Blackmagic URSA Mini

*pbartram*

*pbartram*

Member
Couldn't find a thread on it so I thought I'd post to get peoples opinions.

Looks like it could be a pretty sick bit of kit with 4k at 60fps, prores 444, 15 stops of dynamic range, 1080 at 120 fps etc. And at $5000 (or £3500 here in the uk) its a bargain.

Anyone going to be moving over to blackmagic when this comes out?
 
For sure gonna be buying one in the next year. As soon as some used ones start popping up I'm jumping all over that shit. If that new sensor has the same kind of special sauce that the cinema camera has, this camera is going to be a serious game changer.
 
13503289:j-cal said:
Remeber 5,000 is body only you have to spend alot more to be able to shoot.
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With the shoulder mount kit ($400) you've already got a run and gun camera ready to go. Looks pretty good to me if you're serious about shooting. And Its still cheaper than the FS5 and FS7.

Will certainly be interesting to see what the Red raven looks like, could be another option in that $5K-$8K price bracket.
 
13505157:*pbartram* said:
With the shoulder mount kit ($400) you've already got a run and gun camera ready to go. Looks pretty good to me if you're serious about shooting. And Its still cheaper than the FS5 and FS7.

Will certainly be interesting to see what the Red raven looks like, could be another option in that $5K-$8K price bracket.
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It does also use CFast 2.0 media which is super expensive, plus you need to buy a legit professional battery solution like V mounts or gold mounts. So yeah, a useable kit is going to run around $7000. Still cheaper than the FS7 and knowing Blackmagic it probably puts out much better looking images.
 
13505587:*pbartram* said:
The raven does look pretty sick but to be able to shoot you need to spend $10,000 and it's got quite a big crop factor.
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It's obviously left to personal preference of who is buying it and its end usage, but IMO to have a Weapon style body and REDcode is enough in itself to want the camera...especially with the insanely cheap price tag.

However, if I hadn't bought my FS7 kit in the past year, this is what I would be spending my money on. Absolutely. I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind to make the deposit for the camera right now and sell my FS7 when the Raven ships in Feb.

Pretty exciting stuff.
 
13505587:*pbartram* said:
The raven does look pretty sick but to be able to shoot you need to spend $10,000 and it's got quite a big crop factor.
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If you are thinking ursa mini i would seriously consider branching out your budget a little higher for the raven. Blackmagic makes good camera good sensors and cheap prices. But they come at a cost. Horrible customer service, stupid back orders and shipping delays. Lots of camera errors and the abandon cameras oh to quickly to focus on something else.

I have been a red owner for a year now and i can tell you i will never buy anything else. There customer service is amazing truly amazing. After you make a quote,you get a friendly call from a bombsquad rep (reds support/sales team). They tell you everything you need to know about the camera! They also google your name find your work and recommend a kit that fits your shooting style. Who does that? Its crazy how much care they put into each sale. On top of stupid good customer service.... They make great cameras. Ya there expensive.... yes you can do better for cheaper... But red cameras just work well. From production to post production there is minimal headaches. Everything is well thought out and not rushed. The new dragon sensor on the raven is going to blow majority of the sensors on the market out of the water. The sensor holds up very well against the industry standard alexa. And the biggest thing of all... The dont abandon cameras or users... My 5 year old epic mx still gets all the new firmware and updates that there brand new lin gets. They still service and stand behind my big investment. If you buy the raven in a few years when there new sensor comes out you will be able to upgrade to it. You dont have to throw away your investment.

This a really scatterbrained horribly written paragraph on why you should by red. I may be a bit biassed but there is a reason so many people shoot red. THERE RELIABLE! You get what you pay for my friend.
 
13506132:j-cal said:
I may be a bit biassed but there is a reason so many people shoot red. THERE RELIABLE! You get what you pay for my friend.
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Forgive me for being so out of the loop, but does the Epic have a different body design as the Scarlet?

I shot a Scarlet in the backcountry and was surprised by how fragile it felt. Coupled with the massive crop (in spite of its IQ), it pretty much turned me off of ever wanting to shoot a RED again.
 
13508500:lIllI said:
Forgive me for being so out of the loop, but does the Epic have a different body design as the Scarlet?

I shot a Scarlet in the backcountry and was surprised by how fragile it felt. Coupled with the massive crop (in spite of its IQ), it pretty much turned me off of ever wanting to shoot a RED again.
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The red epic and scarlet are very similar in body.... but very different in specs. I assume you were on the scarlet mx? The scarlet mx does not have the power to run the full sensor of the mx (cropped in). I also assume you were shooting hfps? If so higher fps on the scarlet causes crop in as well.

When shooting on the epic mx you can do 5k at 100 fps with the full sensor 1.3 crop (in between apsc and full frame).

The new raven does 4k 120fps at a sensor of about 1.7 crop.

As far as fragile i strongly disagree. When shooting with the epic it feels like a tank. All metal and simple clean design. There is nothing really to break. I have had my epic in very harsh conditions and it has been 100% reliable and durable. From all the cameras i have shot the epic feels the most solid in terms of body.

In summary the epic is a very different camera from the scarlet. And for me red makes the best high end adventure cameras. Small, durable and reliable.
 
13508837:j-cal said:
As far as fragile i strongly disagree. When shooting with the epic it feels like a tank. All metal and simple clean design. There is nothing really to break. I have had my epic in very harsh conditions and it has been 100% reliable and durable. From all the cameras i have shot the epic feels the most solid in terms of body.
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I can't vouch for its durability, so you would know much better than I would. I was just surprised to find air vents with a fan whirring inside.

Maybe I'm just spoiled by the old 16mm cameras. You can leave them in the snow, drop them on asphalt, and nothing bad will happen to them. I've yet to find a digital video camera that has that same sense of military-spec build quality.
 
13508500:lIllI said:
Forgive me for being so out of the loop, but does the Epic have a different body design as the Scarlet?

I shot a Scarlet in the backcountry and was surprised by how fragile it felt. Coupled with the massive crop (in spite of its IQ), it pretty much turned me off of ever wanting to shoot a RED again.
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Like Jcal said, same design.

I've been shooting the Scarlet up to the Dragon in the backcountry for 4+ years and fragile is the last word I'd ever use to describe the camera. I've used a snow cover maybe twice since taking ownership and i've never had an issue. I get blasted by snow, sluffed out on-slope, been in a heli getting blasted with rotor wash in sub zero temps, and so far it still runs.

I've also had BMD's and they've just broken from normal operation. This would include the BMCPC and 4K studio camera.
 
13510827:Jeff_Lo said:
Like Jcal said, same design.

I've been shooting the Scarlet up to the Dragon in the backcountry for 4+ years and fragile is the last word I'd ever use to describe the camera. I've used a snow cover maybe twice since taking ownership and i've never had an issue. I get blasted by snow, sluffed out on-slope, been in a heli getting blasted with rotor wash in sub zero temps, and so far it still runs.
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Good to hear. Too bad I'll probably never use one at this point. From what my friends tell me they seem like great cameras.

13510827:Jeff_Lo said:
I've also had BMD's and they've just broken from normal operation. This would include the BMCPC and 4K studio camera.
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This has been the sobering reality check amid all the BMD releases. Wide product breadth with as many features packed in using poor implementation/reliability.

Surely there's still a market for bombproof DSLRs. When will video guys get some of the love?
 
13510827:Jeff_Lo said:
I've also had BMD's and they've just broken from normal operation. This would include the BMCPC and 4K studio camera.
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Interesting to hear you've had bad experiences in terms of reliability. The production company I work for has a BMCC and it's been very reliable.

The reason I've been leaning towards the URSA mini is the price whilst still giving quality images. A lot of DOPs and colourists I've worked with and spoken to have said that they really don't like the image you get off the FS7 but that the Blackmagic gives a very nice image that gives you a lot of options in post. Although the red raven looks very appealing it's going to cost at least double what the URSA mini would to have something you could shoot with (batteries & cards taken into account and based on UK prices!)

So I'm think that the URSA mini might be my best option at the moment.
 
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