One of the most often requested features on cameras from Blackmagic Design has been continuous autofocus. Last year the company began working on continuous autofocus for its Cinema Camera 6K. Now the Blackmagic Design has rolled out autofocus to its popular Blackmagic Design PYXIS 6K Cinema Box Camera.
A little history
Blackmagic Design’s cinema cameras are renowned for their image quality and super easy menu system. The stumbling block for some users has been the lack of autofocus with the cameras. In fact, Blackmagic Design’s cameras have always had a basic one-time push-to-focus feature. However, there has never been the option for continuous autofocus or autofocus tracking.
Cinema Camera 6K
Out of the blue 12 months ago, Blackmagic Design released a firmware update for its full frame Cinema Camera 6k. This update included a beta version of continuous phase detection autofocus (PDAF) for that camera. The implementation was quite limited and clearly an early protype. However, Blackmagic Design has continued to develop the feature, and it has improved considerably across multiple iterations. This week the company released the latest version of the firmware and announced that it can be used for both the PYXIS 6K and Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera 6K.
Firmware 10.0.3 RC1
Blackmagic Design has described the new firmware 10.0.3 RC1 as a test build. The headline feature is that the update adds support for PDAF in the PYXIS 6K. It also adds the option to resize the focus box in continuous and object tracking mode. For L-mount PYXIS 6K models, the update adds linear focus support for compatible L-mount lenses. You will need to ensure that your lens is updated to the latest firmware. In addition, with the new firmware, face detection will autofocus on the detected face automatically once a region is first tapped. Apart from the autofocus implementation, the firmware fixes a big where the PYXIS 6K could hang on startup when headphones were connected to the headphone jack.
PYXIS 6K functionality
There are four autofocus options for the PYXIS 6K. There is AF-S (autofocus single) where the camera will focus once when you tap the control. This is the mode that Blackmagic Design cameras have always had. However, you now also have AF-C continuous autofocus. Once you select this option, you then tap on the monitor screen to set the area you want to keep in focus.
Additionally, there are two autofocus tracking options, object tracking and face detect. Again, you need to tap the screen to select the face or object to track. You can drag to resize the tracking box and there is the option set the autofocus transition speed as well.
What we think
The addition of autofocus on Blackmagic Design’s PYXIS 6K camera has been warmly welcomed by users. There are already a number of videos online from PYXIS owners which show the continuous autofocus and tracking to be working well. It’s still very much a work in progress. It’s also a long way from the autofocus performance of cameras from Sony or Canon.
However, the improvements over the past 12 months show that Blackmagic Design is working hard on its autofocus implementation. If the company can make its autofocus reliable and accurate then Blackmagic’s cameras may be be unbeatable.
Pricing and availability
If you want to install the new firmware on your camera, you need to download it from a thread on the Blackmagic Forum. There’s also a link to a form to post any bugs or issues that you find. Please be aware that as a test build, the firmware may be unstable and may have bugs. You should consider this before deciding to try the update.
