Mini Ursa Camera died on me. Does not power back on.

Hi All,

Wanting to know if anyone has had a similar problem.

I had the Blackmagic Mini Ursa camera die on me while on a live Sports event.
The camera would not power back on, the light would come on but nothing registering on LCD screen or viewfinder. Fans were going though. No power to lens or anything. Try changing batteries, mains, still no luck.

Quite frustrating as I was unable to shoot interviews at end of game because of this. Had to use an Sony backup camera for the rest of the tournament.

The camera was purchased less than a year ago. Have lost total confidence in now using this camera for any high value and time critical shoots.

The other frustrating thing is Blackmagic was unable to replace the camera but asked us to purchase another camera and they would send one out to us asap. We were no financial position the purchase another camera. The camera has been sent to Blackmagic and we are still waiting for camera to be fixed (2 weeks so far). That's 2 weeks out of work! We are in New Zealand. Camera needed to be sent to Australia.

Anyone else had this problem?

Sorry to hear about that fail on a client shoot. At least you’re under warranty and perhaps can rent something if necessary to handle assignments in New Zealand. Before you sent it away, were you able to connect it to a computer and try to access it to update the firmware?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would never buy another camera in such a situation, just rent or borrow, even if it's not in the same class.
If you know your trade, any camera better than a cellphone should get you over such a period.

This is interesting....

Camera got replaced from the issue above a year ago. Whether it was replaced or fixed i am not sure but the issue has happened again!!!!

Exact same issue - does not power back on!!!! We have made a bad choice giving BM a go. Twice within a year confirms these so called professional cameras are not professional.

Would i still be covered under warranty as the camera was fixed/replaced exactly a year ago?

Im feeling we made a very bad decision going with Blackmagic. Professional Cameras just shouldn't do this.

Lucky i took a Sony camera just incase this did happened.

How do i get a refund? Cannot risk using this camera again....

What model of Ursa mini do you have?

The Pro versions have multiple ways to boot the camera. In case of failure with the power switch.

What kind of battery are you using to power the camera? This seems very odd.

I have the BM Mini Ursa Pro 4.6k (not G2) with EF mount. We are using Vlock Swit Batteries.

I also tryed on mains power and it had no effect. Camera powers on, fans go but no image in screen.

Oke powers on and fans start to run. That is good sign.

Hook it up to a computer with a USB-C cable and see what the Camera Setup tool says.

This happened with my G2 the 2nd day I had it. although the fans didn't even work for me. BMC replaced it for me in about 2 weeks total.