The Blackmagic Design URSA Broadcast camera looks very familiar. That’s because it shares a lot of the features of the URSA Mini 4.6K Pro camera. All the good stuff like built-in ND filters and button placements but one big new feature is the B4 mount for 2/3″ Broadcast Zoom lenses.
URSA BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS
- 4K CMOS Sensor
- Compatible with 2/3″ B4 Lenses
- UHD 4K and 1080p up to 60 fps
- Records to Apple ProRes and Avid DNx
- Cinema DNG Raw Recording
- 2 x UHS-II SD, 2 x CFast 2.0 Slots
- 3G-SDI and 12G-SDI Outputs
- Genlock and Timecode
- XLR Inputs and Built-In Microphone
Behind the mount is a glass filter that corrects image issues that occur like aliasing and color fringing. These occur due to the nature of the 3 chip sensor 2/3″ cameras use. The URSA Broadcast has one 3.056 x 7.344 mm. 4K CMOS Sensor that is also found in the Studio Camera 4K 2 and Micro Studio Camera 4K.
B4 lenses can be bought for a very low price in the used market however high-quality B4 lenses still could run one thousand dollars and up. Using a 2/3″ zoom lens gives the user a very easy to operate camera that has a lens that is parfocal and a long range. No swapping lenses mean you won’t miss a shot. The URSA Broadcast uses the same accessories as the other URSA camera as well. The balance feels good when the camera is on the shoulder due to the hand being on the lens. Just like a good ole’ broadcast camera.
FORMATS
CinemaDNG Raw (Uncompressed or Lossless 3:1/4:1 Compressed):
- 3840 x 2160
Apple ProRes:
- 3840 x 2160
- 1920 x 1080
- 3840 x 2160
FRAME RATES
- 60, 59.94, 50, 30, 29.97, 25, 24, 23.98 fps
DATA RATES
- Apple ProRes 444 XQ – 312.5 MB/s
- Apple ProRes 444 – 165 MB/s
- Apple ProRes 422 HQ – 110 MB/s
- Apple ProRes 422 – 73.6 MB/s
- Apple ProRes 422 LT – 51 MB/s
- Apple ProRes Proxy – 22.4 MB/s
1920 x 1080:
- Apple ProRes 444 XQ – 62.5 MB/s
- Apple ProRes 444 – 41.25 MB/s
- Apple ProRes 422 HQ – 27.5 MB/s
- Apple ProRes 422 – 18.4 MB/s
- Apple ProRes 422 LT – 12.75 MB/s
- Apple ProRes Proxy – 5.6 MB/s
Rates based on 30 frames per second.
MEDIA
- 2 x CFast 2.0
- 2 x SD UHS-II
The URSA Broadcast camera is priced extremely competitively at $3495 US
Source: newsshooter.com
This is certainly a very interesting camera, the new “Expanded video” profile sounds promising, really need to see how well it can match to other ENG style cameras (Sony/Pana etc) on-site with in-camera settings.
What I want to know is How does this camera compare in low light to the old 2/3 inch 3-ccd broadcast camcorders from Sony and Ikegami?
I have a demo camera coming in this week but I don’t have a 2/3 chip camera to compare it to plus this is a 4K cam. Will be interesting to see the noise levels.
Small error from the rep, the actual sensor size is 13.056mm x 7.344mm (same as Micro Studio 4K), not Micro4/3 (17’ish mm wide) but the optical B4 adapter (may) use a little bit stronger magnification factor than the old 1.1x unit available on the URSA PL or URSA Mini Pro. I wish BM would make this optical adapter available in B4 to Micro4/3 mount which means we could use it on the Micro Studio 4K camera for a smaller form factor (or other cameras with an additional crop).