What the expert says about Blackmagic's $30,000 camera for Apple Vision Pro
Blackmagic Design opens pre-orders for its Apple Immersive Video Camera. Our expert assesses the high-priced professional device.
First announced at Apple's WWDC 2024, the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive is now available for pre-order. According to Blackmagic Design, the camera will cost $29,995 and will enable independent production companies to shoot Apple Immersive video content for the first time.
The camera's specifications are impressive: it shoots 8160 × 7200 pixels (58.7 megapixels) per lens at 90 frames per second, which is over 5 billion pixels per second. With a dynamic range of 16 f-stops, it reaches the level of cameras used in blockbuster movies.
A built-in 8TB memory provides over two hours of RAW recording at stereoscopic 8K and 90 FPS. The camera also supports high-speed dual-antenna Wi-Fi and 10 Gigabit Ethernet for network storage, including Blackmagic Cloud Storage.
Complete production ecosystem
Blackmagic Design is delivering a complete workflow for Apple Immersive Video with the new camera and an update to its DaVinci Resolve Studio video editing software. The update, scheduled for release in Q1 2025, supports the new Blackmagic RAW Immersive file format and allows users to preview footage directly on the Apple Vision Pro.
Apple Immersive Video is a 180-degree video format with 8K resolution, stereoscopic 3D, HDR and spatial audio. The content is delivered through the Apple TV app at a much higher bit rate than other immersive video platforms. Previously, all Apple Immersive Video was produced with specialized cameras available only through contracts with Apple.
What the expert says about the new VR camera
MIXED asked Daniel Pohl for a preliminary assessment of the new VR lens based on the available information.
Pohl is CEO and founder of immerVR and developer of the VR Media Player immerGallery for Meta Quest and for SteamVR.
Here is Pohl's preliminary assessment.
- With the high resolution of 8,160x7,200 pixels per eye, i.e. 16,320x7,200 (117 MP) for both eyes, the currently probably biggest problem with VR180 3D content generation is addressed: since the pixels are distributed over the entire hemisphere, i.e. 180° horizontally and 180° vertically, you can already see on the Quest 3, even with Canon's most expensive VR180 setup, that there is still a lack of sharpness. In videos, the movement helps to conceal this to some extent. In photos, however, the difference becomes clear more quickly. Canon's R5 (or R5 C or R5 Mark II) produces photos in 8192x5464 or videos in 8192x4320 (35 MP) in the dual fisheye format. Of this, a lot of area is lost due to the areas on the sensor where there is no fisheye data. With the BlackMagic URSA Cine Immersive you can record at least 3.3x more pixels. If the sensor area is aligned better for the fisheye image, maybe even a little more.
- However, in terms of playback, the Quest 3 is currently limited to 7680x3840 at 60 fps and at this resolution to bit rates of under 150 Mbps. Considering that the headset runs on a processor that was optimized for mobile phones before their specialized XR versions, it is actually a small miracle that it can be played back smoothly, given the low price of the Quest 3 and 3S.
- Apple's "immersive videos" seem to run on AVP at 8640x4320 at 90 fps. Although, according to the source mentioned at 360labs.net, individual users report experimental 15K videos at 30 fps.
- Nevertheless, Quest 3 and AVP users immediately benefit from the higher number of pixels when recording VR180 media. It is important to know that content that was previously recorded at a much higher resolution still looks significantly better after downscaling, e.g. from 16K to 8K, than content that was natively created with 8K on the sensor. A comparison can be make to anti-aliasing in games: when downscaling, a lot of detail is retained in the subpixels. This means there is more sharpness, less noise and fewer moiré artifacts.
- You won't be able to use 90 fps with Quest 3, at least not in 8K. It will be interesting to see whether Qualcomm (processor manufacturer of the chip that Quest 3 also uses) will support playback of 8K@90 fps in its next XR chip.
- It is expected that the Blackmagic camera will not have a dedicated photo function. Nevertheless, you can of course extract individual images as screenshots from the final video.
- Software support from the company's own, widely used video editing program DaVinci Resolve Studio is expected to be very good
- With 8 TB of built-in storage and RAW recording capabilities, the camera is clearly aimed at the professional segment
- With a price of $29,995, it is also clearly aimed at the professional segment. Considering that there is no other VR180-3D camera with such a high resolution, both in terms of pixels and the associated frame rate, the price seems quite acceptable.
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