Reader warning: we’re about to video geek out.

Do we really need a 12K camera? The short answer is simple. Yes. And no. And not sure yet. But bottom line- we are close to first in line to get the brand new Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K. We’re very excited and hoping to have it in our hot little hands in a week, which is almost certainly wishful thinking.

Here it is. Can you hear the awe?

We are big Blackmagic fans. We own their cameras, we use them all the time. We love the image, we love the price, we love the user interface, we love BRaw.

But since our Ursa was recently stolen, we’ve been filming on Pocket Cinema cameras. We’ve been waiting to replace our A-camera to see what Blackmagic had up it’s sleeves.

We weren’t hoping for another cheap but amazing camera. We wanted to see what Blackmagic could do if they made the best possible camera they could. We wanted to pay more for it. Why? Because we want the best of the best but of course want it to be cheaper than an Arri Alexa.

And oh boy did Black Magic deliver! Our creative director Ammon literally giggled watching the live announcement (ask his wife who rolled her eyes when she heard it.)

Ammon says it best: “Did I really want 12K? No. But when I learned that they were doing something completely different and allowing me to have a 12K sensor but still film in non-cropped 4K raw, that’s when the giggling commenced. In a way it was more than I was asking for. Allowing me to have 4 high end cameras in one. I imagine with a completely new and unique sensor we will learn some things and come up with ideas we had never considered where 12K becomes useful.”

Of course this camera is yet to be tested so we feel duty bound to test it thoroughly and share the results. We plan to test things like

Dynamic range
ISO accuracy
Moire at all resolutions
Rolling shutter issues
Green screen performance at all resolutions
Memory card stability and performance
Over and under exposure breaking points
Low light performance
Battery life tests

Stay tuned to our Youtube channel and comment on this post if you have specific things you’d like us to test. We can’t wait!

Do we really need a 12K Camera?

How much does a commercial cost?

Let’s Talk Animation