Blackmagic Design URSA Broadcast Camera

Excellent

The Blackmagic Ursa Broadcast is not a news camera despite being advertised as both news and studio camera. This is a studio camera. I work in London and have shot news for networks from the USA, Latin America, Europe and Middle East countries. Being a freelancer for the most of my career, I've worked with anything between 50 and 100 different reporters, some of them for several years. I've worked with tape based cameras and have been working only with card based cameras since the last ten years or so. I've worked with Sony, Panasonic, JVC and Ikegami cameras. I've also used Samsung and iPhone to shoot news in some specific situations. I edit on Final Cut X since 2013 and edited on Final Cut 6 and 7 before that. I also edited, many years ago, on linear machines Sony BVE 600, 900 and 2000. To shoot on interlaced mode is essential when you are doing news. Most (if not all) networks will not accept news footage shot on progressive mode. The Ursa has only one option to shoot on interlaced mode : Avid’s DNx which Apple stopped supporting last year. If you have Mac with Final Cut X you will not be able to edit news footage on interlaced mode. In other words, you won’t be able to edit news. Period. Even if you have Avid or Adobe on your Mac it will be a very bumpy road to edit news footage shot with the Ursa broadcast . That is, if you manage to edit against a deadline at all. I have a five minutes interview with a member of the Parliament (known as law maker in the US) shot with a camera which has H264 codec. I used the very best option for H264. The file is 1.7 GB. A 5 min test shot with the Ursa using DNx is 7 GB! And it took me ten minutes to convert it but even then I could not import the file to Final Cut X. It seems that Catalina will reintroduce support to DNx in Macs but that won’t make for any revolutionary change as it is just too impractical to edit news with a codec such as DNx because of its size. Blackmagic mentioned the addition of mxf but that was back in February last year and nothing happened so far. They have no plans to add a proper news codec such as H264 or H265. The top handle of the camera is not suitable for news work, a job where the cameraman or camerawoman has quite often to walk long distances during a day of work and needs to hold the camera by its top handle with a firm grip, which is not possible with the Ursa Broadcast unless you are left handed. If you are right handed, like most camera crew, you won’t be able to hold the camera using your right hand because the mic mount is very obtrusive, will hurt your fingers and makes the useable area of the top handle shorter than it is already. And I am talking about normal sized hands. A cameraman with big hands won’t even be able to hold the camera at all with his right hand! How bizarre is a news camera that you can't hold with your hand ? Actually, I have the mic mount box right here. It is for Ursa Mini, not for the Ursa Broadcast. Blackmagic didn’t design a proper top handle compatible with news work. They just used the one they had already. No need to change the name on the box. They were thinking studio when they designed the Ursa broadcast. They didn’t think that whilst cameras such as the Mini ( used for studio, commercial, films etc) do not need a shot gun mic a news camera must have a shotgun. There is not a single functioning news camera in the planet that doesn’t have a shotgun mic. You need a shotgun mic the same way you need a top light to shoot news. Both top light and shotgun placements are awkward on the Ursa. And so are the XLR inputs, which are placed on the top of the camera! Again, they were thinking studio, not news. The top handle is important in order to walk with the camera ( many prefer shoulder straps but the Ursa doesn’t have a place for them anyway) but it is also important because news cameramen and camerawomen shoot with the camera on a tripod, on the shoulder and also holding the camera either by its body or the top handle ( I would say mainly the top handle). You can’t shoot with the Ursa holding it by the top handle unless you are left handed. Even then it won’t be as comfortable as it is with just about every other news camera I worked with (Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Ikegami) because the arm for the top light is a little obtrusive and stays a bit in the way of the left hand . The Ursa Broadcast doesn’t perform well in low light situations what is okay if you are in a studio with lots of light but it is not okay if you are shooting in the streets at night. There is just so much a top light can do. But the low light performance is not only a problem for night shooting. Many times you will need to shoot conferences which are part of a news story and those conferences are hold, more often than not, in poorly lit areas. Many reporters like to see how their piece to camera will look but you won't be able to show them as the lcd screen doesn't turn to the front . The reporter won't be happy when you tell him or her "I'm sorry but I can't turn the lcd to you". The camera is too power hungry. IDX told me that the Ursa needs 10A batteries. So, be ready to carry an extra bag just with batteries if you will be shooting out there the whole day long as it happens many times in news shooting. Of course, batteries are not a problem in a studio, where the Ursa broadcast belongs to. A real news camera needs to perform well in low light situations. The Ursa broadcast doesn’t. On the affordability of the camera: It will cost $9,368 without body armour or rain cover at a well known shop in New York. Shipping and taxes not included. if you want to add a Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter then you will need to add $2,995 to the $9, 368, making for $12,363 USD. I would like to know where is this magic place that is selling a fully outfitted Ursa broadcast camera with fiber converter for less than $10,000 as Blackmagic executive in the US claimed in an article. You will need to spend about $400 on a body armour, which is also essential because it has a raincover. A raincover will cost less but you can’t have it on the camera all the time. I am assuming that you already have a tripod head with a payload of 12 kg (26.4 lb) . If yours is 8kg, for example, you will need to buy another tripod because a complete Ursa with , mic, top light, battery plus the tripod plate and Portabrace body armour will weigh 10.5 kg (23.1 lb) and the legs for a head with a payload of 12 kg (100 mm bowl) are different from the legs for a head with a payload of 8 or 10 kg (75 mm bowl). The images are so very beautiful. The viewfinder is terrific. Navigation through the menu is excellent. There are many good things I can say about the Ursa broadcast but, unfortunately, this is not a news camera. I am now in the ridiculous situation where I have just spent over £10,000 on a camera but need to find a second hand JVC 850 so I can continue shooting news which is my main job, the one that brings bread and bacon to the table. Blackmagic is making people follow a dust cart thinking it's a wedding. Do not buy this camera if your main or sole purpose is to shoot news for networks.

La mejor camara del mercado! me hizo ganar muchos clientes 4k cine al mejor precio del mercado