News

Blackmagic URSA Mini Camera

Blackmagic Design announcements
at NAB 2015

There must be something in the water at Blackmagic Design headquarters, as the NAB show has brought us a slew of new and exciting products from this prolific brand, including new cinematic production cameras and an update to its DaVinci Resolve software.

Blackmagic Design have seemingly come from nowhere in recent years to establish themselves as a company that offers incredible production equipment at an affordable price, giving users at all levels of the industry access to professional tools no matter what the job. And the recent announcements at NAB have carried on in this tradition by seeing the camera ranges expand into the mini and micro territories that cater to the increasingly popular aerial photography users, as well as low-budget/indie filmmakers who want access to this incredible technology at a price point they can’t refuse!

For the URSA range of digital film cameras, Blackmagic have released a new 4.6K sensor that builds on the already incredible image quality, offering a higher resolution as well as 15 stops of dynamic range, which is approaching the good old days of 35mm film. This Super-35 image sensor gives you a resolution of 4608 x 2592 at 120 frames per second making it suitable for any modern filming applications. The sensor will be available as an upgrade for existing URSA users, as well as two new models of Blackmagic URSA camera, the URSA 4.6K EF for canon mount and the URSA 4.6K PL for users of high end cinema lenses. The models should be available summer 2015.

And while we are on the subject of the URSA cameras, Blackmagic Design have announced the URSA Mini, which has been billed as the world’s lightest handheld Super-35 digital film camera and sports the new 4.6K sensor, 15 stops of dynamic range and global shutter. Designed from the ground up as a completely integrated and compact system, the Blackmagic Design URSA Mini is going to be the camera of choice for smaller film productions, commercials and music videos, capable of capturing truly cinematic images to RAW or Apple ProRes. There’s some other features such as a fast release mounting plate and integrated LCD and viewfinder that makes this a viable and compact production camera for run-and-gun documentary filming as well.

Blackmagic Design have also announced the Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera and Micro Studio Camera 4K models. The Micro Cinema Camera looks to be the perfect solution for professional quality aerial photography production, and features some innovative remote control technology for operating the camera wirelessly. The built in expansion port provides access to most of the cameras functions via commonly available remote controls, like you’d get for radio model aircraft that, that are easily mapped to the camera settings. The specs are much the same as the Pocket Cinema camera, giving you pristine 1080 images, with global shutter and records to CinemaDNG RAW or Apple ProRes. The Micro Studio Camera 4K is the Ultra HD solution for live production, and Blackmagic have emphasised image quality as the main selling feature of this ultra-compact camera. It features a MFT mount, and therefore access to the widest range of lenses available, and broadcast-ready Ultra HD images all in a chassis that fits into the palm of your hand! We think this will be the camera of choice for reality TV where you may need a cost-effective solution for a multitude of hidden cameras as well as sports events, concerts and online video content.

Cameras aside, Blackmagic have also announced an upgrade to its DaVinci Resolve platform – DaVinci Resolve 12 brings 80 new features for colour-grading and now stands as a full-blown video editing platform with multi-camera editing, new media management tools, an entirely new audio engine with VST/AU plugin compatibility, a 3D Keyer and much more! The Blackmagic Video Assist will give Atomos a run for their money with a high quality monitor and recorder that features a high resolution 1920x1080 monitor and also a built in recorder that records broadcast-spec 10bit ProRes and DNxHD files onto ultra-cheap SD cards! The video assist is compatible with any existing HDMI camera and looks to be the perfect match for the new Micro range of cameras from Blackmagic.

And finally, for the broadcast world, Blackmagic have announced HyperDeck Studio 12G solid-state broadcast deck, and the ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K Live Switcher. The HyperDeck Studio is capable of recording SD, HD and UltraHD up to 2160p60 and features advanced 12G-SDI and HDMI 2.0 connectivity. Now is definitely the time to upgrade your tired old broadcast decks to the next generation of 10bit 4:2:2 recorders, capable of broadcast quality Apple ProRes and DNxHD files for SD, HD and Ultra HD. It also pairs nicely with the brand new ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K which is the worlds first high frame rate, Ultra HD switcher capable of 2160p60 with 12G-SDI technology. The ATEM 2 M/E has been designed to meet the modern demands of high frame rate production workflows such as live sporting events, at incredible 4K resolution. It features two built-in multi-views allowing 16 sources, a built in media-pool for graphics storage and a large number of transitions including cut, mix, and dip to colour wipe and more, way more than we can mention in this article! This is the unit for achieving the ultra-realistic look of live sporting events and music concerts, and far exceeds the look of high end HD.

Full information on the products mentioned here can be found at:

Blackmagic Design URSA 4.6K
Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4.6K
Blackmagic Design Micro Cinema Camera
Blackmagic Design Micro Studio Camera 4K
Blackmagic Design HyperDeck 12G
Blackmagic Design ATEM 2 M/E Broadcast Studio 4K
Blackmagic Design Video Assist

For purchase any Blackmagic Design products for your next production, please contact ESV on 020 3137 2901 or email us at [email protected].

Blackmagic Design URSA EF mount Digital Film CameraBlackmagic Design URSA Mini Digital Film CameraBlackmagic Design URSA Mini Eastwood Sound and VisionBlackmagic Design Micro Cinema CameraBlackmagic Design Micro Studio Camera 4KBlackmagic Design HyperDeck 12G Broadcast RecorderBlackmagic Design ATEM 2 M/E 4K SwitcherBlackmagic Design Video Assist Monitor and Recorder