Blackmagic Design 6K Blackmagic Cinema Camera

Specifications

• Model: Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K
• Lens Mount: L-mount
• Power Source: NP-F570 battery or AC power adapter

Product Usage Instructions

Getting Started
Getting started with your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is as simple as mounting a lens and powering your camera.

Attaching a Lens
Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K uses L-mount lenses. To attach a lens to your camera, follow these steps:

1. Remove the protective dust cap by holding down the locking button and rotating the cap counterclockwise until it is released.
2. Align the dot on your lens with the dot on the camera mount. Many lenses have a visual indicator, such as a blue, red, or white dot.
3. Press the lens mount against the camera mount and twist the lens clockwise until it clicks into place.
4. To remove the lens, hold down the locking button and rotate the lens counterclockwise until its dot indicator reaches the 7 o’clock position. Gently remove the lens from its mount.

Note: When no lens is attached to the camera, the glass filter covering the sensor is exposed to dust and other debris, so it is recommended to keep the dust cap on whenever possible.

Powering your Camera
With a lens attached, you can now supply power to your camera. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K can be powered in two ways:

1. Battery: Insert the supplied NP-F570 battery by following these steps:
2. On the underside of the camera, press the door release to open the battery door.
3. With the contacts facing the terminal, insert the battery until you feel it click into place under the locking tab.
4. AC Power Adapter: Connect the AC power adapter to power your camera directly.

FAQ

Q: What type of lenses does the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K use?
A: The Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K uses L-mount lenses.

Q: How do I attach a lens to the camera?
A: To attach a lens, remove the protective dust cap, align the dot on the lens with the dot on the camera mount, press the lens mount against the camera mount, and twist the lens clockwise until it clicks into place.

Q: How do I power the camera?
A: The camera can be powered by inserting the supplied NP-F570 battery or by connecting the AC power adapter.

October 2023
Installation and Operation Manual
Blackmagic
Cinema Camera 6K
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K

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Welcome
Thank you for purchasing your new Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K! In 2012 we launched our original Blackmagic Cinema Camera for portable digital film making. Since then we have listened to your wonderful feedback and have now built our new cinema camera. Welcome to Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K! Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K features a full height 6K sensor that is 3 times larger than a Super 35 sensor with a 3:2 aspect ratio and large photosites. That means the pictures look even more amazing, you get a larger image using full frame lenses and you get to use anamorphic lenses without cropping. Plus your camera’s highly adaptable L-Mount lets you use EF lenses, PL cine lenses and a lot more. It’s a true digital cinema camera for high end film! Your new Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K has completely redesigned electronics but uses the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Pro platform so you can use the same battery extender and viewfinder with all the same accessories. Your camera records 2 simultaneous streams of video including full resolution Blackmagic RAW plus small HD H.264 proxies so you can do cloud and remote work in DaVinci Resolve and start editing immediately. The files are recorded on very small, super fast CFexpress cards that are designed for film and video. This instruction manual shows you how to get started with Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K. Check the support page on our website at www.blackmagicdesign.com for the latest version of this manual and for updates to your Blackmagic Cinema Camera’s internal software. When downloading the software, be sure to register with your information so we can keep you updated when new software is released. We are continually working on new features and improvements, so we are keen to hear from you!
Grant Petty CEO Blackmagic Design

Entering Metadata Slate Gyro Stabilization Camera Video Output Using DaVinci Resolve Project Manager Editing with the Cut Page Adding Clips to the Timeline Trimming Clips on the Timeline Audio Trim View Adding Titles Working with Blackmagic RAW Files Color Correcting your Clips with the Color Page Adding a Power Window Using Plugins Mixing Your Audio Adding VFX and Compositing on the Fusion Page Mastering Your Edit Quick Export The Deliver Page Working with Third Party Software Working with Files from CFexpress Cards Working with Files from USB-C flash disks Using Final Cut Pro Using Avid Media Composer Using Adobe Premiere Pro Blackmagic Camera Setup Using Blackmagic Camera Setup Transferring Files over a Network Using a Battery Grip Developer Information Camera Control REST API Transport Control API Timeline Control API

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Event Control API System Control API Media Control API Preset Control API Audio Control API Lens Control API Video Control API Color Correction Control API

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Blackmagic SDI Camera Control Protocol Example Protocol Packets Blackmagic Embedded Tally Control Protocol Help Regulatory Notices Safety Information Warranty

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Getting Started
Getting started with your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is as simple as mounting a lens and powering your camera.
Attaching a Lens
Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K uses L-mount lenses. To attach a lens to your camera, begin by removing the protective dust cap. To remove the protective dust cap, hold down the locking button and rotate the cap counterclockwise until it is released. To attach a lens: 1 Align the dot on your lens with the dot on the camera mount. Many lenses have a visual
indicator, for example a blue, red or white dot.

2 Press the lens mount against the camera mount, and twist the lens clockwise until it clicks into place.

3 To remove the lens, hold down the locking button, rotate the lens counterclockwise until its dot indicator reaches the 7 o’clock position. Gently remove the lens from its mount.
NOTEWhen no lens is attached to the camera, the glass filter covering the sensor is exposed to dust and other debris so you’ll want to keep the dust cap on whenever possible.

Getting Started

Powering your Camera
With a lens attached, you can now supply power to your camera. Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K can be powered by inserting the supplied NP-F570 battery or by connecting the AC power adapter.
To insert the battery:
1 On the underside of the camera, press the door release to open the battery door.
2 With the contacts facing the terminal, insert the battery until you feel it click into place under the locking tab.
3 Close the door to the battery terminal and gently push until it clicks into place. To release the battery, push the locking tab towards the front of the camera and the battery will eject.
To turn your camera on, move the power switch on the top of your camera to the on’ position. To turn your camera off, move the power switch to theoff’ position.

To turn your camera on, switch the power button to the `on’ position

TIP Two NP-F570 batteries can be used via the optional Blackmagic Pocket Camera Battery Pro Grip accessory. For information about adding a battery grip to your Cinema Camera 6K, refer to the `using a battery grip’ section in this manual.

Powering Your Camera with the Included Power Cable
The included 100-240 volt AC plug pack can be used to power your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K and to charge the internal battery when your camera is powered off. Two additional batteries in an optional Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Battery Pro Grip will also charge when attached.
The DC power cable locks to the camera so it cannot be accidentally disconnected.
To plug in external power:
1 Connect the AC to 12V DC adapter plug to your mains power socket.
2 Open the rubber protector on the left side of your camera and rotate the locking DC power connector so that it lines up with the recess on the top of the 12V DC power input. Gently push the connector into the input until it clicks.
3 To unplug the connector, pull the sheath away from the connector and remove the connector from the input.

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If you have both external and battery power connected, only external power is used. If you remove external power while a charged battery is connected, your camera switches to battery power without interruption.
Charging a hot battery immediately after use will reduce charging speed until the battery cools below 45 °C or 113 °F. We recommend letting the battery cool down for 15 minutes before charging.
Charging the Battery via USB
The battery inserted in your camera can be charged via USB when the camera is switched off. This is convenient as you can use a portable power bank to charge the camera when not in use. Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K supports charging via standard 5V 10W USB wall chargers. Chargers that support USB power delivery, or USB PD, can also be used. USB PD chargers typically have a USB-C connection and up to 20V output, so can provide a faster charge. Charging the internal battery via the 12V DC power input is supported when the camera is switched on or off.
You are now ready to insert the storage media and start recording!
Storage Media
Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K uses CFexpress Type B cards to record video. You can also connect high capacity USB-C flash disks via the USB-C expansion port for increased recording times. Record duration times based on different storage media capacities, frame rates and codec settings can be estimated using the data rate calculator at: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/blackmagicraw

datarate-calculator

CFexpress Cards
CFexpress cards are capable of supporting very high data rates, so are perfect for recording 6K and 4K video at high frame rates.
NOTECFexpress Type B cards are generally high speed cards, though some cards have slower write speeds compared to read speeds, and maximum data rates can differ between models. For reliable recording with your chosen frame rates, use only the cards recommended by Blackmagic Design.

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To insert a CFexpress card:

1

2

To access the CFexpress card slot, hold the camera with the LCD facing you. Slide the door on the right side towards you and then let it swing open.
3

The spring loaded door opens so you can access the CFexpress card slot.
4

Insert the CFexpress card into the slot until you feel it lock into place. The card should insert easily without the need for excessive force. To remove a CFexpress card, gently push the card in and then release to eject it.

The storage information at the bottom of the LCD touchscreen will show the name and record time remaining of the detected CFexpress card.

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NOTEBefore you can record clips, you will need to format the CFexpress card. You can find information on how to format media in the next few sections of the manual.
Choosing a CFexpress Card
When working with high data rate video it’s important to carefully check the CFexpress card that you would like to use. This is because CFexpress cards have different read and write speeds. For the most up to date information on supported CFexpress Type B cards on Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, please refer to the Blackmagic Design support center at www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.
USB-C flash disks
Your camera’s high speed USB-C expansion port lets you record video directly to USB-C flash disks. These fast, high capacity drives allow you to record video for long periods, which can be important when filming events with long durations. Once you have finished recording you can connect the same drive directly to your computer for editing and post production, without having to copy media across. To connect to a USB-C flash disk: 1 Connect one end of a USB-C cable to your USB-C flash disk. 2 Open the rubber protector on the left side of the camera and connect the other end of the
cable to the USB-C port.

NOTEWhen a USB-C flash disk is connected to your camera, it occupies the second storage slot in your camera’s operating system.
Choosing a fast USB-C flash disk
USB-C flash disks are designed to offer fast, affordable storage for a wide range of devices and are readily available from a variety of consumer electronics outlets. It’s important to note that film making is only one part of the USB-C flash disk market, so choosing the best drive is vital to making sure you have enough speed to record 6K and 4K footage.

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Many USB-C flash disks are designed for home computing and aren’t fast enough to record 6K and 4K video.
For the most up to date list of recommended USB-C flash disks please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.
Important Notes About USB-C flash disk Speed
Some models of USB-C flash disk can’t save video data at the speed the manufacturer claims. This is due to the disk using hidden data compression to attain higher write speeds. This data compression can only save data at the manufacturer’s claimed speed when storing data such as blank data or simple files. Video data includes video noise and pixels which are more random so compression will not help, therefore revealing the true speed of the disk.
Some USB-C flash disks can have as much as 50% less write speed than the manufacturer’s claimed speed. So even though the disk specifications claim a USB-C flash disk has speeds fast enough to handle video, in reality the disk isn’t fast enough for real time video capture.
Use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test to accurately measure whether your USB-C flash disk will be able to handle high data rate video capture and playback. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test uses data to simulate the storage of video so you get results similar to what you’ll see when capturing video to a disk. During Blackmagic testing, we have found newer, larger models of USB-C flash disk and larger capacity USB-C flash disks are generally faster.
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is available from the Mac app store. Windows and Mac versions are also included in Blackmagic Desktop Video, which you can download from the capture and playback’ section of the Blackmagic Design support center at www.blackmagicdesign.com/support. Preparing Media for Recording You can format your CFexpress cards and USB-C flash disks using theformat’ feature on your camera’s storage and formatting menu, or via a Mac or Windows computer. For best performance, we recommend formatting storage media using your camera.
HFS+ is also known as OS X Extended and is the recommended format as it supports `journaling’. Data on journaled media is more likely to be recovered in the rare event that your storage media becomes corrupted. HFS+ is natively supported by Mac. exFAT is supported natively by Mac and Windows without needing any additional software, but does not support journaling.

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Preparing Media using your Camera
1 Tap either storage indicator at the bottom of the LCD touchscreen to enter the storage manager. Tap the `format’ button at the bottom of the screen.

The format’ button allows you to select the media storage you want to prepare for recording 2 On theselect media’ page, tap on the storage media that you want to format and confirm your selection.
NOTEIf your camera is connected to a drive hub, such as a Blackmagic MultiDock, the drive list will display all the SSD drives available to your camera. To select the drive you want to record to, tap the drive you want, then tap the use drive’ button. 3 Tapedit reel number’ if you would like to manually change the reel number. Use the keypad to enter a new reel number and press `update’ to confirm your selection.
4 Choose OS X Extended or exFAT format and tap the format button.

Tap edit reel number’ to manually edit the reel number 5 A confirmation screen will allow you to confirm the media to be formatted, the selected format and the reel number. Confirm your selection by tapping the format button. Tapcancel’ to cancel the format.

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Check that you have selected the correct media before formatting
6 Hold down the format button for three seconds to format your media.

7 The camera notifies you when the format is complete and your media is ready to use, or if formatting has failed.
8 Tap ok’ to return to the storage manager. 9 Tapexit’ to leave the storage manager.
When formatting CFexpress cards or USB-C flash disks using your camera, the camera ID that is generated from the slate and reel number are used to name the media. Your camera automatically adjusts the reel numbers incrementally each time you format. If you need to manually enter a specific reel number, tap the `edit reel number’ and enter the number you want to format the card as.

The storage manager on your camera indicates whether you are managing CFexpress or USB-C flash disk media
Tap on reset project data’ in theproject’ tab of the slate if you’re starting a new project and want the numbering to reset back to 1. For more information about your camera’s slate, refer to the `entering metadata’ section later in this manual.

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Preparing Media using a Mac
The Disk Utility application included with your Mac can format a drive in the HFS+ or exFAT formats. Make sure you back up anything important from your disk as you will lose everything on it when it is formatted.
1 Connect your disk to your computer with an external dock, USB hub, or cable adapter and dismiss any message offering to use your drive for Time Machine backups.
2 On your computer, go to applications/utilities and launch Disk Utility.
3 Click on the disk icon of your drive and then click the erase tab.
4 Set the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or exFAT.
5 Type a name for the new volume and then click erase. Your media will quickly be formatted and made ready for recording.
Preparing Media using Windows
The format’ dialog box can format your camera’s storage media in the exFAT format on a Windows PC. Remember to backup anything important from your media first as all data will be lost when it is formatted. 1 Connect your camera’s storage media to your computer using an external reader, USB-C cable or adapter. 2 Open thestart’ menu or start’ screen and choosecomputer’. Right click on your camera’s storage media.
3 From the contextual menu, choose format’. 4 Set the file system toexFAT’ and the allocation unit size to 128 kilobytes.

NOTEIf clips are not recording correctly, check that your CFexpress card or USB-C flash disk is on our list of recommended media for the codec and frame size you are using. For lower data rates try lowering your frame rate or resolution. Check the Blackmagic Design website for the latest information at www.blackmagicdesign.com
Partitioned media can be used with your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, though your camera will only recognize the first partition of your media for recording and playback.
It’s worth noting that if you use the storage and formatting menu to format your media, the entire drive including all partitions will be erased, not just the first partition that has been used for recording and playback. For this reason we strongly recommend using media with one partition only.

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Recording
Recording Clips
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K features two record buttons. The primary record button is located on the top of the handgrip for triggering with your index finger when holding the handgrip of the camera with your right hand.
The second record button is located on the front of your camera to allow you to begin recording while holding the camera with one hand in situations where you want to record yourself. The button is located in an easy to reach position, ideal if you are recording yourself for video blogs.
Press one of the record’ buttons on your camera to begin recording immediately. Pressrecord’ again to stop recording.

The `record’ button located on the top panel of your camera

The `record’ button located on the front of your camera

TIPBefore you start recording, select the media you want to use by pressing and holding the name of the CFexpress card or USB-C flash disk at the bottom of the touchscreen. The storage indicator for the media you have selected turns blue to indicate the camera is set to record to this media.

Choosing the Resolution and Sensor Area
Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K records Blackmagic RAW using either a constant quality or constant bitrate setting. Sensor frame rate options will vary depending on the quality and resolution you choose. For more information, refer to the ‘maximum sensor frame rates’ section later in this manual.
Recording Proxy Files
While recording Blackmagic RAW, proxy media files are also recorded to a `proxy’ folder on the same CFexpress card or USB-C flash disk.
Proxy media files are compressed versions of your camera’s Blackmagic RAW files and are recorded using the H.264 codec at 1920×1080 resolution. They are ideal for remote collaboration workflows and make it easy to exchange media online. Proxy files recorded on Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K are automatically recognized by DaVinci Resolve and linked to the Blackmagic RAW original media files, so you have the option to edit with proxy media straight away. For more

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information on how to use proxies in a DaVinci timeline, refer to using proxy media’ in theusing DaVinci Resolve’ section.
TIPProxy media files are always recorded matching your camera’s project frame rate.
Blackmagic RAW
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K supports the Blackmagic RAW file format. This format offers superior image quality, wide dynamic range and a broad selection of compression ratios. Blackmagic RAW features all the user benefits of RAW recording, but the files are very fast because most of the processing is performed in the camera where it can be hardware accelerated by the camera itself.
Blackmagic RAW also includes powerful metadata support so the software reading the files knows your camera settings. If you like shooting in video gamma because you need to turn around edits quickly and you don’t have time for color correction, then this metadata feature means you can select video gamma, shoot in video gamma, and the file will display with video gamma applied when you open it in software. However underneath, the file is actually film gamma and the metadata in the file is what’s telling the software to apply the video gamma.
So what all this means is if you want to color grade your images at some point, then you have all that film dynamic range preserved in the file. You don’t have your images hard clipped in the whites or the blacks, so you retain detail and you can color grade to make all your images look cinematic. However, if you don’t have time for color grading, that’s fine because your images will have the video gamma applied and look like normal video camera images. You are not locked in on the shoot and you can change your mind later during post production.
Blackmagic RAW files are extremely fast and the codec is optimized for your computer’s CPU and GPU. This means it has fast smooth playback and eliminates the need for hardware decoder boards, which is important for laptop use. Software that reads Blackmagic RAW also gets the advantage of processing via Apple Metal, Nvidia CUDA and OpenCL.
This means that Blackmagic RAW plays back at normal speed like a video file on most computers, without needing to cache it first or lower the resolution.
It’s also worth mentioning that lens information is recorded in the metadata on a frame by frame basis. For example, when using compatible lenses, any zoom or focus changes performed over the length of a clip will be saved, frame by frame, to the metadata in the Blackmagic RAW file.
Recording to Blackmagic RAW
Blackmagic RAW works in 2 different ways. You have a choice to use either the constant bitrate codec, or the constant quality codec.
The constant bitrate codec works in a similar way to most codecs. It tries to keep the data rate at a consistent level and won’t let the data rate go too high. This means even if you are shooting a complex image that might need a bit more data to store the image, a constant bitrate codec will just compress the image harder to make sure the images fit within the space allocated.
This can be fine for video codecs, however when shooting Blackmagic RAW you really want to ensure the quality is predictable. What would happen if the images you were shooting needed more data, but the codec just compresses harder to make a specified data rate? It’s possible you could lose quality, but not be sure it’s happening until you return from a shoot.
To solve this problem, Blackmagic RAW also has an alternative codec choice called constant quality. This codec is technically called a variable bitrate codec, but what it’s really doing is

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allowing the size of the file to grow if your images need extra data. There is no upper limit on the file size if you need to encode an image but maintain quality.
So Blackmagic RAW set to the constant quality setting will just let the file grow as big as it needs to be to encode your images. It also means the files could be larger or smaller depending on what you are shooting. I guess if you leave your lens cap on the lens, you won’t waste space on your media!
It is also worth noting that the quality settings for Blackmagic RAW are not obscure names, but are more meaningful as they are derived from what’s happening technically. So for example when you have selected the constant bitrate codec, you will see quality settings of 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 and 12:1. These are the ratios of the uncompressed RAW file size vs the file sizes you should expect when shooting in Blackmagic RAW. 3:1 is better quality as the file is larger, while 12:1 is the smallest file size with the lowest quality. Many users of Blackmagic RAW find that 12:1 has been perfectly ok and they have not seen any quality limitations. However it’s best to experiment and try various settings for yourself.
When using Blackmagic RAW in constant quality, the options are Q0, Q1, Q3 and Q5. These are the compression parameters passed to the codec and they are setting how much compression is applied in a more technical way. This setting is different because the codec operates differently between constant bitrate vs constant quality. In this constant quality setting, you really cannot tell what the file size ratio will become as it varies a lot based on what you are shooting. So in this case the setting is different and the file will become the size needed to store your media.
Constant Bitrate Settings
The names for 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 and 12:1 represent the compression ratio. For example, 12:1 compression produces a file size roughly 12 times smaller than uncompressed RAW.
Constant Quality Settings
Q0 and Q5 refer to different levels of quantization. Q5 has a greater level of quantization but offers a greatly improved data rate. As mentioned above, the constant quality setting can result in files that grow and shrink quite a lot, depending on what you are shooting. This also means it’s possible to shoot something and see the file size increase to beyond what your media card can keep up with. It could result in dropped frames. However the benefit is that you can instantly see if this happens on a shoot and then investigate your settings vs quality.
Blackmagic RAW Player
The Blackmagic RAW player included in your Blackmagic camera’s software installer is a streamlined application for reviewing clips. Simply double click on a Blackmagic RAW file to open it, and you can quickly play and scroll through the file with its full resolution and bit depth.
When decoding frames, the CPU acceleration in the SDK library supports all main architectures, and also supports GPU acceleration via Apple Metal, Nvidia CUDA and OpenCL. It also works with the Blackmagic eGPU for extra performance. Blackmagic RAW player is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.
Sidecar Files
Blackmagic RAW sidecar files let you override metadata in a file without overwriting embedded metadata in the original file. This metadata includes the Blackmagic RAW settings as well as information on iris, focus, focal length, white balance, tint, color space, project name, take number and more. Metadata is encoded frame by frame over the duration of the clip, which is important for lens data if the lens is adjusted during a shot. You can add or edit metadata in sidecar files with DaVinci Resolve or even a text editor because it’s a human readable format.

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Sidecar files can be used to automatically add new Blackmagic RAW settings to a playback simply by moving the sidecar file into the same folder as the corresponding Blackmagic RAW file. If you move the sidecar file out of the folder and reopen the Blackmagic RAW file, the changed settings are not applied and you see the file as it was originally shot. Any software that uses the Blackmagic RAW SDK can access these settings. Changes made are saved in the sidecar file and can then be seen by Blackmagic RAW Player or any other software capable of reading Blackmagic RAW files.
When shooting video gamma, the file stays in film gamma, and the metadata tells the Blackmagic RAW processing to display using video gamma. Video gamma is great when you don’t want to grade the image and want to deliver content quickly, however if you want to pull up the black parts of the image, or pull down the white areas, all the detail is retained. You never clip the video and all the detail is still there if you want to access it at any time.
Blackmagic RAW in DaVinci Resolve
Settings can be adjusted for each Blackmagic RAW file, and then saved as a new sidecar file from the Camera RAW’ tab in DaVinci Resolve for creative effect or optimized viewing. This also means you can copy your media for another DaVinci Resolve artist and they will have access to your modified gamma settings automatically on import. In addition to the other metadata your camera files contain, DaVinci Resolve can read your selected dynamic range, so your clips will automatically display in DaVinci Resolve withfilm’, extended video’ orvideo’ dynamic range.
You can then customize these settings by adjusting the saturation, contrast and midpoint, as well as the highlight and shadow rolloff. Any adjustments can then be saved as a sidecar file, so the changes can be seen by anyone else working with the files in post. You can always return to the original camera metadata at any time.
You can also export a single Blackmagic RAW frame from the Camera RAW’ tab in DaVinci Resolve, which contains all adjustments, metadata, full resolution and color information so it is easy to share a single frame grab or reference file with others. For more information on how to use Blackmagic RAW in DaVinci Resolve, see the Using DaVinci Resolve’ chapter in this manual.
Blackmagic RAW Software Development Kit
The Blackmagic RAW Software Development Kit is an API developed by Blackmagic Design. You can use the Blackmagic RAW SDK to write your own applications to use the Blackmagic RAW format. This SDK library can be used by any developer to add support for reading, editing, and saving Blackmagic RAW files. The Blackmagic RAW SDK includes all the generation 5 color science so you can achieve organic cinematic images across any app that supports it. The Blackmagic RAW SDK supports Mac, Windows and Linux, and is available as a free download from the developer page of the Blackmagic website at www.blackmagicdesign.com/developer

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The following diagram illustrates the components of the Blackmagic RAW API: Blackmagic RAW API

Decoder

.Braw

.Sidecar

SSE

AVX

AVX2

Reader

Reader

METAL

CUDA

OPENCL

Maximum Sensor Frame Rates

6K Open Gate 3:2 6:5 Anamorphic 6K DCI 17:9 6K 2.4:1 4K DCI 17:9 Super 35mm 4:3 Super 16mm 16:9 1080 HD

Resolution 6048 x 4032 4838 x 4032 6048 x 3200 6048 x 2520 4096 x 2160 4096 x 3072 2112 x 1184 1920 x 1080

Codec Blackmagic RAW Blackmagic RAW Blackmagic RAW Blackmagic RAW Blackmagic RAW Blackmagic RAW Blackmagic RAW Blackmagic RAW

Sensor Scan Full Window Window Window Window Window Window Window

Max Frame Rate 36 26 48 60 60 50 100 120

Record Duration
The maximum recording time for your storage media can vary depending on the data capacity of your CFexpress card or USB-C flash disk and the frame rate you choose. It should also be noted that the recording duration can vary slightly between different manufacturers and whether the storage media is formatted as exFAT or Mac OS Extended.
Simple scenes containing less detail tend to require less data than more dense compositions. The values in these tables assume shots with a high complexity, which means you may get slightly longer record times depending on the nature of your shoot.

TIPYou can estimate record duration times based on different storage media capacities, frame rates and codec settings using the data rate calculator at: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagiccinemacamera/ blackmagicraw#data-rate-calculator

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Constant quality settings for Q0 and Q5 will display varying record time remaining durations. The estimated duration for Q0 is similar to constant bitrate 3:1, and Q5 will display a similar duration to 12:1, however, as the estimated duration updates every 10 seconds while recording, the best way to gauge how much recording time you have is to record for 20 seconds and monitor the duration in the media area of the touchscreen display.
Choosing Frame Rates
Your camera is able to shoot video using many different frame rates and you may be wondering which is the best one to use.
Generally, when selecting a sensor frame rate, there are some common items to consider. For many years, there have been presentation standards for film and television. These have set frame rates that differ between countries, but all share the same purpose; to display an efficient number of frames every second that portrays pleasing and convincing motion.
Cinema, for example, uses a standard 24 frames per second and while there have been recent experiments with faster frame rates, 24 frames per second remains widely accepted for international audiences.
Television frame rates have generally conformed to technical broadcast standards for each country. For example, if you were making television content you would typically record using 29.97 frames per second for North American distribution, and 25 frames per second for Europe.
However, as technology has improved, today we have more choices and broadcast standards are changing. It is now common for sporting events to be recorded and broadcasted at higher frame rates. For example, some sporting events are recorded and broadcasted at up to 59.94 frames per second in North America, and 50 frames per second in Europe. This provides smoother motion on fast action and appears more lifelike.
Alternatively, streaming and online broadcasters normally use frame rates similar to television, however there is more freedom to experiment due to user selectable viewing formats, and being limited only to what the audience’s screens are capable of displaying.
Generally, when choosing a frame rate for a project, let your delivery format guide your choice. This means your clips will play back at the same speed the event happened in real life. To achieve this, you will need to turn off the off speed’ option on your camera. If you are looking to create an interesting effect, for example slow motion, then you can set the sensor frame rate to a higher setting. The higher the sensor frame rate compared to the project frame rate, the slower the playback speed. For more information on using off speed sensor frame rates to achieve creative effects, refer to thetouchscreen controls’ section.
Trigger Record
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K automatically sends a signal via the HDMI output that will trigger recording when connected to equipment that supports the trigger record feature, such as Blackmagic Video Assist.
This means that when you press record on your camera, your external recorder also starts recording and stops when you stop recording on the camera. Your camera also outputs timecode via HDMI, which means the clips recorded on your external recorder has the same timecode as the clips recorded in your camera.

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If your external recorder supports trigger recording, you will need to enable it via the recorder’s settings menu.
Recording Motion Sensor Data
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K automatically records gyro data from the internal motion sensor. DaVinci Resolve can then use this data to stabilize clips. For more information refer to the `gyro stabilization’ section in this manual.
Shooting using a Vertical Aspect Ratio
Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K supports vertical aspect ratios so you can craft cinematic content for platforms like YouTube and TikTok with the color and dynamic range of digital film. Simply rotate the camera to record in a vertical aspect ratio such as 9:16 and 4:5. The on screen HUD rotates so critical information, such as frame rate, shutter angle and frame guides, are easy to view. Pressing record locks all overlays for the duration of the shot so you can change angles and the on screen information will remain in place.

Your camera tags vertical video in the clips’ metadata so it appears correctly on your edit timeline
Locking Vertical and Horizontal
Locking the display to vertical or horizontal stops the on screen information from rotating automatically. For example, when vertical is locked, your camera will maintain the vertical on screen HUD even at extreme angles. Refer to the vertical recording’ section underrecord settings’ for more information.

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Using Frame Guides
Frame guides are overlay markers that can be enabled on the camera’s LCD. These are helpful to make sure important details stay in shot and items you don’t want are kept out. They are also effective for when anticipating overlays that you might want to use in your presentation. For example, graphics, titles, icons and visual effects.
Grids
Grids are another helpful overlay for composing shots and balancing the frame for a vertical format.
For more information about frame guides, grids, plus other helpful overlays and on screen features, refer to the touchscreen features’ section. Editing Vertical Clips on a Timeline When recording vertical video, clips are tagged as vertical in their metadata. DaVinci Resolve will recognize the tag and display your video correctly in an edit timeline. This is also true for other editing applications that support the Blackmagic RAW SDK, for example Adobe Premiere and Avid Media Composer. Using Vertical Aspect Ratios in a Horizontal Project If your project is using a horizontal format, for example 1920×1080 HD, clips tagged as vertical will be scaled to fit. This is important when using vertical clips in a news or television broadcast. You can fill the sides automatically using solid colors or even using DaVinci’sblanking fill’ effect. For more information refer to the `Resolve FX overview’ section in the DaVinci Resolve manual available at the Blackmagic Design support center at www.blackmagicdesign.com/support

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Playback
Once you have recorded your video, you can use the transport control buttons to play back your video on the LCD. Press the play button to switch to playback mode. Press the button again for instant playback of the last recorded clip on the LCD and on any display connected to the HDMI output. Hold down the forward or reverse buttons on the LCD to fast forward or reverse through the clip. Playback will finish when the end of the current clip is reached.
Press the forward and reverse buttons to skip to the start or end of clips. Press the reverse button once to go to the start of the current clip or press twice to skip back to the start of the previous clip. Press the record button to exit playback and return the touchscreen to the camera view.

To view your most recently recorded clip on the built in touchscreen, press the `play’ button on the transport controls

Camera Features

Camera Front

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1 Record Buttons Press either of the record buttons to start and stop recording. A record button is located on the front of the camera to let you start and stop recording more easily if you are recording yourself.
2 Settings Wheel The settings wheel lets you adjust the aperture of compatible lenses mounted to your camera. With the touchscreen facing you, rotate the wheel left to open the iris, and right to close. The settings wheel is also used to adjust white balance, shutter angle and ISO settings. You can also use the settings wheel in conjunction with the focus zoom’ button to adjust the magnification level of the optional electronic viewfinder. Press the corresponding buttons on the top of the camera, then make your selection by rotating the settings wheel. After making your selection, press the settings wheel to quickly dismiss the selection menu. 3 Stereo Microphones There are four built in, high quality stereo microphones. Refer to theaudio settings’ section for information on microphone audio settings.
4 Lens Mount Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K features an active lens mount for L-mount lenses. This means you can use lenses with built-in stabilization, as well as use auto focus and auto exposure with compatible lenses. To use the image stabilizer or IS’ feature found in many active lenses, set the stabilizer switch toon’ to enable image stabilization on your camera. If your lens also features a stabilizer mode switch, set it to the appropriate mode for still shots or for movement. If your lens does not have a physical stabilizer switch, you can turn image stabilization’ on or off in your camera’s setup menu. 5 Tally / Record Indicator The small LED on the front of your camera indicates the recording status. You can enable or disable the tally light indicator and adjust its brightness in the setup menu. Refer to thesetup settings’ section for more information.
Right Side

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6 CFexpress Card Slot Insert CFexpress Type B cards into the slot for record and playback. Refer to the `CFexpress cards’ section for more information.

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Left Side
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12 Left side ports on Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K
7 3.5mm Microphone Input Connect a microphone to your camera’s 3.5mm stereo connector. Mic and line level audio are supported. The microphone level audio is lower than the line level, so if you are connecting a microphone to the camera and have line level selected, you will find the levels are too low. The microphone input also accepts SMPTE compliant LTC timecode from an external source on the left channel. Valid timecode will be detected automatically, and embedded in your video file as timecode metadata. We recommend sending LTC timecode via a line level output, especially if you are not recording timecode as an audio track.
8 Headphones Input Monitor audio while recording or playing back clips by plugging your headphones into the 3.5mm stereo headphones jack. When headphones are plugged in, the speaker output is muted.
9 HDMI The full size HDMI connector supports 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p HD video with support for HDR and two channels of embedded audio. Use the touchscreen menu to set a clean feed or include overlays on the output. You can use the HDMI port to connect to an external monitor or recorder. It is a good practice to setup external equipment and plug in all cables before you switch on your camera and accessories. Always use high quality cables for HDMI connections.
10 Power Input You can use the DC jack to power your camera. To connect the power adapter, rotate the plug so it aligns with the recess at the top of the jack, then push in the plug until it locks. To disconnect the power plug, retract the locking sheath, then pull out the plug.

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11 USB The USB-C port lets you record directly to an attached USB-C flash disk. When your camera is switched off, you can recharge its battery via the USB-C port from an external source such as a battery pack. To update your camera’s internal software, connect the camera to a computer via the USB-C port and run the camera update application.
12 Mini XLR Microphone Input Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K features two mini XLR audio inputs for external balanced audio. A standard XLR microphone can be connected to your camera using an XLR to mini XLR adapter cable.
These audio inputs provide phantom power for connecting professional microphones that aren’t internally powered. For more information on enabling phantom power refer to the audio’ section in this manual. SMPTE compliant timecode from an external source is also supported. In the audio’ menu, set the channel source to XLR line or XLR mic depending on the level of your timecode generator. The timecode will be embedded in your video file as timecode metadata. You can set one XLR channel to accept a timecode signal at the same time as using the other XLR channel for a different type of audio source.

Top Panel
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Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K top panel

13 1/4-20 Mounting Point You can use the 1/4-20 mounting point on the top of your camera to attach an external microphone or other small accessories.

NOTEThe 1/4″ mount on the top of your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K should only be used for lightweight accessories such as small microphones. Do not support the weight of the camera via the top 1/4″ mount by using accessories like a screw in camera handle in conjunction with a heavy lens. This will damage the 1/4″ mount which will not be covered under warranty. Do not subject the mount to excessive lever force, such as mounting a heavy accessory on an extension arm. To mount heavier accessories, we strongly recommend using a camera cage designed for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K that attaches to both the top and bottom 1/4″ mount simultaneously.

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14 Record Press the record button to begin recording immediately. Press again to stop recording.
15 Still Use the still’ button to capture a single Blackmagic RAW frame when your camera is in standby, record or playback mode. A camera icon appears briefly in the top right corner of the touchscreen display to let you know you have successfully captured a still. Image files are saved to thestills’ folder in the root directory of the media you are currently recording to. Stills follow the file naming convention for video clips except the filename includes the still number in the last four characters of the filename.
16 ISO Press the ISO button and then rotate the settings wheel to adjust your camera’s ISO setting. ISO can be set at 1/3 stop increments between 100 and 25,600.
17 Shutter To change the shutter angle or shutter speed, press the shutter button, then rotate the settings wheel. The touchscreen display will also suggest up to three flicker free shutter options.
18 White Balance Press the white balance button and then rotate the settings wheel to adjust your camera’s white balance. You can also quickly enter the auto white balance’ screen by holding thewb’ button for 3 seconds. Your camera will overlay a white square in the center of your image, and use this area to perform an auto white balance. For more information refer to the touchscreen controls’ section. 19 Viewfinder Connector Port Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K has a connector port for Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Pro EVF. If the optional electronic viewfinder is not installed, you can attach the supplied protective cover. 20 Power Switch Power switch for turning on the camera. Slide the switch to the right to power on your camera, and to the left to power off. 21 Status LED When the camera is turned off and plugged into external power via the 12V DC power jack or USB-C port, the indicator illuminates red to indicate the battery is being charged. The status LED turns off when the battery is fully charged. 22 Function Buttons These buttons can be programmed to a variety of commonly used functions using your camera’ssetup’ menu. By default, button one is set to false color’, button 2 is set todisplay LUT’ and button 3 is set to `frame guides’.

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Camera Underside
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Underside of Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K
23 1/4-20 Mounting Points Attach your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K to a tripod, rigging or accessories using the bottom 1/4-20 mounting points.
24 Battery Door Push the battery door release towards the lens mount to open the battery door. To close, simply push the door in until it clicks shut.
25 Battery Grip Power Connector The electrical contacts on the underside of the camera lets you connect with the optional battery grip. This extends the running time of the camera by powering from the internal battery and both batteries in the battery grip.
Camera Rear

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Rear of Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K
26 Touchscreen Display You can tap and swipe on your camera’s LCD touchscreen to adjust settings, auto focus, start and stop shooting, monitor clips during recording and play back clips. The touchscreen also lets you manage media and make notes on the slate.

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Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K has a tilt screen so you can angle the LCD touchscreen up or down for a wide range of viewing angles and a power save setting to dim the LCD when it’s inactive. You can also set the LCD touchscreen to operate at an extreme brightness that is suitable for shooting in very bright sunlight. This will consume more power and the screen may run warm at 100% brightness. At an ambient temperature of of 35ºC (95ºF) or above, it may automatically reduce the screen brightness to regulate the temperature and prevent overheating. This safety feature works independently of dimming due to inactivity. For more information see the `monitor settings’ section.

The tilt screen offers a wide range of viewing angles
27 Iris Button Pressing the iris’ button automatically sets an average exposure based on the highlights and shadows in your shot. You can adjust your lens aperture manually by rotating the settings wheel to the left and right, or by tappingiris’ on the touchscreen display and adjusting the iris slider.
28 Focus Button When using a compatible auto focus lens with your camera, press the focus’ button once to auto focus. By default the lens will auto focus in the center of the image, however you can select an alternate auto focus point by tapping on the LCD screen in the area that you want to focus. Double press the focus button to reset the focus point to the center of the screen. NOTEIt’s important to know that while most lenses support electronic focus, some lenses can be set to manual or auto focus modes. In this case you need to confirm your lens is set to auto focus mode. 29 HFR Button Press the HFR orhigh frame rate’ button to toggle off speed frame rates. To use this function, simply set the off speed’ frame rate you’d like to use in theframe rate’ menu. Once this is set, pressing the HFR button will toggle between your chosen off speed frame rate and project frame rate. It’s worth mentioning that this setting can only be adjusted when the recording is stopped.
For more information on project and off speed frame rates, see the touchscreen controls’ section. 30 Focus Zoom Button Press thefocus zoom’ button to zoom in for adjusting focus at the 1:1 pixel scale. While zoomed in, you can use a pinch to zoom multitouch gesture on the touchscreen to adjust the zoom level. For more information, see the `pinch to zoom’ section. While zoomed in, you can touch and drag on the screen to view different areas of the image. When you activate

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focus zoom and look through the optional electronic viewfinder, you can turn the settings wheel to adjust zoom level and press the settings wheel to select the region of interest. To zoom out, press the focus zoom’ button again. 31 Menu Button Press themenu’ button to open the dashboard.
32 Play Button Press the play button to switch to playback mode. Press the button again for instant playback of the last recorded clip on the LCD, and on any display connected to the HDMI output.
33 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Pro EVF Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K has an optional electronic viewfinder. The viewfinder tilts vertically 70 degrees and comes with four eyecup types for left or right eye. A sensor in the viewfinder detects when it is in use, and will switch off the LCD touchscreen to conserve battery power and prevent accidental taps on touchscreen controls. You can set the viewfinder to overlay camera status information or display a clean feed. For more information, see the monitor settings’ section. To install the viewfinder, use a small flathead screwdriver to loosen the screw in the connector port cover on top of the camera. Remove the cover and confirm the connector port is clean and dry. Slide the viewfinder into the connector port. Fasten the viewfinder into position by tightening the thumb screw. 34 Diopter for Electronic Viewfinder Turn the diopter knob to adjust the focus of the optional electronic viewfinder to suit your eyes. It’s important to note the diopter adjusts the focus of the image presented in the viewfinder, and does not change the focus of the image attained by the camera sensor. For more information, see thefocus chart’ section.
Touchscreen Controls
Touchscreen Features
Your camera’s touchscreen features a touch and gesture based interface that is specifically designed for fast and intuitive operation. By touching and swiping on different areas of the LCD touchscreen, you can quickly access the camera’s functions while shooting.

The LCD touchscreen gives you easy access to your camera’s most used settings

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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 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 zebra on the LCD touchscreen, as well as setting the zebra level for the HDMI output.
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 accessingLCD monitor options’ to access the zebra settings
To toggle zebra for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the zebra’ tab. Set the level that zebra appears at by dragging the slider left and right, or tapping the arrow buttons next to the zebra level indicator. There are eight zebra presets available including middle gray and middle gray plus one stop, then in five percent increments from 75 to 100 percent exposure. For information on enabling zebra on your camera’s HDMI output, see themonitor settings’ section in this manual.
TIPIf 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 the HDMI output on your camera.

Tap the focus assist’ icon while accessingLCD 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.

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To set the level of focus assistance for all outputs on your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, drag the slider left and right along the bottom of your touchscreen, or tap the arrow buttons next to the focus assist level. The optimum level of focus assistance varies shot by shot. When focusing on actors, for example, a 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 output, see the monitor settings’ section in this manual. TIPYour camera has two focus assist modes. You can switch betweenpeaking’ and colored lines’ focus assistance in themonitor’ settings menu. For more information, see the monitor settings’ section in this manual. Frame Guides Theframe guide’ setting toggles the appearance of frame guides on the LCD touchscreen. You can also choose frame guide options for your camera’s HDMI output. See the monitor settings’ section for more information. Frame guides include aspect ratios for various cinema, television and online standards. Tap theframe guides’ icon to access your camera’s 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

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2:1 Displays a ratio slightly wider than 16:9 but not as wide as 2.35:1.
1.85:1 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.
9:16 Displays a 9:16 aspect ratio. This vertical aspect ratio is useful for framing social media content.
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. Tapupdate’ to apply your custom frame guide ratio and return to shooting.

Use the numeric keypad to enter a custom frame guide ratio

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TIPYou can change the opacity of frame guide overlays. For more information see the monitor settings’ section of this manual. Grids Thegrids’ setting toggles the appearance of a rule of thirds grid, horizon meter, crosshair or center dot on the LCD touchscreen, as well as setting the overlay that will be visible on the HDMI output. For information on enabling grids on your HDMI output, see the monitor settings’ section in this manual. Tap thegrids’ 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 and HDMI output, tap thethirds’, horizon’,crosshair’ or dot’ options. You can select one of horizon’, crosshair’ ordot’ at a time in conjunction with thirds’. This lets you use a combination ofthirds’ and horizon’,thirds’ and crosshair’, orthirds’ and `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.

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Horizon
The `horizon’ meter indicates when your camera is rolled left or right and tilted up or down. This can help you keep the horizon is level during handheld shots and balance the camera tilt on a gimbal.
The direction the light gray vertical line moves away from the dark gray crosshair in the middle indicates the direction your camera is rolled. When the camera is tilted down the light gray horizontal line moves up and when the camera is tilted up the light gray horizontal line moves down.
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 vertical line turns blue when the camera is aligned to the roll axis and the horizontal line turns blue to indicate the camera is aligned to the tilt 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 themotion sensor calibration’ section.
Crosshair The 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 very fast cuts. Keeping viewers’ eyes focused on the center of a frame can make rapid editing easier to follow. Dot Thedot’ 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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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 the HDMI output. 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 centralsafe 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.

The safe area’ indicator set to 75% To toggle safe area guides for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in thesafe area guides’ tab. To set the level of safe area guides for your camera’s HDMI output, 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.
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.

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

False Color

Meaning

95%WC

White clipping

80%WC

Near white clipping

MG+1

One stop over middle gray

18%MG

Middle gray

NBDL

Near black detail loss

BDL

Black detail loss

In a well exposed image, skin tones are represented by green and pink 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. Thefalse 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 camera’s touchscreen. Thescreen brightness’ setting set to 50%.

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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 theFPS’ 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 is normally set to match your post production workflow. 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
NOTEThe project frame rate also sets the frame rate of the HDMI output.
Sensor Frame Rate The sensor 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 sensor frame rate or move the slider to make adjustments

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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’sFPS’ menu, you can independently set the sensor frame rate.
To change the sensor frame rate, tap the arrows next to the sensor frame rate indicator in the lower left of your touchscreen. You can also drag the slider left or right to increase or decrease the frame rate. Once you release the slider, the sensor frame rate will be selected. 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 your clips by varying the sensor frame rate. Setting the sensor frame rate higher than your project frame rate will create slow motion during playback. For example, shooting with a 60 FPS sensor frame rate and playing back at a 24 FPS project frame rate creates slow motion at 40% of the real speed of the action. Alternatively, the lower your sensor frame rate, the faster your clips will appear. The principle is similar to overcranking and undercranking a film camera. Overcranking speeds up the sensor frame rate so you can stretch out moments in time during playback to enhance emotion. Undercranking slows down the sensor frame rate so you can increase the speed of action in fast moving scenes. The creative possibilities are endless and entirely up to you!
For information on the maximum frame rates available for each recording format and codec, refer to the table in the recording’ section of this manual. NOTEWhenoff speed frame rate’ is selected the audio and video are no longer synced. This is true even if you set the same project and sensor frame rate. For this reason, avoid selecting off speed frame rate’ if you want to guarantee audio syncing. Shutter The ‘shutter’ indicator displays your shutter angle or shutter speed. 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 angle’ or shutter speed’. See thesetup settings’ section in this manual for more information.

Tap the shutter indicator to access shutter settings
Shutter angle or shutter speed defines the level of motion blur in your video, and can be used to compensate for varying light conditions. 180 degrees is the optimum shutter angle for capturing satisfying motion blur in most conditions, with the equivalent being a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second. However as lighting conditions change, or the amount of movement in your scene increases, you may decide to adjust accordingly.
For example, 360 degrees is considered `wide open’ and allows maximum light onto the sensor. This is useful for low light conditions with subtle movement in your scene. Alternatively, if shooting subjects with a lot of movement, a narrow shutter angle like 90 degrees will provide minimal motion blur for sharper, crisper images. The equivalent shutter speeds compared to shutter angle depends on the frame rate you are using.
For example, if you are shooting at 25 frames per second, then 360 degrees will equate to 1/25th, and 90 degrees will equate to 1/100th of a second.

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NOTEWhen shooting under lights, your shutter can reveal light flicker. Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K will automatically calculate a flicker free shutter value for your current frame rate. It will display up to three suggested flicker free shutter options 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 theshutter’ indicator brings up the suggested shutter values along the bottom of the touch screen. 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. For more information, see the setup settings’ section in this manual.
It’s worth mentioning 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.
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 are shooting outside, or using flicker free lights, you can also manually select a shutter value by double tapping the current shutter indicator at the bottom left of your screen. When shutter angle is selected, this will bring up a keypad which you can use to set any shutter angle between 5 and 360 degrees.

Use the manual shutter keypad to enter your shutter timing of choice when shooting outdoors or under flicker free lights
Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K 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.

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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, tapauto exposure’ to access shutter based auto exposure modes
When an auto exposure mode that affects 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 TheIris’ 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
To adjust the Iris from the LCD touchscreen, your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K must be fitted with a lens that supports changing aperture via the camera. 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 theiris’ 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.

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Iris This setting automatically adjusts the aperture to maintain a constant exposure while keeping shutter angle 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 affects the iris or shutter is enabled, a smallA’ 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 and playback. The counter displays a time sequence showing Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames and will changes 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 left of the duration display when your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is using a windowed sensor mode.
Appears to the right of the duration display when showing timecode.
Appears to the right of the duration display if valid external LTC timecode is connected to the 3.5mm stereo input jack.
Appears to the right of the duration display if the camera is running off an internal timecode after being `jam synced’ and disconnected.

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ISO
The ISO’ indicator displays the current ISO setting, or light sensitivity. Tapping this indicator lets you adjust your ISO to suit varying lighting conditions. Tap the ISO indicator to access ISO settings. While in theISO’ menu, your camera’s ISO settings appear along the bottom of the LCD touchscreen. The slider below the presets lets you adjust ISO in 1/3 stop increments.
Depending on your situation, you may choose a lower or higher ISO setting. For example, in low light conditions ISO 25,600 can be suitable but may introduce some visible noise. In bright conditions ISO 100 can provide richer colors.
Dual Native ISO
Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K has a dual native ISO of 400 and 3,200, which means that the sensor is optimized for shooting in both low light conditions, as well as bright daylight. Adjust the ISO for the varying lighting conditions, and the dual native ISO feature will operate in the background to make sure your footage is clean and has minimal noise at low and high ISO settings. When the ISO setting is between 100 and 1,000 the native ISO of 400 is used as a reference point. The ISO range between 1,250 and 25,600 uses the native ISO of 3,200 as a reference. If you are shooting in conditions where you have a choice between ISO 1,000 or 1,250, we suggest closing down one stop on your lens’ iris so that you can select ISO 1,250 as it will engage the higher native ISO and provide much cleaner results. This chart shows the relationship between the ISO selection and dynamic range allocation.

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Dynamic Range
ISO 100 125 160 200 250 320 400 500 640 800 1000 1250 1600 2000 2500 3200 4000 5000 6400 8000 10000 12800 16000 20000 25600 Total Stops 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 12.2 12.2 12.2 12.2 12.2 12.2 12.2 12.2 12.0 11.7 11.4 11.0 10.8 10.6
10

stops

5

3.9

4.3

9.6 9.2
0

4.6 8.9

4.9 8.6

5.3 5.6
8.2 7.9

5.9 7.6

6.3 7.2

6.6 6.9

6.9 7.3
6.6 6.2

5.6 6.6

5.9 6.3

6.3 5.9

6.6 6.9
5.6 5.3

7.3 4.9

7.6

7.9

4.6

4.3

-5

8 4

7.9 7.9
3.8 3.5 7.9 7.9 3.1

8

2.9

2.6

-10 Dual Native ISO 400
Stops Above Stops Below

Dual Native ISO 3200

White Balance
The WB’ andTINT’ 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 that is defined using the kelvin unit of measurement. A light source that emits a lower color temperature, like a candle, will emit a warm light at approximately 3,200 degrees kelvin. A bright light source, like the sun on a clear day, will emit a higher color temperature at 5,600 degrees giving the light a cool blue appearance. Your camera will compensate by adding warmth or cooling the image down based on the set color temperature.
For example, on a bright sunny day with the light measuring 5,600K, you can set your camera’s white balance to 5,600K and the camera will compensate by adding warmth. If you set the white balance to match a tungsten lamp at night emitting 3,200K, the camera will cool the image down to compensate. This will make sure white is always displayed correctly and colors will match what you see.

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TIPWhite balance settings can also be used creatively by warming or cooling the image based on the story you are telling.

Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K 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 Cloud

(4500K) (6500K)

You can customize any of these presets by tapping or holding the arrow icons to the left and right of the temperature indicator in the bottom left of the white balance’ menu. Each tap moves the color temperature up or down 50K, but holding the arrow icons down will increase the speed. Alternatively, you can move the temperature slider. To further refine the color in the image, you can adjust thetint.’ This adjusts the mix of green and magenta. 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
While in the white balance’ menu, your camera’s current tint setting is shown at the bottom right of the screen. To adjust the tint, simply tap or hold the arrows to the left and right of the tint indicator. The available range is -50 to +50 in one unit steps. Holding down on the arrows speeds up adjustment. NOTECustomizing the white balance or tint will change your preset toCWB,’ 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 Cinema Camera 6K can set white balance automatically. Tapping AWB’ will bring up 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 tapupdate WB’. The camera will automatically adjust its white balance and tint values so the average of the white or

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grey 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 grey surface to automatically set a neutral white balance
Power
The camera’s power source and energy status are displayed in the top right of the LCD screen.

While using battery power, tapping the power indicator toggles between displays

AC

Displays when your camera is plugged into mains power.

Percentage Battery bars Battery grip bars Power source voltage

If your battery supports percentage display, the battery icon shows the remaining battery level as a percentage, and drains in 1% steps. At 20% charge remaining, the battery bar turns red. To toggle the percentage display on or off, tap on the battery icon.
The battery included with your camera shows a battery icon that drains in 25% steps. At 20% charge remaining, the battery bar turns red.
Blackmagic Pocket Camera Battery Pro Grip can power Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K from its two batteries as well as the camera’s internal battery. These battery meters show the states of all three batteries.
This shows the voltage supplied by the battery, or through the DC power jack from a plug pack, D-tap adapter cable or custom power solution. To toggle the voltage display on or off, tap on the battery icon.

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LUT indicator
When you are using a LUT as a preview tool on set, a a white LUT icon will be displayed in the top left corner of the screen to indicate that the LUT is currently active. This icon will be blue if you also have apply LUT in file’ switched on in therecord’ settings. For more information refer to the record settings’ section. 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. It is also a helpful tool for checking the balance of your exposure and to prevent your highlights from clipping 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 checkclipping’ 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 themonitor settings’ section in this manual for more information.
Record button
Next to the histogram, at the bottom of your camera’s touchscreen, is a round grey button. This is the `record’ button. Tap it once to begin recording, and tap it again to stop. While recording, the button, storage indicator and timecode at the top of your camera’s touchscreen turns red.
The record button is located next to the storage indicators at the bottom of the LCD touchscreen

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When recording, the record button displays red.
Dropped Frame Indicator
The record’ button is overlaid with a flashing!’ indicator if the CFexpress card or USB disk begins dropping frames while recording. The timecode indicator at the top of the LCD display and the storage indicator will also flash. This lets you know if a particular CFexpress card of USB-C flash disk is too slow for your currently selected codec and resolution. The dropped frame indicator will remain visible until another clip is recorded or the camera is power cycled. Refer to the storage media’ section for more information. Dropped frame indicator for the CFexpress card NOTEYou can set your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K to stop recording if dropped frames are detected to avoid recording unusable footage. See therecord settings’ section in this manual for more information.
Recording Time Remaining
When a CFexpress card is insterted, or a USB-C flash disk is attached to your camera, the storage indicators at the bottom of the touchscreen show how much recording time is left on the card or USB-C flash 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 five minutes remaining on your card or drive, the indicator text turns red, then blinks when there is only two minutes remaining. The indicator displays `full’ when a card or drive reaches maximum capacity.
The storage indicator shows the name of your CFexpress or USB-C flash disk and the record time remaining in minutes
The card or drive name is also presented in a small bar above the time remaining. The bar turns blue to indicate the camera is set to record to this card or USB-C flash disk. To record to a different card or drive, press and hold the name of the card or USB-C flash disk you wish to record to. While recording, the bar is red.

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Tapping the storage indicators opens the storage and formatting menu.

Tap the storage indicators on the LCD touchscreen to access the storage manager
This menu displays the amount of free space on each CFexpress card or USB-C flash disk used by your camera, as well as the name of the card or drive, total number of clips and the file format. You can format your media from this menu. For more information, see the `preparing media for recording’ section of this manual.
TIPTapping the card or drive name in the storage menu sets it as the active card or drive. Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K fills this card or drive first.
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. The display is calibrated to dBFS units and features peak hold indicators which stay visible for a short time so you can clearly see the maximum levels reached. To achieve optimum audio quality, ensure your audio levels do not reach 0 dBFS. This is the maximum level that your camera can record, meaning that any audio that exceeds this level will be clipped, resulting in distortion.
The colored bars on the 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 or red zones your audio is in danger of clipping.

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You can tap the audio meter to bring up volume controls for audio input channels 1 and 2, as well as headset or speaker volume.

Tap the audio meters on the LCD touchscreen to easily access volume and headset or speaker settings
Double Tap to Zoom
You can magnify any part of your 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. This is very helpful when checking focus. To return to standard magnification, simply double tap your camera’s touchscreen again.
Pinch to Zoom
Adjust the zoom level on the LCD touchscreen with a pinch to zoom multitouch gesture. This does not affect the HDMI output.
To start zooming at x2, double tap on the touchscreen or press the focus zoom’ button on the back of your camera. Then make a pinch gesture to change the zoom level. You can drag your fingers around the touchscreen to move the area magnified. To return to the standard magnification, double tap on the touchscreen again or press thefocus zoom’ button.
When you double tap on the touchscreen or press the focus zoom’ button, the zoom level toggles between your previous magnification level and the full view. For example, if you pinch to zoom to x8 magnification, double tap zooms out, and a further double tap returns to x8. Touch to Focus 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. Press thefocus’ button to focus your lens in the chosen location. Double press the focus button to reset the focus point to the center of the screen.
Full Screen Mode
It can be useful when framing or focusing a shot to temporarily hide your touchscreen’s status text and meters. To hide them all at once, swipe up or down on the LCD touchscreen. The record indicator, frame guides, grids, focus assist and zebra remain visible.
To show the status text and meters again, swipe up or down again.

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Swipe up or down to hide all status indicators on the LCD touchscreen
Playback Menu
Press your camera’s `play’ button to play back a clip. You can control previously recorded clips using transport control buttons on the LCD touchscreen.

A timeline of segments represents all the recorded clips and each segment represents an individual clip. The current clip name and number is shown at the top left of the display and the total number of clips on the card or drive is shown in brackets. The counter ahead of the timeline displays the current location of the playhead and the counter after the timeline displays the total duration of all the clips. The playback controls below the timeline let you navigate through the clips.
The playback controls

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51

Tap the record’ button in playback mode to return your camera to standby mode, ready to record. Tap theplay’ button to view your clips. You are now in playback’ mode. Press thestop’ button to stop playback. Pressing the stop’ button a second time will return your camera to standby mode. Tap theskip’ back button once to move the playhead to the first frame of the current clip. If the playhead is already on the start of a clip, it will jump to the first frame of the previous clip.
Tap the skip’ forward button once to move the playhead to the last frame of the current clip. If the playhead is already at the end of a clip, it will jump to the first frame of the next clip. Press and hold theskip’ back and skip’ forward buttons to change them to rewind’ and `forward’ shuttle buttons. Now you can use them to change the shuttle speed to 2x, 4x, 8x or 16x. To reduce the shuttle speed, simply tap the button in the opposite direction.

The shuttle speed indicator displays the speed and direction of footage being fast forwarded or reversed
Change the playback mode from all clips’ tosingle clip’ in the setup’ menu. Insingle clip’ mode the last recorded clip is displayed when you press `play’.

TIPSwipe up or down on the touchscreen to hide status text while playing back footage. Entering the slate in playback mode will allow you to mark the current clip good take’ in metadata. For more information, see theentering metadata’ section in this manual.

Looping Playback
Tapping the play button more than once enables the `loop’ feature. Looping can be useful if you want to continue looping the same clip, or loop all clips on the timeline.

Loop

Once your clip is playing, press the `play’ button again to set your camera to play the current clip on a continuous loop.

Loop all

Tap `play’ again to play all your recorded clips on a continuous loop.

Play

Tap again to return to real time playback.

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Settings
Dashboard
Press the menu’ button to open your camera’s dashboard. This tabbed menu has settings not available from the touchscreen. Settings are divided by function intorecord’, monitor,’audio,’ setup,’presets,’ and LUTS’ tabs. Each tab has multiple pages, which you can cycle through by tapping the arrows at the edge of your camera’s touchscreen, or swiping left or right. Tap therecord,’ monitor,’audio,’ setup,’presets,’ and LUTS’ headings to move between your Cinema Camera 6K’s dashboard tabs Record Settings Therecord’ tab lets you set your video format, codec, and resolution, as well as other settings that are important for your recorded video, such as dynamic range and detail sharpening.
Record Settings 1
The first page of the `record’ settings tab contains the following settings.

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53

Codec and Quality The codec and quality’ menu lets you set the quality for Blackmagic RAW. You can choose from a selection of constant bitrate settings, or constant quality. For example 3:1, 5:1, 8:1, 12:1, or Q0, Q1, Q3 and Q5 respectively. These provide options so you can set the amount of compression used. For more information on Blackmagic RAW, refer to therecording’ section of this manual.
Blackmagic RAW quality options
TIPThe amount of video you can record on your storage media increases if you choose codecs that use higher compression. You can estimate record duration times based on different storage media capacities, frame rates and codec settings using the data rate calculator at: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/ blackmagiccinemacamera/blackmagicraw#data-rate-calculator
Resolution This setting works in combination with the `codec’ setting to define the resolution of your image.

The resolution options on Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K

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Record Settings 2
The second page of the `record’ settings tab contains the following options.

Dynamic Range Adjust the `dynamic range’ setting by tapping the dynamic range icons. Your camera has three dynamic range settings:

Video Extended Video Film

The video’ setting is the best choice for recording to a high contrast, saturated look suitable for direct delivery or minimal post processing. Video uses Rec.709 primaries with a pleasing roll off in the highlights. This is a good option if you want an accurate starting point that still has a pleasing gamma curve with room for grading if needed. Theextended video’ setting is based on Blackmagic Wide Gamut with contrast and saturation applied. The most notable differences to the video mode come from the magenta/green axis having less saturation which is more typical of print film.
The `film’ setting shoots video using a log curve that allows you to maintain the greatest dynamic range and maximizes the information in your video signal to help you get the most out of color grading software, such as DaVinci Resolve.

NOTEWhen recording Blackmagic RAW using film’ dynamic range, the image will appear dull and desaturated on your touchscreen. This is because the image file contains a lot of data that hasn’t yet been graded to suit a standard display. However, while recording film dynamic range, you can monitor the video on the touchscreen and HDMI output using a display LUT, or look up table, designed to simulate a standard contrast. For more information, refer to the3D LUTs’ section in this manual.
Project Frame Rate The project frame rate provides a selection of frame rates commonly used in the film and television industry. For example, 23.98 frames per second. This frame rate is normally set to match your playback speed and audio sync used in your post production workflow and delivery requirements.
Eight project frame rates are available, including 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 frames per second.

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Off Speed Recording By default, the project and sensor frame rates are matched for a natural playback speed. However, tapping the off speed recording’ switch icon lets you set your sensor frame rate independently. Off Speed Frame Rate Withoff speed recording’ enabled, tap the arrows next to the off speed frame rate’ indicator to set your camera’s sensor frame rate. The sensor frame rate sets how many actual frames from the sensor are recorded every second, and frame rate will affect how fast or slow your video will play back at your set project frame rate. For more information on off speed frame rates, see theframes per second’ section in the touchscreen features’ section of this manual. For information on the maximum frame rates available for each recording format and codec, refer to the tables in themaximum sensor frame rates’ section.
Preferred Media for Recording When both a CFexpress card is inserted and a USB-C flash disk is attached to your camera, use this setting to determine which disk is recorded to first. The options are CFexpress’,USB-C’ and Fullest’. ChoosingCFexpress’ or USB-C’ is a matter of personal preference, and when the selected media fills up, your camera will then continue recording on the alternate CFexpress card or USB-C flash disk.Fullest’ can help group files chronologically when shooting a single camera project.
The setting you choose is applied when a CFexpress card or a USB drive is connected. You can override this setting at any time by entering the storage manager and tapping the card name to set it as active. It’s important to note that ejecting and reconnecting a card or drive reverts to the current preferred card for recording’ setting. Thefullest’ setting is based on the percentage that your recording media is filled, rather than their sizes or the amount of data used.
Record Settings 3
The third page of the `record’ settings tab contains the following settings.

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56

Timelapse This setting activates the timelapse feature to automatically record a still frame at the following intervals:

Frames Seconds Minutes

2 ­ 10 1 ­ 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 1 ­ 10

For example, you can set the camera to record a still frame every 10 frames, five seconds, 30 seconds, five minutes etc.
The timelapse feature offers many creative options. For example, setting a two frame timelapse interval gives your recorded video a high speed effect when played back.
Start recording by pressing the record button. When you press the button again to stop recording, the timelapse sequence is saved as one single clip, matching the codec and frame rate set in your camera. This means you can drop the timelapse sequence into your post production timeline just like any other clip you have recorded.

Timelapse mode is indicated by an icon over the record’ button. TIPWhen you record clips in timelapse mode, the timecode counter updates when a frame of video is recorded. Detail Sharpening Use this setting to sharpen the image. When sharpening is enabled, decrease or increase the level of sharpening by selectinglow’, medium’ orhigh’. This setting only affects your camera’s HDMI output and can be used when recording to an external recorder over HDMI or if the output of the camera is connected to be used in a live to air environment.
TIP When post processing your Blackmagic RAW files, you can achieve a comparable level of sharpening to these settings by using the blur/sharpening tool in DaVinci Resolve’s color’ page. Set the tool to a radius of 0.48 and adjust the scaling to 0.6, 0.3 or 0.15 for comparable sharpening tohigh,’ medium,’ orlow.’ For detailed information on sharpening in post production, see the motion effects and blur palettes’ section in the full DaVinci Resolve manual. If Card Drops Frame Use this setting to configure your camera’s behavior when dropped frames are detected. When set toalert’ the dropped frame indicator will be displayed on the LCD touchscreen and recording will continue with dropped frames. When set to `stop recording’ your camera will stop

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57

recording when dropped frames are detected. This can prevent you wasting time shooting unusable footage if you don’t spot the dropped frames indicator.
For more information on choosing a suitable CFexpress card or USB-C flash disk and how to avoid dropping frames, refer to the storage media’ section. Apply LUT in File If you are shooting with the Blackmagic RAW codec and applying a LUT to the HDMI output of your camera, the selected LUT will be embedded into the Blackmagic RAW file you are recording. This means that the LUT will be saved in the header of the file and can easily be applied to the clip in post production without needing to handle a separate file. When the apply LUT in file’ switch is set to on’ in the record menu, this clip will open in Blackmagic RAW Player and DaVinci Resolve with the chosen LUT already applied to it. The LUT can then be easily toggledon’ or off’ but will always travel with the Blackmagic RAW file as it is written into the clip itself. DaVinci Resolve also has anApply LUT’ switch in the RAW settings palette for enabling or disabling the 3D LUT in the Blackmagic RAW file. The Apply LUT’ setting in DaVinci Resolve is the same setting as in the camera. This means that when shooting you can direct the colorist to use the LUT by setting it in the camera, but they can switch it off easily in DaVinci Resolve by setting Apply LUT’ to off’. Record Settings 4 The fourth page of therecord’ settings tab contains the following settings.

Vertical Recording Your Cinema Camera 6K is capable of shooting vertically for social media delivery and for general creative purposes.
Auto When set to auto, recorded clips will follow the position of the camera when the record button is pressed. For example, if the record button is pressed while the camera is in a vertical position, the recording will be tagged in the metadata as vertical. All recordings tagged as vertical in the metadata will appear vertical when played back using Davinci Resolve, Blackmagic Raw Player or QuickTime Player.
Alternatively, if the camera is in a horizontal position when recording begins the recording will stay horizontal and will be tagged as horizontal as well.
Lock Horizontal Enable the `lock horizontal’ setting to tag clips as horizontal and ensure all recordings appear horizontal regardless of the position of the camera.

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Lock Vertical Enabling the `lock vertical’ setting tags all clips’ metadata as vertical and will be displayed vertical in applications such as QuickTime Player and DaVinci Resolve.
NOTEBlackmagic RAW footage tagged as vertical requires the latest version of DaVinci Resolve for the footage to automatically appear vertical.

File Naming Convention
Clips are recorded to your CFexpress card or USB-C flash disk in the Blackmagic RAW format. Proxy files follow the same naming convention as Blackmagic RAW files but have a .MP4 suffix.
The table below shows an example of the file naming convention:

A001_08151512_C001.braw A001_08151512_C001.braw A001_08151512_C001.braw A001_08151512_C001.braw A001_08151512_C001.braw A001_08151512_C001.braw A001_08151512_C001.braw A001_08151512_C001.braw

Blackmagic RAW Filename Camera index Reel Number Month Day Hour Minute Clip Number

Still image files captured using the still’ button follow the file naming convention for video clips, however the filename hasS001′ representing the still number’ as the last four characters of the filename in place of the clip number. For information on how to change the camera index, see the Project Metadata’ section.

Monitor Settings
The monitor’ tab lets you adjust status text, overlays and other monitoring options for your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K. Options are arranged by output betweenLCD’ and HDMI’. Theviewfinder’ button provides monitoring options if you have a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera EVF installed on your camera.
Monitor settings have five pages of options, which you can cycle through by tapping the arrows at the edge of your camera’s touchscreen or by swiping left or right.

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Monitor Settings 1
The first page of the monitor tab contains identical settings for each output. For example, you can set `zebra’ on for the LCD touchscreen, but off for the HDMI output.

Clean Feed Tap the `clean feed’ switch to disable all status text and overlays for an output, except the record tally indicator.

Your camera will display a record tally even in clean feed mode
Display 3D LUT Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K can apply 3D LUTs to any output to approximate the look of color graded footage. This is especially useful when recording clips using film’ dynamic range. If your camera has a 3D LUT active, use this setting to independently apply that LUT to your LCD touchscreen, HDMI output or viewfinder. For more information on loading and using 3D LUTs, see the3D LUT’ section of this manual.
Zebra Tap the zebra’ switch to enable zebra guides. For more information on zebra guides and setting zebra levels, see thetouchscreen features’ section in this manual.
Focus Assist Tap the focus assist’ switch to enable the focus assist overlay. For more information on focus assist and setting focus assist levels, see the touchscreen features’ section in this manual.

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Frame Guide Tap the frame guide’ switch to enable frame guide overlays. For more information on frame guides and choosing different guides, see the touchscreen features’ section in this manual.
Grid Tap the grid’ switch to enable a rule of thirds grid. For more information on the rule of thirds grid, see thetouchscreen features’ section in this manual.
Safe Area Guide Tap the safe area’ switch to enable the safe area overlay. For more information on the safe area guide, see thetouchscreen features’ section in this manual.
False Color Tap the false color’ switch to enable false color exposure assistance. For more information on using false color, see thetouchscreen features’ section in this manual.
Monitor Settings 2
The second page of the monitor tab contains the following settings.

LCD, HDMI and Viewfinder
Status Text This setting can be useful to hide the status text and meters on your camera’s LCD touchscreen, HDMI output or viewfinder, leaving only the information necessary to compose or direct a shot. Tap the status text’ switch icon to toggle the appearance of status text and meters. Overlays such as frame guides, grids, focus assist and zebra remain visible, if enabled. Swiping up or down on the LCD touchscreen has the same effect. Anamorphic Desqueeze When shooting with anamorphic lenses, the image will appear horizontallysqueezed’ on your Cinema Camera 6k’s preview outputs and in recorded files. Select an `anamorphic desqueeze’ option to correct the preview image on your Cinema Camera 6K as well as recording the desqueeze amount used in the clip metadata for easy correction in post production.
The available desqueeze options will vary depending on the resolution your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K is set to.

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Anamorphic desqueeze options include:
Resolution and Aspect Ratio
6K 3:2 6:5 Anamorphic 6K DCI 6K 2.4:1 Super35 4:3 4K DCI Super16 16:9 1080HD

Desqueeze Amount
1.6x 2x 1.33x No desqueeze 1.8x 1.33x 1.33x 1.33x

TIPIf your image appears horizontally stretched when shooting with a standard spherical lens, you may have an anamorphic desqueeze enabled by accident. Select `none’ to disable and this will ensure spherical lenses are displayed correctly.

LCD and Viewfinder
Display
Instead of a histogram and audio meters, your camera can display codec and resolution information at the left and right bottom edges of the LCD touchscreen or optional Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera Pro EVF. This can be useful if you prefer to use false color for dialing in exposure, or are recording audio separately and want to display additional information in the space normally used by the histogram and audio meter. Simply tap meters’ or codec and resolution’ in the `LCD’ menu to select your preferred view.

HDMI Only
Display Status Text for Cinematographer or Director The LCD touchscreen displays information such as ISO, white balance, and aperture that is useful to a camera operator or cinematographer setting up individual shots on that camera. Your camera’s HDMI output, however, can also show information useful to a director or script supervisor who is keeping track of multiple shots or cameras.

Setting the status text to `director’ in the HDMI monitor settings changes the status text for that output to show the following information.
· FPS Displays the currently selected frames per second for that camera. If off speed frame rate is disabled, only the project frame rate is shown. If an off speed frame rate is being used, the sensor frame rate is shown, followed by the project frame rate.

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· CAM Displays the camera index as set in your camera’s slate. For more information, see the slate’ section. · OPERATOR Identifies the camera operator as set in your camera’s slate. For more information, see theslate’ section.
· DURATION DISPLAY Displays the duration of the current clip while recording, or the last recorded clip in the following format: hours:minutes:seconds.
· REEL, SCENE, TAKE Displays the current reel, scene and take. For more information on reels, scenes, takes and their labelling conventions, refer to the slate’ section. · DYNAMIC RANGE The bottom left hand corner of the monitor displays the currently applied LUT, if applied to that output. If no LUT is applied,film’ or video’ dynamic range is displayed. · TIMECODE The bottom right of the monitor displays your camera’s timecode, in the following format: hours:minutes:seconds:frames. Monitor Settings 3 The third page of theLCD’, HDMI’ andViewfinder’ monitor tab contains identical settings for each output. These settings act globally across all three monitoring outputs. For example, if focus assist is enabled on your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K’s LCD, HDMI and viewfinder outputs changing the focus assist type’ frompeaking’ to `colored lines’ will effect all three outputs.

Zebra Levels Set the exposure level that zebra appears at by tapping the arrow icons on either side of this setting. Zebra level is adjustable in five percent steps between 75 and 100 percent exposure.
For more information, see the zebra’ guide in thetouchscreen features’ section of this manual.
Focus Assist Your camera has two focus assist modes, including peak’ and colored lines.’
· Peaking When peaking’ style focus assist is selected, areas of the shot that are in focus are heavily sharpened on your LCD touchscreen, HDMI output or viewfinder, but not in the recorded image itself. This causes focused parts of your shot topop’ out of the softer background

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on screen. As no additional overlays are used, this can be a very intuitive way to tell when focus is dialed in, especially when the subject you’re focusing on is physically well separated from other elements in shot.
· Colored Lines When colored lines’ style focus assist is selected, a colored line is superimposed around the parts of the image that are in focus. This can be a little more intrusive thanpeaking’ style focus assistance as the lines are drawn over your image, but especially in busy shots with a lot of visible elements, it can be a precise focus aid.
Focus Assist Color Use this setting to change the color of focus line overlays when using colored lines’ style focus assistance. Changing the focus line color can make it easier to tell focus assistance lines apart from your image. The available options arewhite,’ red,’green,’ blue’ andblack.’
Focus Assist Level To set the level of focus assistance for your LCD, HDMI output and viewfinder, move the slider from left to right.
Setting the focus assist intensity level does not affect whether focus assistance is enabled on your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K’s LCD, HDMI output and viewfinder. You need to turn focus assistance on individually for each output in the LCD, HDMI output and viewfinder monitor menus.
TIP The optimum level of focus assistance varies shot by shot. When focusing on actors, for example, a 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 focus information at higher settings.
Monitor Settings 4
The fourth page of the LCD’,HDMI’ and `viewfinder’ monitor tab contains identical settings for each output. These settings act globally across all three of your camera’s monitor outputs.

Frame Guides
Tap the left or right arrows in the frame guides’ menu setting to cycle through frame guide options for all outputs on your camera. The options are detailed in thetouchscreen features’ section of this manual, and are also accessible from the LCD monitoring menu in your LCD touchscreen head up display. It’s worth noting that you can individually select whether

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frame guides appear on the LCD touchscreen, HDMI output or viewfinder in their respective monitor’ menus. Safe Area Guide To adjust the size of the safe area overlay on your camera’s LCD touchscreen, HDMI and viewfinder outputs, tap the arrows to the left and right of the percentage displayed in this setting. This percentage indicates the size of the safe area in relation to the image frame. Most broadcasters require a 90% safe area. Guide Opacity Tap the left or right arrows in theguide opacity’ menu setting to choose the opacity of the areas blocked out by frame guides on your LCD touchscreen, HDMI output and viewfinder. The options are 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.
Guides Color Tap the left or right arrows in the guides color’ menu setting to choose a color for the guides. Grids To set which combination of grids and crosshair you want to display on your camera’s LCD touchscreen, HDMI output and viewfinder, tap thethirds’, horizon’,crosshair’ or dot’ options in this setting. For more information, see thegrids’ guide in the touchscreen features’ section. Monitor Settings 5 The fifth page of your Cinema Camera 6K’sLCD’ and Viewfinder” monitor tab contains some settings that vary depending on the selected output. These settings are not available for theHDMI’ output.
LCD only Screen Brightness Drag the screen brightness’ slider in theLCD’ menu left or right to adjust the brightness of your camera’s LCD touchscreen.
Viewfinder

Viewfinder Brightness Allows adjustments for the brightness of the viewfinder display.

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Focus Chart The viewfinder has a built in focus chart so you can focus the eye piece to suit your eyes. The diopter has an adjustment range of -4 to +4. Simply turn the focus diopter on the eyepiece until the chart is in perfect focus.
Smooth Motion This setting smooths the motion of fast moving images displayed by the viewfinder. It is common to see judder when shooting at frame rates lower than 30p on a display that doesn’t run at that native frame rate, especially when you see the display close up. Judders are eliminated when you switch on smooth motion’ with the shutter angle at 180 or less and the frame rate set to 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 or 30p. Audio Settings Theaudio’ tab lets you adjust the audio input and monitoring settings on your camera.
The audio settings for the camera are spread over two pages and divided between channels 1 and 2.
You can map each audio channel to a different source, as well as adjusting various settings such as gain control.
Audio Settings 1
The first page of the `audio’ tab contains the following settings.

· Channel Source Use the channel 1 source’ andchannel 2 source’ buttons to select your audio source for each audio channel. Below is a description of each channel source setting.
· Camera Left or Right Records from your camera’s internal microphones.
· Camera Mono Creates a single audio channel from your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K’s built in microphone’s left and right channels.
· XLR Line Uses your camera’s XLR input to record line level audio. You can also use this setting to accept a timecode signal through the XLR port.
· XLR Mic Records mic level audio from your camera’s XLR input. If phantom power is enabled and you have your XLR input set to mic’ you’ll also see a +48V’ indicator here. It is also important to ensure that the 48V switch gets turned `off’ when you disconnect your

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phantom powered microphone. You can also use this setting to accept a timecode signal through the XLR port.
· 3.5mm Left ­ Line Uses only the left channel of the 3.5mm input as line level audio. You can also use this setting to accept a timecode signal on the left channel of the 3.5mm microphone input.
· 3.5mm Right ­ Line Uses only the right channel of the 3.5mm input as line level audio.
· 3.5mm Mono ­ Line Creates a mono mix of the left and right channel from the 3.5mm input as line level audio.
· 3.5mm Left ­ Mic Uses only the left channel of the 3.5mm input as mic level audio.
· 3.5mm Right ­ Mic Uses only the right channel of the 3.5mm input as mic level audio.
· 3.5mm Mono ­ Mic Creates a mono mix of the left and right channel from the 3.5mm input as mic level audio.
· None Disables your audio channel.
NOTEWhen selecting the 3.5mm input as an audio source, the channel 1 and channel 2 source both need to be line level or mic level. This means that if you select 3.5mm left – line’ as your channel 1 source, the available options for the 3.5mm input on channel 2 will all be line level:3.5mm left – line’, 3.5mm right – line’ and3.5mm mono line’. The mic level options will be grayed out.
Channel 1/2 Level Use these sliders to adjust the recording levels of your chosen channel 1 and 2 sources. Audio meters are included with each slider to help you set the correct audio level. To achieve optimum audio quality, ensure your audio levels do not reach 0 dBFS. This is the maximum level that your camera can record, meaning that any audio that exceeds this level will be clipped, resulting in distortion.
XLR Phantom Power Your camera’s XLR inputs can provide 48V phantom power so you can use microphones that aren’t self powered. When your camera is set to XLR’ audio input, simply tap thephantom power’ switch icon to enable phantom power.

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Audio Settings 2
The second page of the `audio’ tab contains the following settings.

Audio Meters You can choose from two different audio meter display types.

VU

The VU meter, or `volume units’ meter, averages out short peaks and troughs in

your audio signal. If you are using VU metering, adjust the input levels on your

Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K so that the meter peaks at the 0db indicator on

the audio meter. This maximizes the signal to noise ratio and ensures your audio

is at the highest quality. If your audio peaks beyond the 0dB indicator there is a

high risk of sound distortion.

PPM

PPM meters, or peak program meters’ displays apeak hold’ feature that momentarily holds the signal peaks and a slow fall back so you can easily see where your audio is peaking.

Both VU and PPM meters are available at reference levels of -18dBFS or -20dBFS so you can monitor your audio to suit different international broadcasting standards.

Audio meter setting PPM (-20 dBFS) PPM (-18 dBFS)

Standard SMPTE RP.0155 EBU R.68

Headphones Volume This slider adjusts the output levels for headphones attached to your camera’s 3.5mm headphone jack. Move the audio slider left or right to adjust levels.
Speaker Volume This slider adjusts the output levels for the built in speaker. Move the audio slider left or right to adjust levels.

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NOTEIt is standard practice to plug in your XLR cable before switching phantom power on. It is also important to switch phantom power to off’ when you no longer have a phantom powered microphone connected. Connecting equipment that doesn’t require phantom power when still in phantom power mode can damage your equipment, as the camera outputs a charge when in this mode. Phantom power can also take quite a while to discharge after switching it off. Please be aware that you should wait a few minutes when switching off phantom power before plugging in any other microphones or XLR audio equipment. Setup Settings Thesetup’ tab contains your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K’s identification settings, software version, function button settings and other camera settings not directly linked to recording or monitoring. This menu has seven pages that you can cycle through by tapping the arrows at the edge of the LCD touchscreen, or swiping left or right.
Setup Settings 1
The first page of your camera’s `setup’ tab contains the following settings.

Name Use this option to give your camera a unique name. To change the name: 1 Tap on the edit icon to open the text editor. 2 Tap the circled cross to delete the current name and type in a new name using the alpha
numeric keyboard. 3 Tap update’ to save the new name. Language Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K supports 13 popular languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish and Ukrainian. The language page will also appear on initial start up. To select your language: 1 Tap the pencil icon and select your language from the list. 2 Selectok’ to return to the setup menu.

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Date and Time Set your camera’s date and time by tapping the date and time’ setting. The date format is year, month, day and the time format is 24 hour. Date and time are also used for time of day timecode if an external timecode source is not connected. The date and time can be set manually by entering your own date, time and time zone, or you can set your camera to set it automatically. When setting manually, tap on each field to enter the time and date and tap update’ to confirm.
When set to automatically’, your Cinema Camera 6K will update the date and time when connected to a network via Ethernet, or the next time you update your camera. The camera’s default network time protocol server is time.cloudflare.com but you can set it yourself by tapping thetime protocol’ edit icon and entering your own NTP server. After entering the NTP server tap `update’ to confirm.

Hardware ID The hardware ID’ indicator displays an 8 character identifier for your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K. This is unique to each camera. A longer, 32 character version of this ID is also included in the metadata for Blackmagic RAW. This can be useful for identifying which footage came from a particular camera. Software Displays the version number of the currently installed software. See theBlackmagic Camera Setup Utility’ section for more information on updating software.
Camera The camera setting sets the alpha numeric prefix at the start of a clip’s filename when recording to external media. To edit the prefix, tap on the edit icon and replace it with a new one. Tap `update’ to apply.

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Setup Settings 2
The second page of your camera’s `setup’ tab contains the following settings.

Shutter Measurement Use this setting to select whether to display shutter information as shutter angle’ orshutter speed’.
It’s worth mentioning that when using shutter angle, the shutter conforms to the frame rate. For example, 180 degrees produces the same motion blur, no matter which frame rate you use.
When using shutter speed, however, the shutter is given an absolute value determined independently of the frame rate, so the results differ if you change the frame rate.
Flicker Free Shutter Based On Use this setting to change the mains power frequency your camera uses to calculate flicker free shutter settings.
When shooting under lights, your shutter can affect the visibility of flicker. Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K automatically calculates a flicker free shutter value for your current frame rate and suggests up to three shutter values. Shutter values are affected by the frequency of the local mains power supply used to drive those lights. In most PAL countries, this frequency is 50Hz, while NTSC countries typically use 60Hz power. Tap 50Hz’ or60Hz’ to set the right frequency for your region.
Characteristics of various light sources may still cause flicker even when using flicker free shutter values. We recommend performing a test shoot when not using continuous lights.
Drop Frame Timecode Use the timecode drop frame’ option to use drop frame timecode when using NTSC project frame rates of 29.97 and 59.94. Drop frame timecode skips a small number of frames from the timecode at set intervals. This keeps your project timecode accurate despite each second not containing a whole number of frames at NTSC frame rates. Image Stabilization Use theimage stabilization’ option to enable or disable image stabilization on lenses without a physical switch.
When using gyro stabilization in DaVinci Resolve, ensure this setting is disabled. For more information on how to use gyro stabilization, refer to the `gyro stabilization’ section later in this manual.

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Setup Settings 3
The third page of your camera’s `setup’ tab contains the following settings.
Set Function Button On the top of your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K you’ll notice three function buttons. The dots on the buttons represent function 1, function 2 and function 3. These can be mapped to frequently used features and are quickly accessible when using your camera.

The function buttons are represented by dots and are located on the top of your camera

To set these buttons, select a function button and then the behavior, settings and parameters you want for that function.

1

2

3 4
1Button2Behavior3Setting4Parameter

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Function Button Behaves as Preset or Toggle Once you have selected the function button you want to map, you can select a behavior. The available options are:
· Preset When set to this behavior, pressing a function button will recall a combination of a setting and a parameter. To set a preset, select the setting you want to use from the setting’ menu, and adjust that setting by tapping the arrow icons on either side of theparameter’ menu. For example, to set the F1 button to recall a preset white balance, use the set function button’ arrows to selectF1′, select the preset’ behavior, tap theWB’ setting, and tap the arrows on either side of the parameter’ menu until you get to WB 5600K’ and Tint -20′. · Toggle When set to this behavior, pressing a function button will toggle a particular setting on or off. Thesetting’ menu is grayed out in this mode. Instead, tap the left or right arrows in the parameter menu to scroll through the available options. These are clean feed’,display LUT’, frame guides’, focus assist’, false color’,zebra’, grid’,safe area guide’, off speed recording’,color bars’, record’, andnone’. Using the toggle’ behavior also lets you select the output this setting applies to. Simply tap any combination ofLCD,’ HDMI’ andViewfinder’ to select. If the output for an option is not available, such as color bars’ which always applies to all outputs, theLCD,’ HDMI’, andViewfinder’ settings are disabled.
Setup Settings 4
The fourth page of the `setup’ tab contains the following settings.

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Tally Light LED Your Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K has a small LED on the front to indicate the recording status of the camera.
To enable or disable the tally light indicator, use the tally light LED’ switch. LED Brightness To set the brightness of the tally light LED, taplow,’ medium,’ orhigh.’
Auto Dim Display Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K has an option to automatically turn down the brightness of the LCD touchscreen during periods of inactivity to conserve battery power. Select an option for `dim display after’ to set how long to wait before dimming the display. Next time you touch the LCD touchscreen, it will return to its normal brightness level.
Playback This setting allows you to se

References

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• P65Warnings.ca
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• Blackmagic Cinema Camera | Blackmagic Design
• Blackmagic Cinema Camera – Blackmagic RAW | Blackmagic Design
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