Blackmagic’s Large Format Ursa Cine 17K Camera Costs (Just) $30,000

Blackmagic announced that its new Ursa Cine 17K 65 camera costs $29,995. It features a new large format 65mm RGBW 17,520 by 8,040 sensor with bigger photo-sites for 16 stops of dynamic range as well as interchangeable PL, LPL, and Hasselblad lens mounts.

The size of the sensor is what still photographers refer to as medium format but is typically referred to as large format in cinema camera offerings.

Blackmagic says that the Ursa Cine 17K is a “revolutionary” new digital film camera that brings advanced technologies together with “total integration” into a post-production workflow. The Ursa Cine 17K 65 comes with 8TB of “high-performance storage” built-in and also includes high-speed networking for media upload and syncing to Blackmagic Cloud.

The $30,000 price may sound high, but it makes the Ursa Cine 17K the most affordable ultra high-resolution medium format sensor cinema camera in the market — made more attractive given its connectivity and versatility. Most other cameras of this capability are only available to rental houses or directly from manufacturers are are exceedingly expensive. For example, the Arri Alexa 65 reportedly costs upward of $10,000 per day.

“URSA Cine features a revolutionary new sensor designed for incredible quality images at all resolutions from 4K to a massive 17K. The larger sensor builds on the technology of URSA Mini Pro 12K with larger photo-sites leading to an astounding 16 stops of dynamic range,” Blackmagic says. “The unique RGBW architecture provides equal amounts of red, green, and blue pixels. This means it is optimized to deliver incredibly rich colors at all resolutions and provide the ultimate in image quality and flexibility.”

Blackmagic included a “high performance” optical low pass filter that is matched to the sensor and incorporates updated IR filtering that Blackmagic says improves far red color response to preserve color and image detail when combined with Blackmagic RAW.

Blackmagic’s RAW files store camera metadata, lens information, white balance, digital slate information, and custom LUTs to make the transition to post-production as seamless as possible. It records to the included 8TB Media Module which is able to capture over four hours of Blackmagic RAW in 17K resolution using the full 65mm sensor. For shooting 4K, that storage can accommodate 20 total hours of capture.

The aforementioned interchangeable lens mount is meant to give cinematographers more versatility, as different projects require different lenses, the company says.

The monitor is a fold-out design and measures five inches across, provides touch controls and can display HDR. On the other side of the camera is a dedicated assist panel that has a second five-inch HDR touchscreen to allow a larger crew to work around the camera without needing to add additional external monitors. Along with that same line of thinking, the Ursa Cine 17K also has a dedicated focus puller’s mode.

“The wide range of industry-standard connections on URSA Cine make it perfect for high-end cinema production. The 7-pin Lemo and 3-pin Fischer connectors at the front provide record start/stop and 24V power so are ideal for onboard accessories such as focus motors. Camera power is provided by a standard 24V 8-pin Lemo connection, plus there’s an additional 2-pin Lemo 12V connection at the rear for lower voltage accessories,” Blackmagic says. A full features rundown can be seen on Blackmagic’s website.

Blackmagic says that the Ursa Cine 17K is the first digital film camera that has “ultra-fast high capability” Cloud Store technology built-in. It combined with the onboard SSD allows for the capture of super-high resolutions and frame rates for hours that can be accessed over 10G Ethernet, a Media Module reader, or through using the dual CFexpress card slots.

The Ursa Cine 17K 65 is available starting today for $29,995 while a version with an optional EVF will be available to order “soon” for $31,495.