If bigger is better then the new Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 12K is the best of all as it shoots in 12K. However, the camera’s incredibly high resolution is almost a by-product of what the Aussie boffins at Blackmagic wanted to do. That was to make a camera capable of the very best 4K footage that has a very filmic look instead of looking too digital.

Of course, there are reasons to shoot in 12K, such as the enormous amount of scope for cropping if you are making a film in 4K or HD. It’s also good for extending the life of your footage for when 8K and above becomes the norm. And it’s ideal for VFX workers who want maximum resolution for green screen work.

While the fashion is for ever-larger sensors, Blackmagic found the best way for ultimate, filmic quality is to use a very high resolution 12K sensor in the smaller Super35mm CMOS size. This smaller sensor is packed with tiny photosites, which may not have the best high-ISO performance, but the highlight roll-off and colour gradation are much more organic and like film.

To get the look right, Blackmagic is involved in the three technical stages of capturing video. It makes its own sensors with its own technology; the camera records in the company’s own Blackmagic Raw format and this is processed and edited and graded in Blackmagic’s Da Vinci Resolve software. That is total integration that no other company has.

The sensor is CMOS but not using the typically Bayer formation which is biased towards green and requires that the colours have to be carefully combined for natural colour. Blackmagic’s new 12K sensor has equal sampling of red, green and blue for more balanced, film-like colours.

And the only option is to record in Blackmagic Raw using Log which is then edited in Da Vinci Resolve’s new fifth-generation colour technology.

Staying with Blackmagic technologh)y all the way through the process is what gives the footage its detailed, filmic look.

 

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