Every year, Blackmagic Design unveils its latest innovations on the eve of NAB, and this year is no exception. Blackmagic has unveiled a trio of cinema cameras that are set to redefine visual storytelling.
These cameras include the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K, the Pyxis 6K modular camera, and the eagerly anticipated URSA 17K, which is set to arrive later this year.
Each device embodies Blackmagic’s evolving philosophy of democratizing professional content creation with innovative filmmaking technology at a very competitive if not disruptive, price point.
Image Credit – Blackmagic Design
“We wanted to build our dream high-end camera that had everything we had ever wanted,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO, “Blackmagic URSA Cine is the realization of that dream with a completely new generation of image sensor, a body with industry-standard features and connections, and seamless integration into high-end workflows.
Image Credit – Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K
The Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K is designed with total integration of a post-production workflow in mind. It features a new, 2nd generation large format 12K image sensor, with larger pixels for up to 16 stops of dynamic range.
The camera comes with up to 8 TB of built-in storage and also includes high-speed networking connectivity for syncing to Blackmagic Cloud.
The URSA Cine 12K’s RGBW architecture uses 5th-generation color science with a new film curve that can deliver billions of rich colors at all resolutions, with accurate skin tones and sharp image quality.
The full sensor area also provides a 3:2 open gate image, and the camera can shoot anamorphic with 1.3, 1.5, 1.6, 1.66, 1.8, and 2x de-squeeze factors.
The camera has a built-in optical low pass filter with IR filtering matched and optimized with the sensor to preserve the most color and image detail available.
The URSA Cine 12K also features an interchangeable lens mount with support for quickly switching between PL, LPL, EF, and Hasselblad lens mounts. Each mount includes contact pins for transferring lens metadata for use in post-production.
The URSA Cine 12K’s 8TB of on-camera storage can keep up to four hours of Blackmagic RAW in 12K, or 20 hours in 4K. There is also an optional Media Module CF with dual CF Express card slots that makes swapping out media cards simple and fast for offloading original camera files.
The camera can also connect through 8-pin LEMO and 3-pin Fischer connection for both 24V and 12V power connections, plus a 250W power supply with a B mount battery plate for a wide range of power options. Customers also get 12G‑SDI out, four 10G Ethernet ports, USB-C, XLR audio and more.
The Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K is available now for a retail price of $14,995.
Image Credit – Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K
The URSA Cine 17K, with its jaw-dropping 65mm large format image sensor and support for 16 stops of dynamic range, will be able to capture 12K Open Gate without cropping and a native ISO of 800. All other features and pricing are yet to be determined, but it looks like the large format URSA Cine 17K will be available later this year.
Image Credit – Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Pyxis 6K
The Blackmagic Pyxis 6K Cinema Camera represents a departure from BMD’s traditional camera design with its modular, cubed, or boxed design.
The Pyxis features a full-frame 36 x 24mm 6K sensor that provides up to 13 stops of dynamic range with dual native ISO to a maximum of 25,600.
The Pyxis also features dual CF Express media card slots for storage. The camera can shoot open gate 3:2 as well as capture in true 6:5 anamorphic without cropping, with full widescreen support.
Image Credit – Blackmagic Design
Available in either L-Mount, EF-Mount, or PL-mount configurations, the Pyxis 6K can shoot in all standard resolutions and frame rates up to 6K, and capture Blackmagic RAW with H.264 proxies which are uploaded to Blackmagic Cloud within seconds of yelling cut.
This ability to transfer directly to DaVinci Resolve Media Bin preserves detail, exposure, and color metadata for post-production. It can also capture up to 24.6 MP still images.
Other features include a 12G-SDI out with support for HDR and Ultra HD output, HDMI, Ethernet, and wireless 4G or 5G phone connections for mobile transfers in the field.
The camera also has a built-in side-mounted LCD with 1500 nits of brightness for monitoring all camera functions by a crew assistant. Mini XLR with 48v phantom power, optional URSA Cine EVF, and a BP-U series battery mount are also supported.
All told, the Pyxis design is a most welcome sight, and kudos to Blackmagic for pivoting into a more film-centric design philosophy. But a 6K sensor seems to be rather behind the power curve in a rapidly expanding 8K universe.
The Blackmagic Pyxis 6K Cinema Camera will be available this June for a retail price of $2,995. Check out all three cameras at the Blackmagic Booth, SL5055 during NAB 2024 in Las Vegas.
[source: Blackmagic Design]
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