Ever Wonder What a 17K Camera Can Do?

If you, like me, scoffed when Blackmagic Design introduced their URSA Cine 17K 65 digital film camera, well, Blackmagic just published two Behind-the-Scenes video showing the camera in use. (The filmmaker quotes below are from BMD’s press release.)

Now, there is a wide gap between shooting 17K and distributing the final image, which these short BTS videos don’t discuss. Capturing the image is one thing, distributing it is another. But the images are lovely, the interviews are informative and the production tools are fun to see.

Which is why I decided to share these with you.

FILM: ICELAND

Of Two Lands’ founder and French filmmaker Florent Piovesan describes shooting with the URSA Cine 17K 65 for “Iceland.” on location in Iceland.

“I also find shooting 17K gives you more options in post, just because you can punch in and pull three or more scenes from the same shot in 4K. So 65mm cinematography gives you more separation, a wider perceived field of view and extra dimensional space than full frame. That makes shooting 65mm cinematography on a Blackmagic Camera the perfect choice for documentaries, and I think it could also be great for TVCs too!” (Florent Piovesan)

Behind-the-Scenes link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ob9NKQAelg

FILM: THE RANCH

Cinematographer Dylan Rucker describes shooting with the URSA Cine 17K 65 for “The Ranch,” on location in Nevada.

“Having a 65mm sensor in a camera the size of the URSA Cine, means you can easily throw it on a drone, car rig, Steadicam or techno crane. It also has 16 stops of latitude and these cool monitors on the operator and assistant side, that really speed things up! This camera has off speeds that were great for some of the horse scenes, and surprisingly, it will also shoot in 8K and 4K as well.” (Dylan Rucker)

Behind-the-Scenes link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ3wZaV–V0