Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive– Capture content for Apple Vision Pro with 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye

[Jon Pais]

Blackmagic Design has teased a new camera called URSA Cine Immersive. This new camera in currently still in development, and it is being designed to capture content for Apple Vision Pro with 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye, 16 stops of dynamic range for 90fps stereoscopic 3D immersive cinema content. At the WWDC, Apple also referred to the camera.

Blackmagic Design also announced DaVinci Resolve for immersive video today. Both products will enable users to create high resolution 3D content.

The new updates to DaVinci Resolve will make it the world’s first immersive video editor. There will be a lot of updates and changes to support immersive workflows including a new immersive video viewer which will let editors pan, tilt and roll clips for viewing on 2D monitors. But what’s most exciting is we can even allow clips to be adjusted and monitored on Apple Vision Pro itself for a complete immersive editing experience.

Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive– Capture content for Apple Vision Pro with 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye - Newsshooter

Blackmagic Design has teased a new camera called URSA Cine Immersive. This new camera in currently still in development, and it is being designed to capture

www.newsshooter.com

 

[Jon Pais]

Press release:

Cupertino, CA, USA, June 10th, 2024 - Blackmagic Design today announced an end to end workflow for producing cinematic Apple Immersive Video for Apple Vision Pro. Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive is the world’s first commercial camera system designed to capture Apple Immersive Video. Apple Immersive Video is a brand-new storytelling format that leverages 8K, 3D video with a 180-degree field of view, and Spatial Audio to transport viewers to the center of the action. Blackmagic Design also announced updates to DaVinci Resolve, the industry-leading post-production software, that will give professional filmmakers the ability to edit Apple Immersive Video for the first time. Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive and a new version of DaVinci Resolve that supports Apple Immersive Video for Apple Vision Pro will be released later this year.

“We are thrilled to announce the first-ever commercial camera system and post-production software that supports Apple Immersive Video, giving professional filmmakers the tools to create remarkable stories with this powerful new format pioneered by Apple,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “Built on the new URSA Cine platform, URSA Cine Immersive features a fixed, custom, stereoscopic 3D lens system with dual 8K image sensors that can capture 16 stops of dynamic range. With this innovative system, filmmakers can record remarkable moments like action-packed scenes, unique perspectives, stunning landscapes, intimate performances, and more, all with incredible fidelity, offering viewers an unparalleled sense of realism and immersion.”

The World’s First Commercial Camera System for Apple Immersive Video​

Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive features a fixed, custom lens system pre-installed on the body, which is designed specifically for Apple Immersive Video. The sensor delivers 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye with pixel level synchronization and an incredible 16 stops of dynamic range, so cinematographers can shoot 90fps stereoscopic 3D immersive cinema content to a single file. The custom lens system is designed specifically for URSA Cine’s large format image sensor with extremely accurate positional data that’s read and stored at time of manufacturing. This immersive lens data — which is mapped, calibrated and stored per eye — then travels through post production in the Blackmagic RAW file itself.

The World’s First Editing Software for Apple Immersive Video​

An updated version of DaVinci Resolve will introduce powerful new features to create a comprehensive workflow for immersive video on Apple Vision Pro. Blackmagic customers will be able to edit Apple Immersive Video shot on the URSA Cine Immersive camera. A new immersive video viewer will let editors pan, tilt and roll clips for viewing on 2D monitors or on Apple Vision Pro for an even more immersive editing experience. Transitions rendered by Apple Vision Pro will also be able to be bypassed using FCP XML metadata, giving editors clean master files. Export presets will enable quick output into a package which can be viewed directly on Apple Vision Pro.

URSA Cine Immersive is Designed to Meet the Demands of Any High End Production​

The evenly weighted camera body is built with a robust magnesium alloy chassis and lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite skin to help filmmakers move quickly on set. Customers also get 12G‑SDI out, 10G Ethernet, USB-C, XLR audio, and more. The fold out monitor has a large 5″ HDR touchscreen on one side and an external color status LCD on the other. The right side of the camera features a dedicated assist station with a second 5″ HDR touchscreen that allows crew to work around the camera without needing external monitors.

An 8-pin Lemo power connector at the back of the camera works with 24V and 12V power supplies, making it easy to use the camera with existing power supplies, batteries, and accessories. Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive comes with a massive 250W power supply and B mount battery plate, so customers can use a wide range of high voltage batteries from manufacturers such as IDX, Blueshape, Core SWX, BEBOB, and more. Customers will also receive a top handle, antennas for high speed Wi-Fi, baseplate, 24V power supply and high voltage B mount battery plate for quick set up.

Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive comes with 8TB of high performance network storage built in, which records directly to the included Blackmagic Media Module, and can be synced to Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve media bins in real time. This means customers can capture over 2 hours of Blackmagic RAW in 8K stereoscopic 3D immersive, and editors can work on shots from remote locations worldwide as the shoot is happening.

The new Blackmagic RAW Immersive file format is designed to make it simple and easy to work with immersive video within the whole post production workflow, and includes support for Blackmagic global media sync. Blackmagic RAW files store camera metadata, lens data, white balance, digital slate information and custom LUTs to ensure consistency of image on set and through post production.

Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive is the first commercial, digital film camera with ultra fast high capability Cloud Store technology built in. The high speed storage lets customers record at the highest resolutions and frame rates for hours and access their files directly over high speed 10G Ethernet. The camera also supports creating a small H.264 proxy file, in addition to the camera original media when recording. This means the small proxy file can be uploaded to Blackmagic Cloud in seconds, so media is available back at the studio in real time.

Blackmagic Media Dock accelerates post production workflow by making it faster and simpler to start editing and performing color correction. Customers can mount up to three Blackmagic Media Modules for high speed access to media from multiple URSA Cine Immersive cameras all at the same time. The four high speed 10G Ethernet ports allow up to four separate edit workstations to connect directly and is extremely fast, even when a lot of users are connected at the same time.

Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive Features​

• Dual custom lens system for shooting Apple Immersive Video for Apple Vision Pro.
• 8K stereoscopic 3D immersive image capture.
• 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye with pixel level synchronization.
• Massive 16 stops of dynamic range.
• Lightweight, robust camera body with industry standard connections.
• Generation 5 Color Science with new film curve.
• Dual 90 fps capture to a single Blackmagic RAW file.
• Includes high performance Blackmagic Media Module 8TB for recording.
• High speed Wi-Fi, 10G Ethernet or mobile data for network connections.
• Optional Blackmagic URSA Cine EVF.
• Includes DaVinci Resolve Studio for post production.

DaVinci Resolve Immersive Features​

• Support for monitoring on Apple Vision Pro from the DaVinci Resolve timeline.
• Ability to edit Blackmagic RAW Immersive video shot on Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive.
• Immersive video viewer for pan, tilt and roll.
• Automatic recognition of Apple Immersive Video (left and right eye) for dual file stereo immersive content.
• Option to bypass transitions rendered by Apple Vision Pro.
• Export and deliver native files for viewing on Apple Vision Pro.

Availability and Price​

Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive and the update to DaVinci Resolve will be available later this year from selected Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.

 

[Jon Pais]

I should add that the number of pixels has little to do with the amount of detail the camera can reproduce, that the OG Ursa 12K performed rather poorly in this regard, and that the RED Raptor and Sony Venice 2 fared much better.

MTF Camera Comparison- How does the Achel 9x7 Digital Cinema Camera compare to high end digital cinema cameras - Newsshooter

Pawel Achtel ACS has conducted an MTF camera comparison test with the help of the Australian Cinematography Society to see how sharp his 9x7

www.newsshooter.com

 

[Jon Pais]

The noise spectrum graph of the Ursa 12K.

 

[Tom Roper]

The first thing to note is that the Venice 2 image was supplied by Sony, and that the independent testers were not able to achieve a similar result. Moreover, the MTF50 graph shows a remarkable (and suspicious) ability to resolve well beyond the sensor's Nyquist, (about 7,200 LW/PH) which is not possible unless oversampled from a larger sensor than stated, or otherwise enhanced.

You could also be wary of dismissing the true resolution potential of the BMD Ursa Mini Pro 12K. I used the same Imatest Edge Profile and SFR MTF50 test with a variety of lenses, and attained high results, posted below with screen captures.

Summarizing:

12K MTF 50 = 2,621 LW/PH (number of line widths per picture height with at least 50% contrast)

12K MTF 20 = 3,843 LW/PH (number of line widths per picture height with at least 20% contrast)

Finally, I used the same 12K image downsampled to 8K for a separate analysis:

8K MTF 50 = 2,508 LW/PH (number of line widths per picture height with at least 50% contrast)

8K MTF 20 = 3,686 LW/PH (number of line widths per picture height with at least 20% contrast)

The interesting observation about the 8K downsampled image is that like the Venice 2, the MTF50 graph shows a similar ability to resolve beyond the image's Nyquist (4,320), (to about 6,000 LW/PH). You can also note in both the 12K and the 8K oversampled graph, the smooth curve in the Nyquist and beyond regions, indications of the absence of ringing, overshoot and aliasing.

Etc:
By enhancing a 12K (or other) image with a small amount of sharpening, it is possible to achieve extraordinary, eye-popping MTF50 resolution numbers, but since this test was for a comparison, NO sharpening was used. Fortunately, when an image is enhanced with sharpening, Imatest is able to identify the overshoot characteristic, and so the results of all the testing by Achtel and myself can confidently be relied on.

There is no special technique for achieving more representative MTF numbers from the UMP12K except to recognize that small pixels suffer from effects of lens diffraction at smaller iris openings so you need to test with a lens that has good wide open performance. This is a consequence of Rayleigh's Criterion. F/4 as used in Achtel's tests is too small, and for a lens designed to cover a full frame sensor used on a S35 sensor creates a 2nd disadvantage. That said, the attached results speak for themselves.

 

[Tom Roper]

I have a few higher resolution cameras, UMP12K, P6K, F55, GH5s and just added Nikon Z8. At various times I've tested most of them with Imatest.

Imatest supports resolution testing with a couple of methods, edge profile and SFR MTF50. Its design goal is for lens testing. If you use one camera body and keep everything the same, your chart, lighting, camera settings, then you can test lens performance at different focal lengths, f/stops, center of lens, edge, corners etc.

If you are consistent with your settings, you can even compare different lenses on the same camera body. But what you can't do, is compare a lens on different camera bodies. For example, a Sigma or Tamron on a Canon versus a Sony. You'll get different results for the same lens.

With knowledge that different camera systems will give different results for the same lens, the Achtel comparisons, through a process of using one lens, one focal length, one f/stop, keeping everything else the same as much as possible, is attempting to compare the resolution of the cameras from Arri, Red, Sony, BMD and their own 9x7.

While the testing succeeds in producing different results, can the reasons behind the differences go beyond the relationship of the sensor and lens to include other process variables such as sharpening? Clearly, it is felt that they can. Accordingly, the Achtel test attempts to nullify the other variables that could affect the outcome. No sharpening is added. But what about default sharpening that you can't nullify? Are there other variables to worry about?

The pertinent questions: Have all the variables been identified and how much do they affect the outcome? Can they and have they been nullified? With respect to the optical relationship between sensor and lens, is software processing that enhances reported resolution real? Most would agree that it is not. How much of a problem is it?

Apparently, it's a very big problem, one that calls into question the validity of the test. That's the intent of the comparison that follows, to understand the degree to which small, less obvious image controls affect the reported resolution.

To answer this question, we take one N-raw image from the Z8. Just one frame, no others. Imatest allows us to repeat the test using the exact same ROI or, region of interest, the center of the frame in this case. With this one image, we will process it (3) ways. The first way is the default N-Raw image straight from the camera. In an actual viewing, we would not be watching N-Log so for the second way we add the Nikon 3D cube lut. For the third way, we observed that Nikon N-Raw by default has added a small amount of sharpening in the Resolve raw panel, so we zero that out. The amount of sharpening added in the default N-Raw is barely perceptible at 8K, even under close inspection with image magnification. One would not expect much change to the reported resolution from this. True or not? Standby..

1st image: N-Raw default, straight from camera, no changes.
2nd image: Add Nikon 3D Cube lut to N-Raw default.
3rd image: No Lut, nullify sharpening in default N-Raw.

I did the work. This is where I get to give my opinion. The reported differences in resolution from the 3 different ways of processing a single image are too vast. Adding a lut or nullifying a barely observable amount of default sharpening does not change the actual resolution from the standpoint of the optical relationship between a sensor and a lens, and certainly not by the magnitude of nearly 1000 LW/PH difference. Resolution is an optical relationship, not a processing variable. Too many variable differences from internal processing exist between Arri, Red, BMD and Achtel cameras to make this a valid comparison of resolution. If Imatest can be derailed by 1000 LW/PH from adding a lut or a nearly imperceptible amount of default sharpening to the raw image, it's useless for judging resolution differences between cameras using the same lens. There are too many potential variables, known or unknown with too large of an influence on the reported outcome.

In my opinion which includes some grading experience, is that you can match the perceived resolution of a 4K camera to a 6K, 8K or 12K camera, imperceptibly with small, barely significant adjustments to sharpening controls, contrast, mid-tone detail, NR, tonal curves and more. And that the point of seeking clarity about camera sensor resolving power from using Imatest edge profile and SFR MTF50 analysis is the holy grail of folly. It's for lens testing. It's not reliable for sensor testing.