After months of anticipation, some beta testers from the filmmaking community have been given the go-ahead from Blackmagic Design to release some really nice new footage from the URSA Mini 4.6K camera sporting the company's latest sensor. The camera is being test all over the world at the moment awaiting final tweaks before shipping (hopefully) in January of the new year. Today we're having a Hands-On open Day with Blackmagic Design, who have kindly brought an URSA Mini 4K for our customers to demo. And from what we see, ergonomics-wise and handling, we're already fans of the camera. Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K camera The Blackmagic URSA Mini 4K is currently shipping and available to order. See some of the latest test footage from the 4.6K version of the URSA Mini camera. This is from the beta tester Roman:
First off I want to say, the footage here in, is pretty simple. Just a few shots of people and skin tones. Please don't get the wrong idea about this video. Most of the shots here were not intended as beauty shots to "show off" the camera. I under/overexposed nearly everything, and then tried to bring it to a solid place afterwards. This is me testing the camera not showing it off per se. So, as you might know this is pre-production still at this point, as BMD is still nailing down the colour science. Note, that I am not a colorist. These clips are as simple as it gets. I just did a VERY basic correction using 1 or 2 nodes at the most on any given clip, sometimes offsetting the color a bit for a look. No LUTs, or Filmconvert etc was used. I hope to do a proper review soon, but for now I'll mention what I'm liking about the camera instead of getting too specific about differences between previous cameras and the Mini. The new Film log is something else. Gone are the days of needing a LUT just to "correct" your footage in order to get it where it needs to be. There's enough contrast / saturation built into the log to get your images looking right in just 1 or 2 nodes. But there's a ton of flexibility. I'm able to dig a little deeper into the shadows, reach a little higher in the highlights and bend the image like I've never really been able to before. Dynamic range is pretty significant and feels like no less than 2 full strong stops over the 2.5K. It's a little jarring to see so much information in both the shadows and highlights at the same time. IR / Infrared. I don't think I'm really noticing any, or at least nothing that made me want to use the IR cut filter; none of the footage here had the IR Cut. Noise / Low light: I have 2 night shots (the last 2 night ones in the video) which were at 1600 ISO. I decided not to use neat video or reduce the noise so you could see what that looks like. At 800 though, it's amazing and so contained it becomes a HUGE sigh of relief knowing I can go under by 1-2 stops, bring it up and see about as much noise as the 2.5K exposed properly @800. When exposed properly, it goes from good to perfect. Like... the noise is so well handled that adding in extra grain might be attractive for some (but it sure doesn't need it). In the video, there's quite a number of underexposed shots that I brought up 1-2.5 stops without doing anything to reduce noise and it was still looking solid. Aliasing / Moire: If there is any, I haven't seen it anywhere. Image: The image is amazing. The video here doesn't even begin to show or do the camera justice, like I'm sure other footage will soon do. The color, weight, richness... just general mojo is fucking awesome. I'm really overly satisfied with the what's coming out of the Mini 4.6K. Hardware: This thing is a tank simply put. Absolutely solid through and through. The shoulder kit, EVF and camera meld together to form such a tight, compact and cohesive unit I shudder to think about having "put-together" rigs on my shoulder ever again.
Here is another clip from Tom Majerski, who is a DoP in the UK: Ursa Mini 4.6k - Fog in formby from Tom Majerski on Vimeo.

Shot on the Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini 4.6k - EF

All in ProRes 422 1080p - some shots in 60fps, some in 120fps The intention was to create a natural and realistic grade - the natural light was very bleak and foggy. This grade was achieved in just 3 nodes. Everything filmed with the Samyang 35mm 1.4 Lens.
  The Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K EF features a brand new 4.6K Super 35 CMOS Sensor with Global or Rolling Shutter (user switchable in the menu), a massive 15 Stops Dynamic Range, 4K/3K/2K/HD Compressed RAW & ProRes recording, and High Frame Rates up to 120fps in Full HD. The URSA Mini 4.6K is a compact and lightweight digital film camera with EF lens mount making it compatible with a wide variety of Canon EF and third party glass, a 12G-SDI output, 5” fold out Full HD monitor, and dual CFast card slots . The Blackmagic URSA viewfinder is a recommended extra accessories. The URSA Viewfinder (currently in stock) features a high resolution 1920 x 1080 colour OLED display matched with precision glass optics and solid diopter adjustment. The URSA viewfinder has also dedicated buttons for peaking and pixel zoom and a tally light. Both are available from Visual Impact. To get your order it give us a call at 0208 977 1222 or visit our Blackmagic Design camera page here.