Blackmagic Design announces Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12K

New sensor

The new digital film camera from Blackmagic is equipped with a 12,288 x 6,480 12K Super 35 sensor, has a dynamic range of 14 f-stops and offers frame rates of up to 60 images per second in 12K (with 80 megapixels per frame). Thanks to the oversampling in 12K, the user is provided with high-quality 8K and 4K images with many details, which should correspond to the quality standard of still cameras from the upper price segment. According to the manufacturer, the 12K sensor will be evenly equipped with red, green and blue colour spaces and thus differ from the classic Bayer sensor. Filming in 12K can be done at 60 fps, in 8K at 110 fps and in 4K Super16 at a maximum of 220 fps (which will presumably be one of the camera’s main applications).

(B)RAW

Blackmagic’s RAW format was designed for the 12K workflow. In addition, Blackmagic RAW can not only be used to film in 12K, but also to post-process the associated footage on a laptop. Thanks to the 12K resolution, it is also possible to reframe the footage for delivery in 8K and 4K – again, one of the main applications and presumably the reason for 12K. Together with the innovative sensor design, Blackmagic’s RAW format enables immediate further work in post-production without the user having to render beforehand.

As far as the compression options are concerned, a constant bit rate of 5:1, 8:1, 12:1 and 18:1 is offered. However, the URSA Mini Pro 12K only supports BRAW codecs. Support for ProRes is not currently offered.

Housing

The device is housed in the URSA Mini Pro camera housing and also supports the new Blackmagic Generation 5 Colour Science. The two built-in CFast cards can record at 900 MB/s, while the two UHS-II SD cards enable recording at up to 500 MB/s (CExpress does not appear to be built in according to current information). The SuperSpeed USB-C expansion port on the back of the device offers recording in 12K at up to 60 fps or 8K at up to 110 fps. On the side of the housing, the device has a 4-inch LCD screen, as well as connections such as 12G SDI in/out, 3G SDI and (USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 with a maximum of 900 MB/s, at the rear), LANC, a broadcast lens control connector and a timecode input.

Mounts

In terms of glass, the camera is compatible with PL, EF and F mounts, as well as on the 12K model and B4 on the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2, which was also presented. All mounts are available separately.

URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2

At the same time as the 12K flagship, BMD also presented the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 – this “Generation 2” brings a Super 35 mm 4.6K sensor with 15 f-stops and 120 fps in 4.6K, or 2K at a maximum of 300 fps. It also comes with built-in ND filters, BRAW or ProRes,dual recording to CFast or SD, HD-SDI monitoring, XLR audio,timecode or referencein, as well as a USB-C expansion port.

Price, availability & further information

The Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K is currently available for €10,735. All further information is available directly from Blackmagic. Blackmagic announced the release of the URSA Mini Pro in a live stream. The video starts at minute 30.