The first footage from Blackmagic's new $6,000 4K camera is predictably sublime
Blackmagic's 4K URSA camera was announced at NAB in April, but delayed much to the dismay of would-be film makers every where. If the first footage shot with it is any indication though, it looks to be worth the wait. Cinematographer John Brawley -- who also demoed early footage of Blackmagic's Pocket Cinema Camera -- uploaded the first frames captured with the $6,000 camera. The URSA is a large departure from past models, as it features a 10-inch, 1080P pop-out display, traditional camcorder form factor and a user-replaceable 4K sensor with a global shutter. It also bests previous Blackmagic models by shooting 4K at 60fps, the speed Brawley used on all but one shot. He used a Cooke 25-250 MK3 T3.7 (PL mount) zoom lens, shooting onto several 128GB SanDisk CFast 2.0 cards at UltraHD (3,840 x 2,160) resolution. As you'd imagine, the footage looks amazing and Brawley said Vimeo doesn't do the original ProRes HQ files justice. The only problem is that the camera is double the price of Blackmagic's Production Camera 4K -- but it's still a lot less than pro models like Red's Scarlet Dragon.
