How to Connect Blackmagic to Computer – Getting Started
Connecting a camera to a computer is one of the best ways to share photos from your camera to a computer for storage and other tasks such as editing.
You can also connect the camera to a computer to simply live record or simply view photos on a larger display.
It’s for this reason that cameras such as Blackmagic have a USB port and HDMI. Ideally, you’ll need to connect a recording device such as the UltraStudio Mini Recorder to your camera’s HDMI port on one end and the other to connect it to your computer.
You can also use the native USB port on your Blackmagic camera to connect to your computer. This will give you the ability to share photos and, as a result, free up space on your camera.
Afterward, you can edit the footage or stills you’ve captured. Blackmagic has an app, DaVinci Resolve, that you can use to edit the footage you’ve transferred to your PC.
That said, let’s look at some of the ways to hook up your Blackmagic camera to a computer.
The Process of Connecting a Blackmagic Camera to a PC is as follows:
Connecting Using a Recording Device
1. To connect your Blackmagic camera to a Mac or Windows PC using a recording device, you’ll first need to download desktop drivers on the Blackmagic Design website. The driver may refuse to install because of your PC settings.
2. Once you’ve downloaded the drivers, double-click on the installer icon.
3. Select the ‘Continue‘ option until the driver installation is complete.
4. Connect your Blackmagic camera to the recording device; for this instance, we’ll use Blackmagic’s UltraStudio Mini Recorder.
5. Then connect the recording device to your computer via the Thunderbolt port.
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6. From there, click on the Apple logo in the top left corner of your screen.
7. At this moment, a drop-down menu will show up. Click on ‘System Preferences.’ It’s the second option you’ll see on the drop-down menu.
8. Next, click on the ‘Blackmagic Desktop Video‘ icon. This icon has a play button inside. You’ll most likely find it in the bottom left corner of the ‘System Preferences” menu
9. This will launch Blackmagic’s desktop video utility.
10. Inside the desktop video utility, choose the right input source, whether HDMI or SDI and click on ‘Save.’ Note the input source is determined by the recording device you’re using. If your camera is connected to the device via HDMI, click on HDMI.
Now, your Blackmagic camera is connected to your PC via a recording device, and you can begin to use the connection to output RAW footage.
Troubleshooting Driver Installation Problems on Mac
When installing drivers on a Mac PC and Mac laptop, it’s necessary to change the System Preferences known as ‘GateKeeper.’ By default, this option prevents the installation of any applications that aren’t on the App Store.
To change the default ‘Gate Keeper’ settings;
1. On the ‘System Preferences‘ menu, click ‘Security and Privacy.’
2. Next, click on the ‘General‘ window.
3. Then click on the padlock in the bottom corner of your screen to unlock it. You might need to enter your admin password to effect the changes.
Connecting Via The USB Port
1. To connect a Blackmagic camera via the USB port, confirm that the camera isn’t connected to the computer and then switch the camera on.
2. Then change your camera’s Auto Power Off settings. Kindly refer to the manual that your camera came with because this varies from model to model.
3. Turn your computer on.
4. Plug your camera’s USB cable into an unoccupied USB port on your computer. USB ports are typically on the side of laptops and the back of desktops.
5. Connect the other end of the USB cable to the USB port on your camera.
6. Your PC should open ‘Media Management.’ This is because it will assume you want to share files from the camera. If this doesn’t happen and you want to share files from the camera, manually open the documents section and copy the files manually.
7. Create a new folder where you’d like to copy the files. Then, paste the files you’ve copied into the new folder.
You have successfully connected your Blackmagic camera to a computer using the USB port and shared files. Next, proceed to turn off the camera.
Final Thought
To sum it all up, connecting your Blackmagic camera comprises lengthy step-by-step methods.
However, if you follow all the steps carefully, you should be able to connect your Blackmagic Camera to your computer for tasks such as sharing footage, live recording, etc.
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