A New Beta Update for Adding Autofocus to the Blackmagic Design PYXIS is Here

Exciting news has been shared on the Blackmagic Design forums about a new beta update coming out for the company’s popular PYXIS cinema camera. The PYXIS 6K is getting a new test build beta update that adds support for PDAF, along with other helpful autofocus-adjacent updates you might want to check out.

Now, this is just a beta update, so you can also wait a bit until it's been more thoroughly tested and ready for an official release. But if you’re itching to try it out, here’s what you need to know.

Blackmagic Design PYXIS Autofocus Update

As noted above, this is a new beta update that was shared on the Blackmagic Design forums by Kristian Lam, the PYXIS product manager. The build has been updated and is now a test build that has the following changes:

• Adds support for PDAF in PYXIS 6K
• Adds support for option to resize focus box in continuous and object tracking mode
• Linear focus support on PYXIS 6K for compatible L-Mount lenses.
• Ensure your lens is updated to the latest firmware
• Face detection will autofocus on detected face automatically once a region is first "tapped"
• Fixes camera hanging on startup when headphones jack is connected

A few things to note: this build can be used for both PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K. And that the PYXIS 6K EF is also supported. So far, it sounds like things are working quite well, but BMD is encouraging testers to play with the "Transition Speed" settings on pg 11 of the camera's SETTINGS page, since EF lenses seem more sensitive.

How to Update

If you’re interested in checking this update out yourself, you’ll need to sign up via a Forms doc, where you’ll need to enter your email to get the download from a Sharefile service. You can find everything you need here.

Blackmagic Design PYXIS 6K Cinema Box Camera (Canon EF)

Introducing the next generation customizable cinema camera! Blackmagic PYXIS 6K is a high end digital film camera that produces precise skin tones and rich organic colors.