URSA Cine 12K LF Skin Tones, ISO & Compression
Welcome back to our deep dive into the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF! In Part 1, we covered the first impressions – the build, media, and foundational tech. Now, we get to the heart of what truly matters for cinematographers: the image itself. How does this camera render skin tones? How does it handle different ISO settings? And how does Blackmagic RAW compression hold up under pressure?
URSA CINE 12K LF SKIN TONES – PART 2
Joined by senior colorist Dave Cole (Fotokem) and Blackmagic’s Tor Johansen, Shane Hurlbut, ASC, puts the URSA Cine 12K LF head-to-head with its predecessor, the URSA Mini Pro 12K, in a series of meticulous tests. As Shane emphasizes, “It’s the skin. That’s where the emotion is.” Let’s see how the new flagship fares.
(Want the full picture? See the comprehensive tests covering Over/Under tests and much more in the full FREE Official Demo!)
More Articles on Blackmagic Cameras: |
CHECK OUT THE FULL DEMONSTRATION!
SETTING THE STAGE: A NEUTRAL BASELINE
Before diving into comparisons, Dave Cole established a neutral baseline. Using the standard Blackmagic Gen 5 Film to Extended Video LUT (the same used for on-set monitoring), he performed a slight balance adjustment based on a gray card. This ensures the tests accurately reflect the camera’s native image capture without creative grading influencing the results.
Shane also noted the importance of compensating for any color shift from diffusion used on the lighting (in this case, Magic Cloth required cooling the 5600K sources to around 6100-6400K to achieve a true 5600K on camera).
An interesting discovery during setup involved the camera’s internal ND filters. While the URSA Mini Pro 12K showed minimal color shift with its NDs engaged, the URSA Cine 12K LF exhibited a noticeable magenta shift. Dave Cole easily graded this out, but Shane highlighted the importance of discovering such nuances during testing.
For cinematographers striving for maximum consistency in dailies (crucial for maintaining a director’s vision throughout post), knowing this allows them to preemptively adjust the camera’s tint settings when using the internal NDs.
ISO PERFORMANCE: FINDING THE SWEET SPOT
The team rigorously tested both cameras across their primary ISO range, evaluating performance at 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 ISO to gauge sensitivity, skin tone rendering, and noise characteristics.
URSA CINE 12K LF
The results for the URSA Cine 12K LF were particularly impressive regarding consistency. Skin tones remained remarkably stable across the different sensitivity settings. At ISO 400, the image was exceptionally clean, perhaps even bordering on too clean according to Dave Cole.
ISO 800 quickly emerged as the clear “sweet spot,” delivering a beautiful balance between sensitivity and a subtle, pleasing organic texture that felt inherently filmic.
As the ISO increased to 1600, the texture became more noticeable but stayed pleasant and aesthetically pleasing, successfully avoiding harsh digital noise artifacts.
Even pushed to 3200 ISO (tested with the internal ND engaged), while the noise structure was more apparent, the overall tonality across the skin held remarkably consistent.
KEY TAKEAWAY OF THE URSA CINE 12K LF
Shane Hurlbut’s key takeaway reinforced this: the URSA Cine 12K LF sensor “loves light” and truly shines when exposed properly, especially around its native 800 ISO.
URSA MINI PRO 12K
While the URSA Mini Pro 12K still delivered respectable results, the direct comparison highlighted noticeable differences. When examining the footage pixel-for-pixel (zoomed 1:1 from the 12K source), the Mini Pro’s image appeared slightly less sharp and lacked the subtle “creaminess” observed in the LF’s skin tone rendering.
More significantly, the character of the noise differed between the two sensors. The Mini Pro tended to exhibit more noticeable colored noise, or chroma noise, particularly as the ISO climbed.
In contrast, the noise pattern from the URSA Cine 12K LF presented more like monochrome, organic film grain, which is generally considered more aesthetically pleasing and less distracting.
This difference in noise handling gives the URSA Cine 12K LF a distinct advantage in overall image texture and perceived quality, especially at higher sensitivities.
COMPRESSION UNDER PRESSURE: HOW DOES BRAW HOLD UP?
Next, the team put Blackmagic RAW (BRAW) compression through its paces on the URSA Cine 12K LF. They tested ratios from a visually lossless 3:1 up to a highly efficient 18:1, comparing these against the Mini Pro (which started its reliable range at 8:1 due to media limitations on CFast).
These tests were crucially conducted across various ISO settings to understand the critical interaction between compression and noise levels.
VISUAL IMPACT
Visually, BRAW performed remarkably well on the URSA Cine 12K LF across the tested range. Even at a significant 12:1 compression, fine details, such as the texture in fabrics within the scene, remained clearly visible and well-defined.
It was only when pushing to the highest 18:1 compression level that a subtle softening or loss of the very finest texture became apparent upon close “pixel peeping,” a testament to BRAW’s efficiency.
COLOR CORRECTION ROBUSTNESS (KEYING TEST)
To further gauge the robustness of the codec for demanding post-production work, Dave Cole performed a technical hue key test.
Pulling a clean key based on color (hue) is often more challenging with compressed footage than keying based on brightness (luminance), as color information can be more susceptible to compression artifacts.
Impressively, Dave found that even the heavily compressed 18:1 BRAW files from the URSA Cine 12K LF held up surprisingly well during this stress test. There was no significant “chunkiness” or artifacting in the keyed areas. This indicated that the files retain sufficient color information for complex grading, VFX work, and other manipulations even at higher compression ratios.
ISO INTERACTION
Regarding the interaction between ISO and compression, the tests confirmed expectations: noise naturally increases as you raise the ISO.
However, the BRAW compression itself didn’t drastically worsen the character of that noise on the URSA Cine 12K LF. The pleasing, filmic noise texture observed at various ISOs remained largely consistent across compression levels.
It was only at the most extreme combination tested — pushing the sensor to 3200 ISO and using 18:1 compression — that the noise structure began to appear slightly “blockier” or less organic.
These comprehensive results highlight the impressive efficiency and robustness of Blackmagic RAW on the URSA Cine 12K LF, offering filmmakers significant flexibility in balancing image quality with manageable file sizes.
THE BOTTOM LINE (PART 2): QUALITY, CONSISTENCY & EFFICIENCY
These meticulous tests reveal the strengths of the URSA Cine 12K LF’s image pipeline. The sensor delivers pleasing, consistent skin tones across its usable ISO range, with ISO 800 being a standout performer.
The noise texture is handled beautifully, rendering more like organic film grain than distracting digital noise, especially compared to its predecessor.
Furthermore, Blackmagic RAW proves its efficiency. It allows for significant compression with minimal visual degradation. Plus, it retains enough information for robust color correction, even at higher ratios.
But these tests are only one facet of the camera’s performance. How does it handle extreme over and under exposure? What about ergonomics, monitoring, and high frame rates?
WATCH THE FULL OFFICIAL DEMO — FREE!
This article focused on the critical ISO and compression tests. To get the complete picture, including the revealing over/under exposure latitude tests, detailed walkthroughs of the camera body, ergonomics, connectivity, ND filters, monitoring, LUTs, high frame rates, and the full discussion on the RGBW sensor technology, you need to watch the full demonstration.
Join Shane Hurlbut, ASC, Dave Cole, and Tor Johansen for the complete Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF Official Demo, available FREE exclusively on the Filmmakers Academy platform. See the results, understand the potential, and empower your next creative decision.
