Shooting 12K Footage for VFX Plates
Nov 05, 2023
Is this the ultimate VFX camera?
We tested the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K and discovered it's crazy good for VFX plates. Here is what we liked and didn't like about this camera.
the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K. It's a pretty weird camera in a lot of ways. I think you could say it's ahead of its time. I mean, you don't see a whole lot of 12k TVs out there, and most projects are still being finished in 4K or just regular full HD. So why would Blackmagic make a camera that can shoot in 12k?
Because they felt like it, that's why.
When I think about this camera, its an epic device for capturing high-end VFX plates. That's why you'd use 12k. You'd have hundreds of ways to reframe shots and you get so much detail.
Shooting VFX Plates
Blackmagic sent us the 12K camera to review, and given I had an 80-megapixel camera with 14 stops of dynamic range, there was just so much data I could use. So I wanted to shoot some plates. VFX plates are any type of footage you use for compositing. Generally, you want the footage to be as sharp as possible so you have so many options to use the footage in post.
In the edit or comp, you could add camera movement, motion blur, and layer video overlays and elements. There's just so much you can do. You also get so much texture from the image to use in 3D apps, I like to use Blender and Unreal Engine and these plates have held up beautifully in so many different use cases.
The 12K Camera
effects stuff, this is just a really solid camera. It has an entirely different sensor, a one-of-a-kind sensor they developed Blackmagic RAW alongside of. If you've used any of the URSA Mini line, like the G2, those are great cameras. They're probably my favorite cinema camera below $40,000.
Tfilter, it's got that great operating system that BlackMagic puts on all their cameras. You can go 12k, 8k, 6k, 4k, at different frame rate options. This thing goes up to 240 frames per second.
So for this one camera they developed a new sensor, a brand new codec, and a whole new generation of their color science. It all works together really well. haven't seen a lot of that yet. I'm sure it would happen if I used the camera more often.
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