I'll have an eye out for your posts after 9:30 AM, my friend... yours should be particularly interesting.
BlackMagic - URSA Mini
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I'll have an eye out for your posts after 9:30 AM, my friend... yours should be particularly interesting.
Samuel H
Major Contributor
Haha, I'm very easy to predict:
* I'm DR-obsessed
* I like small cameras
* I want FF, or APS-C with a mount that can take a speedbooster
* I can't spend too much money on cameras
* I will jump through all the usability and workflow hoops if the image is awesome
EAGERLY AWAITING
(though it's 11:19 here already; what time zone is that 9:30?) (already solved this, it's at 18:30 in most of Europe)
Also: According to the fairchild flyer, the sensor loses 1.5 stops of DR when switched to GS mode. I want to use the RS mode in general, but having GS available at the click of a button would be great.
* I'm DR-obsessed
* I like small cameras
* I want FF, or APS-C with a mount that can take a speedbooster
* I can't spend too much money on cameras
* I will jump through all the usability and workflow hoops if the image is awesome
EAGERLY AWAITING
(though it's 11:19 here already; what time zone is that 9:30?) (already solved this, it's at 18:30 in most of Europe)
Also: According to the fairchild flyer, the sensor loses 1.5 stops of DR when switched to GS mode. I want to use the RS mode in general, but having GS available at the click of a button would be great.
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Samuel H
Major Contributor
Anybody else looking at ebay to see how much their current camera would go for?
(I'd be losing just $350 on my a7S, I think; that's $40/month; not bad...)
What's for sure is that I won't be buying a 4K external recorder for the a7S... (though I saw the shogun in person just yesterday and it's not as big as I imagined)
(I'd be losing just $350 on my a7S, I think; that's $40/month; not bad...)
What's for sure is that I won't be buying a 4K external recorder for the a7S... (though I saw the shogun in person just yesterday and it's not as big as I imagined)
Simon Shasha
Well-known member
I'd be holding onto your current camera for a few months more. God knows when URSA Mini will launch. I want one, but given that I was a victim of the original BMCC debacle - waited 13 months, then finally got it only to see its price slashed a $1000 only 4 weeks later - I can't help but be cautious - and advise others to do so too.
I own the A7s, A6000, GH4, BMPCC, and Shogun. They've all paid themselves off over countless times. I'll be keeping the A7s and A6000 for my photography. The GH4 I don't care much for, and will sell for $1000 to a mate. The BMPCC and Shogun will stay on my CAME 7800.
I own the A7s, A6000, GH4, BMPCC, and Shogun. They've all paid themselves off over countless times. I'll be keeping the A7s and A6000 for my photography. The GH4 I don't care much for, and will sell for $1000 to a mate. The BMPCC and Shogun will stay on my CAME 7800.
Interesting for sure but not surprising. BMD is pretty predictable by now. Being BMD I would also expect a great low price at the cost of quality control or other things. For them to make them so cheap there has to be another price to pay as it has been with all their cameras. Let's see what will be with this one.
But now how AJA expects to sell the Cion? I wonder if they are even bringing it to the show after they saw this.
But now how AJA expects to sell the Cion? I wonder if they are even bringing it to the show after they saw this.
Samuel H
Major Contributor
Sure, I won't be selling until I have a new camera in my hands and I have done side-by-side tests to make sure I actually like the new one better. But I need to have an idea of how much the jump would cost...
edit: also, time to revisit my a7S vs pocket DR tests... (a7S, pocket+RAW, pocket+prores) (and BTW: 5D3, hahaha...)
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^This.
Wait until the issues and timing are more clear and then make an informed decision. Might be a great camera but sometimes last years cameras at a good price are better than this years cutting edge. The A7S is a great little camera by the way.
in any case I have always appreciated Samuel H's take on these things.
Samuel H
Major Contributor
I know, I know... but, below the FS7, the pocket is the top DR performer right now, and they claim two stops more on this one... (pocket marketing claims 13 stops -I found 12-, this one claims 15 stops) (I try to keep calm regarding this because the information from the sensor manufacturer quotes exactly the same DR as the previous models, so maybe it's just a marketing thing)
Ebrahim Saadawi
Carbonite Member
The first time I encountered the URSA my first impression was: this is the rolls royce of cameras, the kind of material it was made of and how solidly it's put together alone justify the weight. It's like a beautiful block of sculptured metal, steel iron in fact. It's an entirelt different league from the C300s/FS/Sony/Pana professional camcorders, and even beyond Red. The only camera that felt close was the Alexa.
I think this is the reason for the URSA being unsuccessful, is that it needed to be used in an Alexa environment, yet the price was targeted to an entirely different audience who don't even know how to handle such a beast.
It really is one of the first camera I as a man cannot hold, it's like gym excercise.
The URSA mini seems like BM realized that fact, so they decreased the size and used more consumer/normal-camera materials and kept down the weight significantly to the normal level. In the photo it does look like they might have went too far in material quality but I don'tmind as it"s sturdy enough for normal shooting, which it will probably be (the material honestly looks very cheap with all these finger print smudges, like a plastic toy, but again I'd take that over weight any day)
This was the first URSA problem, and they fixed it. Second was the price, and they sure fixed that too!! People are a bit hard to convince to pay 7K for a BM camera when they can get a real known pro camcorder forthe same money, and it just wasn't the market BM should be aiming at ''yet''
Third of course was the downsides of the infamous sensor, which was great in all aspects (Resolution, DR, excellent colour rendition and skin, no artefacts of rolling shutter, aliasinf, moire) a great sensor and produced fantastic images UNTIL sunlight comes down! This was the only fatal flaw in the URSA performance, lowlight performance, this alone made the camera compete in a whole differrent niche market compared to C100/300 FS7 and the others. And unless they fixed it the Mini will still be a niche product for a specific small group of shooters and sales won't fly,
If they did fix it though, and now it's capable of clean 1600/3200 ISO at least, then this camera can be the dominant force in the professiona
video industry for years to come. Nobody else is making such a complete package, it will ne perfect as an ENG camera with ProRes 4:2:2, the friendliest broadcast format of all, and a perfect film camera as we know how filmic the images look and the fact that it can take film lenses and has a s35 sensor.
This camera could be THE one, but I am doubtfull there will be a major minor fatal flaw that makes it only appeal for a niche market. I hope not because if it's true, this is my next company camera. (Yes I've been looking for a large pro-looking camcorder for marketing reasons and this may very well be the one, unless they screw it up BM style, something like the LCD being disabled until a 2016 firmware fix, FPN, onlyworks at ISO 25, Audio sounds like a telephone call, needs 5 V-lock batteries for a shoot, has a passive mount so no IS at all, you know, the BM stuff!) It looks promising though and looks to be free of these issues. Fingers crossed. Don't let us down again BM, we love you!
I think this is the reason for the URSA being unsuccessful, is that it needed to be used in an Alexa environment, yet the price was targeted to an entirely different audience who don't even know how to handle such a beast.
It really is one of the first camera I as a man cannot hold, it's like gym excercise.
The URSA mini seems like BM realized that fact, so they decreased the size and used more consumer/normal-camera materials and kept down the weight significantly to the normal level. In the photo it does look like they might have went too far in material quality but I don'tmind as it"s sturdy enough for normal shooting, which it will probably be (the material honestly looks very cheap with all these finger print smudges, like a plastic toy, but again I'd take that over weight any day)
This was the first URSA problem, and they fixed it. Second was the price, and they sure fixed that too!! People are a bit hard to convince to pay 7K for a BM camera when they can get a real known pro camcorder forthe same money, and it just wasn't the market BM should be aiming at ''yet''
Third of course was the downsides of the infamous sensor, which was great in all aspects (Resolution, DR, excellent colour rendition and skin, no artefacts of rolling shutter, aliasinf, moire) a great sensor and produced fantastic images UNTIL sunlight comes down! This was the only fatal flaw in the URSA performance, lowlight performance, this alone made the camera compete in a whole differrent niche market compared to C100/300 FS7 and the others. And unless they fixed it the Mini will still be a niche product for a specific small group of shooters and sales won't fly,
If they did fix it though, and now it's capable of clean 1600/3200 ISO at least, then this camera can be the dominant force in the professiona
video industry for years to come. Nobody else is making such a complete package, it will ne perfect as an ENG camera with ProRes 4:2:2, the friendliest broadcast format of all, and a perfect film camera as we know how filmic the images look and the fact that it can take film lenses and has a s35 sensor.
This camera could be THE one, but I am doubtfull there will be a major minor fatal flaw that makes it only appeal for a niche market. I hope not because if it's true, this is my next company camera. (Yes I've been looking for a large pro-looking camcorder for marketing reasons and this may very well be the one, unless they screw it up BM style, something like the LCD being disabled until a 2016 firmware fix, FPN, onlyworks at ISO 25, Audio sounds like a telephone call, needs 5 V-lock batteries for a shoot, has a passive mount so no IS at all, you know, the BM stuff!) It looks promising though and looks to be free of these issues. Fingers crossed. Don't let us down again BM, we love you!
Price to pay will be media: cfast 2.0 probably.
Yep :/
As mini is aimed at lower end than URSA I wish they would do double SSD slot. That would be fantastic.
Dafilman21
Carbonite Member
I was just doing the same thing haha, but if the Ursa mini comes in at 3K I will prob keep my A7'S
Simon Shasha
Well-known member
Man, if the URSA Mini does come in at $3000, I'm more than happy to throw $1500 on CFast 2.0 cards. Still getting a bargain overall 
They are already going down but not fast enough :/ Good thing is that they'll become standard (C300II is a proof) so you will be able to use them across multiple devices.
Bad thing is that no live events with ursa for now :/ Unless you will spend like $5k and will be juggling them each 20minutes.
Simon Shasha
Well-known member
For live-events, I'd shoot 10bit ProResLT in 2K - so long as I get the 15 stops of DR - and assuming URSA has a 10bit ProResLT 2K option...