Blackmagic says the new User Interface and OS for the URSA Mini cameras is like finally releasing the second half of the camera system. This is not an upgrade. Nope, this is a whole ground up total rewrite. The Operating system has been specifically designed for the high performance processing architecture of the URSA Mini making the camera better and more enjoyable to use. One thing to remember, this is a free upgrade for all USRA Mini users.
User Interface Upgrade
The UI upgrade is all about making the shooting experience more enjoyable with the URSA Minis. Shooters will notice a new heads up display which will reduce the amount of menu diving when out on a shoot. Now you’ll be able to change ISO, white balance, shutter angle, iris, frame rate, frame guides, and more without having to dive into menus. Let’s be honest, nothing looks worse than a camera operator having to slow down a shoot as they search for a key setting. Now, you shouldn’t have that problem.
Customers also get more accurate shutter angle selection, including a large easy to use on screen keyboard for easy entry of settings. When entering the shutter angle, the new URSA Mini camera OS will even offer smart flicker free shutter angle suggestions to assist the camera operator. This should help you avoid light flicker when shooting at any frame rate.
One the features I am excited to see has to be anamorphic. To my delight, The new URSA Mini camera OS adds 1.33x and 2x anamorphic de-squeeze previews which should work not only on the LCD screen, but also the EVF. Also, the new OS appears to have a 3K anamorphic setting of 3072 x 256o, and, suddenly, you have one of the more less expensive 4×3 anamorphic cameras. Will this 3072 x 2560 4×3 setting take advantage of an anamorphic’s lens entire image circle? Honestly, I don’t know. I hope so. I am not well enough versed in the details of it yet.
Another promising feature to be added is the camera will be able to import and store external 3D LUTs and apply the LUT to the LCD, front and main SDI outputs independently. They can also load and save their own presets for different shooting setups or different operators. You’ll place these LUTs on your CFast 2.0 card and the camera will be able to load them from there.
Lastly, the URSA Mini will soon be able to assign shortcuts to camera function keys, toggle between peaking and color focus assist, see new percentage based safe area guides and have the ability to toggle SDI overlays with information specifically geared toward either the cinematographer or the director viewing at video village.
