Resolve shipping, B4 mount for the Ursa Mini and more - Blackmagic's busy IBC

Blackmagic Ursa Mini with B4 mount modification

It's been a busy week highlighted by big news from Sony at IBC and Canon at its Expo in New York. Blackmagic joins the fun with a bevy of announcements for new products, updates and modifications for existing products.

While IBC2015 may be remembered for Sony's introduction of the FS5 and A7s II, as well as Canon's surprise unveiling of an 8K Cinema EOS prototype video camera and a 120 megapixel DSLR at its own Expo, it wouldn't be a convention without a barrage of announcements from Blackmagic.

Blackmagic made a slew of major product announcements back at NAB 2015, featuring demos of the Ursa Mini (4K and 4.6K) and Ursa 4.6K cameras. The company keeps the foot on the gas with a scattershot of news across its product lineup.

Resolve Shipping

The free and full retail versions of Da Vinci Resolve 12, the popular color grading (and, now, editing) software, are now available. Blackmagic has changed the naming conventions of its Resolve products; the free version is now 'Da Vinci Resolve', while the $995 full version adds the 'Studio' tag. We've covered the Resolve 12 public beta from an editor's point of view, with regards to its colour tools, and outlined how to build a Resolve 12 system for $500. Check back with RedShark for more coverage of Resolve 12 in the coming weeks.

Ursa Mini goes B4

For those considering the Ursa Mini as a HD shooter, especially for ENG use, Blackmagic has announced that it can now pay for a B4 mount conversion kit that opens up the camera for use with a variety of broadcast lenses. The $295 upgrade is a user-performed customization. According to Blackmagic, "simply take the PL lens mount off where it is normally removed for shimming PL lenses and bolt on the B4 lens mount." The B4 mount was specifically designed for the Ursa sensors (4K and 4.6K), and "also features spherical aberration correction so customers can use their lenses wide open with no blooming effect." The Ursa Mini B4 mount modification will be available around the time of the camera in November 2015.

Teranex, Decklink and Multiview

Rounding out the rest of Blackmagic IBC news, the company announced new additions to its Teranex Mini 12G-SDI line of video converters: a 12G-SDI to Quad SDI, Quad-SDI to 12G-SDI, and the SDI Distribution model which spreads one SDI input to a maximum of eight SDI outputs. Blackmagic beefed up its Teranex Express video converter via firmware update (Teranex 4.2 Update), adding noise reduction algorithms, Level A SDI support, audio metering and other enhancements. Blackmagic also revealed new a Decklink product to get the most out of your PCI Express slots. According to the company, the Decklink Quad 2 "features 8 independent 3G-SDI connections so it can now work in high HD frame rates and it supports SDI formats in SD and HD up to 1080p60" and will run $995 when it arrives in Q4 2015. Finally, we have a Multiview 16 update, free and slated for November. Multiview allows users to see the feeds from 16 SDI inputs on a single display and supports UHD content. This update includes independent audio meters for each video feed, SD anamorphic and RGB to HDMI support.

In comparison to Blackmagic's NAB 2015 announcements, not to mention the colossal recent news from other manufacturers, the company's spate of IBC announcements may seem a bit constrained. But that only heightens our anticipation of what the Blackmagic has in store for 2016.

For more information, check out the Blackmagic Press Release Page.