Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 – First Slow-Motion Footage

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by Jeff LochMarch 25^th, 2019

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The Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 is the new version of the popular URSA Mini Pro. The camera was announced earlier this month, and the first footage was recently released. Let’s take a quick look at it!

Wildlife Footage

The Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 is a brand new camera and is still in the preorder stage. However, it looks like Blackmagic already sent some early units to a bunch of select filmmakers. Wildlife cinematographer Garth De Bruno Austin is one of them, and he just posted a video showing the camera’s slow-motion capabilities. The video is entirely shot using Blackmagic RAW 4.6K/2K, using Sigma 18-35mm and 70-200mm lenses. The footage was shot in 120 (4.6K) and 300 (2K cropped sensor) frames per second.

The first footage looks very promising. Of course, Garth is a very talented filmmaker, plus the locations and animals are gorgeous. Indeed, there is a lot of details in the footage, and the image doesn’t look “soft” in the slow-motion mode like other cinema cameras. To me, there is no moiré or other artifacts visible, even though the scenes featuring the elephant and the fine grass detail are usually really complex to render for a camera sensor. Also, Blackmagic Color Science 4 looks like a significant step-up in color rendition; the skin tones look very appealing. I can’t wait to see more footage from the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 to appear.

Image courtesy of Blackmagic Design

URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 Specs

The original URSA Mini Pro was already a powerful camera with built-in ND-filters, XLR audio, and plenty of recording formats available. The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 brings some new features like:

• Super 35mm 4.6K sensor with Blackmagic Design Generation 4 Color Science.
• Project frame rates up to 60 fps and off-speed slow motion recording up to 120 fps in 4.6K, 150 fps in 4K DCI and 300 fps in HD Blackmagic RAW.
• Support for Blackmagic RAW files in Constant Bitrate 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 and 12:1 or Constant Quality Q0 and Q5 as well as ProRes 4444 XQ, ProRes 4444, ProRes 422 HQ, ProRes 422, ProRes 422 LT, ProRes 422 Proxy recording at 4.6K, 4K, Ultra HD and HD resolutions.
• Fifteen stops of dynamic range.
• 2, 4 and 6 stop neutral density (ND) filters with IR compensation.
• Interchangeable lens mount with EF mount included as standard. Optional PL, B4 and F lens mounts available separately.
• Built-in dual C-Fast 2.0 recorders and dual SD/UHS-II card recorders allow unlimited duration recording in high quality.
• High-speed USB-C expansion port for recording directly to an external SSD or flash disk.
• Standard connections, including dual XLR mic/line audio inputs with phantom power, 12G-SDI output for monitoring with camera status graphic overlay and separate XLR 4 pin power output for viewfinder power, headphone jack, LANC remote control, and standard four pins 12V DC power connection.
• 4-inch foldout touchscreen for on-set monitoring and menu settings.
• Includes a full copy of DaVinci Resolve software color grading and editing software.

What do you think of the first footage from the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2? Do you consider buying the camera? Let us know in the comments below!