Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65 Footage, BTS & DaVinci Resolve 19.1.4 Gets ProRes Encoding for Windows

Blackmagic Design shared some long-anticipated footage from the Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65 camera, including behind-the-scenes, as well as updates to both DaVinci Resolve and Blackmagic Camera that are specifically about supporting this new camera. Check it all out here!

The time has come for Blackmagic Design to share footage from their arguably highest-end camera, the new Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65. In case you missed our overview of the camera, check out our interview with Blackmagic Design’s Stuart Ashton here. They shared two short films including behind-the-scenes featurettes, with cinematographers sharing how it performed. The films are called “The Ranch” by cinematographer Dylan Rucker (based in Nashville, Tennessee), and “Iceland” by French filmmaker Florent Piovesan.

URSA Cine 17K 65 short film “The Ranch”

Dylan Rucker pointed out how much he liked working with the “scope” the large sensor lends to his images, and especially seems to be loving the colors produced by the camera out-of-the-box.

URSA Cine 17K short film “Iceland”

Blackmagic Camera 9.3 Update

Blackmagic Design also issued an update to Blackmagic Camera, basically the firmware packages for their cameras.

Here are the new features:

• Adds support for the new URSA Cine 17K 65 camera, designed for large-format and immersive productions.
• Enables remote control of URSA Cine cameras via the Blackmagic Camera app for iPhone and iPad — adjust focus, white balance, frame rate, shutter angle, and start/stop recording.
• Adds user pixel recalibration to maintain sensor performance after extreme temperature changes.

DaVinci Resolve 19.1.4 Update

DaVinci Resolve gets a small update too, and apart from support for the URSA Cine 17K 65, they remarkably also added Apple ProRes encoding on Windows and Linux (!). It has to be pointed out that this does not include ProRes RAW, but it’s still a big deal for Windows users.

Here’s the full list:

• Adds support for Blackmagic RAW files from the URSA Cine 17K 65.
• Introduces Apple ProRes encoding on Windows and Linux.
• Adds support for Samsung Log LUTs.
• Improves network decode performance and embedded AAF export, helping with smoother handoffs to audio post.

What’s your take on the footage shared by Blackmagic Design from the URSA Cine 17K 65? Is this a camera you will want to use on your productions? And what’s your take on the long-anticipated encoding support for ProRes on Windows using DaVinci? Let us know in the comments below.