Fri May 06, 2016 12:01 pm
I've been watching old videos from NAB 2015 in which the 4.6K Turret was announced and it's amazing the number of times Blackmagic said the first batch of sensors would go to existing URSA owners because they are our "loyal" customers.
Clearly something changed. I want to know which one of you messed it up for the rest of us, because Blackmagic now doesn't even talk to us anymore. Now they're like, "You'll take your big URSA the way it is and love it, Reek."
That's sadly resulted in me going through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I was in denial during NAB 2016, then anger after Daniel Peters said on Twitter maybe end of year. That's when I went into bargaining mode...with my wife to allow me to buy a different camera...to depression because I was going to miss my URSA, to acceptance, when I put a down payment on a different camera (yes, from a different vendor).
Did my URSA suddenly stop working or something? No, but let's face it...it's old. It's over a year old! Fine, I'm a junkie. I said it. A camera junkie. I need the latest and greatest I can get each year...for under $5000 dollars ($2000 after I sell my current camera on eBay). Look, I like technology. I like more resolution, more dynamic range. I thought the ability to switch turrets was going to satisfy my need for a fix, but we all know that hasn't worked out so well.
I know what you're thinking. You don't need the latest and greatest. People are shooting movies with their iPhones. Wait...are you telling me my iPhone actually shoots 4K, has a screen as big as the URSA's (I've got the 6S+), weighs less than a lb., and doesn't turn people magenta? Thanks, that makes me feel even worse about carrying my stupid big URSA.
But to be honest, if Blackmagic said, "Hey, sorry guys, we kind of said something somewhat untrue...but what can we say? We like money...and you don't understand, there really is a lot of money on smaller cameras...but we're sorry and we still think of you...once in a while...and we're kind of, sort of, still working on it..." Then I'd gladly cancel my down payment and be one of those "loyal" customers once again. But without an official announcement, I'm sorry to say, hey, maybe I'll be back some day.
PS. Blackmagic, you've got until end of June to make that announcement, that's when the other camera is supposed to come out.