After Months of Delays, Global Shutter Feature Is Stripped from Both Models
It's a good news/bad news situation out of Blackmagic Design today, as the company announced that the Ursa Mini 4.6K camera and 1080p Micro Cinema Camera, both announced at last year's NAB, are finally out of the laboratory and on their way to customers and resellers.
Unfortunately, both cameras are arriving without their originally announced global shutter feature. The prices, however, seem to be remaining the same.
Different problems with the global shutter on both models have delayed their shipment for months, said Blackmagic CEO Grant Petty in a video announcement at the company website. "As performance is not to the level we've been striving for, we've decided to ship the camera without the global shutter feature," Petty said, referring specifically to the Ursa Mini 4K.
"This is extremely upsetting for us, as we really wanted to produce a high-dynamic-range camera that also had a global shutter in an all-in-one design. However, in reality, cinematographers have been using the camera in all kinds of projects over the last couple of months, and the results have been incredible."
Click to load full-resolution frame grab.
Petty sounded understandably defensive in the video, but it's well worth looking at the footage Blackmagic has released to show off the camera's dynamic range, which is rated at a full 15 stops. Raw files are available for download so that customers can download and color-grade the footage themselves.
Petty said shooters should now look at the cameras as "very different models," with the Ursa Mini 4K and its global shutter best suited for action cinematography at up to 60fps, while the Ursa Mini 4.6K excels at wide dynamic range cinematography.
It seems like the company is planning to accommodate customers who have second thoughts about the camera based on the rolling shutter. "Blackmagic Design understands and accepts that some customers who have back ordered an URSA Mini 4.6K may like to change their order as a result of this feature change," the company said in a press release. (Again, though, that accommodation does not extend to a reduced price.)
The same goes, presumably, for the Micro Cinema Camera, a tiny model (measuring 3.25 inches by 2.74 inches by 2.57 inches and weighing 11 oz.) with a Super 16-size sensor.
The Ursa Mini 4.6K has an MSRP of $4,995 (EF) or $5,495 (PL), and the Micro Cinema Camera lists for $995 (MFT).
Crafts: Shooting
Sections: Technology
Topics: blackmagic design global shutter Micro Cinema Camera ursa mini 4.6k
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After 2 years from announcement finally they are shipping anther crap.None of their camera is working as per the specifications given by them. In camera business Blackmagic is a disaster. I bought and Ursa a year back and they replaced it 3 times with new cameras but none of them worked properly. Finally they refunded my money two months back. Even many of my friend who having URSA and URSA mini 4k, facing the same issues and fighting with company. So before you buy any of their camera just wait and see and check the forum to see what ppl experiencing with it. I lost of money I spend on CFast cards and battteries. They wont pay back for it because its all third party items. So dont be excited that much on this announcement.
Hi Jabbar
I am thinking or getting this for a feature next year and would love to know what problems you faced.
Ocube
That’s too bad. I wonder what the exact problem was.
I watched the Q&A video, and it avoids a question that BlackMagic should answer: Why abandon standard and widely available SSDs for overpriced and relatively niche CFast cards? The $700 I paid for almost a terabyte of 4K-raw-capable SSDs would cost a good $3000 for CFast.
I’ve had a good experience with my Production Camera 4K. Clients love the look of its images. I’m willing to give the Mini a chance, despite the overpriced storage. At least CFast is used by several manufacturers. Sony SxS junk and Pansonic’s P2 crap are offensive to customers.