Just minutes before the official opening of NAB 2017, Blackmagic Design unveiled DaVinci Resolve 14. It features a whole new audio tab, thanks to the company’s acquisition of Fairlight last year. There are also many other improvements throughout the application. Let’s dive in! Blackmagic Design Resolve 14 Following version 12.5, version 14 of Resolve is almost ready to hit the grading suites. And the editing suites, of course. Oh wait, this version will even hit audio suites, too! After skipping version 13, version 14 is all about Pro Audio. Their acquisition of Fairlight last year left everyone wondering what Blackmagic Design’s secret masterplan was. Well, now you know: Resolve 14 has evolved in a way that allows you to stay in the same application for the edit, grade and audio mix stages of your project. The Fairlight Audio Tab You can create up to 1,000 tracks of audio and work with them in realtime, with 8 main, sub and aux outputs available. The Fairlight tab works in tandem with a whole new line of Fairlight hardware consoles that accelerate and streamline the whole audio workflow. There are 4 versions of these available: a desktop console, a two-bay console, a three-bay console and a gigantic 5-bay console. The gigantic full size 5-bay Fairlight console for DaVinci Resolve 14. Feature-wise, the new Fairlight tab in Resove 14 is capable of all kinds of audio-related tools, such as equalization and dynamics, for example. It gives you real-time 6-band equalization, along with expander/gate, compressor and limiter dynamics on every single track. Editing and automation, mixing of course, mastering and VST plugins are all there at your service. In order to improve the performance of the Fairlight tab, you might want to add a dedicated Fairlight Audio Accelerator card to your system. It will provide you with sub-millisecond latency on all 1,000 tracks, along with full real-time processing of EQ, expander/gate, compressor and limiter dynamics, and up to 6 real-time VST plug-ins per channel. If you choose to not get one of those cards, you still can add up to 60 tracks of audio to your project. Collaborative Working Resolve 14 also features a whole new set of collaborative features. Multiple members of your team can work together on one project at the same time, and can compare different timeline versions. The heart of all this is the new project manager software which handles traffic and saves the changes from each user automatically. Once the system is set up multiple users can log in and start working. In terms of storage, you are free to use whatever suits your needs best – there is no limitation to certain storage systems. The new collaboration tool within Resolve 14 Users can protect their work by locking a certain bin or timeline. In case another user needs access, there’s even a built-in chat system. That way, you don’t have to send emails back and forth with login details. The collaboration feature is bound to a single facility, though, and doesn’t work over the internet for now. These collaborative tools are available in the studio version of Resolve, which is now available at a reduced price of $299. Blackmagic Design hopes to get more people using the studio version, and all the tools available there. Overall Performance The whole playback engine in DaVinci Resolve 14 has received an overhaul. It features CPU and GPU optimization, fast 16-bit float playback, lower latency, faster UI refresh and support for Apple Metal. With all this, it should be easy to handle even very complex projects with ease, as long as you own a powerful computer with fast GPUs, of course. It’s still a very complex program in terms of system load, but version 14 has been designed to be much more easy on the system overall. All in all, Blackmagic Design claims that the performance is up to 10x faster. JKL playback and scrubbing through footage should be way smoother than before. Other Enhancements It’s now possible to edit in fullscreen mode, too. Also, there is a new face recognition tool within the color tab of the program. With it you can easily track faces and enhance certain features like the eyes or the skin idividually. On top of that a lots of improvements have been implemented throughout the program. Pricing and Availability The new Resolve 14 will be available for Mac, Windows and Linux later this year, though there is already a public beta version available. The Studio version of this public beta is $299, while the regular version is free of charge. You can download the beta on the Blackmagic Design website. EDIT: As Johnnie has mentioned in the video above, we’ve investigated the GH5 10-bit issue which occurs in the current 2017.1 Adobe Pemiere Pro update. As it turns out, the exact same issue occurs in Resolve 14, too (on a Mac at least). 4K 10-bit footage from the Panasonic GH5 will be imported as audio only tracks. The video side of things remains offline. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon. 8-bit footage from the GH5 works just fine. I couldn’t try the 10-bit HD footage introduced with the recent firmware 1.1 update, yet. GH5 10bit footage in conjunction with Resolve 14. EDIT: The Studio version of Resolve 14 seems to be capable of handling these 10-bit files.

I was originally not planning to test the new Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro as it shares the same sensor as the URSA Mini 4.6K. However, after working with it, I felt that the images coming out of it are simply better and sharper than its predecessor. Here are my first impressions after spending few days with this new camera. Blackmagic design URSA Mini Pro. Earlier this month in a well-coordinated streaming event, Blackmagic Design introduced their new URSA Mini Pro camera aimed for the professional filming crowd. I won’t go into all the improvements that make this model more suitable for occasional professional work (see instead my colleague and friend Nino Leitner’s Hands-On Video Review HERE), but I would like to highlight this as a significant moment. In my opinion, from this point onward, Blackmagic Design should be considered as a camera manufacturer that has taken a big step forward, and must be taken very seriously. When the original URSA Mini was introduced, we said goodbye to the awkward “hyperdeck shuttle with an attached sensor camera box” form-factor from Blackmagic’s earlier designs. Now, with the introduction of the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro, the signs of maturity have become even more evident. These can be measured in several aspects, from announcing a new camera and being able to (finally) ship it almost simultaneously, to designing a product that looks and behaves like a mainstream usable working tool (hello, ND filter…). Using the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro In the short video above, I tried to simulate a few working scenarios, such as shoulder operation, lowlight shooting, using a video picture profile, shooting a planned interview and more. Please allow me to start by saying that no matter how I used the new camera, the end picture result was lovely. There is something very organic and beautiful when seeing the picture on my screen. Actually, after returning the camera to Blackmagic and going back to work with the URSA Mini 4.6K, I had no doubt that the new model is superior to the old one in picture quality, with NO magenta cast evident from the camera I tested. Another aspect I was eager to test was the sound recording quality, as this was a major flaw with the previous model. I was truly relieved to see that Blackmagic gave this issue the attention it deserved. In addition, the LCD screen is now usable, too. It got smaller, lost its green cast, remained very responsive and was overall very pleasant to use, not to mention how easy the relatively new camera OS makes operating the camera. Another great feature – and one that I didn’t have a chance to explore this time – is the possibility to choose the recording media type. Fast SD cards are now an option along side the usual CFast cards. As a side note, I’m currently using Angelbird’s CFast cards and absolutely love them. Click HERE for a complete list of recommended SD and CFast cards. What I was less than happy to see can be divided into two sections. On the camera side: While dealing with bright sunshine and normal lighting conditions is now a very straight forward task thanks to the new internal ND filters, one might miss the flexibility and usability that some other modern cameras offer for low-light shooting. I mention it because, as a documentary shooter, you never know what to expect. ISO 1600 on this camera is just OK, and the results in less than optimal lighting conditions can suffer from a very grainy image. One way to help the camera combat its somewhat limited low-light capabilities is to use fast lenses, and while there are plenty of those when it comes to primes, the selection is rather non-existent when looking for non-photo, affordable fast EF-mount zoom lenses. Note the position of the iris wheel on the side of the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro. This of course brings us back to the option of working with fast photo zoom lenses, for which I must say that the electronic iris controller wheel is located in a place that leaves a lot to be desired. I strongly recommend the use of manual aperture lenses whenever possible. Another point to consider is related to those who use autofocus during parts of their production. The autofocus function is extremely slow to work with, to the point that it is better to skip using it altogether. When it comes to sound, Blackmagic Design has kept the endless audio knobs found on the older model. Truly not useful. Accessories: While the optional shoulder mount kit, OLED EVF and handgrip haven’t been replaced, there is something in their functionality that must be noted. Let’s put aside the shoulder mount kit: it is well-built, well-priced and very useful. Regarding the OLED EVF, a lot has been said and written about its optical quality, but that aside, I wish the top 3 user buttons would have made from soft rubber instead of hard plastic. They are very loud to use, meaning that pressing any of them while shooting comes at a risk of picking up that clicking sound in your audio, especially during interviews in quiet locations. Then, there’s the handgrip. This item should better be redesigned. It plays a crucial part when having the camera on your shoulder, but is very hard to adjust precisely, and it should be possible to adjust its rotation one-handedly. Function buttons – Blackmagic design OLED EVF   Three Cameras in One By allowing the user to change the camera’s lens mount, Blackmagic Design has made a brave decision in trying to make the camera appealing to a wide range of users in the cinema, broadcast and studio fields. By brave, I mean the attempt of satisfying the working needs of, say, an ENG cameraman and a cinematographer. Both might use the same working tool BUT in a completely different manner. Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro – three cameras in one (Photo credit: Blackmagic design) As good as it sounds and despite the very competitive pricing, I find it hard to see how broadcasters will be rushing to change their ENG cameras to a Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro for practical reasons. Consider the following: Most, if not all ENG cameras share a similar camera button layout. The Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro is a bit different in this regard, with the power button being a good example. This might seem like a minor point, but for a news shooter who has done this action millions of times, I’m willing to bet that having this particular switch on the “wrong” place might be an issue. The absence of an automatic sound control option, a much-needed feature for the independent shooter. Camera start-up time. Although much-improved from its predecessor, it is still much too slow when compared to a regular ENG camera. These points are likely to be insignificant to a cinematographer, yet important to the ENG user. What I can recommend is to lower expectations in thinking that TV stations will change their ENG cameras in bulk. Instead, they should focus on advising them to have one URSA Mini Pro in every ENG department. This particular camera can serve very well for high-end productions and documentaries where a certain look is required, and also to train staff in how to work with a large-sensor device. Blackmagic design URSA mini pro – A bit heavy but sits comfortably on the shoulder Conclusion Since working with the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro and seeing what it is capable of, I have found it hard to go back to the URSA Mini 4.6K. The new model is literally better in every aspect. In fact, in my opinion, it is the most robust and mature camera that Blackmagic Design has ever made. I can only hope that they pay the same kind of attention to their much-anticipated filming tools in the future (Pocket Cinema Pro, anybody?). Edit:  As requested by many, here is the ungraded version to my short video. Feel free to download and grade it by yourself. Please note that part of my review was shot in “video mode”. You will easily spot those shots as they are already coloured.   Camera settings for the video above: ProRes 422 HQ, 4K DCI, 25p, edited in the latest version of Adobe Premiere Pro. Colour corrected with FilmConvert URSA Mini 4.6K preset, “film stock” FJ8553 ET. Music by Art-list. Song: Gramercy by JCNY – Currents of a City. Many thanks to Agustina Pezzani and Zach Kornell (https://www.rednoses.eu) If you’re already working with this new camera, why not share your initial thoughts with the community in the comments section below?

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this deal has now ended. You can still get the 2-camera kit for $8,990, though this doesn’t offer any advantages over the individual prices of buying the two cameras on their own. This deal on B&H offers the Blackmagic Design URSA 4K PL (AKA the big one) for just $500… well, at least in theory, as there is one little detail. You also just need to shell out a few thousand bucks for the brand new Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro. Criticised by many due to its large size and weight, the original Blackmagic URSA 4K was quickly dethroned by its little sibling – the Mini – a couple of years ago. Now that the Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro has stolen the show, it may leave many wondering why anyone would want the big ol’ original URSA in the first place. Well, a $500 price tag could be reason enough for many, with this deal offered by B&H. (Thanks to our reader Martijn Schroevers for the heads-up on this incredible deal!) For essentially the price of an entry-level DSLR, you are still getting a host of great features, such as 4K Super35 sensor, 12 claimed stops of Dynamic Range, ProRes and Raw recording, XLRs, SDIs and screens… oh, so many screens. Of course, this comes with the not-so-insignificant caveat that it is only available alongside the fresh-out-of-the-oven Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro. I don’t think we would be too far off the mark if we guessed this “cinema camera kit for 2-camera coverage” from B&H is an attempt to quickly flip their current stock of big URSAs ahead of the official release date of the Mini Pro. I think it’s safe to say that Blackmagic Design is going to be selling a lot of Mini Pros, so if you’re thinking of jumping on that bandwagon, you may want to consider paying a few more hundred dollars and going for this deal. Even if you don’t need it, the second hand value alone may be worth the extra effort. UPDATE: Unfortunately, this deal has now ended. You can still get the 2-camera kit for $8,990, though this doesn’t offer any advantages over the individual prices of buying the two cameras on their own. The B&H image for their 2-camera kit. Uhm… Image not to scale. Thinking of becoming the proud owner of a brand-old big URSA alongside an URSA Mini Pro? Let us know in the comments! Special Thanks to Martijn Schroevers for pointing this deal out to us.

Today I took delivery of my new DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel, after ordering it from CVP on the evening of its announcement last week. Understandably, there was a lot of talk about the Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro after Blackmagic’s live stream, but the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel and DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel were the thing I was most excited about. They represent a push by Blackmagic in to a whole new market that is ripe for a shake-up. Blackmagic Resolve Micro Panel DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel – A New Generation Is Born It is very seldom that I get the chance to grade using Blackmagic’s full size panel and, at £21k, it’s not exactly something the new breed of home studio colourists are queuing up to purchase. For many years there has been a dearth of options at the lower end of the market. The woefully-supported Avid Artist Color panel was one I used for a time but, more recently, it was Tangent’s ‘Element’ control surface that I, and scores of smaller post houses and freelance colourists, were using. For Tangent, last week’s announcement must have come as a heavy blow. I never thought there was much wrong with Tangent’s products, but I can’t see anyone in the market for a control panel now choosing the Element over the Mini, and even the Micro gives it a good run for its money. The DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel retails for the same cost as just one part (the Tk balls and wheels) of the Element, or nearly a third of the full Element setup. It feels much more solidly built, has a more thoughtfully laid out design and works seamlessly with Resolve right out of the box, whereas Tangent’s panel requires users to install their TangentHub software. Blackmagic’s panel literally just plugs in using the included 2m-long USB-C to USB-A cable, and that’s it. Customisation Now some people may argue that, via its Mapper utility software, the ability of the Element to have its soft keys re-mapped to various functions gives it an advantage over the Micro panel, but I disagree. I can see these smaller panels quickly becoming widely adopted in various levels of post-production studios – from home suites, like mine, to post-production houses, agencies and educational institutions too. That means that the muscle memory you’ll build up on your own panel will still apply if you find yourself grading somewhere else on another DaVinci Resolve Micro or Mini panel. Because the functions won’t have been re-mapped to someone else’s specific tastes, you’ll be on familiar ground, ready to work immediately. In fact the panel is so small, it really wouldn’t be an issue to carry it around with you to grade on-site with clients. Knowing you could simply plug it in to your client’s system and start working in Resolve immediately is hugely attractive. There are also a lot of studios where internet access isn’t allowed on workstations, so not needing to download software is a nice bonus. First Impressions In use, this panel feels great. It’s solidly built and reassuringly heavy but, again, not so bulky you wouldn’t want to take it with you on site. There’s a lovely fluidity to the knobs, and the buttons offer a nice firm resistance as you depress them. There’s little chance you’ll accidentally reset a node or activate any of the buttons functions without intending to. I really like the easy to read, backlit buttons and their simple layout on the surface. Within minutes I was confident that I knew roughly where every function was and could grade faster than I would have been able to without it, and that really is the whole point with control surfaces. With regular use they will enable the operator to make both subtle and not so subtle changes at a pace that is unattainable with a mouse and keyboard alone. Of course, this only being the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel, there are still functions you will need to reach for the keyboard to activate, particularly if you are editing in Resolve as well as grading. Thanks to the carefully considered size of the panel (it is exactly the same width as a full size Apple keyboard!) it fits snugly in-between my keyboard and Mac, allowing me to go back and forth with ease. Summary I’m really impressed with the panel so far. Though I’ve literally only played with it for a few hours, it already feels at home on my desk and, as I said earlier, operating it seems so instinctive that it feels like I’ve had it forever. At £800, I can imagine Blackmagic will sell a lot of these DaVinci Resolve Micro Panels, but I’m also curious to check out the more expensive DaVinci Resolve Mini panel which, at £2500 is quite a big step up. I’m hoping to lay my hands on a Mini soon, to do a side by side comparison with my Micro. Until then, I’m off to grade my latest project with this little fella.

Here’s my hands-on URSA Mini Pro Review – the newly released ENG / Digital Film / Streaming crossover camera from Blackmagic Design. But what have Blackmagic Design improved? Blackmagic Design just released a new camera – and to be very honest, in the past, these words caused a lot of excitement and doubt at the same time. On the one hand, Blackmagic really managed to shake up the camera industry by packing a lot of pro features like, for example, raw recording into their earliest cameras. With their raw support, they enabled low budget filmmakers to produce high-end quality previously only available from much more expensive cameras. On the other hand, until not so long ago, Blackmagic upset a lot of people by announcing too many cameras at the same time, not meeting their delivery dates or facing sensor issues with some of their cameras. (If you are interested in what the footage from the URSA Mini Pro looks like and you want to hear my colleague and friend Johnnie Behiri’s thoughts on the camera after using it, head over to his review!) Blackmagic Design learned their lessons I think it is safe to say that Blackmagic Design have now learned from their mistakes. In the past year, they have started to announce products only when they are already available, and have succeeded in stopping any significant leaks about their new products. The Blackmagic Design URSA Mini 4.6K and the new URSA Mini Pro side-by-side. A Definitive Second Generation Camera And here it is, the Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro. It was only just announced, but was already shipping right after its introduction. It’s quite clear that this is a definitive second generation camera that offers huge usability improvements over the original URSA Mini 4.6K. Because it is the same sensor and optical performance is expected to be the same or similar, am focusing instead on the hands-on aspects of the camera in this review. Almost the same, but strikingly different: The URSA Mini Pro can take up to 4 different interchangeable mounts. Improvements and Differences to the URSA Mini 4.6K While with the original URSA Mini 4K and 4.6K you had to buy separate EF and PL versions, the PRO offers an interchangeable mount between EF, PL, B4 and Nikon, making this camera adaptable to almost any lens on the market. When compared side-by-side, the first thing to notice is the same-sized body. The new URSA Mini Pro is around 300 grams heavier according to our measurements, though. It’s not a super light camera, but I actually like it for this form factor, because it’s very evenly balanced and sits nicely on the shoulder. Weight Differences between the URSA Mini 4.6K (below) and URSA Mini Pro (above). What’s also new is the greatly reduced start-up time between the two generations of the camera. It was around 10 seconds for the URSA Mini 4K and 4.6K, and it’s now only around 5 seconds – something that makes a difference in everyday shooting scenarios. Startup time on the URSA Mini 4.6K Startup time on the URSA Mini Pro ENG-style New Features Improve Versatility Logically layout of ENG-style buttons on the URSA Mini Pro. As you can see, the outside of this new camera has changed significantly. Blackmagic have moved away from functional minimalism to providing many custom buttons for all kinds of functions, much like we have been used to from other cameras for many years now, particularly those in a broadcast-type form factor. This means less digging into menus and faster access to the functionality you constantly require. Immediate access to Iris, ISO, Shutter, White Balance, High Frame Rate recording, Audio settings and customisable buttons makes the URSA Mini Pro a valid ENG camera in addition to its “digital film” applications. There is now an easily-accessible wheel to adjust either the headphone volume or the aperture of the iris. Unfortunately, the audio knobs are still “infinite” and don’t have hard stops, which means that you will always have to look at the screen in order to see where your audio levels are – but the external display makes monitoring audio much easier. Finally: ND Filters Built-in In my opinion, one of the biggest shortcomings of the original URSA Mini 4K and 4.6K was the lack of built-in ND filters. This is something that’s essential in the ENG world, and considering that it was designed in this form factor, many people including myself were surprised that NDs were missing. Not any more, though – Blackmagic Design have added three steps of switchable, built-in ND to the URSA Mini Pro, at 2, 4 and 6 stops. It’s a rotating filter wheel just like the ones found on other similarly-sized cameras, such as the Sony FS7. There is just one minor design fault: the filter wheel shows the labels 1-2-3-4, with the filter enabled from setting 2 onwards. in my opinion, Blackmagic should have chosen the word “clear” instead of 1 for the sake of clarity. However, they do provide a printed explanation on the side of the camera for this. The filters work just fine and we couldn’t see any significant colour shift when using them on a quick test outside. Smaller Screen, Smart Idea The screen has shrunk. It’s now 4 inches across, which practically makes much more sense as a built-in screen rather than the 5-inch found in the original URSA Mini. Functions that you don’t constantly need to access have now been moved to the inside of the screen – specifically audio settings like XLR phantom power or playback functions. URSA Mini 4.6K next to the URSA Mini Pro, both with opened screen One small downside of the monitor: It still cannot be rotated 180 degrees like on many other cameras, which means you can’t do a “selfie” shoot or have the screen facing the side of your camera. Also, at some angles, it can block the small adjustment wheel that controls the iris. These are all minor issues, though. Screen size comparison between the two URSA Minis – with the new URSA Mini Pro on the right-hand side. Optional URSA Mini Viewfinder If you want to use this camera on the shoulder, I recommend getting the optional URSA Mini viewfinder, which offers a really high quality 1080p image, and has its own focus magnification and peaking controls. Be aware that peaking in the viewfinder also outlines the screen overlays it receives from the camera, which can be a bit distracting. Intuitive: The Operating System and Menu Structure The operating system found on the URSA Mini Pro is where Blackmagic demonstrates its knowledge as a company that has a lot of experience in software and interface design. First of all, the touch screen is super responsive, and while I am not a big fan of touch screens on cameras, I can really see this work just fine for most productions because of its speed and sensitivity. The layout of all the menu items and settings is very logical – this is something that many Japanese camera manufacturers traditionally struggle with. If you have ever looked for a specific function that you don’t need every day on a Sony camera, you know exactly what I am talking about. All that is much easier here – there are virtual touch buttons and sliders that use the available screen real estate effectively, and everything feels very self-explanatory. The only other camera menu as straightforward as this is probably the Arri Alexa, with RED cameras coming in as a close second. The URSA Mini Pro features an outside display with several brightness settings that shows the most important camera settings even when you have the screen closed. A very convenient feature, they clearly took note from other manufacturers who have built this into their cameras in the past. New outside display on the URSA Mini Pro. Recording: Now with SD Cards Next to CFast Cards Let’s move on to recording. The URSA Mini Pro features two CFast Card slots and now also dual UHS-II SD card slots. That means if you are not recording something data intensive, you can opt to record onto much less expensive SD and UHS-II cards, which are inexpensive, commonly available, and perfect for recording ProRes Ultra HD files or RAW HD files. And yes, the URSA Mini Pro records up to 12-bit CinemaDNG RAW, something that still no other camera in this price range can do. It also records up to ProRes XQ and all other flavours of ProRes. SD card slots now next to the CFast card slots. That’s it for the first-look review of the new Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro! Stay tuned for more about this camera from us at cinema5D as we get to know it better.

During their much anticipated live stream today, Grant Petty from Blackmagic Design announced the brand new Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro camera, along with two new control panels for DaVinci Resolve. Looking essentially like a beefed up URSA Mini, the Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro has several key updates over the original, making it a compelling new addition to their line up. Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro – Key Features Built in 2/4/6 stop, colour shift free, ND filters. 4.6K Sensor with 15 stops of dynamic range. Super wide color gamut and DaVinci color science Similar size and construction to the URSA Mini. Camera control, talk back and tally for studio work. 2 x CFast cards and 2 x SD cards built in. Cinema DNG RAW. Pro Res all the way up 4444XQ in 4.6K, UHD, and HD. Swappable EF, PL, B4 and Nikon lens mounts, the latter featuring a mechanical lens mount with a smooth iris aperture control ring on it (available later in the year). PL lens data communication support. EF lens control communication support. Built-in stereo microphone at the front, with lower noise and a wider, flatter frequency response. HFR (high frame rate) button for instant, one-push, slo-mo shooting. 4 channels of audio recording. Dedicated stills button (Features still in beta testing). Optional SSD recorder bolts on to the back and communicates over the 12G SDI to record straight from the sensor (Available “mid-year”). With the key features of swappable mounts, an affordable shoulder rig and accessories, built-in ND filters, and a wide choice of recording media ranging from a humble SD card for fast turnaround HD capture to more capable SSDs just to name a few, the Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro certainly promises to be a flexible platform ideal for crossing the border between cinematic narrative productions and broadcast ENG-style ergonomics. In addition, Blackmagic CEO Grant Petty mentioned In the live stream that owners of the original URSA will be able to upgrade to a URSA Mini Pro for $3495. All you need to do is provide proof of purchase of your URSA. According to Blackmagic that $3495 price gets you a new URSA Mini Pro and you still get to keep your old camera”  We will attempt to get clarification from Blackmagic if this deal is for the original URSA or URSA mini too. We can now confirm that this deal is for the original URSA only.  Also, unlike previous Blackmagic Design announcements, the great news is that this new camera is shipping now! It is available from the links below for $5995. Lens mount pricing: PL mount $245, B4 mount $385, EF mount $175. Blackmagic Resolve Panels Blackmagic also announced two new small form-factor colour control panels for use with DaVinci Resolve – the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel and the DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel. These panels are almost certainly going to make a major dent in the control panel market currently dominated by Tangent. Blackmagic Resolve Micro Panel The Mini Panel puts all the main primary colour tools from Resolve at your fingertips. The ergonomic design is optimised for comfort, despite its small size. Blackmagic see this panel being a travelling companion to colourists and DITs on sets, in post houses and in client studios. Their well-made die-cast aluminium body provides a premium feel in a small and compact device. Powered by USB-C, which is quite a feat, given it’s range of features, I can see the simple design and powerful features of this new hardware being very attractive to Resolve users. Here are some of the features it supports: RGB balance balls with RGB Luma adjustment rings around them. Buttons above the track balls allow switching between Log and Offset grading Knobs for making Y Lift, Gamma and Gain adjustments, plus contrast, pivot, MD (mid-tone detail) controls, colour boost, shadows, highlights, saturation and hue are also conveniently placed on the new panels. The knobs all have 4096 levels of control, which is the same as their advanced panel, just a little smaller. This allows for fine control and push resetting of parameters. Direct action transport buttons allow for next clip, previous clip, next node, previous node etc. Blackmagic Resolve Mini Panel The Resolve Mini Panel is a larger (though still compact) control panel that adds a second tier for screens and additional controls, like page displays, qualifiers, power windows, curves, sizing, etc. Basically a lot more controls for running almost all the parameters of DaVinci Resolve, just like the advanced panel can. The added features of the Mini Panel include: AC power input as well as 4-pin XLR power. 2 x Ethernet for loop through that support POE (Power Over Ethernet) USB-C port will charge your laptop while it’s connected. The Mini and Micro Panels are shipping now for $2995 and $995 respectively, and are available from the links below. What do you think? Have Blackmagic Design hit the nail on the head with today’s announcements? Let us know in the comments below!

Blackmagic Design have sent out invitations via email and posted teasers on social media inviting people to a live stream of “a press conference showing our latest camera and post production technology” today. What’s behind this Blackmagic Live Stream? Blackmagic Live Stream. Photo credit: Blackmagic While we don’t know what to expect from this Blackmagic Live Stream, one can presume that DaVinci Resolve 13 is a likely candidate for announcement, given that their invite specifically mentions their professional post-production software. There is, however, surprisingly little  information in the wild about this press conference. Some rumours have started circulating about a 4K update to their MFT Pocket Cinema Camera, with the addition of an H.265 codec. All we know is that we can’t wait to tune in and find out what Blackmagic have up their sleeves. Local times indicated below, to see what they have in store for us. Leave me your guesses in the comments below, and let’s see who gets it right! Los Angeles 12:00 pm PST Thursday 2nd March 2017 New York 3:00 pm EST Thursday 2nd March 2017 London 8:00 pm GMT Thursday 2nd March 2017 Tokyo 5:00 am JST Friday 3rd March 2017 Sydney 7:00 am AEDT Friday 3rd March 2017

Back in September, Canon announced two new professional 4K, HDR, reference monitors – the Canon DP-V2420 (shipping now) and the DP-V1710 (shipping February 2017). I managed to get some hands-on time with the top-of-the-range DP-V2420 this week. Read on to see my thoughts on how the Canon DP-V2420 HDR Monitor performed. Features With a hefty £25k price tag, you’d expect the Canon DP-V2420 to be stuffed full of cutting edge display technology, and thankfully it is: 24-inch, 4096 x 2160, 4K, 10-bit, IPS LCD panel, with 178° viewing angle. Support for 48p, 50p and 60p source frame rates in 4K. ITU-R BT.709 and ITU-R BT.2020 colour gamut ITU-R BT.2100 and SMPTE ST 2084 compliant, supporting both Dolby Vision and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma). Peak luminance of 1200 cd/m2 and a minimum luminance of 0.005 cd/m2. Built-in 4K RAW de-bayer (from C300 mk2, C500 or C700). HDR-SDR Split-Screen View. How Does the Canon DP-V2420 Perform? As mundane as it may seem, the first thing that struck me when setting up the Canon DP-V2420 HDR Monitor was how simple and intuitive the menu system was. Having worked with a lot of reference monitors in my time, this was by far and away the easiest menu system I’ve come across. It was particularly quick and easy for me to create an HDR preset to match YouTube’s new HDR specification, with a peak luminance of 1000 cd/m2. The Canon DP-V2420 HDR Monitor menu. The next thing I noticed was just how crisp and defined the 4K image was. The material I was working with was originally shot on a RED Epic-W with the 8K Helium sensor, though I was working from a 4K Pro Res 4444 XQ master. The image quality was simply remarkable, but what truly blew me away was when I set my Resolve project to 1080p to test the DP-2420’s ‘Shape Tracing’ upscaling technology. I thought this would be a useful real world test, as not everyone has the required hardware to output 4K from their system, such as Blackmagic’s UltraStudio 4K Extreme. Once I was outputting a 1080p signal to the DP-V2420, I took a step back and couldn’t believe my eyes. If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn I was looking at the 4K signal still! It really is one of the best upscaled 4K images I’ve ever seen. I was a bit dubious when I first heard that this monitor used a backlit LCD rather than an OLED panel. For HDR, one would normally expect OLED in order to achieve the low 0.005 cd/m2 blacks necessary. As soon as I was feeding it my signal, though, it became clear that Canon had achieved something truly unique with this backlight technology. The DP-V2420 HDR Monitor’s backlight scanning uses a full array RGB backlight, allowing individual areas to be partially turned off. Canon wouldn’t tell me too much about how this technology works, but it’s clearly very clever and produces deep blacks that one wouldn’t normally see on a backlit IPS panel like this. As well as local dimming, the sensors behind the backlight array are also able to measure temperature, luminance and colour information across the panel. This wealth of data allows the monitor to maintain optimal performance at all times and Canon even told me that it should mean that, under normal conditions, it shouldn’t require re-calibrating (it’s initially done using top-end Klein probes by Canon before it leaves their factory) before a year or more in to it’s working life! My only real criticism of this display is its fan noise. There were times when I thought the thing was going to take off! However, after chatting with Canon about this, I was told there is a firmware update coming soon to fix this issue. There will also be some new features introduced, the most exciting of which is the ability for the monitor to take an incoming feed and split it in two on screen, allowing the colourist or DIT to check both the HDR and SDR versions of the grade side by side. This is currently only possible by bridging the SDI In and Out ports on the back with an additional cable, but the update will remove this requirement, making it much easier to take advantage of this feature. I can see this split-screen feature, coupled with the HDR-compatible waveform monitor built into the Canon V-2420, as being extremely useful on-set during HDR productions. Summary In the burgeoning market for professional HDR monitors, the Canon DP-V2420 HDR Monitor is one of the ones leading the pack. It has some very clever tech inside it and several killer features that would make it invaluable both on set during an HDR shoot and in the colour suite. *Thanks to Abandon Visuals for allowing me to show their footage being used in this review.