Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12K Review

In this review I’m not going to talk about the best cinema cameras under $10000 I will talk about my review after I used Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12K, and let me share some of my thoughts, I’m gonna give you a Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12K review.

Disclosure: Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning that if you click on one of the links and purchase an item, I may receive a commission. All opinions however are my own.

so if you are coming from a Mirrorless camera or Digital SLR camera you went out and bought a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K or Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 4K G2 and you want to know is it still worth upgrading to the Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12K.

This is 12k Blackmagic raw straight from Blackmagic design it’s obviously beautiful but there’s a reason why and it’s not just the 12k resolution and one of the best cinema cameras ranked.

It’s great for people who are into the super high-end, and we’re talking about big CGI commercials and probably a few blockbuster movie sets as well.

Blackmagic has gained a name for themselves within the filmmaking industry for continually pushing new fresh technology and features into new markets.

However, the camera we’re looking at does do that but in a way that we haven’t seen before from Blackmagic Design.

So here is a quick breakdown of what I will be looking at the headline specs of the 12k.

 1. Camera Sensor

The biggest headline feature of the camera is the new 12k super 35 sensor, which has been developed and designed by Blackmagic to maximize the utilization of the b-roll, the sensor structure is made of an asymmetrical color pattern and not like the regular Bayer filter.

It also comes standard with a PL Mount which is a standard cinema professional mount.

It has a resolution of 12 288 by 6480, a native iso of 800, and a physical size of 27.034 millimeters by 14.256 millimeters, which is a little wider than the G2 this is to accommodate the 17×9 DCI formats.

With this Cinema camera, you can record 12k DCI at up to 60 frames a second and 8k up to 120 frames per second using the full sensor if you crop into 2.4 to 1 you can get 8k at up to 160 frames a second and in the super 16-millimeter mode you can get 6k up to 120 frames a second and 4k up to 240 frames a second.

this camera uses a symmetrical pattern readout that allows the full 80-megapixel 12k sensor to natively output various resolutions without cropping or computationally intensive scaling.

out of this sensor with base frame rates I have the ability to capture at 23.98 24 25 29.97 30 50 59.94 and 60.

But in the high frame rate mode, I capture 12k 17×9 up to 60 frames per second 8k and 4k DCI up to 120 frames per second.

If I compare this to the g2 that can do 4.6k up to 80 frames per second cropped uhd up to 120 frames per second and cropped HD up to 240 frames per second a reason how impressive these frame rates are.

Aside from the sensor’s most interesting design feature, it doesn’t use a bare pattern filter which pretty much every CMOS camera over the past 20 years has.

Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12K Specs

• Blackmagic RAW optimized for Metal, CUDA and OpenCL
• 14 stops of dynamic range and native 800 ISO
• Generation 5 Color Science with new film curve
• 12.288 x 6480 12k Super 35 sensor
• New Blackmagic RAW for real-time 12k editing

it’s still a CMOS sensor but uses a new CFA or custom filter array that has the same number of red-green, and blue photosites as well as additional white or clear photo sites.

This is different from the one red, two green, and one blue of the Bayer pattern so instead of the Bayer two by two grid, this new pattern uses a six by six grid.

Six green, six blue, six red, and eighteen white with a resolution this high, in a super 35 sensor size.

This means that the sensor has a 2.2-micron pixel pitch, which is very small when you compare it to the lower resolution cameras on the market.

this sensor is just designed to give you the absolute maximum resolution built for shooting in lower resolutions with fewer compromises than other cameras like a red camera.

This small size means that dynamic range will be compromised, however, the addition of the white photo sights should help counter this issue.

This new design for Blackmagic should also eliminate false color and zipper artifacts that can appear when using a Bayer pattern filter.

This filter design paired with the 12k resolution means that the sensor is giving you a full RGB readout, which hasn’t been the case with the CMOS and Bayer combination.

But has been possible with CCD sensors, which use a prism to split the light into red, green, and blue, and then use three sensors to capture each filtered light.

However, this introduces its own issues such as optical distortion and higher power draw.

Another nice benefit of this sensor design is the way that the camera handles scaling instead of cropping in.

To shoot at lower resolutions, the sensor can scale down two lower resolutions, while still using the full sensor with no pixel binning.

2. ND Filters

• it has four different modes where you can shoot with no nd filter and then you can do two stops four stops and then six stops of nd.

3. Dynamic range

Blackmagic Ursa mini pro 12k camera has 14 stops of dynamic range compared to a canon 1dx mark II which has 11 stops of dynamic range and red cameras that have 16.5 stops of dynamic range.

4. Camera body

On the inside, it has two CFS card slots more menu buttons, record buttons, more audio stuff on top of the camera has the standard URSA four-quarter 20 ports along with two XLR ports.

The rear of the camera has SDI out, SDI in a timecode in, and the 12-volt power but the right of the camera has another SDI out.

on the front and the top is the built-in microphone which in my experience has been quite good for scratch audio, it also has a flip-out screen.

the camera body is made from lightweight robust magnesium alloy button switches and dials are laid out in a logical order that makes them easy to find by feel while using the viewfinder.

the design is very much like previous awesome mini pro models so there is no difference in the look of the camera.

If I compare Red Epic W helium 8K it is completely stripped down of all the mounting because just has the lens mount and the battery plate weighs 4.67 pounds and in my research, they really are very similar in weight.

5. Performance

this camera features b-roll 2.0 which has seen several improvements over the previous iteration b-roll is a 12-bit codec and I found that I can shoot both in constant bit rate in which allows you to select from four compression ratios five to one eight to one twelve to one and eighteen to one.

Because of its symmetrical design, and the use of b-roll with this scaling, it also changes the data rate.

This means if you don’t want to shoot at 12k, because of the huge data rates, you can lower your resolution and still get greatly detailed images and save on storage.

But results will be better recording in 12k and then downsampling in post.

This also means you can achieve some very impressive frame rates while using the full sensor readout. Which we’ll get to in a bit.

Like the rest of Blackmagic’s cameras, the 12k doesn’t feature an optical low-pass filter, an lpf also known as an anti-aliasing filter.

It is using a lot of high-end cinema cameras to counter moire unfortunately the 12k does suffer from moire.

It would be great if Blackmagic could take a leaf out of red’s book, and produce different olpfs for the reversal line.

However, companies such as raw light have produced lpfs for Blackmagic cameras, such as the Blackmagic Pocket 6k and the Blackmagic Ursa mini pro 4k G2.

So fingers crossed they can produce one for the 12k but during our creative tests, we could only see it in a few scenarios.

This camera demands fantastic optics and that’s why we chose the Fujinon premise the 28 to 100, as it’s one of the best resolving zoom lenses on the market.

Changing settings is really fast, even when going between regular speed and slow and quick and it takes no time to switch between them and get shooting again.

The power draw was also pretty decent.

Blackjack stated that it is around 65 watts with the EVF attached, and we got around an hour and a half with a 98-watt battery that makes sense.

You can shot around two hours’ worth of rushes, in a range of resolutions and frame rates, and your rush’s folder will be totaled about 990 gig .

The colors look great and there is lots of detail, it also does a very good job at holding on to highlight the detail of the flames highlight roll-off is nice.

It’s best to use constant bit rate encoding when you want more predictable file sizes or want to capture with as little compression as possible which would be five to one.

So with bit rate options, I was able to record in either great quality or with high compression to save on storage myself.

You also have constant quality this is for optimized quality with variable bit rates for which you now have four options Q0 Q1 Q3 Q5.

Q0 has very little quantization and will give you the highest quality out of the variable bit rates.

And variable bit rate options mean you have the ability to record in either great quality or with high compression to save on storage all while keeping the flexibility that comes with recording.

Even when there are some that you just simply can’t record as the camera doesn’t have a way of capturing the data rates that it produces.

With this b-roll update also comes Blackmagic’s 5th generation color science.

This is featured in the 12k and will also be backward compatible with previous b-raw capable cameras there seems to be a lot of improvements between the tow.

The camera when working with force color will give you the most accurate results and exposing 400 iso will give you a good balance of noise and dynamic range.

But with other Blackmagic cameras, I would kick a little bit more light than you’d think.

6. Frame rates

in terms of frame rates, this camera can shoot up to 12K up to 60fps but the RED camera is the best one that I have can only shoot up to 60fps at 8K. It can shoot up to 8K 120fps and it also has 4K with that you can go up to 240fps with a super 16 crop.

so that is an insane amount of pixels each frame is 80 megapixels if I compare a Canon 5d mark iv which shoots 30.4 megapixels so this is more than double that and then it can shoot up to 60 of those pictures or frames each second.

the next closest thing would be red cameras that shoot an 8k so it’s interesting to see how much resolution this thing packs.

in closest competition to Ursa 12K and Red are the Sony FX9 which is a full-frame camera and the Canon C300 Mark III.

Both of those don’t do frame rates over 180fps but FX9 can’t do it internally because it can only do up to 120fps in HD.

but the C300 can only do 120fps in 4K so, the fact that Blackmagic has managed to shove 240fps at 4K.

Blackmagic has managed to squeeze some seriously impressive frame rates out of this sensor.

So with base frame rates, you have the ability to capture at 23.98 24 25 29.97 30 50 59.94 and 60.

In the high frame rate mode, you can capture 12k 17×9 up to 60 frames per second 8k, and 4k DCI up to 120 frames per second all while using the full sensor with no line skipping or pixel binning.

You can also get a little more by shooting in a 2.4 to 1 aspect ratio crop.

In this, you can get up to 75 frames per second in 12k and 160 frames per second in 8k and 4k.

You can also go into a super 16 crop mode that allows you to capture 6k up to 120 frames per second and 4k up to 240 frames per second.

When you compare this to the G2 that can do 4.6k up to 80 frames per second cropped uhd up to 120 frames.

there are two c fast 2.0 slots and two s2 sd card slots but you can’t use these both at the same time.

One point here is If you want to use c files you have the ability to record two c fast 2.0 cards simultaneously which you’ll need to do for certain formats with larger data rates.

But if you didn’t know the camera uses two separate buses for each slot it means you should get very close to the max write speeds of your cfos 2.0 cards.

when offloading you just need to drag the b raw and b raw 2 clip into the same directory and resolve will see it as a single clip.

So with all these performances, this camera is even remotely comparable to the red helium 8k.

There are a few things you should do first after you take this camera head over to Blackmagic support page and download the latest Blackmagic more software.

After installing this allows programs like premiere to read files from the 12k if you’re on windows it is also recommended you download the latest driver for your graphics card for those using Nvidia cards.

And make sure you download the studio driver if you want to test how 12kb raw handles on your system

I would say this camera is even remotely comparable to the red helium 8k it does manage to capture double what it can in both 8k and 4k.

So hopefully my review has been handy to help you understand the ins and outs of the Ursa 12k.

7. Image Quality

In terms of the image quality after I made some tests the image looks as good there is a limit of four-stop overexposure before the image starts breaking up. In my test, I realized that the image becomes unusable after four stops of overexposure. So, this camera does not like to be underexposed. If you’re underexposing more than two stops the image becomes unusable.

So if you want a cleaner image you need to overexpose the 12K by three stops so then the noise in the image will almost completely go away and you will get a much cleaner image.

8. Blackmagic Ursa mini pro 12K price

Advantages

When Blackmagic released the Ursa mini pro 12K it was their high-end superhigh-end production camera and came at $10 000.

If you have complained about a Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12K price Blackmagic just dropped a huge price on the 12k pro of almost 40 percent that a year ago was $10 000 and now it’s sitting at 6000.

So with its price, this is the most affordable Imax camera on the planet which is actually very good for some people

• shoot up to 12K up to 60fps
• shot 24 frames per second in 12k 8k 6k and 4k
• 4k frame rate over 110 frames
• usb type-c output

Disadvantages

Blackmagic cameras don’t have ibis don’t have autofocus none of the same features.

Conclusion

Blackmagic shocked the filmmaking community with the announcement of the 12k, and we now finally have our hands on it, to test and see what it can do.