Blackmagic Design URSA Cine 17K 65 B&H Preorder

Just showed at B&H

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... e_17k.html

This is THE ONE that will create the storm ...zero competition here ...BMD knows how to play with the pulse .

I wonder if IMAX has put in an order?

I tried to search (the old-fashioned way, not AI) but found nothing where IMAX has publicly commented on the Cine 17K 65. IMAX cameras are few and far between and rigidly controlled by IMAX. Apparently they can be challenging to operate as well. There are alternatives from ARRI and now BMD with more coming this year.

Let’s say you’ve shot your movie on one of these medium format cameras. So what? IMAX also controls and schedules access to their IMAX screens. Hmmm. I wonder how this will play out.

Two firmware updates then it’s obsolete in BMD’s eyes.


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I tried to search (the old-fashioned way, not AI) but found nothing where IMAX has publicly commented on the Cine 17K 65. IMAX cameras are few and far between and rigidly controlled by IMAX. Apparently they can be challenging to operate as well. There are alternatives from ARRI and now BMD with more coming this year.

Let’s say you’ve shot your movie on one of these medium format cameras. So what? IMAX also controls and schedules access to their IMAX screens. Hmmm. I wonder how this will play out.

This is a good point. I wonder if they will 'charge' a licensing fee for when other brands want to utilize their projectors/screens. Otherwise, it may open the market for more viewing options.
But honestly, how often is IMAX viewing available? There's like 2 in my area and I'm just not sure the demand is always there? People like to show the Dune IMAX frame vs theatrical release of 2.39:1, but I feel that's just style options and not an IMAX only feature.

There’s likely some debate about the look and the experience of capturing for IMAX and how that transfers to another screen. What is less debatable is that size of sensor open gate. With the physical dimensions of the Cine 17K 65 sensor and recording open gate, you’re going to have the look.

It’s all physics. If you’re cropping the sensor for a recording, you are losing the apples-to-apples comparison. If you record 17520 2.9 micron photosites, you’re going have that most of that look that can use the same lenses as you would use on the IMAX camera recording 65mm (film or digital having the same physics but of course real film may look different than digital).

If you downscale the recording in post, you arguably retain most of the look of the larger captured image, but you don’t have quite the immersive experience viewing the large IMAX screen.

If you crop the image in post rather than downscale in post, you gradually lose the look as the shrunken image is no longer working with all of the original lens character that affects the look.

i’ve looked carefully at the options you would derive from the open gate sensor given the RGBW CFA. On the Cine 12K LF 12288x8040 open gate, you can capture 8K/4K from the full sensor dimensions generally retaining the look of the 12K. In the Cine 17K 65 17520x8040 open gate, you can capture 8K 11680x5360 open gate and 4K 5840x2680 open gate. All of the open gate options are derived from the 65 sensor (55.9mm diagonal) and do share the IMAX physics with a form of in-camera downscaling.

If you crop to the 12K 3:2, you’re not shooting with IMAX physics. It’s nice BMD offered that recording option for compatibility on a two camera shoot paired with the Cine 12K, but don’t use it if you are trying for an IMAX look or for future playback on an IMAX screen. If I was a technician from IMAX, I’d eagerly buy the Cine 17K 65 and put it through its paces at the three IMAX open gate options. Let then rent an ARRI 65 too and see how they compare. BMD and ARRI have the ability to open up access to IMAX filming.

I don’t know the legal restrictions that apply to IMAX theatres, but that’s where the IMAX look meets the IMAX experience. Certainly I’d expect the distributor of the films such as IMAX to receive compensation from the studio producing the films that might be tiered if it wasn’t shot on IMAX cameras.

Who knows, the greater ease of shooting IMAX quality may justify greater proliferation of IMAX theatres and give us more entertaining (more lucrative) narrative dramas suited to the big screen and less documentaries of melting glaciers or paint drying. Now those documentaries are beautiful too, but let’s have more entertainment options than Dune. I’m fortunate to have an IMAX screen on the waterfront in downtown Victoria, but would be nice to have them everywhere.