April 8, 2014
by BlackMagic Design, Grant Petty
I received this email from Grant Petty of Blackmagic Design this evening…
It’s NAB 2014 time and we have some very exciting new products this year and I wanted to update you on all the details! I apologize for the long email but we have so many new items to introduce!
Hollywood’s most powerful color corrector
is now also the world’s most amazing editor!
DaVinci Resolve 11 combines the world’s most advanced color corrector with professional multi track editing, so now you can edit, color correct, finish and deliver all from one system! Davinci Resolve is completely scalable and resolution independent so it can be used on set, in a small studio or integrated into the largest Hollywood production pipeline! Only DaVinci Resolve features the creative tools, compatibility, speed and legendary image quality you need to manage your entire workflow, which is why it is the number one solution used on Hollywood feature films.
DaVinci Resolve 11
DaVinci Resolve 11 is a major upgrade and we have added over 70 new editing features including dual monitor support and familiar professional tools like dynamic JKL trimming, audio crossfades and fully customizable keyboard shortcuts for faster editing.
DaVinci Resolve 11 now has a new spline curve keyframe editor integrated into the edit timeline that positions keyframes directly under each clip and in context with the clip. You can also add and animate open FX plug-ins directly in the timeline as well as use plug-ins for transitions.
There are new collaborative workflow tools in DaVinci Resolve 11 which allows an editor and multiple colorists to work on different workstations, sharing the same timeline and working in tandem as they complete shots. Another advantage of the enhanced editing features is the better round trip collaboration with Apple Final Cut Pro X™.
Color correction features have been upgraded in DaVinci Resolve 11, including new color grading controls that are designed for photographers who are moving into cinematography. There is also a new camera RAW palette featuring highlight and shadow recovery, mid tone detail, color boost, saturation, lift, gain and contrast.
For on set work, DaVinci Resolve 11 can now securely back up and save digital camera files. The new DaVinci Resolve clone tool copies media drives, memory cards and camera packs to multiple destinations simultaneously. All copies are checksum verified, so you get exact bit for bit digital copies of the source media.
DaVinci Resolve 11 also features an automatic color chart color balancing tool that automatically gives a primary base grade by analyzing shots containing standard color chip charts even if they were shot in different lighting conditions with different exposure and color temperatures. It’s really easy to use and you just lay an onscreen grid over the color chart and then auto grade!
This is an exciting update and it will be available June free of charge to all DaVinci Resolve users! Most of these new features will also be available in DaVinci Resolve Lite.
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/dvres/
Blackmagic URSA Camera
Over the last few years it’s been really amazing to watch some of the work being done on our cinema camera and some of the rigs that have been built around it. But when we designed it we never really thought it would be used on such large jobs. It was really designed to be a small intimate camera used for creative work where you need to get in close and personal.
So we have been watching these larger rigs and thinking about how people are working when they do large shoots. Our thinking is that we needed to design a professional full sized camera that had all the extra on set equipment built into it, so there was no need to rig it up as much. We also wanted a camera with enough size to fit a very powerful cooling system so we could run high frame rates without fan noise.
The result is URSA, our new camera for professional shoots. It features a stealthy machined aluminum design that’s incredibly strong and has been designed for large film crews. We designed the camera to be divided into separate DOP, camera assistant and audio engineer workstation areas so multiple crew can work around it at the same time.
The DOP station features a massive 10 inch fold out on set monitor and separate 5 inch screen for settings, camera status and scopes. The camera assist station features a separate LCD screen for camera settings, status and scopes and the audio station features audio meters, controls and audio connections.
URSA also includes an upgradable Super 35 4K image sensor with global shutter, 12G-SDI connections, XLR audio inputs with phantom power and dual CFast based RAW and ProRes recorders. There is a total of 3 LCD’s built into this camera!
One of the reasons we have been able to put in such high quality displays and features is because the camera is user upgradable. What this means is the whole sensor and lens mount simply unbolts from the front using 4 bolts and then it can be removed and replaced. So in the future when new sensors are available you can upgrade simply by swapping the sensor and lens mount assembly. This makes the camera virtually future proof!
URSA is available initially in 3 models. One includes EF lens mount and one has a PL lens mount. An example of how you can upgrade the camera would be if you ordered the EF one, you could later purchase the PL lens mount and install it yourself.
One of the weirdest ideas we had was to make URSA available without a lens and sensor and the URSA HDMI features a ‘cheese plate” with threaded holes and a HDMI input where the sensor and lens mount would normally be. This means you can use any camera on the URSA body and get all the benefits of big screen, scopes, professional audio inputs, CFast recorders and more!
The camera runs at 60 fps, however the body has the high speed processing and high capacity cooling to run beyond 100 fps, so when faster sensors are available you could upgrade and then get higher frame rates.
There are a lot more features in the camera than I have space to describe here. The Blackmagic URSA EF will be available in July for $5,995 and the Blackmagic URSA PL will be available for $6,495 from July.
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/ursa/
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