the timecode at the top of your camera’s touchscreen will turn red.

The record button is located next to the storage indicators at the bottom of the LCD touchscreen

When recording, the record button and media bar illuminates red

Apply LUT in File

If you have chosen to apply a LUT to your recorded clips in the ‘record’ settings tab, a blue ‘LUT’ icon is displayed next to the ‘record’ button. The LUT indicator is displayed in both standby and record mode.

For more information on recording LUTs with Blackmagic RAW files, refer to the ‘record settings’ section later in this manual.

Dropped Frame Indicator

The ‘record’ button is overlaid with a flashing ‘!’ indicator if your camera begins dropping frames while recording. The time remaining indicator for the affected flash disk also turns red. For example, if your USB-C flash disk is dropping frames, the ‘!’ indicator appears over the ‘record’ button, and the time remaining indicator on the flash disk turns red. This lets you know if a particular flash disk is too slow for your currently selected codec and resolution. The ‘dropped frame indicator’ also appears if you have dropped a frame on the previously recorded clip. This indicator continues until another clip is recorded, or the camera is power cycled.

The dropped frame indicator appears when a flash disk is dropping frames

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NOTE You can set your Blackmagic Studio Camera to stop recording if dropped frames are detected to avoid recording unusable footage. See the ‘record settings’ section in this manual for more information.

You can estimate different record duration times based on USB-C drive capacity, frame rate and codec settings using the data rate calculator at: https://blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicstudiocamera/blackmagicraw#data-rate-calculator

Storage Indicators

Storage indicators are visible at the bottom of your studio camera’s touchscreen next to the ‘record’ button. These indicators display information about USB-C drives connected to your camera.

Record Time Remaining

When a USB-C flash disk is connected to your camera, the storage indicator at the bottom of the touchscreen show how much recording time is left on the disk. The time is shown in hours, minutes and seconds and varies according to your selected frame rate and codec. The indicator automatically recalculates if either of these settings are changed.

When there is approximately 5 minutes remaining on your flash disk, the storage indicator text will turn red. If you are recording to a single disk or have filled an additional flash disk attached to your camera, the indicator will blink slowly when there is 3 minutes remaining and blink quickly when there is less than 30 seconds of recording time remaining.

The storage indicator shows the name of your flash disk and the available record time

Media Bar

The media bar icon above the recording time will be either blue, white or red depending on its current status and will display the used space on the USB-C flash disk.

To switch recording to a different disk, press and hold the name or media bar of the USB-C flash disk that you wish to record to.

Tapping the storage indicators will bring up the storage and formatting menu.

Tap the storage indicator on the LCD touchscreen to access the storage manager

The storage menu displays the amount of free space on each USB-C flash disk currently connected to your studio camera, as well as the name of the disk, available record time, total number of clips and the file format. Tapping the flash disk in the storage menu sets it as the active disk and your studio camera will fill this disk first. You can also format your media from this menu. For more information on connecting and formatting USB-C flash disks for your Studio Camera, see the ‘storage media’ section of this manual.

Triggering Record using ATEM Mini or ATEM SDI

When recording ISO files from an ATEM Mini or ATEM SDI Extreme or Pro model switcher, you can also trigger record on all connected Blackmagic Studio Cameras.

For example, the ‘record stream’ palette in ATEM Software Control has a checkbox labeled ‘record in all cameras’. When this checkbox is enabled and you click or press record, all connected studio cameras will start recording as well. This means you only have to click or press one button to start recording on all cameras simultaneously.

Refer to the ATEM Mini or ATEM SDI manual for more information.

Audio Meter

The peak audio meters display audio levels for channels 1 and 2 when using the internal microphone, or via external audio when connected. You can display PPM or VU meters. To change the meter type, see the ‘setup’ settings section later in this manual.

To achieve optimum audio quality using PPM meters, ensure your levels do not reach 0 dBFS. This is the maximum level that your camera can record before the audio is clipped and distortion occurs.

Alternatively, when using VU meters, levels can safely peak at 0, allowing you a little room beyond 0 before clipping occurs. To avoid clipping, make sure the levels do not reach +3 dBFS.

The colored bars on the VU audio meter represent peak audio levels. Ideally your peak audio levels should fall in the upper end of the green zone. If your peaks enter into the yellow zone your audio is near clipping. Audio in the red zone reaching +3 dBFS is at risk of clipping.

You can tap the audio meters to open a more detailed meter display and level controls for audio input channels 1 and 2. You can also adjust the headset volume.

Tap the audio meters on the LCD touchscreen to access audio channel and headset volume controls. For more information, see the ‘audio settings’ section in this manual.

Touchscreen Gestures

Your Blackmagic Studio Camera’s touchscreen lets you use touch, pinch and tap gestures to focus, zoom and navigate around your preview image.

Double Tap to Zoom

You can magnify any part of your Blackmagic Studio Camera’s preview image by double tapping the LCD touchscreen. The area you tap will be magnified, and you can move around the image by dragging your finger around the LCD touchscreen or by turning the settings dial. This is very helpful when checking focus. To return to standard magnification, simply double tap your camera’s touchscreen again.

The digital zoom feature can be assigned to a function button and is referred to as ‘focus zoom’.

Pinch to Zoom

You can adjust the zoom level on the LCD touchscreen with a pinch to zoom multitouch gesture. This does not affect the HDMI or SDI outputs.

To start zooming at x2, double tap on the touchscreen. Pinch out to increase magnification and pinch in to decrease. Touch and drag to move the magnified area. To return to the standard magnification, double tap on the touchscreen again.

Touch to Focus

You can focus your lens in any region of the image by tapping and holding on the LCD screen in the area that you want to focus. If you want to focus on a magnified area of the screen, double tap and then tap and hold to auto focus. Double tap to return to normal viewing.

Full Screen Mode

It can be useful when framing or focusing a shot to temporarily hide the lower third overlays on the touchscreen, for example the histogram, storage indicators and audio meters. The status display at the top of the screen features above and separate from the image, so is always visible. To hide lower third overlays, swipe up or down on the LCD touchscreen. The record indicator, frame guides, grids, focus assist and zebra remain visible.

Swipe up or down to hide lower third overlays on the LCD touchscreen