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Blackmagic URSA Mini - $2995 - official thread


Andrew Reid
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Video-ish motion cadence... Not sure I'm seeing that.  Perhaps you can share some examples.  And btw, what do you believe causes this?

​To be honest, I don't know what causes it on a technical level - I'm no camera engineer :P. It's just something that seems to be rampant among various Sony cameras. Except for the Sony F65 - that doesn't seem to suffer from it - and others that have noticed this problem with Sony cameras, but not with the F65, say it's due to the F65's mechanical-shutter...

I dunno. Maybe it's subjective? I just get this real "video-ish" vibe when I see footage from the FS100, FS700, F5, and F55...

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EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs

Really wish it was a s35 sensor with a m43 mount. Choosing between EF and PL is a concern. I have Nikon lenses at the moment but would like to pick up some EF glass at some point but also want PL glass in the future. A more adaptable mount would have been nice.

​I agree, if this had m4/3 mount instead like JVC has done, then I'd find the URSA a lot more appealing! I might even be able to overlook its lack of NDs, as I could then regain this via an adapter (though no such luck when using native m4/3 lenses unfortunately. Really, it should have m4/3 mount *AND* built in NDs, like the JVC has). 

 

MAYBE they'll add NDs at the last minute, because so many people have complained about it. And maybe maybe a future version will be in m4/3 mount, like with the BMCC EF and then later the BMCC MFT. However... they've had the BMPC4K out for a while now, and never yet followed up with a BMPC4K MFT :-( So I am highly doubting a URSA MFT will ever happen :-(

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​To be honest, I don't know what causes it on a technical level - I'm no camera engineer :P. It's just something that seems to be rampant among various Sony cameras. Except for the Sony F65 - that doesn't seem to suffer from it - and others that have noticed this problem with Sony cameras, but not with the F65, say it's due to the F65's mechanical-shutter...

I dunno. Maybe it's subjective? I just get this real "video-ish" vibe when I see footage from the FS100, FS700, F5, and F55...

Doesn't the F55 have the exact same mechanical shutter?

 

 

 

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Imagine NAB without BM.

All we'd have is a sensor for next year and a slight reworking of their system (RED)... 2 fixed lens cameras (Canon, Panny)... and 1 great, but pricey C300 mk II.

BM certainly know how to shake it up each year.

​True!!

Would be very boring.

At least for us. Not if you have $1m production budget to spend on cameras :)

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just got the newsletter from blackmagic..these are the new products...the best part is that it uses canon batteries LP-E6! Canon must be so excited (not) well at least they will sell alot of batteries now for the micro and mini

​I dug through the mini specs and never saw it powered with anything at all. Only that is has a power-in port and an available pinch plate for pro batteries. I'd be pretty amazed if you could power the thing with a DSLR battery. Or even two.

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I've been impressed by BMD and their take on the industry.

 

However, I talked with a rep at NAB and he mentioned recording at 4.6K required two C-fast cards to record as it wrote to both cards. Something to note.

Still I'm stoked about this camera, we typically rent Red or Alexa for our main projects, but own a BMPC to use for pickups or whatever. Their image holds up very well. I did forget to ask whether the sensor could be replaced for future upgrades, that I will be interested in. 

With how how fast cameras are moving (looking at you Red) investing in a camera is a really tough choice. BMD makes it easy to earn back that investment pretty quickly.

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I am wondering what "anamorphic ready" means for this camera? As far as I know any camera you can put an Anamorphic lens like the slr magic and then do the anamorphic processing in post. 

​anamorphic ready means that on the EVF or on the flip-out screen the image will be "unsqueezed" so that it looks normal to your eye as you're shooting. Otherwise you're looking at squeezed stick people while you're filming and it's tougher to judge things like focus.

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Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

​anamorphic ready means that on the EVF or on the flip-out screen the image will be "unsqueezed" so that it looks normal to your eye as you're shooting. Otherwise you're looking at squeezed stick people while you're filming and it's tougher to judge things like focus.

​and most importantly that you can shoot at native 4:3 aspect ratio to get the most resolution out of the sensor, instead of wasting tons of vertical resolution if you shoot anamorphic on a regular 16:9 camera. It's basically a resolution/aspect ratio matter plus the ability to view/frame the un-squeezed image while shooting in the camera's LCD/EVF.

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​Well said.  I'm personally still very excited about The URSA Mini, but the 5k price isn't the real cost of owning.  For a cheap-as-possible solution I figure:

Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K - Real Cost of Owning:
 - $ 4995 - 4.6K body
 - $ 1200 - Media/CFast 2.0 Card(s)  = (Roughly 2 hours of Record Time?)
 - $     95 - BM V-Vount Adapter
 - $   500 - Cheap V-mount Batteries (2) and Charger

---------------------

So, without glass and "non-essentials' like a top handle/plate/support, your still looking around $7000 to get into this cam as a functional unit.

​YIKES!  I've been unable to find any info regarding recording duration for the URSA Mini, but if it's anything like it's big brother, my earlier estimate for recording media cost/duration was GROSSLY underestimated!  *(Attached are two images from the URSA documentation, current as of FEB 2015 - for the 4K edition).

That means that for every 256gb CFast 2.0 card ($1000ea.) you get:

- 4k RAW @ 24p:             11min

- 4k RAW 3:1 @ 24p:       21min

- 4k RAW 3:1 @ 60p:        8min!

Again, that's only 8 min of over cranked video for $1000!  That is ridiculous, and you still have to store it!  I imagine it only gets worse with the 4.6k Mini.  And can you imagine the 4.6k @ 120p on the Big URSA?!

I currently have media for days, and try to have enough media on set for my current setup for 8-12 hours, a full days shoot.  Makes sense right?  Can you imagine spending $24,000 on 8 hours worth of media, just to make it through a shoot day?  Granted, you can always buy less and dump.  But even if you buy only an hours worth for $3000, that means paying a PA who's full-time job is basically off-loading media while you shoot. So what if you're shooting alone?  Or you're on location?  Jeez, I dunno...  I don't mean to be negative, but those are definitely things to think about.

I understand they're now offering a 4:1 conversion, so that may help a bit, and you can always record in ProRes 422, but I know I'd want to record in RAW and I'm just not sure I can/want to afford this camera right now.  I have cash in hand, and I'm fully excited about the cam, but now I'm wondering if the cost of media is going to be too big of a hurdle to pull the trigger, at least at this moment.

What's everyone else think about this? Thoughts?

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Screen Shot 2015-04-15 at 7.12.18 PM.png

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