Camera Test - Ursa Mini Pro 12K, Arri Amira & Kinefinity Mavo

[@popptrp]

The ALEV III sensor is so marvelous!

[@mpbootcamp7009]

@@oo0ooify Get an Alexa classic then. Probably the same as a new Ursa at this point.

[@storylitfilms]

Thanks for posting the test! This was fun to watch! I was able to guess all three cameras because I’m familiar with ARRI look and 12k, and then I just guessed the 3rd by process of elimination hahah. The ARRI stood out from the other two by how well it handles that highlight roll off, truly no camera sensor like it! I also think it would dominate these two in the DR category at middle grey.

[@PascalHoyer]

I guessed all three ! Almira dynamic range, almost hdr like is so characterisic. Also less detail when zoom in cause less resolution. The colours of the ursa are good, also quite typical of blackmagic, and the details are impressive ! Didn't know the mavo but liked the image even if the colours are more orangy than the others.

[@yuan-jia]

The 12k defends itself superbly. I had them right (although with some luck between A and C) but I find the Mavo has a more contrasty image or maybe the DR is less than the other two. The Amira has less details but the dynamic range in the first tests with the fresnel in the back makes it look really perfect.

[@stu9000]

I was sure A was Amira, B Ursa and C Mavo - I was sure surprised to see that the Ursa was clearly my favourite. Thanks for the test and video format!

[@sadrolintam4780]

Thanks a lot! I was totally fooled. thought A is Amira!

[@bmefilms6879]

I was fooled... thought the Arri was cam A. The highlight rolloff in the first scene is beautiful!!!

[@mpbootcamp7009]

Check out Cined tests. The Ursa is not in the same league of DR as the Arri cams.

[@zenbe]

I see a lot of people commenting here the Amira is the "worst" looking of all three, but this test really doesn't show everything. Owning an URSA Mini Pro for small projects, but shooting mostly with rented Alexas, and color grading them, I'm happy I recognised which were which. The typical green tint of the ALEV III sensor is very discernable, but the highlight rolloff is just so much better on Alexas and this test dosen't show it as strongly as I've encountered it in the field. Also maybe because of the youtube compression the FPN on the URSA in this test is pretty much indistinguishable, but is really ugly in real life footage when underexposed, I was pretty shocked how you managed to bring back the exposure without lifting the FPN, and from other tests of the 12K I've seen, it still suffers from it, so I guess this is a very good copy of the URSA. Also, the highlight recovery of the ALEV III is just unbelievable, even on the Alexa Plus (non 4:3) in ProRes 4444 I can get a clean image even at +5 over-exposure. The URSA struggles at +3 in RAW + highlight recovery activated. And it's really once you start to color grade, that you understand the value the Alexa has, it just does whatever you want it to do, everything blends together perfectly, you can saturate, change hues without noticing anything weird. The only thing you have to do is get rid of the green cast it has, which is really really easy to do. The URSA is pretty good too, but far far far away from the ALEV III sensor. Too bad we couldn't see the MAVO underexposed and outside though, because those were the most interesting shots to test this sensor. And I've never shot with it, but the more research I do, the more promising it looks. The MAVO Primes seem amazing for their price as well! Only issue I have with the MAVO LF is reliability, maybe it's great, I don't know, but there's no real way to test it except from extensive real word day-to-day use...

[@WanderAndringa]

We own both the Amira and the UMP12k and you're totally right about the ALEV III sensor being superior in latitude and also dynamic range.

[@mpbootcamp7009]

Finally, someone gets it! These BM fanboys dont understand. There is free footage for them to play around with online if they want to see how amazing it is to grade Arri footage.

[@Drakeinfernoo]

All of those threes cameras are very great camera. It will depend on user's budget and purpose of project for choosing the right camera. HOWEVER, I must say I immediately spot out camera B is the best. If you pay attention to the close ups like 50mm or above, cam B has the most organic looking, which means the skin of actor seems more like skin rather than paint. This unique organic look is caused by that Arri has very unique way to deal with high light.When the high light is spread out very very smoothly on human face, you can feel the face in scene is alive. I wasn't sure B is Amira when I was watching the video, but I can definitely tell the cam B is the best. To be honest, Although it is brilliant that people who are not famous dp (like me)can spend like 1/10 price to get 90% Arri look, we have to admit that Arri is still the best.

[@loquepasaes]

thank you for this! was totally fooled. thought A is Amira, B Mavo, C Ursa. the ouside shots are a revelation. setting sun shot ursa has higher DR! are you sure you didn´t mislable the files? :) now i want this, damn.

[@JjackVideo]

I picked Kinefinity Mavo most of the time and the Arri coming in last. #wow

[@slekovideoproductions3664]

I thought A was Arri...it was my fav...great Job UMP and matching the footage. I think if you're on a full feature...the Arri is built for that workload, but I think otherwise the go with UMP, (g2 or 12k) which I think are both underrated. I think people like Arri (well deserved) because we see it's professional application the most and have adopted to the way they look as preferable.

[@mpbootcamp7009]

Arri cams are also more reliable and have more attention to the finer details. BM is cool for the budget filmmaker but it just isnt at the same level.

[@hybridsrules1068]

I voted for B every time. Better skin tone gradations and highlight roll off. A, I found had less color distinction and was a bit "muddier". C was good, perhaps my 2nd place. When I saw which were which, it didn't surprise me. I shoot on an Ursa G2 for small jobs and personal projects and Arri for bigger work. While we can often get them to match, Arri, IMO just seems more natural especially in extreme contrasts with strong highlights. I was wondering if you found any more flexibility in the grading on the UMP12K because of the full RGB?

[@TrueEssencePhotography]

Very nice brother man! Have to subscribe now, saw this video posted in a group on Facebook.

[@LimitbreakerStudios]

I guessed right, but only with the thumbnail, not even watching the video lol. I guess the Arri look really is that unique. I guessed the Ursa right cause I figured it's the sharpest.

[@brandonpeterson40]

Cam A surprisingly has the best skintones. However, the shadow detail is not great. That explains why it doesn't fair well being underexposed. Highlights are nice, though. BMD has greatly improved their color science but their sensors have a very particular sweet spot so they are finicky to shoot with. Sony sensors are the most versatile in their range. I swear my a7s iii shooting ProRes RAW is the most versatile sensor ever created. And that's saying a lot because I have a RED Monstro as well. I would never spend $10K on the new Ursa. I think the Mavo Edge 8K may become the new best all around camera for the money but there is still no footage and it has been delayed so who knows what's going on with it. The Mavo in your test looked great.

[@8KHDRVideoBySittipong]

Very nice comparison.

[@DennisSchmitz]

Noticed that the skin was cooler and lighter on B - typical ARRI look. But apart from that great job with matching these two. Primary colors are super accurate on the 12K, lower saturated areas drift towards magenta though. C was by far the worst of the bunch, bad tonality (beard, reds, oranges all looking the same) and lowest dynamic range. The 12K is surprisingly good with proper color grading. :)

[@girafingo9280]

good eye

[@apachewolf6460]

Nice video, very helpful. ARRI is still the king. Whats the music called?

[@jackbauer4186]

You could tell the Arri by the unreal highlight rolloff snd creaminess of the image. I wish this test would have used the Mavo LF, because I think it would have looked nearly identical to the Amira. The Ursa held up extremy well compared to the Amira.

[@RoadSurferOfficial]

ARRI has dual gain patent. Nobody will match their look until it expires.

[@jupitereye4322]

I would really like to see someone like Roger Deakins take the cheapest of these "low-end" cameras and make a short movie. I think everyone would realize how much lighting and set design, wardrobe, and planning actually matter, and how less important is the camera itself. They use these most expensive cameras and lenses not to get the desired look only, but because they want that extra 3-5% difference when they already are spending tens of millions on set, actors, the whole production, etc.

[@RoadSurferOfficial]

It doubles the work for the lighting crew to use a camera with less dynamic range.

[@RoadSurferOfficial]

I was expecting more dynamic range from the ARRI. Kind of shocked how well the competition pulled up.

[@behindtheartifice9140]

So Interesting. My original bet was 1/ Amira (because i liked it best) 2/ Mavo because it seemed good but not as sharp as 3 3/ Ursa12K because of the details at 1:27. It's interesting to see that BM advertise this camera for it's 12K and Crop in ability when in fact it's "just" a 4K image in the ARRI LEAGUE for 1/3rd of the price ;p

[@mpbootcamp7009]

It is misleading to imply that the Ursa is in the same league as Amira.

[@FritzFechner]

Nice test, thank you! What did you think about the Mavo's IQ? It seemed a bit weaker in the highlights of the light in the background?

[@WanderAndringa]

Yea we had a pavotube in the HMI in the background, but it ran out of battery... So we replaced it with another light between takes. The first 2 clips with the Arri and Ursa still had the Pavo tube, after that (and with the Mavo) all clips use another light in the HMI. Apart from that I think the IQ of the Mavo is great! You do see differences in the color however.. If you look at the colored background rolls in the background, the mavo almost doesn't register the difference between the deep red roll and the orange roll.. Colors don't seem as natural as the Arri/UMP12K in that regard, but do seem to be pleasing.

[@DennisSchmitz]

@@WanderAndringa you can still compress these hues, going the other way round is basically impossible without breaking the image. UMP12K and ARRI match quite closely. Care to share some RAW samples? :)

[@AdamFunk]

Oh, wow. That was incredibly surprising. My personal preference was _A > C > B,_ so to find out which one was the ARRI was elicited an audible "oh, damn." I thought the skin tones, color, and highlight rolloff were the best on A. And considering that A is now only $6,000....that makes choosing between it and the FX6 even harder. Ugh.

[@mpbootcamp7009]

I dont know what is wrong with your eyes but I would get them checked out. haha

[@RoadSurferOfficial]

12k hands down. Fx6 is overrated

[@raredreamfootage]

You need to redo this test with the URSA 12K 8.1 firmware, it is much improved now!

[@KenFlanagan]

Thanks so much for this. BTW Why did the Mavo have the speedbooster on it? All S35? I understand that the idea is to match to the industry standard Arri but it would be great to know how these cameras are out of the box and what characteristics they naturally have. Also with that in mind what filtration would you normally use or suggest? Would it be possible to make some of the clips available ungraded as a download. Assuming you use Davinci is there anything to note in the post workflow, especially given the new BM colour science that sepataes the 12K. Thanks so much. Best K

[@WanderAndringa]

Hi Ken! The guy that brought his Mavo camera only has that specific speedbooster mount unfortunately.. I might make the raw files available soon. Normally we do use pro-mist filters and sometimes low con filters, it depends on the project. The ursa12k does seem to be lacking strong internaI IR filtration. I do think a basic rec709 correction showcases best how the different sensors approach colors in a non destructive way. What I like about BRAW in resolve is the way you can chose your color decode options in the RAW tab. This allowed me to transform the 12k to (arri) Alexa wide gamut and work in a color space which we are familiar with. The recent Resolve 17 update also brought Gen5 video mode which looks great as well!

[@girafingo9280]

The clips at 03:00 of the man in the blue jacket ; clearly shows a very big difference in skintones - the URSA skintones look reddish and the texture is rougher. The Amira looks natural and very pleasing - smoother without losing detail with none of the unpleasant redness. UMP 12K undoubtedly impressive but how close do you feel it is to the Arri? I think very close on the whole but its the 1% that makes a huge difference. Amira is touted as having the best image out there - has a faster sensor readout than even the Alexa so UMP can't compete and rightly so. I also think the Mavo is very underrated. It in some ways has a colour science and uniformity closer to the AMIRA than the UMP.

[@WanderAndringa]

Yea I think you're spot on. Also noticed the internal ND's of the UMP are not filtering enough IR polution. Should add an extra IR filter or use better IRND filters when shooting with the ump12k. You can see the shadows of the blue jacket turn magenta (redish) in the daylight setting with the 12K. I do see that the MAVO has this creaminess in the image, which is kinda pleasing to look at. Arri is also notorious to look a bit creamy :) But you do see that the color science is lacking compared to the UMP12K and the Arri. Especially when you look at the reds/oranges which are less defined.

[@girafingo9280]

I think based on this test the Amira wins easily - perhaps a G2 of the 12K could compare better but I'd still recommend buying a used Amira over a new UMP12K.

[@get_spanked240]

Yep I guessed it! Nice comparison

[@jimbawb]

The Mavo is incredibly close in colour-science to the Amira, far more so than the Ursa 12k. I'm guessing this isn't the Mavo LF either?

[@mpbootcamp7009]

The Mavo was worse than the Ursa (which is saying something). Look at the red on the first shot. It was shocking how orange that looked.

[@JonasStuart]

Amira overall, but for the money Ursa 12k hands down.

[@KittyGuerrillaFilms]

this is great

[@julesbilong6753]

In Blind test In order, I had chosen 1-B 2-C 3-A Résult B - Arri C - Kinefinity A - Ursa Good Job Kine for the lvl up. IMO Closest to Arri's Color Science Thanks for the videos Mr Wander

[@manincastle]

A was my favorite

[@godboy159]

C was my favorite with A coming in second. I can't believe I actually disliked the Arri... Wild..

[@art_means_artificial]

yeah overpriced sh1t

[@aleksandrkrivets]

Amira is pronounced! Everything else looks a bit digital:(

[@joshdiditt]

The green tint gave the Alexa away. I like the B, C and A

[@hzubovi1]

C is definitely Black Magic because of lower dynamic range and weaker color especially when underexposed, B would have to be Mavo for it has a terrible highlight roll off with bright sources, and I would guess A to be Arri

[@timm2020]

A is Blackmagic, B is Arri and C is Mavo.

[@rayzan9561]

All praise for taking the time to conduct such a test. But it can only be of value if you post links for others to download the original camera log files and for them to grade the clips themselves. Anything else is unfortunately of no value at all. I won't even bother to look at the graded images as presented. Too many variables to confound things. Again, all praise for the effort.

[@AbbasTahaie]

Wow . Despite Arri has more dr but it is first time I feel Arri is more like digital than 12K ! Because of highlight roll off .

[@mpbootcamp7009]

lol, all cameras (in this test) are digital so not sure what you mean. But the Ursa doesnt look at all like film if that is what you are implying.

[@mamadoudiop2645]

Woww Arri got crushed i was not ready for that, yh A defo win

[@mpbootcamp7009]

haha, time to put the pipe down and walk away.

[@The1983333]

In the studio cam A(Ursa) &cam B (Arri amira)were so close but URSA with better control of skin tones and light on the left side of face,with more details,Arri was some over blown on left of the face,but for shadows were both good,also in sharpness ARRI was better which we saw on colored curtains edges on the right side of studio,,,,,,,,,,,,,,At the exterior: on the scene of horizon and lake in front:with less light from sun,ARRI was better with more detail of shadows and dark texture of lake and buildings,but in the scene of midday or about 16:00 o clock,the scene of street junction with bycicle in front ,the details was better on cam A(URSA) we can see on roof tiles of house...

[@mpbootcamp7009]

This post is delusional and should not be believed by newbies.

[@cinebenjamin]

Honestly I thought C was the Arri. Wow. :| I really want a Mavo now haha.

[@ronineditor9920]

It's crazy, I actually liked "B" the least for some reason... when I know I should like it the most. It just felt 'thin' compared to the others. I assumed "A" was the Alexa. It's funny... I just ordered the Ursa 12K and I got here from watching various videos. I was like, "Please God, I hope it's not B" haha.

[@mpbootcamp7009]

You should play around with some ungraded images from the Amira or Alexa cams in Resolve. You can push these images so much further than Braw without them falling apart. All BM footage I see (graded even) looks like desaturated crap.

[@ronineditor9920]

@@mpbootcamp7009 I have. I do Color for a living. I love Alexa too but, in my experience, the Ursa and Alexa are super, super close in look and feel. I'm not sure what footage you saw, or maybe shot by a beginner or something but, when shot professionally, it's shocking what you can pull out of braw. The original Gen3 braw was terrible, maybe that's what you're thinking of. It had some 'digital' plastic feel to it, unrealistic skin tones, brownish look to it. Gen4 and Gen5 were huge leaps forward. Black Magic owns Davinci Resolve... they're not some upstart company that doesn't know anything about color.

[@mpbootcamp7009]

@@ronineditor9920 I use DaVinci exclusively for color grading so please dont talk to me in a condescending tone. DaVinci is amazing but wasnt created by Blackmagic. They purchased the rights to it back in the early 2000s from the original inventors. The footage I graded was from BMs own site so if it is "amateur" then maybe they need to invest more in marketing or get better DPs on board. It cannot be pushed anywhere near what basic Alexa footage can be pushed. When you start pushing the color saturation then color noise appears quickly. It looks like a low bit rate Sony cam (a6000 series) when you try to make colors pop. There is zero chance that Braw is true raw and it looks worse than most 4:2:2 10 bit out there.

[@mpbootcamp7009]

@@ronineditor9920 If you do "color for a living" then can you direct me to your reel of work or a company page? I would love to see what you can do with BM footage.

[@ronineditor9920]

@@mpbootcamp7009 I'm not outting my actual name to prove it to some rando. Sorry. I actually deal with it a lot, a music video I shot on it and graded myself is up for a Grammy. They seemed to think it was 'okay'. At work, for a major network, all of our campaign interview pieces are shot on various Black Magics, sometimes with beginners who blow-out the footage and I still recovered it. I've been editing and Color-Grading for 23 years, before it was an actual job. It's crazy that you think it's so bad. Look at Komodo... in the wrong hands, it's horrible footage... but the right hands, it's great.

[@GeoffreyGonzales]

i guess i like arri big surprise

[@unclejezza]

Digital cinema cameras have reached parity. Theres nothing between these or even Sony or RED or Canon. Give me any of these cameras and I can give you more or less the same image. It comes down to camera reliablity/build quality, customer supprt and brand loyalty. For me, ARRI still wins each class. They all look the goddam same.

[@WanderAndringa]

In a controlled setting sure. But as soon when you start pushing the sensor the difference in latitude and color science really starts showing. And Arri takes the cake anytime!

[@unclejezza]

@@WanderAndringa couldn’t disagree more. 5 years ago this was absolutely true. Not anymore. The Canon c500ii, Venice, RED line, Panasonic Millennium DXL are cameras i shoot with regularly and I own an Amira. The latitude and colour is all comparable now. Do they all have different ‘looks’? Sure. But they are all equally capable of the same quality of image and dynamic range - without question.

[@WanderAndringa]

​@@unclejezza Oh yea for sure! The top of the line sensors should be very close to each other. I should've been more clear about the price range of the sensors I was talking about. You can pick up a used Amira for under €20k nowadays.. In my opinion it's still the best sensor in that price range.

[@WanderAndringa]

But yea seeing what kind of image you can get from any decent sensor nowadays is amazing... A BMPC6K at €2000 is such a great investment, you get so much IQ for your money its ridiculous.