With 16 stops of dynamic range, the new Ursa Cine 17K camera from Blackmagic Design has the same design and key features of the 12K model but uses a much larger sensor. Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design’s CEO showed the new sensor during the NAB 2024 presentation, a two hour-marathon that revealed a series of new products debuting at the Las Vegas event.
The upcoming Blackmagic Ursa Cine 17K is, according to Grant Petty, “very similar to the 12K” but due to its large sensor it uses a different lens mount, so Blackmagic Design opted for the LPL and Hasselblad lens mounts for this model. The camera does not have ND filters built-in, because due to the size of the sensor they would not fit.
Grant Petty says that the Blackmagic Design Ursa Cine 17K is an “amazing camera” but that it will take a bit longer to make it available, because Blackmagic is still “tweaking the software”. During the presentation he said that it would be amazing if all films could be shot in iMax style resolutions, “without that being a complex process.”
