Denny Smith wrote:Complaining about what is not happening with the Ursa Turret upgrade is not going to get it fixed. You bought a great camera with a nice 4K Glibal Shutter camera, with high speed frame rates, not rolling shutter issues. End of story!
BM was a little amiss trying to offer it as a possible upgradeable camera with its "interchangeable" Turret, which is not interchangeable in the same sense as an interchangeable lens mount, you just unscrew and rescues in a new mount. The upgrade Turret is Not and p,if and play, change whenever you want option.
It was/is a one time change to "upgrade your sensor (which allowed a one time lens mount change too).
BM's mistake was offering something they had yet to produce, it was all just engineering specifications. They did, if I rmember, offer a 4K V2 upgrade after the original V1 Ursa came out, and this worked, they had it on the V2 cameras and offered it to the Ver1 buyers. That was your "promised upgrade for the first released Ursa cameras, the other proposed Turret ideas, like a video output connection instead of a lens, B4 mint Turret never got off the ground, and were dropped.
When the 4.6 sensor was in development and the Ursa Mini designed for it, BM again jumped the gun by releasing the sensor would be a GS/RS dual shutter camera, along with the Micro Cinema camera having both shutters. Again, the BM cart was before the horse, and technical issues trying to implement this whi,e keeping the unique sensor' high IQ intact task not possible, the GS was dropped on All cameras both the 4.6 sensor and the Micro camera. GS is going to be a new camera down the line. End of this story.
Also, BM bit off more than they could chew by trying to make the Ursa upgradeable to a sensor technology yet to be developed. This means the new sensor is going to have to work with the existing power, video processor and cooling systems, which further ties an engineer's hands in developing a product that will fit in this restraint, increasing development costs, etc. In the end, at least with this version of the 4.6K sensor, the Ursa is not working satisfactorily with the attempts BM has made trying to fit it in the existing Turret setup and work with the Ursa's processing system.
Also the Ursa processor can not run the FW 4.x from the Ursa Mini, and needs a new OS just for it to run a new processor. So in addition to changing the Sensor/Turret (not an easy or quick task), you will need to upgrade the camera OS to work with the new sensor. The issues in an upgradeable camera keep adding up. At one point, designing a new camera becomes the better route to take.
The lessons is this is BM learned (hopefully) not to promise a camera feature they have not already developed and tested. This is made evident with the out of the blue release of the Ursa Mini Pro, and subsequent announcement of it having Bluetooth support. The lesson for us, not to expect something that has not been made or even developed yet. Every attempt I have seen over the years to make a camera "upgradeable" even in film cameras, has failed. Sony, Rollei, and Kodak have all tried, it just does not work, you can not build something today that will accept a new part that has yet to be designed or made, unless that part can be made specifically designed for that piece of equipment, to add a new feature.
BM made a generous offer to original Ursa buyers (not used camera purchases) to get a discount in the Ursa Mini Pro, at a value greater than the original estimated Ursa Turret upgrade, and you get to keep the Ursa also. Expecting that BM owes any camera buyer, including the Ursa, anything more is just not realistic. BM does not owe anyone anything, promoting yet to be made accessories or parts for a camera is not a promise of delivery, nor is it a contract to provide the those parts, it is an intent to try, but not a promise to deliver, so no court cases here either I believe.
Embrace change, quit clinging onto the past. The Ursa just as it is, is a great camera, and makes great images. It still is a 4K camera with lots of features that can produce an excellent Cinema 2K release feature film, if you wanted to. The camera is capable as it stands, are you? Take you Ursa, and go out and used it, make a feature film, or a great little commercial. Go inverview someone with a story to tell, and tell their story. Let the past go!
Cheers