Pyxis 12K Questions on Cards, Lenses, and Manual

First off, does anyone know when the manual for the Pyxis 12K will be available?

Secondly I'm wanting to buy the Pyxis 12K at some point, and thinking about getting the L mount version. Are there any L mount lenses, whether Primes or Zooms, that resolve enough to shoot in 12K? I also wonder if this camera would work with a L to EF adapter? Which EF lenses are good enough for 12K? Will Blackmagic have lens profiles internally to correct for lens distortions, etc? Also I hear that autofocus will be available soon. Any thoughts on that?

Also is a CF Express B 2.0 card sufficient for 12K? I'm looking at the Angelbird 4TB cards, whether 2.0 or 4.0. I know 4.0 would allow you to upload faster to your computer, even if the camera itself doesn't need that speed.

With a 4TB card, 12K Raw at 3:1, and 1080 Proxies included, how much time would I get on that card?

I know they suggest Resolve to edit and export the Blackmagic files. Anyone have any complaints or reasons not to use Adobe Premiere Pro? I tried the Ursa 12K files in PP, and it worked fine. I just wonder if the quality would be as good, or color, etc if using Premiere?

Thanks for any thoughts. Im new to the forum, so Im just learning here.

Most modern SLR lenses will deliver image quality good enough for the 12K if well used. They're not going to be the limiting factor.

There are L to EF adapters, but I don't know if there any that support autofocus. There are quite a few very good L mount lenses available, and it's probably going to be a crapshoot regarding whether or not any lenses other than L mount native will autofocus on the Pyxis.

I'd go with v4 cards because they have higher write speeds, but Angelbird cards are the generally the most dependable. BMD has a data rate calculator tool on the Ursa Cine 12K page, you can use that to estimate your record time on a given card.

You're not going to find a lot of Premiere fans around here, but in general there are a lot of advantages to using Resolve over Premiere, one (big) one being vastly superior color tools, in addition to costing quite a bit less, having Fusion and Fairlight built in, and also having better customer service.

Also there are a few applications that are ubiquitous in the film world at a professional level, and Premiere is not one of them. Resolve is.

In case you're curious, they are: Avid MC and ProTools, Resolve, Nuke, Houdini, Maya, and... that's about it.

The Pyxis purchase will give you a free Resolve Studio. That software is constantly evolving to expanded capabilities. There are specific tools that may do a better job in their area of concentration, but Resolve does so many things well beyond their respected colour expertise. And did we mention the last dozen or so annual update releases are free? And did we think about the freedom from the subscription model used almost everywhere except Blackmagic Design?

I just received my UC 12K and tried out the Angelbird 1TB v4 cards. I've had success with open gate 12K and 8K up to 120 fps so far.

But now I need to get food for me and my furball and then head for a location scout

I just received my UC 12K and tried out the Angelbird 1TB v4 cards. I've had success with open gate 12K and 8K up to 120 fps so far.

The refurbished Angelbird AV PRO CFexpress 2.0 B MK2 1TB is only $149.99 with a 1 year warranty. It is officially recommended for the URSA Cine 12K.
Maybe your $299.99 PCIe 4.0 card will transfer to the computer a little faster though, if you have a PCIe 4.0 reader and matching computer.

[...no cameras yet feature CFexpress 4.0 technology so that no camera can take full advantage of CFexpress 4.0’s improved speed and performance.]

Pergear’s New CFexpress 4.0 Type B Memory Cards Are Very Affordable

https://petapixel.com/2025/06/25/pergea ... ffordable/

Pergear cards are not currently on the recommended list for the URSA Cine 12K.

You’re touching on the Achilles Heel if these huge megapixel cine camera sensors if they capture in 12K or 17K. The old workflows of copying HD and 4K video to a more permanent storage for editing can take several hours. That’s why BMD has been offering solutions now where you have the option of editing directly from your captured media cards or drives. I know shooting 9K is going to be very challenging for my workflow and 12K recording is far more difficult.

At least the practice of generating proxy resolutions at the same time as the full resolution is a boon to get the editing process started for a few days while you integrate the full resolution material only when you’re ready to render video deliverables.

Apologies we overlooked the OP: the manual will be published close to the time of the official general release of the Pyxis 12K camera.

Maybe your $299.99 PCIe 4.0 card will transfer to the computer a little faster though, if you have a PCIe 4.0 reader and matching computer.

What does PCIe have to do with it? The card readers use USB-C.

Maybe he's thinking of a PCI-E USB C card adapter for version 4.0? Not many boards support USB 4.0 yet. Some do. Mine does, but only supports up to 40 mbit/s, where as the new spec goes up to 80 now.

Maybe your $299.99 PCIe 4.0 card will transfer to the computer a little faster though, if you have a PCIe 4.0 reader and matching computer.

What does PCIe have to do with it? The card readers use USB-C.

It uses USB-C for the connector, but the URSA Cine 12K uses PCIe as the interface. For compatibility, check under interface on the technical specs for the card.

Angelbird AV PRO SE CFexpress B V4 1 TB

AngelbirdAVPROSECFexpressV4B.png (371.29 KiB) Viewed 627 times

Angelbird AV PRO CFexpress 2.0 B MK2 1TB

AngelbirdAVPROCFexpressBMk2.png (385.83 KiB) Viewed 627 times

Very impressive to be using a very fast bus PCIe4. My Mac Pro 2019 is only PCIe3. The 2TB and 4TB cards have amazing sustained transfer rates. Will be interesting to see the BMD list of approved internal cards for Pyxis when the camera is released.

Very impressive to be using a very fast bus PCIe4. My Mac Pro 2019 is only PCIe3. The 2TB and 4TB cards have amazing sustained transfer rates. Will be interesting to see the BMD list of approved internal cards for Pyxis when the camera is released.

Yes, those sustained transfer rates are impressive. I'd feel a lot better about spending $1,199.00 for a card if it was on the official recommended list however. Angelbird also does not recommend them for the URSA Cine 12K or Pyxis 12K.
The only Angelbird cards that are on the recommended list are CFexpress 2.0 ones, not CFexpress 4.0 ones.

From the way you wrote your post I thought you were talking about the card reader, since you mentioned offloading.

That the UC 12K uses PCIe 4 doesn't surprise me given the data rate and the fact that the M.2 modules are M.2 modules.

Still, I've been able to record on my Angelbird cards without dropping frames -- I set me camera to stop recording when it drops frames, and it hasn't, even with the HFR recording I experimented with so far.

The HFR shots need to be redone before they're worth showing, it was a closeup of espresso brewing, and I didn't get the espresso even close to right, so it looks pretty dreadful, but with plenty of detail

… it looks pretty dreadful, but with plenty of detail

I’m so looking forward to dreadful detail!

I’m so looking forward to dreadful detail!

I’m so looking forward to dreadful detail!

Rakesh, I also did a slow motion of my coffee machine for a test. Wasn’t worth showing as I didn’t light. But still funny that we’re on same page there.

I’m looking forward to seeing your videos!

As for cards, I’m using: Angelbird 2TB AV PRO SE CFexpress v4 Type B Memory Card
These work fine on the URSA Cine 12K. Even in high frame rates. So if they work on the UC12K they will work on the PYXIS.


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… As for cards, I’m using: Angelbird 2TB AV PRO SE CFexpress v4 Type B Memory Card
These work fine on the URSA Cine 12K. Even in high frame rates. So if they work on the UC12K they will work on the PYXIS.

That would be very nice if true, but I’m not sure all the internal processing power related to writing media is identical on the Pyxis 12K LF and the Cine 12K LF. I’d like to use version 4 cards with 4 TB capacity but will wait for BMD to provide approval guidance on cards and drives.

Recording events in 9K is very challenging on the Pyxis due to the length of time one must record uninterrupted. Now I record 2.5 hours for complete performances. I’ve had a single music group’s performance exceed an hour but they are usually just under the hour.

With Pyxis recording 9K, I might need to change cards after each group’s performance. Even worse when recording theatrical performances where the opening act exceeds an hour regularly; at least they have real intermissions so easier to manage.

The more I think about it, I think I’ll need to change my recording frame. Currently I record 4K DCI or UHD but deliver 2.39:1 widescreen. So I can do generous reframing in post. With Pyxis 9K media demands, I may need to record 2.4:1 just to squeeze the performance duration into my media storage limitations.

It might be best to use a large drive mounted on Pyxis’ elegant drive holder and let any overflow go to an internal CFexpress card. I’ll need to decide if I should do that (or record to the card first and overflow on the drive) as there’s no window to experiment on live events.

Rakesh, I also did a slow motion of my coffee machine for a test. Wasn’t worth showing as I didn’t light. But still funny that we’re on same page there.

In my case it was due to having the wrong grind size for my espresso brewer, but other than that I agree

I’m looking forward to seeing your videos!

Hopefullly soon

As for cards, I’m using: Angelbird 2TB AV PRO SE CFexpress v4 Type B Memory Card
These work fine on the URSA Cine 12K. Even in high frame rates. So if they work on the UC12K they will work on the PYXIS.

I used the same logic. Because you were getting good results wit those, I bought 4 so that when I get around to acquiring a Pyxis 12K I'll have two ready for that already