Blackmagic Design URSA Broadcast G2 Users Guide

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November 2021

Installation and Operation Manual

Blackmagic

URSA Broadcast G2

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2

Welcome

Thank you for purchasing Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2!

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 is an incredibly powerful camera designed for both

traditional and online broadcasters. The camera’s versatile design allows it to work as

a 4Kproduction camera, a 4K studio camera or a 6K digital film camera!

English

Built from strong, lightweight magnesium alloy, your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 is

perfectly balanced and comfortable to use all day with physical controls at your fingertips.

This means you can change ND filters, shutter speed, white balance, ISO and more without

looking away from the viewfinder.

Your URSA Broadcast G2 is compatible with B4 broadcast lenses and records to common

file types such as Blackmagic RAW and Apple ProRes, plus highly efficient 10-bit broadcast

quality H.264 and H.265. Dual native gain provides fantastic low light performance and

is optimized to reduce grain and noise at higher ISOs while maintaining the full dynamic

range of the sensor!

We hope you use your URSA Broadcast G2 to produce some of the world’s most exciting

television programming, documentaries and live studio content. We are extremely excited

to see what creative work you produce and would love your feedback on new features you

would like to see us add to URSA!

Grant Petty

CEO Blackmagic Design

Contents

Getting Started 4

Attaching a Lens 4

Powering your Camera 5

Using Servo Zoom Lenses 7

Setting the Back Focus on B4 Lenses 13

Storage Media 16

CFast Cards 16

SD Cards 17

Recording to USB-C ﬂash disks 19

SSDs 20

Preparing Media for Recording 22

Preparing Media on Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 22

Preparing Media on Mac 24

Preparing Media on Windows 25

Recording 26

Recording Clips 26

Choosing the Codec, Resolution and Sensor Area 27

Blackmagic RAW 28

Recording to Blackmagic RAW 28

Choosing Frame Rates 31

Triggering Record on External Equipment 34

Record Duration Table 34

Playback 36

URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures 37

Camera Front 37

Left Side 38

Left Side Controls 38

Right Side 40

Rear Panel 41

Top Panel 43

Underside 43

URSA Broadcast G2 Controls 44

Forward Control Panel 44

Ergonomic Control Panel 47

Internal Control Panel 52

Camera Video Outputs 54

HD Monitoring Output 54

12G-SDI Output 54

Touchscreen Controls 56

Upper Toolbar 56

Lower Toolbar 73

Looping playback 79

Settings 80

Dashboard 80

Record Settings 80

File Naming Convention 86

Monitor Settings 87

Audio Settings 93

Setup Settings 96

Presets 111

LUTS 113

Entering Metadata 116

URSA Mini Shoulder Kit 122

Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder 125

Mounting and Connecting to Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 125

Adjusting the Eyepiece 126

Button Features 126

Menu Settings 127

Blackmagic URSA Studio Viewfinder 131

Mounting and Connecting to Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 132

Adjusting the Blackmagic URSAStudio Viewﬁnder 134

Button Features 137

Menu Settings 139

Blackmagic Zoom and Focus Demands 144

Connecting and Attaching to your Camera 144

Using Blackmagic Focus Demand 146

Using Blackmagic Zoom Demand 147

Mounting Batteries 148

Mounting V-mount or GoldMount Batteries 148

Using your own Battery Plate 150

Blackmagic Fiber Converters 152

Getting Started with BlackmagicFiberConverters 153

About SMPTE Fiber 153

Connecting SMPTE Fiber 155

Why Connections on the Front? 159

Plugging in Camera SDI 160

Plugging in Return SDI Outputs 160

2Blackmagic URSA Broadcast

Mounting BlackmagicCamera Fiber Converter 160

Attaching the URSA Studio Viewﬁnder 163

Plugging in a Talkback Headset 163

Operating the Camera Fiber Converter 164

Selecting a Return Feed 164

Using the Call Button 165

Using Talkback 165

Using Tally 166

Status Indicators 166

Audio Inputs 167

IP Video 168

Power Speciﬁcations 168

Additional Camera Controls 169

Operating the Studio Fiber Converter 170

Using the Menu 171

Rack Mounting the Studio Unit 174

Camera Unit Connections 178

Camera Power Connection 178

PTZ Interface 178

Talkback Connection 179

Tracker Interface 180

DC Connection 180

D-Tap Output 181

Reference Output and Operation 181

Studio Unit Connections 182

12G-SDI Output 182

Return SDI Inputs 182

Reference Input and Output 183

Talkback Interface 183

PTZ Interface 184

Audio Outputs 185

Updating Internal Software 186

Updating Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter 186

Updating Blackmagic Studio Fiber Converter 186

Interchangeable Lens Mount 187

Removing the B4 Mount 188

Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro EF Mount 188

Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro F Mount 190

Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro PL Mount 194

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 B4 Mount 197

Shimming Lens Mounts 198

Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro Shim Kit 198

Shimming mounts 199

URSA Mini Recorder 200

Mounting and connecting URSAMini Recorder 201

Using URSA Mini Recorder 203

Updating URSA Mini Recorder’s internal software 204

Understanding Studio Camera Control 205

Using Camera Control 206

DaVinci Resolve Primary ColorCorrector 211

Using DaVinci Resolve 215

Project Manager 215

Editing with the Cut Page 216

Adding Clips to the Timeline 219

Trimming Clips on the Timeline 220

Audio Trim View 220

Adding Titles 221

Working with Blackmagic RAW Files 222

Color Correcting your Clips with the Color Page 226

Adding a Power Window 229

Using Plugins 231

Mixing Your Audio 232

Adding VFX and Compositing on the Fusion Page 237

Mastering Your Edit 246

Quick Export 246

The Deliver Page 247

Blackmagic Camera Setup Utility 248

Working with Third Party Software 249

Working with Files from CFast2.0 and SD cards 250

Working with Files from SSDs 250

Using Final Cut Pro X 251

Using Avid Media Composer 2018 252

Using Adobe Premiere Pro CC 252

Developer Information 254

Blackmagic Bluetooth Camera Control 254

Blackmagic SDI and Bluetooth Camera Control Protocol 256

Example Protocol Packets 263

Blackmagic TallyControl Protocol 264

Help 266

Regulatory Notices 267

Safety Information 268

Warranty 269

3Blackmagic URSA Broadcast

Getting Started

Getting started with your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 is as simple as mounting a lens and powering your camera.

Attaching a Lens

Your URSA Broadcast G2 comes fitted with a B4 lens mount for HD and Ultra HD broadcast lenses. An additional EF mount is included so you can also use stills lenses, other compactzoom or EF cine lenses. For instructions on switching lens mount types, refer to the ‘Interchangeable lens mount’ section later in this manual.

URSA Broadcast G2’s B4 mount features optics specifically designed to work with your camera’s sensor to produce the same field of view and depth of field as traditional broadcast cameras with 2/3" sensors. This means that if you already have a broadcast background, you can be comfortable mounting your existing B4 lenses to URSA Broadcast G2 and shoot confidently.

To remove the protective dust cap from the camera, rotate the outer locking ring counterclockwise and pull the dust cap away from the mount.

To attach a B4 mount lens:

Rotate the locking ring clockwise to secure the lens to the camera

1 Turn the B4 lens locking ring counterclockwise to reveal the alignment slot inside the

top of the mount. Align the B4 lens to your URSA Broadcast G2’s B4 mount so the alignment pin on the lens matches the position of the alignment slot.

2 Hold the lens against the B4 mount so the mount plates are against each other and

make sure the alignment pin is secured inside the alignment slot.

3 Turn the locking ring clockwise to tighten the lens against the mount and lock it

into position.

4 To power the lens and provide lens control, simply plug the lens cable into the

connector marked ‘Lens’ on the front of your URSA Broadcast G2’s turret. Most B4 lenses will have the 12 pin lens connector and cable built in. This will provide power and control signals from your URSA Broadcast G2 to the lens.

4Getting Started

For information on the types of B4 lenses and how to use them with your camera, refer to the ‘Using Servo Zoom Lenses’ section in this manual.

NOTE When no lens is attached to the camera, the optical element of URSA

Broadcast G2’s B4 mount isexposed to dust and other debris. Ensure that you keepthe dust cap on whenever possible.

Many B4 lenses can be quite long due to their extreme zoom range. When using URSA Broadcast G2 with B4 lenses, your camera’s center of gravity will move forward. The URSA Mini shoulder pad included with your camera can be adjusted accordingly.

Center of gravit y

When mounting URSA Broadcast G2 on the URSA Mini shoulder pad, it’s a good idea to mount the camera towards the rear of the shoulder pad base when using longer zoom lenses. This moves your camera rig’s center of gravity back over the middle of the pad, making it easier to balance on your shoulder and rest steadily when sitting on a desk or flat surface. Refer to the ‘URSA Mini Shoulder Kit’ section later in this manual for more information on fitting the shoulder pad.

Powering your Camera

Now that you’ve attached a lens, you will need to supply power. The quickest way to power your camera is to connect external power using the supplied AC to 12V DC adapter.

To plug in external power:

1 Connect the AC to 12V DC adapter plug to your mains power socket.

2 Connect the AC to 12V DC adapter’s 4 pin XLR connector to the 12-18V DC power

connector on the camera.

If you have both external and battery power connected, only external power will be used. If you remove external power while a charged battery is connected, your camera will switch to battery power without interruption.

5Getting Started

Use the supplied AC to 12V DC adapter to power your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 comes fitted with an URSA VLock Battery Plate. This lets you use industry standard V mount batteries with your camera. Refer to the ‘mounting batteries’ section for more information about mounting different types of battery plates to support different batteries.

To turn on URSA Broadcast G2:

1 Move the power switch, located above the fold out LCD, to the ‘on’ position.

2 To turn the camera off, move the switch to the ‘off’ position.

You are now ready to insert your media and start recording!

Move the power switch to ‘on’ to power your camera

URSA Broadcast G2 also features a redundant power switch, which allows the camera to be turned on and off by holding down the ‘rec’ and ‘forward skip’ buttons on the inside control panel. While you wouldn’t normally power your camera using this method, it is provided as a helpful alternative if the power switch along the top edge is obscured, for example when mounted on a custom rig.

6Getting Started

If you need to, you can also hold down the record and forward skip buttons on the control panel behind the LCD to power your camera on or off

TIP If your URSA Broadcast G2 is turned off when the power switch is set to ‘on’, your

camera may have been powered down via Bluetooth® control or by holding down the record and forward skip control panel buttons. Simply toggle the power switch ‘off’ and‘on,’ or hold down the relevant control panel buttons to power the camera on.

Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Your URSA Broadcast G2 natively supports servo driven B4 broadcast lenses. For information on fitting a B4 lens to your camera, refer to the ‘attaching a lens’ section at the start of this manual.

TIP With the optional URSA Mini Pro PL mount fitted, your URSA Broadcast G2 is also

compatible with servo driven PL cine lenses.

B4 broadcast lenses offer several features that aren’t typically present in still photography and cinema lenses. In addition to the ability to hold focus through a large zoom range, these lenses are distinguished by handgrip controls and servo driven iris and zoom functions. Some lenses also feature servo driven focus. With the lens connector fitted, iris and zoom can be controlled from the handgrip, from your camera or by using an optional Blackmagic Zoom Demand. You can even control your lens remotely via an ATEM switcher.

Lenses which have a focus servo can accept auto focus commands from the camera, continuously track focus using an optional Blackmagic Focus Demand or receive focus commands from an ATEM switcher.

7Using Servo Zoom Lenses

B4 Lenses with iris and zoom control include:

 Fujinon B4 lens models with HA, ZA, XA, UA and LA prefixes in their model name

and RM in their suffix. For example, Fujinon XA20sxBRM.

 Canon B4 lens models with HJ, KJ and CJ prefixes and IRSE or IRSD in their suffix.

For example for example Canon KJ20x8.2B IRSD.

B4 Lenses with full servo control for focus, iris and zoom include:

 Fujinon B4 lens models with HA, ZA and UA prefixes in their name and the letters RD

or ZD in the suffix. For example, Fujinon HA2 2x7.8 B E RD.

 Canon B4 lens models with HJ, KJ..ex and CJ prefixes in their name and the letters

IASE or IASD in the suffix. For example, Canon HJ24 ex7.5B IASE.

Your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 is shipped ready to record to Blackmagic RAW Ultra HD. Toconfirm your record settings simply press the menu button to open the menu settings on the LCD. The first menu item is the ‘record’ tab and you can check your codec and resolution settings here. More information on how to use the menu settings is provided later in the manual.

The default Blackmagic RAW settings in the ‘record’ tab

8Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Ultra HD is also the default resolution for both ProRes and H.265 codecs. If you’d like to shoot in HD that is also available in ProRes or H.264.

The record tab in the menu settings

TIP If you notice any vignetting in your images when using a B4 lens check that your

resolution is set to Ultra HD when set to Blackmagic RAW. If you are recording ProRes or H.264/5, adjusting your camera’s ‘sensor area’ to 4K will suit the optical area that the B4 mount covers. For more information, refer to the ‘record settings’ section later in the manual.

B4 lens controls

Iris

On the top of most B4 handgrips, you’ll find an ‘auto/manual’ or ‘A/M’ switch, and a ‘push auto’ or ‘iris’ switch. These control your lenses’ aperture ring.

Auto

Set this switch to ‘auto’ or ‘a’ to adjust your lens aperture via your URSA Broadcast G2, Blackmagic Zoom Demand or an ATEM switcher. You can adjust lens aperture from URSA Broadcast G2 using the iris wheel, internal control panel buttons, touchscreen controls, or iris based auto exposure modes. See the ‘URSA Broadcast G2 controls’ and ‘touchscreen controls’ sections in this manual for more details. While in ‘auto’ mode, the aperture ring on your B4 lens cannot be moved manually.

Manual

Set this switch to ‘manual’ or ‘m’ to adjust your lens aperture by turning the iris ring on the lens barrel. In this mode, your lens will not accept aperture commands from your URSA Broadcast G2 or ATEM switcher.

9Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Push Auto / Iris

Use this button to momentarily activate ‘auto’ aperture control while in ‘manual’ mode. This can be combined with iris controls on your camera or ATEM switcher to great effect.

For example, with your camera set to an iris based auto exposure mode and your lens aperture set to ‘manual,’ you can freely adjust your lens iris by using the aperture ring on the lens barrel, however tapping the ‘push auto’ / ‘iris’ button will momentarily activate auto exposure, adjusting your iris for the current lighting conditions.

Alternatively, you can set an iris value using the controls on your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCDtouchscreen. While in ‘manual’ mode, you are free to adjust lens aperture using the aperture ring on the lens barrel, but tapping the ‘push auto’ / ‘iris’ button will return the lens to the preset value on your touchscreen.

Zoom

On the underside of most B4 handgrips, you’ll find a ‘zoom’ switch that can be set to ‘servo’ or‘manual.’ This controls zoom behavior.

Servo

Set this switch to ‘servo’ or ‘s’ to enable servo zoom control. In this mode, the rocker switch on your handset can be used to zoom your lens in and out, as well as any other zoom related controls, such as zoom speed and quickzoom. Your lens will also accept zoom commands from URSA Broadcast G2, Blackmagic Zoom Demand and ATEM switchers, so long as it is connected to the camera via the lens connector. In this mode, you typically can’t adjust your lens’s manual zoom ring.

TIP Handgrip zoom rockers are typically linked to zoom speed. Push the

rocker down gently to zoom slowly, push down harder to zoom more rapidly.

10Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Manual

Set this switch to ‘manual’ or ‘m’ to disable servo control and adjust zoom using the zoom ring on your lens barrel. In this mode, your lens will not accept zoom commands from the handgrip, URSA Broadcast G2, or ATEM switchers.

Focus

Some B4 lenses also have focus servo controls. If this control is present on your lens, you’ll seea ‘focus’ switch on the underside of the handgrip with two settings, ‘servo’ and ‘manual.’

Servo

Set this switch to ‘servo’ or ‘s’ to enable servo focus control. In this mode, your lens canaccept focus commands from URSA Broadcast G2, Blackmagic Focus Demand or an ATEM switcher via the lensconnector.

Manual

Set this switch to ‘manual’ to use the focus ring on the lens barrel to control focus. B4lenses tend to autofocus quite slowly, so using manual control is more common.

NOTE Analog B4 lenses with servos are also supported although the camera will only

power the zoom servo and support electronic iris control. Many of them are standard definition and may not have the standard 12 pin broadcast connector. If you are going to use an analog B4 lens, it’s important to make sure it is compatible with your camera first as some have limited feature sets. It is also worth testing them for their image circle coverage as some of them may reveal resolution and light fall off towards the edge of the frame.

11Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Ret and VTR

On a B4 lens, the ‘vtr’ button toggles recording and the ‘ret’ button is for ‘program return’. For information on how you can configure the ‘vtr’ and ‘ret’ button as function buttons, see the ‘set function button’ section in ‘setup settings’ later in this manual.

The ‘ret’ and ‘vtr’ buttons on a B4 lens

12Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Setting the Back Focus on B4 Lenses

One of the huge advantages of B4 lenses is that they are designed to be ‘parfocal’ which means they hold focus all the way through the zoom range. This means you can zoom in, getfocus on an object and then when you zoom out it will remain in focus.

The back focus ring is typically located at the rear of the lens, close to the mount

Back focus is critical in ensuring that your HD or 4K B4 lenses retain focus right through the zoom range. When you first mount a B4 lens on your camera you should check that the back focus is correct. Back focus should also be checked when you swap lenses, and it’s a good idea to periodically check back focus at the start of major projects.

To check the back focus of a B4 lens:

1 Place a focus test chart, or a flat white item with good high contrast detail,

approximately seventy feet, or as far away as possible, from the camera.

2 Set the iris on the lens wide open and compensate for exposure by using the built in

NDs if you need to. You’ll want a shallow depth of field so you can exaggerate any focus issues.

3 Zoom into the chart and set focus.

4 Now zoom out. If you reach maximum wide and the focus remains sharp, then your

back focus is correct and you don’t need to make any adjustments.

However, if you zoomed out and the chart drifted out of focus, the back focus is incorrect. Zoom all the way out and adjust the back focus ring on the rear of the lens close to the mount. The back focus ring typically has a twist knob used to loosen and tighten. Simply loosen the twist knob and rotate the ring until your chart is in focus.

5 Now zoom in and out slowly and check if your chart remains in focus all the way

through the zoom.

6 Repeat steps 4 and 5, zooming in and out and making adjustments to the back focus

ring. If your lens holds focus all the way through the zoom range your back focus is now set correctly.

13Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Setting back focus on Fuji LA16x8 BRM lenses

The process of setting back focus on a Fuji LA16x8 BRM lens is slightly different. Instead of an external back focus ring this lens sets back focus electronically using a button underneath the hand grip.

To set back focus on a Fuji LA16x8 BRM lens:

1 Place a focus test chart, or a flat white item with good high contrast detail,

approximately seventy feet, or as far away as possible, from the camera.

2 Set the zoom switch underneath the lens handgrip to ‘servo’.

3 Locate the ‘F.f.’ button next to the zoom switch. Press and hold the ‘F.f.’ button

for 5seconds. The indicator LED on top of the zoom rocker will flash red.

4 The lens will automatically zoom in. Set focus using the focus ring. It’s important to

note that if you have Blackmagic Focus Demand attached you will need to unplug it from your camera to adjust the physical focus ring or adjust the focus using the focus demand for this step and step 5.

5 Press the ‘F.f.’ button again and the lens will automatically zoom out. Set focus using

the focus ring.

6 Press the ‘F.f.’ button to confirm the settings. The top indicator LED will flash red.

The electronic back focus on your Fuji LA16x8 BRM lens is now set.

7 Now zoom in and out slowly and check if your chart remains in focus all the way

through the zoom.

8 If your lens holds focus all the way through the zoom range your back focus is now

set correctly. If you need to make further adjustments, repeat steps 3 to 6.

TIP As temperature changes and wear over time can have subtle effects on the back

focus, it’s worth regularly checking the back focus on B4 lenses to ensure it stays accurate.

Using Box Lenses

Large studio box lenses like Fujinon’s UA27x6.5 and UA125x8 and Canon’s UHD Digisuper series lenses can also be used with URSA Broadcast G2’s B4 mount. These types of box lenses allow horizontal and vertical image stabilization on studio style 27x lenses, as well as extreme zoom ranges with 80x and even 125x magnification which are incredible for broadcasting sports and outdoor events.

The large size of box lenses means that you will need to setup your camera correctly on a heavy duty tripod or pedestal, with adequate spacing. This is possible with URSA Mini Shoulder Kit, a VCT-14 plate and a box lens adapter.

14Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Box lenses have a high power draw, and need to be powered separately. You can add additional power to the lens by using an URSA 12 volt power supply, or if you are using Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter, you can run additional power from the 12 volt D-tap output on the side of the unit. Plug the lens connector from the lens support bracket into URSA Broadcast G2.

Add additional power to your box lens by plugging in a 4 pin XLR cable

Once additional power is connected, you can power up your camera and control the lens with your URSA Broadcast G2.

PL Servo Zoom Lenses

PL zoom lenses used for motion pictures can also be used with your URSA Broadcast G2. When using servo driven PL or EF lenses, the full 6K sensor area of URSA Broadcast G2 can be used to get the most out of these lenses. For more information on setting the sensor area on your URSA Broadcast G2, refer to the ‘record settings’ section later in this manual.

Super 35mm PL lenses with full servo control of focus, iris and zoom include:

Brand Series Model Range Max. Aperture

Fujinon Cabrio ZK2.5x14-SAF 14-35mm T2.9

Fujinon Cabrio ZK4.7x19 -SAFB 19-90mm T2.9

Fujinon Cabrio ZK12x25 with ESM-15A-SA 25-300mm T3.5-3.85

Fujinon Cabrio ZK3.5x85-SAF 85-300mm T 2. 9-T4

Fujinon Cabrio XK6x20 20-120mm T3.5

Canon Cine-servo CN7x17KAS S 17-120mm T2.9-3.9

Canon Cine-servo CN10x25 IAS S/P 1 25-250mm T2.95-3.95

Canon Cine-servo CN20x50 50-1000mm T5-8.9

Focus and zoom controls can also be used to drive focus and zoom from the pan handles in astudio environment on all of the servo zoom lenses listed above.

15Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Hybrid Compact Servo Zoom Lenses

Recently, a new category of lenses known as ‘compact-servo’ zoom lenses have been introduced. These have some of the functionality of B4 and PL servo zoom lenses but use an EF mount. The zoom rocker for these lenses can be powered through the lens mount from URSA Broadcast G2 and information such as lens name, iris, focus and zoom position values are allable to be read and recorded by URSA Broadcast G2’s lens metadata system.

Electronic control of the focus, iris and zoom is available with these lenses. When connected toa switcher, these can also be controlled remotely via ATEMSoftware Control. If you are operating in a live broadcast or studio environment, use of these lenses with Blackmagic Zoom and Focus Demands is possible provided the iris switch on the barrel of the lens is set to ‘A’, the focus switch is set to ‘AF’, and the zoom servo switch is set to ‘servo’.

Lenses in this range include:

 Canon CN-E 18-80mm T4.4 Compact-servo

 Canon CN-E 70-200mm T4.4 Compact-servo

Storage Media

Your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 uses standard SD cards, faster UHS-II SD cards or CFast2.0 cards to record video.

Using the rear USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x1 port, you can connect high speed flash disks or high capacity solid state drives. You can also record to SSDs using the optional Blackmagic URSA Mini Recorder. For more information on connecting URSA Mini Recorder to your camera, refer to the ‘URSA Mini Recorder’ section later in this manual.

Important Notes About Media Speeds

Write and read speeds published by recording media manufacturers are often based on peak speeds for small files such as still images, and may not accurately reflect write speeds for a continuous stream of high speed video.

Forreliable recording with your chosen frame rates, use only the cards recommended by Blackmagic Design.

CFast Cards

CFast 2.0 cards are capable of supporting very high data rates, so are perfect for recording HDand 4K video at high frame rates. Refer to the record duration table in the ‘recording’ section for details on the maximum frame rates that can be recorded in each format.

It’s important to note that while CFast 2.0 cards are generally high speed cards, some cards have slower write speeds compared to read speeds, and maximum data rates can differ between models. For reliable recording with your chosen frame rates, use only the cards recommended by Blackmagic Design.

16Storage Media

Inserting a CFast Card

To record using CFastcards you need to set your camera accordingly. To do this, set the storage mediaswitch above the media slots to the ‘CFAST’ position.

To insert a CFast card.

1 Open the fold out monitor to access the CFast slots.

2 With the label of the CFast card facing towards the touchscreen, insert the card into

the CFast card slot until you feel it lock in place. The card should insert easily without the need for excessive force. Push the CFast card ejector button underneath the CFast card slot to eject the card.

The storage information at the bottom of the LCD touchscreen will show the name and record time remaining of the detected CFast cards.

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 has two CFast slots for continuous recording

TIP If you have CFast cards inserted but can not access them on the camera, check

you have CFast selected on the storage media selection switch located above the media slots.

Choosing a CFast 2.0 Card

When working with high data rate video it’s important to carefully check the CFast card you would like to use. This is because CFast 2.0 cards have different read and write speeds. For the most up to date information on supported CFast cards on Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2, please refer to the Blackmagic Design support center at www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.

SD Cards

In addition to CFast 2.0 cards, Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 can record on high speed UHS-I and UHS-II type SD cards. Using high end SDXC UHS-II cards, you can record ProRes HQ footage in Ultra HD or even 6K in Blackmagic RAW!

With SD cards, you can use more affordable storage media when shooting compressed video formats in HD. SDXC and SDHC are a very common media storage format for consumer still and video cameras.

If you’ve ever shot video using a DSLR, or use a Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera, Pocket Cinema Camera or Blackmagic Video Assist, you probably already have compatible SD cards to use.

17Storage Media

For projects that don’t require the highest resolution Blackmagic RAW files, or for when long recording durations are needed, using SD cards can be very economical. Lower capacity and lower speed SD cards can also be used for storing and loading LUTs and Presets.

Inserting an SD Card

To insert an SD Card.

1 Open the fold out monitor to access the SD card slots. These are the smaller slots

located between the CFast slots.

2 Set the storage media toggle switch above the slots to ‘SD’.

3 With the label on the SD card facing away from the touchscreen, insert the card until

you feel it lock into place. To remove an SD card, push the SD card in to eject it.

4 The storage indicator at the bottom of the LCD touchscreen will show the name and

record time remaining of detected cards.

When recording to SD cards on URSA Broadcast G2 make sure the storage media selection switch is set to ‘SD’

Choosing a fast SD Card

If you are recording Ultra HD, then we recommend using the fastest high speed UHS-II type SDcards available. It’s important to use high speed UHS-II SDcards for Ultra HD and HD recording, or UHS-1 cards for HD recording. These cards are rated for fast data speeds and support larger storage sizes. Generally the faster the cards, thebetter.

Before using your cards, you will need to format them to either HFS+ or exFAT formats. You can format your media with the storage manager or your computer. For more information, see the ‘preparing media for recording’ section.

If you want to, you can format your cards using a Mac or Windows computer. When using your media on Mac, you can use HFS+ which is the Mac disk format. If you are using Windows then you should use exFAT format, which is the Windows disk format that Mac computers can also read.

For the most up to date information on supported SD cards on Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2, please refer to the Blackmagic Design support center at www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.

NOTE When filming high frame rate or Ultra HD footage on your URSA Broadcast G2,

werecommend CFast 2.0 or SD UHS-II recording media, which are typically faster andavailable in higher storage capacities than SD UHS-I media.

18Storage Media

Locking and Unlocking SD Cards

SD cards can be write protected, or ‘locked’, to prevent data from being overwritten.

When inserting an SD card, make sure the card is not write protected. Write protection is disabled by moving the plastic switch on the left side of the card to the position closest to theconnectors. After recording, you can then write protect the card by sliding the switch backdown to the bottom position.

Move the lock tab up or down to lock or unlock an SD card

Your URSA Broadcast G2 will let you know if you’ve inserted a locked SD card by displaying a ‘locked’ icon on the LCD touchscreen and storage menu. If the card is locked, you won’t be able to record video, capture stills, or export LUTs and presets until it is unlocked.

Your URSA Broadcast G2 will indicate when locked SD storage media is inserted

Recording to USB-C flash disks

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 features two USB-C ports. The USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 port on the side near the CFast card slots is for software updates. The port on the rear panel near the SDI connectors is for recording to high speed SSDs and USB-C flash disks via USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x1. These fast, high capacity drives allow you to record video for longer periods, which can be important when filming events with long durations.

When a USB-C flash disk is connected to your camera, it occupies the third media slot in your camera’s operating system. Tapping the drive name in the storage menu sets it as the active drive. This means that recording, playback and storage management is exactly the same for USB-C flash disks as it is for CFast, SD cards and SSDs.

Once you have finished recording you can connect the same drive directly to your computer for editing and post production without having to copy media across.

19Storage Media

To connect a USB-C flash disk:

1 Connect one end of a USB type-C cable to your USB-C flash disk.

2 On your URSA Broadcast G2, plug the USB-C cable into the USB-C port on the back

panel below the SDI ports.

3 The USB-C flash disk will occupy the third media slot on your camera’s LCD touchscreen.

4 To switch recording to the USB-C flash disk, press and hold the drive name in the lower

toolbar of your camera’s LCD display. The media bar will turn blue to indicate that the camera will now be recording to the USB-C flash disk. When recording the media bar will turn red.

Choosing a fast USB-C ﬂash disk

USB-C flash disks are designed to offer fast, affordable storage for a wide range of devices and are readily available from a variety of consumer electronics outlets. It’s important to note that film making is only one part of the USB-C flash disk market, so choosing the best drive is vital to making sure you have enough speed to record Blackmagic RAW and Ultra HD footage.

Many USB-C flash disks are designed for home computing and aren’t fast enough to record Ultra HD.

For the most up to date list of recommended USB-C flash disks please go to

www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.

Use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test to accurately measure whether your USB-C flash disk will be able to handle high data rate video capture and playback. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test uses data to simulate the storage of video so you get results similar to what you’ll see when capturing video to a disk. During Blackmagic testing, we have found newer, larger models of USB-C flash disk and larger capacity USB-C flash disks are generally faster.

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is available from the Mac app store. Windows and Mac versions are also included in Blackmagic Desktop Video, which you can download from the ‘capture and playback’ section of the Blackmagic Design support center at

www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.

SSDs

With the optional Blackmagic URSA Mini Recorder, URSA Broadcast G2 can record video directly to solid state drives, or ‘SSDs’. These fast, high capacity drives are readily available from a variety of consumer electronics outlets.

URSA Mini Recorder features a USB-C port enabling high speeds to work with standard 2.5" SATA SSDs as well as 7mm U.2 SSDs. M.2 solid state drives will work when using an M.2to U.2 adapter. To reach the proper speeds available, a certified USB 3.1 Gen 2 cable is required. The supplied USB-C cable features locking connectors at each end to maintain a secure connection during use.

NOTE See the section ‘Blackmagic URSA Mini Recorder’ in this manual forinformation

on installing Blackmagic URSA Mini Recorder.

20Storage Media

Inserting an SSD

To insert an SSD:

1 Hold your SSD with the connection pins facing towards the front of your camera.

2 Open the spring loaded cover on Blackmagic URSA Mini Recorder and gently insert the

SSDintothe slot.

TIP Blackmagic URSA Mini Recorder has a pressure plate to keep different

sized SSDs in place, so there’s no need to use spacers to fit your drive.

3 Once your SSD is all the way into the slot gently push it home until you feel it register,

then lower URSA Mini Recorder’s cover.

4 The SSD will occupy the third media slot on your camera.

5 To switch recording to the SSD, press and hold the drive name in the lower toolbar

of your camera’s LCD display. The media bar will turn blue to indicate that the camera will now be recording to the SSD. When recording the media bar will turn red.

To remove an SSD:

Open URSA Mini Recorder’s cover and gently grasp the drive between your thumb and forefinger. There’s a small recess in the top of the bay to let you get a grip on the drive. Simply pull the drive out and close the cover.

Choosing a fast SSD for URSA Mini Recorder

SSDs are designed to offer fast, affordable storage for a wide range of devices. It’s important to note that film making is only one part of the SSD market, so choosing the right drive is vital to ensuring that you have enough bandwidth to record Blackmagic RAW or Ultra HD footage. ManySSDs are designed for home computing and aren’t fast enough to record Ultra HD video.

We highly recommend using only the SSDs from our recommended list, which have been tested with Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 to ensure support for continuous filming at the specified resolutions. For the most up to date list of recommended SSDs please go to

www.blackmagicdesign.com/support

Important Notes About SSD Speed

Some models of SSD can’t save video data at the speed the manufacturer claims. Thisis due to the disk using hidden data compression to attain higher write speeds. This data compression can only save data at the manufacturer’s claimed speed when storing data such as blank data or simple files. Video data includes video noise and pixels which are more random so compression will not help, therefore revealing the true speed of the disk.

Some SSDs can have up to 50% lower write speed than the manufacturer’s claimed speed. Even though the disk specifications claim an SSD has speeds fast enough to handle video, in reality the disk isn’t fast enough when used to store video data for real time capture.

Use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test to accurately measure whether your SSD will be able to handle high data rate video capture and playback. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test uses data to simulate the storage of video so you get results similar to what you’ll see when capturing video to a disk. During Blackmagic’s rigorous testing, we have found newer, larger models of SSD and larger capacity SSDs are generally faster.

21Storage Media

Preparing Media for Recording

You can format your recording media using Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2’s storage manager, or via a Mac or Windows computer. Werecommend formatting storage media using URSA Broadcast G2 for best performance.

HFS+ is also known as OS X Extended and is the recommended format as it supports ‘journaling’. Data on journaled media is more likely to be recovered in the rare event that your media becomes corrupted. HFS+ is natively supported by Mac OS. ExFAT is supported natively by Mac and Windows without needing to purchase any additional software. However, exFAT does not support journaling.

NOTE Before formatting your media, it’s important to make sure the media storage

switch has been set correctly to either SD card or CFast card. Always check the settings carefully before formatting.

Preparing Media on Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2

1 Tap any storage indicator at the bottom of the LCD touchscreen to enter the

storage manager.

2 Tap a format button at the bottom of the touchscreen to format the card in slot 1 or 2,

respectively. If you have a USB-C flash disk or SSD connected to the rear USB-C port of your URSA Broadcast G2, tap the ‘Drive List’ button. Then select the drive you want to format and tap ‘Format Drive’.

Use your URSA Broadcast G2’s storage manager to format your camera’s storage media

3 If you want to change the reel number, tap on the pencil icon to open the keyboard.

Type the new reel number and tap ‘update’.

4 Choose OS X Extended or exFAT format and tap the ‘format’ button.

22Storage Media

Tap the pencil icon to manually edit the reel number

5 You will be asked to confirm your selection. Tap the format button again to continue

or‘cancel’ to cancel the format.

Check that you have selec ted the correct card before formatting

6 You will be prompted to press and hold the ‘format’ button for 3 seconds. The camera

will notify you once formatting is complete.

When formatting is complete your card is ready to use

7 Tap ‘ok’ to return to the storage manager.

8 Tap ‘exit’ to leave the storage manager.

23Storage Media

When formatting recording media using the storage manager, your URSA Broadcast G2 will use the Camera ID from the slate and reel number to name the card. Your camera automatically increments reel numbers each time you format. If you need to manually enter a specific reel number, tap the ‘pencil icon’ and enter the number you want to format the card as.

When you start a new project, reel numbering will reset to 1 when you tap on ‘reset data’ in the ‘project’ tab of the slate.

It’s worth mentioning that if your camera’s media storage switch is set to SD or CFast, only the selected card type will be formatted when you tap ‘format card’. For information on switching between CFast and SD storage see the ‘SD Cards’ section earlier in this manual.

The storage manager on your URSA Broadcast G2 will indicate whether you are currently managing CFast, SD, USB or SSD media

TIP If your URSA Broadcast G2 is set to record to SD cards and you have inserted

alocked card, you will be unable to format that card. A padlock icon will appear next to the card’s name in the storage manager. Simply unlock thecard to format and record. For more information on locking SD cards, see the ‘SDcards’ section of this manual.

Preparing Media on Mac

The Disk Utility application included with Mac can format your CFast card, SD card, or SSD in the HFS+ or exFAT formats.

Make sure you back up anything important from your media as all data will be lost when it is formatted.

1 Connect the storage media to your computer using a card reader, dock or adapter,

and dismiss any message offering to use your media for Time Machine backups.

2 Go to applications/utilities and launch Disk Utility.

3 Click on the disk icon for your camera’s storage media and then click the ‘erase’ tab.

4 Set the ‘format’ to ‘Mac OS extended (journaled)’ or ‘exFAT’.

5 Type a ‘name’ for the new volume and then click ‘erase’. Your camera’s storage media

will quickly be formatted and made ready for use.

24Storage Media

Use Disk Utility on Mac OS to erase your CFast card in the MacOS extended (journaled) or exFAT format

Preparing Media on Windows

The ‘format’ dialog box can format a drive in the exFAT format on a Windows PC. Remember to back up anything important from your media as all data will be lost when it is formatted.

1 Connect your camera’s storage media to your computer using an external reader/writer

orSSD dock or adapter.

2 Open the ‘start’ menu or ‘start’ screen and choose ‘computer’. Right click on your

camera’s storage media.

3 From the contextual menu, choose ‘format’.

4 Set the file system to ‘exFAT’ and the allocation unit size to 128 kilobytes.

5 Type a volume label, select ‘quick format’ and click ‘start’.

6 Your storage media will quickly be formatted and made ready for use.

Use the ‘format’ dialog box feature in Windows to format your CFast, SD card or SSD in the exFAT format

25Storage Media

NOTE If your recordings are dropping frames, check that your card is on our list

of recommended media for the codec and frame size you are using. For lower data rates try lowering your frame rate, resolution, or try a compressed codec such as ProRes. Check the Blackmagic Design website for the latest information at

www.blackmagicdesign.com

Recording

Recording Clips

B4 broadcast lenses typically have a record button positioned on the lens handle where your thumb would be when shooting from the shoulder. Simply press the record button on the handle to start recording. Press again to stop recording.

Your camera has record buttons built into the camera itself. A record button is located on the inside control panel, and on the forward control panel for convenient access when shooting from the shoulder.

Triggering Record from External Sources

Using the ‘Blackmagic Camera Control’ app you can trigger recording remotely and adjust various camera settings via Bluetooth from your iPad. For more information on setting up and using the ‘Blackmagic Camera Control’ app refer to the ‘Bluetooth’ section later in this manual. If you are using an iPhone or Android smart phone there are also third party apps available that let you trigger recording on your URSA Broadcast G2 via Bluetooth.

If you are using an optional Blackmagic Zoom Demand with your URSA Broadcast G2, you can trigger record using the function button. The function button on Blackmagic Zoom Demand sits under your thumb like the VTR button on a B4 lens. For more information on Blackmagic Zoom Demand, refer to the ‘using Blackmagic Zoom Demand’ section later in this manual.

When your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 is connected to an ATEM Mini Pro or Extreme model switcher via a Blackmagic Micro Converter BiDirectional SDI/HDMI 3G, you can trigger recording from the ATEM switcher.

For example, the ‘record stream’ palette in ATEM Software Control has a checkbox labeled ‘record in all cameras’. When this checkbox is enabled and you click or press record, all connected cameras will start recording as well. This means you only have to click or press one button to start recording on all cameras simultaneously. Refer to the ATEM Mini manual for more information.

Another option for starting and stopping record is to attach an external LANC controller to your URSA Broadcast G2’s LANC input and trigger the record externally. For example, you may want to attach a LANC controller to your tripod so you can trigger the recording without taking your hands off the focus ring and tripod handle.

You can also trigger record on one or more URSA Broadcast G2 cameras using a Blackmagic 3G-SDI Shield for Arduino and the Blackmagic SDI Camera Control protocol. Formore information, see the ‘Developer Information’ section of this manual or visit www.blackmagicdesign.com/developer and download the manual for Blackmagic 3G-SDIShield for Arduino.

26Recording

You can create your own hardware controller and plug it into your Blackmagic 3G-SDI Shield for Arduino for more interactive and refined control.

NOTE If you toggle the ‘storage media selection’ switch mid-recording, the camera

will complete the current recording before switching to the other type of media. This ensures that you can not damage your recording if the switch is adjusted during a take.

Choosing the Codec, Resolution and Sensor Area

Your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 can record using Blackmagic RAW with either a constant quality or constant bitrate setting. You can also use Apple ProRes, H.264 or H.265 compressed video codecs for recording in Ultra HD and HD resolutions. Sensor frame rate options will vary depending on the codec and resolution you choose.

Blackmagic RAW lets you use either a constant quality or constant bitrate compression. Blackmagic RAW 8:1, 12:1, Q3 or Q5 compression is recommended for ENG style shooting as its high compression offers long recording times with minimal visual reduction of image quality. For shots that contain a large amount of fine detail you can choose Blackmagic RAW 3:1 or Q0 for the highest level of image quality.

It’s worth noting that clips recorded using Blackmagic RAW are compatible with DaVinci Resolve, Blackmagic RAW Player and other applications that support Blackmagic RAW SDK. Blackmagic RAW has already been adopted by many post production platforms. It may not be supported natively in all editing software but most work with the plugins provided in our Camera Update and Blackmagic RAW installer. For more information, see the ‘Working with Third Party Software’ section.

27Recording

Blackmagic RAW

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 supports the new Blackmagic RAW file format. This format offers superior image quality, wide dynamic range and a broad selection of compression ratios. Blackmagic RAW features all the user benefits of RAW recording, but the files are very fast because most of the processing is performed in the camera where it can be hardware accelerated by the camera itself.

Blackmagic RAW also includes powerful metadata support so the software reading the files knows your camera settings. If you like shooting in video gamma because you need to turn around edits quickly and you don’t have time for color correction, then this metadata feature means you can select video gamma, shoot in video gamma, and the file will display with video gamma applied when you open it in software. However underneath, the file is actually film gamma and the metadata in the file is what’s telling the software to apply the video gamma.

So what all this means is if you want to color grade your images at some point, then you have allthat film dynamic range preserved in the file. You don’t have your images hard clipped in the whites or the blacks, so you retain detail and you can color grade to make all your images look cinematic. However, if you don’t have time for color grading, that’s fine because your images will have the video gamma applied and look like normal video camera images. You are not locked in on the shoot and you can change your mind later during post production.

Blackmagic RAW files are extremely fast and the codec is optimized for your computer’s CPU and GPU. This means it has fast smooth playback and eliminates the need for hardware decoder boards, which is important for laptop use. Software that reads Blackmagic RAW also gets the advantage of processing via Apple Metal, Nvidia CUDA and OpenCL.

This means that Blackmagic RAW plays back at normal speed like a video file on most computers, without needing to cache it first or lower the resolution.

It’s also worth mentioning that lens information is recorded in the metadata on a frame by frame basis. For example, when using compatible lenses, any zoom or focus changes performed over the length of a clip will be saved, frame by frame, to the metadata in the Blackmagic RAW file.

Recording to Blackmagic RAW

Blackmagic RAW works in two different ways. You have a choice to use either the constant bitrate codec, or the constant quality codec.

The constant bitrate codec works in a similar way to most codecs. It tries to keep the data rate at a consistent level and won’t let the data rate go too high. This means even if you are shooting a complex image that might need a bit more data to store the image, a constant bitrate codec will just compress the image harder to make sure the images fit within the space allocated.

This can be fine for video codecs, however when shooting RAW you really want to ensure the quality is predictable. What would happen if the images you were shooting needed more data, but the codec just compresses harder to make a specified data rate? It’s possible you could lose quality, but not be sure it’s happening until you return from a shoot.

To solve this problem, Blackmagic RAW also has an alternative codec choice called constant quality. This codec is technically called a variable bitrate codec, but what it’s really doing is allowing the size of the file to grow if your images need extra data. There is no upper limit on the file size if you need to encode an image but maintain quality.

So Blackmagic RAW set to the constant quality setting will just let the file grow as big as it needs to be to encode your images. It also means the files could be larger or smaller depending on what you are shooting. I guess if you leave your lens cap on the lens, you won’t waste space on your media!

28Recording

It is also worth noting that the quality settings for Blackmagic RAW are not obscure names, butare more meaningful as they are derived from what’s happening technically. So for example when you have selected the constant bitrate codec, you will see quality settings of 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 and 12:1. These are the ratios of the uncompressed RAW file size vs the file sizes you should expect when shooting in Blackmagic RAW. 3:1 is better quality as the file is larger, while 12:1 is the smallest file size with the lowest quality. Many users of Blackmagic RAW find that 12:1 has been perfectly ok and they have not seen any quality limitations. However it’s best to experiment and try various settings for yourself.

When using Blackmagic RAW in constant quality you will see the settings are Q0, Q1, Q3 and Q5. Theseare the compression parameters passed to the codec and they are setting how much compression is applied in a more technical way. This setting is different because the codec operates differently between constant bitrate vs constant quality. In this constant quality setting, you really cannot tell what the file size ratio will become as it varies a lot based on what you areshooting. So in this case the setting is different and the file will become the size needed tostore your media.

Constant Bitrate Settings

The names for 3:1, 5:1, 8:1 and 12:1 represent the compression ratio. For example, 12:1 compression produces a file size roughly 12 times smaller than uncompressed RAW.

Constant Quality Settings

Q0, Q1, Q3 and Q5 refer to different levels of quantization. Q5 has a greater level of quantization but offers a greatly improved data rate. As mentioned above, the constant quality setting can result in files that grow and shrink quite a lot, depending on what you are shooting. This also means it’s possible to shoot something and see the file size increase to beyond what your media card can keep up with. It could result in dropped frames. However the benefit is that you can instantly see if this happens on a shoot and then investigate your settings vs quality.

Blackmagic RAW Player

The Blackmagic RAW player included in your Blackmagic camera’s software installer is a streamlined application for reviewing clips. Simply double click on a Blackmagic RAW file to open it, and you can quickly play and scroll through the file with its full resolution and bit depth.

When decoding frames, the CPU acceleration in the SDK library supports all main architectures, and also supports GPU acceleration via Apple Metal, Nvidia CUDA and OpenCL. It also works with the Blackmagic eGPU for extra performance. Blackmagic RAW player is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Sidecar Files

Blackmagic RAW sidecar files let you override metadata in a file without overwriting embedded metadata in the original file. This metadata includes the RAW settings as well as information on iris, focus, focal length, while balance, tint, color space, project name, take number and more. Metadata is encoded frame by frame over the duration of the clip, which is important for lens data if the lens is adjusted during a shot. You can add or edit metadata in sidecar files with DaVinci Resolve or even a text editor because it’s a human readable format.

Sidecar files can be used to automatically add new RAW settings to a playback simply by moving the sidecar file into the same folder as the corresponding RAW file. If you move the sidecar file out of the folder and reopen the Blackmagic RAW file, the RAW settings are not applied and you see the file as it was originally shot. Any software that uses the BlackmagicRAW SDK can access these settings. Changes made are saved in the sidecar file and can then be seen by Blackmagic RAW Player or any other software capable of reading Blackmagic RAW files.

29Recording

When shooting video gamma, the file stays in film gamma, and the metadata tells the Blackmagic RAW processing to display using video gamma. Video gamma is great when you don’t want to grade the image and want to deliver content quickly, however if you want to pull up the black parts of the image, or pull down the white areas, all the detail is retained. Younever clip the video and all the detail is still there if you want to access it at any time.

Blackmagic RAW in DaVinci Resolve

Settings can be adjusted for each Blackmagic RAW file, and then saved as a new sidecar file from the RAW tab in DaVinci Resolve for creative effect or optimized viewing. This also means you can copy your media for another DaVinci Resolve artist and they will have access to your modified gamma settings automatically on import. In addition to the other metadata your camera files contain, DaVinci Resolve can read your selected dynamic range, so your clips will automatically display in DaVinci Resolve with ‘film’, ‘extended video’ or ‘video’ dynamic range.

You can then customize these settings by adjusting the saturation, contrast and midpoint, aswell as the highlight and shadow rolloff. Any adjustments can then be saved as a sidecar file, sothe changes can be seen by anyone else working with the files in post. You can always return to the original camera metadata at any time.

You can also export a single Blackmagic RAW frame from the RAW tab in DaVinci Resolve, which contains all adjustments, metadata, full resolution and color information so it is easy to share a single frame grab or reference file with others.

For more information on how to use Blackmagic RAW in DaVinci Resolve, see the ‘Using DaVinci Resolve’ chapter in this manual.

Blackmagic RAW SoftwareDevelopment Kit

The Blackmagic RAW Software Development Kit is an API developed by Blackmagic Design. You can use the Blackmagic RAW SDK to write your own applications to use the Blackmagic RAW format. This SDK library can be used by any developer to add support for reading, editing, and saving Blackmagic RAW files. The Blackmagic RAW SDK includes all the generation 4 and generation 5 color science so you can achieve organic cinematic images across any app that supports it. The Blackmagic RAW SDK supports Mac, Windows and Linux, and is available as a free download from the developer page of the Blackmagic website at

www.blackmagicdesign.com/developer

The following diagram illustrates the components of the Blackmagic RAW API:

30Recording

Choosing Frame Rates

Your camera is able to shoot video using many different frame rates and you may be wondering which is the best one to use. Your camera’s sensor frame rate can also have a big impact on the ‘look’ of footage. Generally, when selecting a sensor frame rate, there are some common items to consider. For many years, there have been presentation standards for film and television. These have set frame rates that differ between countries, but all share the same purpose; todisplay an efficient number of frames every second that portrays pleasing and convincing motion.

Cinema, for example, uses a standard 24 frames per second and while there have been recent experiments with faster frame rates, 24 frames per second remains widely accepted for international audiences. Television frame rates have generally conformed to technical broadcast standards for each country. For example, if you were making television content you would typically record using 29.97 frames per second for North American distribution, and 25frames per second for Europe.

However, as technology has improved, today we have more choices and broadcast standards are changing. It is now common for sporting events to be recorded and broadcasted at higher frame rates. For example, some sporting events are recorded and broadcasted at up to 59.94 frames per second in North America, and 50 frames per second in Europe. This provides smoother motion on fast action and appears more lifelike. Alternatively, streaming and online broadcasters normally use frame rates similar to television, however there is more freedom to experiment due to user selectable viewing formats, and being limited only to what the audience’s screens are capable of displaying.

Generally, when choosing a frame rate for a project, let your delivery format guide your choice. Your camera’s project frame rate should be set to this, and your sensor frame should be set to match. This means your clips will play back at the same speed the event happened in real life. If you are looking to create an interesting effect, for example slow motion, then you can set the sensor frame rate to a higher setting. The higher the sensor frame rate compared to the project frame rate, the slower the playback speed.

For more information on using off speed sensor frame rates to achieve creative effects, refer to the ‘touchscreen controls’ section.

Shooting at High Frame Rates

When shooting at high frame rates, your camera captures an increased number of frames per second when compared with the traditional sync speed frame rates of 24, 25 and 30 frames per second. This means that the image sensor has less time to collect light for each frame it captures and the resulting image from your camera will be darker.

So for example, if you switch from 25 to 50 frames per second, the amount of light reaching the sensor will be halved. To maintain your exposure you need to compensate for this change by opening up your lens an extra stop, by opening up your shutter angle from 180º to 360º or by adding some extra lighting to the scene that you are shooting.

When shooting at 60 frames per second you have 2.5 times less light than 24 frames per second so you may need to adjust multiple things such as lens aperture, shutter angle and lighting to achieve the same level of exposure.

Another thing to be mindful of when shooting at higher frame rates, is the fact that electronic light sources can add flicker to your recorded image. Artificial light sources such as tungsten, fluorescent and LED may introduce some flicker to your images. You may not see these flicker issues when previewing the scene on your LCD and SDI feed or while recording, so it’s important to perform a test shoot with the lights you plan to use and to play the clip back to check for flicker.

31Recording

Your shutter setting can also affect the visibility of flicker when shooting under lights, so your URSA Broadcast G2 can automatically calculate and display flicker free shutter options for your current frame rate. Note that the characteristics of individual light sources may still cause flicker even when using flicker free values. For more information, refer to the ‘touchscreen controls’ section.

If you have opened up your shutter to the slowest shutter speed or widest shutter angle possible and are still seeing flicker in recorded footage, you may need to consider using different light sources for your scene or look into using a faster lens.

Maximum Sensor Frame Rates and Data Rates

The table below contains available codecs and resolutions with their maximum sensor frame rates and data rates. It should be noted that the references to Blackmagic RAW, ProRes 444 and ProRes 422 are references to all of the supported variants within each particular codec.

Because of the data rates required for recording high resolutions in slow motion you will need to choose a fast CFast card, USB-C flash disk or SSD. Refer to the ‘storage media’ section for more information.

TIP You can test the speed your card can sustain by switching on the ‘stop recording’

option from the ‘if card drops frame’ settings menu and recording a test clip. This will allow you to test how long you can shoot at a particular frame rate in any given resolution. If the card stops recording too quickly, moving to the next available compression setting or resolution will lower the data rate and make it easier for the card to maintain.

Maximum Frame Rates for URSA Broadcast G2

Resolution Codec Max Frame Rate Max Data Rate

3840x2160 Blackmagic RAW 3:1 60 254 MB/s

3840x2160 Blackmagic RAW 5:1 60 152 MB/s

3840x2160 Blackmagic RAW 8:1 60 96 MB/s

3840x2160 Blackmagic RAW 12:1 60 64 MB/s

3840x2160 Blackmagic RAW Q0 60 48.7 - 96.8 MB/s

3840x2160 Blackmagic RAW Q1 60 32.6 - 77.6 MB/s

3840x2160 Blackmagic RAW Q3 60 21.9 - 55.6 MB/s

Ultra HD

3840x2160 Blackmagic RAW Q5 60 13.4 - 32.6 MB/s

3840x2160 ProRes HQ 60 220 MB/s

3840x2160 ProRes 422 60 148 MB/s

3840x2160 H.265 SDI 60 24.6 MB/s

3840x2160 H.265 High 60 21.6 MB/s

3840x2160 H.265 Medium 60 15.6 MB/s

3840x2160 H.265 Low 60 6.4 MB/s

32Recording

Resolution Codec Max Frame Rate Max Data Rate

1920x1080 Blackmagic RAW 3:1 150 161.4 MB/s

1920x1080 Blackmagic RAW 5:1 150 9 7.2 MB /s

1920x1080 Blackmagic RAW 8:1 150 61.1 MB/s

1920x1080 Blackmagic RAW 12:1 150 41 MB/s

1920x1080 Blackmagic RAW Q0 150 121.2 - 241.6 MB/s

1920x1080 Blackmagic RAW Q1 150 81.8 - 193.4 MB/s

1920x1080 Blackmagic RAW Q3 150 54.4 - 138.4 MB/s

1920x1080 Blackmagic RAW Q5 150 33 - 81.1 MB/s

1920x1080 ProRes HQ 120 110 MB/s

1920x1080 ProRes 422 120 74 MB /s

1920x1080 H.264 SDI 60 14 MB/s

1920x1080 H.264 High 60 11.2 MB/s

1920x1080 H.264 Medium 60 6.4 MB/s

1920x1080 H.264 Low 60 3.6 MB/s

It’s important to note that Blackmagic RAW Q0, Q1, Q3 and Q5 use variable bit rate compression to achieve constant quality. Q0, Q1, Q3 and Q5 data rates depend on the complexity of the image subject matter and can vary considerably throughout a clip.

To select your desired codec and resolution:

1 Press the ‘menu’ button on the control panel.

2 Navigate to the first page of the ‘record’ tab.

3 Tap your desired combination of codec, quality, and resolution.

4 Press ‘menu’ to exit.

Recording Formats and Project Frame Rates

After setting your codec and resolution, you should set your ‘project’ and ‘sensor’ frame rates. Refer to the ‘recording’ section in this manual for more information about frame rates.

The project frame rates available are:

23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, and 60 frames per second.

When using Blackmagic RAW and ProRes codecs up to ProRes 422 HQ, the maximum project frame rate is 60 frames per second at all resolutions.

33Recording

Triggering Record on External Equipment

Your URSA Broadcast G2 automatically sends a signal via the SDI outputs that will trigger recording when connected to equipment that supports the SDI trigger record feature, such as Blackmagic Video Assist. This means when you press record on your camera, your external SDI equipment will also start recording, and will stop recording when you press record again.

You will also need to set your equipment to enable SDI trigger recording to make sure it responds to the trigger signal from your URSA Broadcast G2. If your SDI equipment supports SDI trigger recording, it can usually be enabled using your SDI equipment’s settings menu.

You can trigger recording on other SDI video equipment, for example BlackmagicVideoAssist 12G HDR, using the trigger record feature on your camera

Record Duration Table

Tables are provided showing approximate record duration in minutes and seconds compared toformat, project frame rate and media size. The maximum recording duration for your storage media depends on its capacity, the recording format and the frame rate. For example, the storage rate for Apple ProRes 422 HQ at 3840x2160 is approximately 880 Mbps. At 24 frames per second, you can record approximately 47minutes ofvideo on a 256GB CFast 2.0 or SD card. At the same settings youcan record approximately 23minutes of video on a 128GB CFast

2.0 or SD card, which is approximately half the record duration of the 256GB card.

It should be noted that record duration on CFast 2.0 and SD cards can also vary slightly between cards from different manufacturers. It can also vary depending on whether the storage media is formatted as ExFat or Mac OS Extended.

Simple scenes containing less detail tend to require less data than more dense compositions. The values in these tables assume shots with a high complexity, which means you may get slightly longer record times depending on the nature of your shoot.

34Recording

CFast Card

256GB

CFast Card

256GB

Frame Rate

23.98 189 mins 283 mins 635 mins 782 mins 1395 mins 2456 mins

24 189 mins 283 mins 635 mins 782 mins 1395 mins 2456 mins

25 182 mins 271 mins 602 mins 748 mins 1339 mins 2321 mins

30 152 mins 227 mins 496 mins 612 mins 1118 mins 2079 mins

50 91 mins 137 mins 371 mins 462 mins 841 mins 1852 mins

60 76 mins 114 mins 331 mins 411 mins 716 mins 1520 mins

ProRes 422 HQ

Duration Duration Duration Duration Duration Duration

ProRes 422

H.264 SDI

H.264 High

H.264 Medium

H.264 Low

ULTR A H D

Frame Rate

23.98 41 mins 68 mins 110 mins 164 mins

24 41 mins 68 mins 109 mins 164 mins

25 39 mins 66 mins 105 mins 157 mins

30 33 mins 55 mins 88 mins 131 mins

Blackmagic RAW 3:1

Duration Duration Duration Duration

Blackmagic RAW 5:1

Blackmagic RAW 8:1

Blackmagic RAW 12:1

CFast Card

256GB

50 19 mins 33 mins 52 mins 79 mins

60 16 mins 27 mins 44 mins 66 mins

ULTR A H D

Frame Rate

23.98 47 mins 71 mins 353 mins 404 mins 571 mins 1499 mins

24 47 mins 71 mins 353 mins 404 mins 571 mins 1499 mins

25 45 mins 68 mins 339 mins 389 mins 550 mins 1442 mins

30 38 mins 57 mins 286 mins 325 mins 461 mins 1223 mins

50 22 mins 34 mins 242 mins 280 mins 389 mins 960 mins

60 18 mins 28 mins 241 mins 277 mins 325 mins 809 mins

ProRes 422 HQ

Duration Duration Duration Duration Duration Duration

ProRes 422

H.265 SDI

H.265 High

H.265 Medium

H.265 Low

35Recording

Playback

Playing Back Clips

Once you have recorded your video, you can use the transport control buttons to play back your clips.

Press the ‘play’ button once for instant playback and you’ll see your recorded video on URSABroadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen. Your clips can also be viewed on any display connected toyourURSABroadcast G2’s SDI outputs.

URSA Broadcast G2

TIP Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 has playback and transport controls buttons on

both the internal and ergonomic control panels.

NOTE Blackmagic URSABroadcast G2 will playback clips sharing the same codec

family, frame rate and resolution. For example, if you want to play back HD clips recorded using ProRes 422 HQ at 29.97 fps, make sure your camera is set to the same frame rate and resolution, and a ProRes codec.

The controls of your camera work just like a CD player, so pressing the ‘forward skip’ button willskip to the start of the next clip. Press the ‘reverse skip’ button once to go to the start of the current clip or press twice to skip back to the start of the previous clip. Hold the ‘forward’ or ‘reverse skip’ button to play or reverse at 2x speed. Once shuttling forward or backwards, press the ‘fast forward’ or ‘reverse skip’ buttons twice for 4x, three times for x8 and four times for x16. You can also use the forward and reverse skip buttons to open or close the iris on compatible lenses while recording clips.

When recording a clip using a sensor frame rate that differs from your project frame rate, your clip’s playback speed will also differ. For example, imagine you have set your camera’s project frame rate to match your post production timeline of 24 frames per second. If you record a clip with your sensor frame rate set to 60 frames per second, your clips will play back in slow motion on both the camera and on your post production timeline.

TIP Refer to the ‘recording’ section of this manual for more information about framerate.

36Playback

URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures

Industry standard BNC connectors are located on the right and rear panel of your URSA Broadcast G2 for SDI connections. There is also a LANC input on the right panel for the optional Blackmagic URSA Handgrip.

XLR inputs are on the top panel behind the mounting points for professional balanced analog audio and AES digital audio. A 4 pin XLR connector is provided on the rear panel for external power input, and an output is available on the right side for powering accessories such as Blackmagic URSAViewfinder.

The USB port above the storage media slots is for connecting to a computerwhen updating your camera’s internal software.

NOTE Your camera has additional ergonomic controls that make it easy to quickly

access the camera’s essential settings and functions without opening the foldouttouchscreen.

Camera Front

URSA Broadcast G2 with B4 mount

1 Stereo Microphone

Built in high quality stereo microphone. Refer to the ‘settings’ section for information on microphone audio settings.

2 Lens Mount

URSA Broadcast G2 is supplied fitted with a B4 mount. However, it’s interchangeable with the included EF mount and compatible with URSA Mini Pro PL and F mounts. Refer to the ‘Interchangeable lens mount’ section for more information.

3 Broadcast Lens Connector

This 12 pin connector provides power and control to compatible broadcast servo zoom lenses. Refer to the ‘using servo zoom lenses’ section in this manual for details on functionality available with these B4 and PL lenses.

37URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures

4 ND Filters

Use this wheel to cycle through three built in neutral density filters, as well as a clear setting. See the section ‘URSA Broadcast G2 Controls’ for more information.

5 Auto White Balance

The auto white balance button is marked ‘Auto W/B’ and is used when you want to set the white balance based on what is currently in the center of the screen. Forexample, setting auto white balance on a gray card placed in front of the lens. Seethe section ‘URSA Broadcast G2 Controls’ for more information.

Left Side

URSA Broadcast G2’s left side panel lets you insert CFast 2.0 cards, SDXC or SDHC cards, access the control panel and change settings. The USB-C port is located just above the CFast slots so you can easily plug into a computer when updating your URSA Broadcast G2’s internal software.

Left Side Controls

The left side panel features additional controls for easy access to all of your camera’s essential functions. These controls are split between the forward control panel, the ergonomic control panel located on the outside of the foldout touchscreen monitor, and a control panel on the inside of the foldout monitor.

URSA Broadcast G2 with touchscreen closed

6 Power Switch

Power switch for turning on the camera. There is also a backup power switch inside the fold out monitor that allows the camera to be powered on by pressing both the record and forward skip buttons at the same time.

7 ND Filters

Your URSA Broadcast G2 has three internal neutral density filters to adjust the amount of light reaching the sensor. Four settings are available, ranging from clear to six stops of light reduction. Simply turn this wheel to move through the available settings. The filter will click into place for each setting. For more information see the section ‘URSABroadcast G2 Controls’ in this manual.

38URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures

8 Forward Control Panel

The forward control panel provides quick access to all of your URSA Broadcast G2’s essential functions. These controls are located for easy access when shooting on a tripod or on the shoulder, and you can use them to adjust settings such as ISO, shutter speed, iris, white balance, frame rate, and more. See the section ‘URSA Broadcast G2 Controls’ for more information.

9 Ergonomic Control Panel

On the outside of your URSA Broadcast G2’s foldout touchscreen monitor, you’ll find an LCD status monitor and a variety of controls for fast, powerful monitoring control. Here you can see all of your camera’s status information at a glance, as well as controlling a variety of powerful monitoring functions. See the section ‘URSA Broadcast G2 Controls’ formore information.

10 Storage Media Selection Switch

Use this switch to choose between CFast and SD storage media.

11 USB Port

USB-C port for updating internal software. See the section ‘Blackmagic Camera Setup Utility’ for more information.

1110

URSA Broadcast G2 with touchscreen open

12 Internal Control Panel

When your URSA Broadcast G2’s foldout monitor is open, you have access to the internal control panel. Use the controls here to set your audio inputs as well as phantom power settings. You can also access iris, focus, menu and playback controls and more. See the section ‘URSA Broadcast G2 Controls’ for more information.

13 Memory Card Slots

Insert CFast 2.0 cards, SDXC or SDHC cards for record and playback. Please note that you should check the list of certified cards on our website. See the section ‘storage media’ for more information.

39URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures

Right Side

URSA Broadcast G2’s right side panel gives you access to all the video, audio and power connectors plus the side handle rosette mount.

14 Side Rosette Mount

Standard rosette mount for the side handle. Refer to the ‘Getting Started’ and ‘BlackmagicURSA Mini Shoulder Kit’ sections.

URSA Broadcast G2 has a rosette mount built into the right side if you need to attach an optional URSA Mini side handle

15 HD Monitoring Output

3G-SDI connector for down converted 1080HD output. Use with Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder or external monitors. Refer to the ‘camera video output’ and ‘Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder’ sections for more information.

16 +12V Power Output

4 pin XLR connector for powering Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder, Blackmagic URSA Studio Viewfinder or external monitors and accessories. Refer to the ‘Blackmagic URSAViewfinder’ and ‘Blackmagic URSA Studio Viewfinder’ sections for more information. This output combined with the Broadcast Lens Connector supplies 12 Volts at up to 2Amps in total.

17 LANC Input

Dedicated 2.5mm TRS LANC connector for Blackmagic URSA Handgrip.

18 Broadcast Lens Control Connector

Provides power and control to compatible PL and B4 mount lenses with 12pin connections. This output combined with the +12V Power Output supplies 12 Volts at up to 2 Amps in total.

40URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures

Rear Panel

19 Battery Mount Plate

Your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 comes fitted with Blackmagic URSA VLock Battery Plate for attaching VLock batteries to your camera. URSA VLock Battery Plate features a D-Tap port for powering accessories. The D-tap port can output a regulated 12 Volts at up to 1.5 Amps.

URSA VLock Battery Plate can be replaced with an optional Blackmagic URSA Gold Battery Plate or a third party battery plate. The battery plate can be removed to access a recessed Molex connector and to attach optional accessories such as Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter or Blackmagic URSA Mini Recorder onto the back of the camera. If your connected accessory has a D-tap power output then the Molex connector will supply a pass through output of 12 Volts at up to 1.5 Amps. For more information, refer to the chapter for ‘Mounting Batteries’, ‘Getting Started with Blackmagic Fiber Converters’ and ‘URSA Mini Recorder’.

20 Headphone/Headset

The 3.5mm jack output is used for headphone monitoring and talkback. You can plug in iPhone and Android compatible headsets that have a built in microphone for quick and easy talkback. Talkback audio is embedded in channels 15 and 16 of the SDI output.

TIP When using URSA Broadcast G2’s 3.5mm jack for talkback, a very affordable

option is using an iPhone or Android compatible headset. These typically feature an inline button that can be used to mute and unmute their microphone. If you would like to use a broadcast headset without this inline switch you can configure your URSA Broadcast G2’s function buttons to offer the same functionality. See the ‘setup settings’ section of this manual for moreinformation.

21 12G-SDI Out

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2’s 12G-SDI output is used to send HD and Ultra HD video to SDIequipment such as routers, monitors, SDI capture devices, and broadcast switchers. You can also connect the 12G-SDI output to an external recorder such as theBlackmagic Video Assist for backup recording.

41URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures

22 12G-SDI In

The 12G-SDI input is used for connecting to a switcher or external recorder. This means if you’re using URSABroadcast G2 in a live broadcast, you can plug in the switcher’s program output and monitor it during the shoot, or check playback from an external recorder. Press and hold the program button to see your program feed.

For more information, refer to the ‘Ergonomic Control Panel’ section in this manual.

You can also use an ATEM switcher’s ‘camera control’ feature to remotely adjust many URSABroadcastG2 functions. See the section ‘Understanding Studio Camera Control’ for moreinformation. Blackmagic 3G-SDI Shield for Arduino can also be used to provide custom control of the camera over SDI.

To receive tally and talkback via the SDI input, make sure you have set your ATEM Camera ID in the camera’s setup menu. If you want to use the SDI input to receive an external reference signal, you will need to select ‘program’ as your reference source in the setup settings. ‘REF’ will appear next to the timecode display on your camera’s LCDscreen when the external reference is locked. Refer to the ‘setup settings’ in the manual for more information.

On URSA Broadcast G2 the SDI Input can be used for feeding external timecode to the camera as well. This will lock to the incoming timecode automatically if the frame rate ofthe incoming SDI signal matches and has valid timecode. The ‘EXT’ logo will appear on URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD when external timecode is locked. If you unplug the cable timecode will remain jammed and the logo will switch to ‘INT’ to let you know it is now running from URSA Broadcast G2’s internal timecode clock.

23 Reference and Timecode In

This input automatically recognizes and switches between timecode and reference input signals. Synchronize Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 to a common reference signal, such as tri-level sync, by connecting to the ‘reference’ BNC input marked ‘REF In’. It’s worth noting that to use a reference signal through this input, you must set your reference source to ‘external’ in your URSA Broadcast G2’s setup menu.

Alternatively you can use this connector to match an external timecode source to sync up multiple cameras, or audio and picture when shooting dual-system. This ensures audio and picture, or video from multiple cameras, can be easily synchronized during post production. When external timecode with a matching frame rate is plugged into this connector the camera will lock to the incoming timecode automatically. The ‘EXT’ logo will appear on URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD when external timecode is locked. If you unplug the cable, timecode will remain jammed and the logo will switch to ‘INT’ to let you know it is now running from URSA Broadcast G2’s internal timecode clock.

You can also set your camera to use the reference signal from an ATEM switcher via the Program SDI Input. This is helpful when working with ATEM switchers because all cameras can receive program return, camera control and be referenced together using a single SDI signal. See the ‘setup settings’ section in this manual for more information.

24 12V+ Power Input

Use the 4 pin 12-18 Volt DC XLR connector to plug in power from external sources such as the supplied power adapter, or portable batteries.

25 USB Port

USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x1 port for recording to an external flash disk or to an SSD using Blackmagic URSA Mini Recorder. Also used for connecting Blackmagic Zoom and Focus Demand to your camera for focus and zoom control with compatible lenses.

The threaded connector under the USB-C port works with the locking USB cable supplied with URSA Mini Recorder to maintain a secure connection during use. Formore information refer to the ‘URSA Mini Recorder’ section in this manual.

42URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures

Top Panel

External analog audio can be plugged into the balanced XLR connectors on the top panel

26 1/4 Inch Mounting Points

Your camera’s top panel contains 4 strong mounting points for attaching the top handleandaccessories.

27 XLR Audio In

Use the balanced XLR inputs to plug in external analog audio from professional equipment such as audio mixers, PA systems or external microphones. The XLR connectors supply 48V phantom power so you can use microphones that aren’t self powered. Refer to the ‘URSA Broadcast G2 controls/internal control panel’ section for more information on phantom power.

Underside

28 1/4 Inch Mounting Points

The 5 mounting points on the underside are used for attaching tripod heads, the URSAMini Shoulder Kit and other accessories.

43URSA Broadcast G2 Connectors andFeatures

URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 has control panels on the chassis, outside and inside of the foldout touchscreen monitor to give you quick, easy access to all of its essential functions as well as powerful monitoring tools. These panels are designed to be close to hand whether shooting from a tripod, handheld or with the URSA Mini Shoulder Kit.

Forward Control Panel

Your camera’s forward control panel groups together all of the controls you might need to adjust when setting up a shot and recording. These are all designed for easy access while shooting with the foldout monitor closed, such as when using the shoulder kit.

4 5

URSA Broadcast G2 forward control panel

1 Power Switch

Power your URSA Broadcast G2 by moving this switch to the ‘on’ position. Power off by moving the switch to the ‘off’ position.

TIP You can also power your URSA Broadcast G2 on or off via a combination

ofcontrol panel switches. Holding the ‘rec’ and ‘forward skip’ buttons will power upthe camera if it is turned off, or power it off if it is turned on. If your camera’s power switch is set to ‘on’ but your camera is powered down, it may have been powered down via the control panel. Toggle the power switch to return it to normaloperation.

2 ND Filters

Your URSA Broadcast G2 has three internal neutral density filters. Together with a clear filter, the available settings are 1/4, 1/16th and 1/64th. These filters allow you to reduce the amount of light reaching your URSA Broadcast G2’s sensor by a preset fraction.

44URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

Byreducing the exposure, you can continue shooting at wide apertures in bright conditions such as outdoors on sunny days.

To adjust your neutral density setting, rotate the wheel upwards or downwards. The‘clear’ setting means there is no ND filter being used. From settings 1/4 to 1/64th, the NDfilters gradually increase in density so you can decrease light if you need to.

Because different people prefer to use different terms for each ND filter, the measurement of your ND settings can be customized in the LCD menu. You can identify the ND filter number, amount of stops in light reduction, or the fraction representing the amount of light reduced for the filters to suit your preference.

Neutral Density Filter Settings

Wheel position ND number Stops Fraction

1 clear 0 1

2 0.6 2 1/4

3 1.2 4 1/16

4 1.8 6 1/64

3 Settings Wheel

Set this wheel’s function by adjusting the adjacent three position switch next to the wheel. The options are ‘headphone,’ ‘monitor’ and ‘iris’.

Headphone

When set to ‘headphone’, the settings wheel will adjust headphone audio levels. Rotatethe wheel upwards to increase volume, and downwards to decrease.

Monitor When set to ‘monitor’, the settings wheel adjusts audio levels on your camera’s built in monitor speaker. The speaker is located on the outside of the LCDmonitor door and can be used to monitor audio without headphones. Rotate the wheel upwards to increase volume, and downwards to decrease. This function is disabled while recording from the camera’s internal microphone to prevent unwanted feedback.

Iris

When set to ‘iris’, the settings wheel is used to adjust the aperture of compatible lenses mounted to your URSA Broadcast G2. Rotating the wheel downwards opens the iris, and turning the wheel upwards closes the iris. These directions mimic the operation of aperture on adjustable still and cinema lenses.

TIP To change aperture settings via the settings wheel, URSA Broadcast G2

must be fitted with a lens that supports changing aperture via the camera. Ifyou are using a B4 or PL lens connected via the broadcast 12 pin connector, make sure that the lens iris switch on the handgrip is set to ‘A’ or ‘auto’.

4 Menu Wheel and Back Button

When ‘status text’ is turned on for your camera’s front SDI output, you can use the menu wheel to navigate many of the head up display features usually accessed via the LCD touchscreen.

45URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

Simply press the menu wheel as you would a button to access your URSABroadcastG2’s head up display on an external monitor such as Blackmagic SmartView, Video Assist or URSA Viewfinder. While the menu wheel is active, turn the wheel to select features such as LCDmonitor options, frame rate, ISO, white balance and tint. Press the wheel to confirm selections and make additional changes, and use the ‘back’ button next to the wheel to cancel. You can also use the back button to move up a menu level, or exit the menu completely if you’re at the top level. The menu will automatically close after one minute of inactivity.

For more information on setting status text and the controls available, see the ‘touchscreen controls’ and ‘monitor settings’ sections of this manual.

5 Lock

Toggle this switch to lock all of the controls on the forward control panel to prevent them from being accidentally adjusted while shooting. Move this switch to the lower position to lock, and the upper position to unlock.

TIP When shooting in busy or uncontrolled environments, you can lock your

URSA Broadcast G2’s forward control panel when you leave your camera unattended. Thisensures that your settings are not changed unintentionally byothers.

6 ISO, Shutter and White Balance Switches

These small switches are used to adjust your ISO/Gain, white balance, and shutter settings. They are helpful when you want to make fast adjustments without taking your eyes off the shot. Gently push the switches up or down to make setting adjustments. Theswitches are spring loaded so they always return to a neutral position.

ISO/Gain Push this switch up or down to adjust your camera’s gain setting. Pushing up will increase the setting by 1/3 stop, and pushing down will decrease by 1/3 stop. Theavailable settings range from -12 to 36dB.

Shutter

Use this switch to adjust the camera’s shutter speed. Pushing up will increase the shutter speed to the next available preset, and pushing down will decrease to the next available preset. Holding the switch up or down will move more quickly through available values. There are twelve shutter speed presets between 1/24and 1/2000.

TIP Your URSA Broadcast G2 can also suggest flicker free shutter speeds

based on the power frequency in your region. These must be selected through the LCDtouchscreen menu. For more information see the ‘touchscreencontrols’ section in this manual.

White Balance

This switch is used to adjust the camera’s white balance. Pushing up will increase the color temperature by 50K, and pushing down will decrease it by 50K. Holding the switch up or down will move more quickly through available values.

7 Auto White Balance

Pressing this button will reveal a white ‘auto white balance’ box in the center of the LCDfor five seconds. This box will also appear on any SDI output that has ‘status text’

46URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

enabled in the menu settings. The white box indicates the specific area of your image where the white balance will be calculated from, so your gray card should be positioned within this box. Pressing and holding the ‘Auto W/B’ button for three seconds will perform an ‘auto white balance’, and the square will change from white to green to confirm that this has been performed successfully.

For more information on enabling status text for your URSA Broadcast G2’s front or main SDIoutputs, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

8 F1 and F2

The F1 and F2 keys are ‘function’ keys that can be programmed to a variety of commonly used functions using your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘setup’ menu. By default, F1 is set to toggle ‘focus zoom’ on the LCD and front SDI output, while F2 is set to toggle ‘false color’ on the LCD.

For more information, see the ‘touchscreen controls’ section of this manual.

HFR

Use the HFR or high frame rate button to toggle off speed frame rates. To use this button, simply set the off speed frame rate you’d like to use in your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘frame rate’ menu. Pressing this button will toggle between your chosen off speed frame rate and project frame rate. It’s worth mentioning that this setting can only be adjusted when the recording is stopped. The HFR button can also operate as a function button that you can program to a variety of commonly used functions, or can be disabled.

For more information on project and off speed frame rates, see the ‘touchscreen controls’ section in this manual.

9 Record

The ‘record’ button is marked REC on your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2’s left side. Pressthe record button to start and stop recording. Refer to the ‘recording’ section for more information.

Ergonomic Control Panel

On the outside of your URSA Broadcast G2’s touchscreen monitor, you’ll find an LCD status monitor and a variety of monitoring controls. This panel lets you see all of your camera’s status information at a glance, as well as monitoring and adjusting audio levels. Automatic focus can be set using compatible lenses and the transport controls let you playback clips.

10 11

URSA Broadcast G2 ergonomic control panel

47URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

10 Monitor Speaker

The small speaker built into the outside control panel lets you monitor audio when in playback. It is located where your ear would normally be when shooting with the camera on your shoulder.

To adjust the volume of the speaker, simply rotate the settings wheel as described in the ‘URSA Broadcast G2 Controls’ section.

11 Monitor Channel Select

Your URSA Broadcast G2 supports two channels of audio.

12 Lock

Use this switch to lock all of the settings on your URSA Broadcast G2’s ergonomic control panel. The only controls that will remain active while the lock switch is ‘on’ arethe monitor channel select switches.

13 Status LCD

This display shows you your URSA Broadcast G2’s essential settings at a glance, without needing to open the internal touchscreen. This screen is designed to be visibleeven inbright daylight. The following information is available:

Battery indicator

Timecodes

FPS, Shutter Angle, White Balance

Timecodes

Your URSA Broadcast G2 displays three timecodes. If you have an external timecode connected, this will be shown under the ‘ext’ indicator in the top left of the status LCD. Your camera’s internally generated timecode is shown next to this under the ‘gen’ indicator. Both the external and generated timecodes are shown in hours, minutes, seconds and frames.

ISO/Gain

Record indicator

Dropped frame indicator

Low record time remaining

Audio metersCard indicatorIris

The larger, main timecode indicator displays your current timecode as either clip duration or timecode. You can switch between these two display modes by pressing the ‘timecode’ button underneath the status LCD.

Battery indicator If your URSA Broadcast G2 is running on battery power, this indicator displays remaining battery life in 25% increments. Each of the battery indicator’s four bars corresponds to

48URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

25% battery life remaining. When your battery drops below 20% charge, the color of the status LED, near the record button begins to flash. It will alternate slowly between red and orange during recording and alternate between white and orange during standby mode.

If the mains power connector is plugged into your camera, the battery indicator shows as full.

FPS, Shutter Angle, White Balance The ‘FPS,’ ‘SA,’ and ‘WB’ indicators display your camera’s current frame rate, shutter angle and white balance. The ‘fps’ indicator shows the current sensor frame rate.

Formore information on sensor and project frame rates, see the ‘touchscreen controls’ section in this manual.

ISO/Gain Displays your camera’s currently set gain.

Iris Displays your current lens aperture. Depending on your lens type, this will be displayedas an ‘f’ or ‘T’ stop.

Card Information The ‘card 1’ and ‘card 2’ indicators will appear on your URSA Broadcast G2’s status LCDwhen these slots are occupied.

The ‘SD’ indicator appears if you are recording on SD cards, and disappears if you are recording on CFast cards.

Record Indicator While recording, a circular indicator will appear under the card or cards being currently written to.

Low Time Remaining A ‘low’ indicator will appear under the relevant card when you have approximately 5minutes of record time remaining.

Audio Meters The peak audio meters display audio levels when using the internal microphone, or viaexternal audio when connected. The display is calibrated to dBFS units and features peak hold indicators which stay visible for a short time so you can clearly see the maximum levels reached.

To achieve optimum audio quality, ensure your audio levels do not reach 0 dBFS. This is the maximum level that your camera can record, meaning that any audio that exceeds this level will be clipped, resulting in distortion.

Dropped Frame Indicator This indicator will flash when your camera detects dropped frames. Once you stop recording, the indicator will remain on the screen to let you know that the previous clip detected dropped frames. This warning disappears the next time you start recording, or if you power cycle the camera. For more information on avoiding dropped frames, see the ‘storage media’ section in this manual.

NOTE You can set your URSA Broadcast G2 to stop recording if dropped

frames are detected. See the ‘recordsettings’ section in this manual for more information. This feature is user selectable as you may be able to get away with brief periods of ‘burst’ recording at higher frame rates or resolutions when shooting to slower media.

49URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

14 Status LCD Controls

URSA Broadcast G2 status LCD controls

Still

Press this button to capture a still image as a single uncompressed DNG frame. Image files will be saved to the ‘stills’ folder in the root directory of the media you are currently recording to. These will follow the file naming convention for video clips but the filename will have an ‘S001’ representing the ‘still number’ as the last four digits of the filename. To confirm you have successfully saved a still, an image of a camera will show in the top right corner of the URSA Broadcast G2 touchscreen, and the record indicator on the status LCD will flash three times.

Hold

Use this button to temporarily hold the main status LCD timecode when the timecode is in free running time of day code. The timecode will continue to run in the background and return to its actual position when you release the ‘hold’ button. While holding you can take note of the timecode for a particular event. This can be useful in electronic news gathering or documentary situations for noting key timecode points.

Reset

The reset button allows you to reset the timecode to 00:00:00:00 when you are setting your preset timecode.

Timecode

Press the ‘timecode’ button to toggle the main timecode display’s format between clip duration and timecode. By default the timecode will be free running time of day code as this is the most frequently used. If you press and hold the ‘timecode’ button for five seconds it will switch the camera into record run timecode and the timecode generator will flash as well as the first two digits of the large timecode display. This indicates that you are now editing your preset timecode and allows you to set a specific timecode number for your preset timecode.

Pressing ‘reset’ at this stage will zero the timecode and then you can turn and press themenu wheel to set the desired value starting with hours, minutes, seconds and then frames. When you are happy with the timecode, press and hold the ‘timecode’ button again for three seconds to set this as your preset timecode point. You will notice that the timecode generator now shows this value and will only increment when the camera is recording giving you continuous ascending timecode values. To switch your timecode back to free running time of day code, press the ‘timecode’ and ‘hold’ buttons simultaneously for three seconds.

Bright

Press the ‘bright’ button to cycle through four brightness settings for your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD status display. The settings are ‘off,’ ‘low,’ ‘medium’ and ‘high.’

50URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

15 Control and Playback Buttons

URSA Broadcast G2 control and playback buttons

Iris

The ‘iris’ button activates the automatic aperture setting on compatible lenses. When using video dynamic range settings, a single press of the iris button will set an average exposure based on the highlights or shadows in your shot. When using film dynamic range settings, pressing the iris button sets your exposure to the brightest highlight in your shot. This button works with compatible EF lenses and PLlenses connected with acompatible broadcast lens controller.

To set your aperture manually, press the forward and reverse skip transport buttons.

Focus

When using a B4 or EF lens that supports electronic focus adjustments, press the ‘focus’ button to activate auto focus. A white focus square will appear on any viewfinder or monitor connected to your URSA Broadcast G2. Anything within the square will be correctly focused. When the lens is focused, the square will disappear.

NOTE To use the ‘focus’ button, your B4 lens must have servo focus control,

with the servo activated. See the ‘getting started’ section for more information. Some EF lenses have both manual and auto focus modes. If using the optional EF lens mount, in order for URSA Broadcast G2 to be able to auto focus with your lens, you need to ensure that your lens is set to auto focus mode.

Program

The program button is marked PGM and lets you switch the LCD and front SDI output between the camera view and any signal plugged into the 12G-SDI input on the rear panel. This means if you’re using the camera in a live broadcast, you can plug in the switcher’s program output and monitor it during the shoot. Press and hold the program button to see your program feed. The program feed will continue to display whilst the program button is being held.

If you want to lock the LCD and front SDI output to display the program input feed, then double press the program button to lock to the program feed. Pressing the program button again will exit the program feed and return to the camera view.

Playback Control Buttons

The playback buttons let you start and stop playback, plus skip to the next or previous clip. When using an EF lens, the forward and reverse skip buttons can also be used to open or close the iris when using compatible lenses. Refer to the ‘playback’ section for more information on how to use the playback buttons.

51URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

16 Audio Level Adjustment Knobs

URSA Broadcast G2 audio adjustment knobs

Use the built in adjustment knobs to set the recording levels for audio channels 1 and 2. Turn each knob clockwise or counterclockwise to increase or decrease the recording level for each channel of audio. Monitor the corresponding on screen audio meters as you adjust each knob so you can see the best level to set it to.

Internal Control Panel

With your URSA Broadcast G2’s foldout monitor open, you can access the internal control panel. Use the controls here to set your audio inputs as well as phantom power settings, iris, focus, menu and playback controls and more.

URSA Broadcast G2 internal control panel

17 XLR1 / XLR2

Use these switches to set how your URSA Broadcast G2’s XLR inputs behave when selected as an input source. The options available are mic audio, line level audio and AES digital audio.

18 Phantom Power

The camera’s XLR inputs can provide 48V phantom power so you can use microphones that aren’t self powered. Move this switch to ‘48V’ to enable phantom power for any microphone connected to the XLR above, or ‘off’ to disable phantom power.

It is standard practice to plug in your XLR cable before switching phantom power on. It is also important to switch phantom power to ‘off’ when you no longer have a phantom powered microphone connected. Connecting devices that don’t have phantom power protection built into their AES XLR outputs whilst still sending phantom power from the

52URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

camera’s XLR audio inputs may damage your equipment. Always ensure that the +48V switch is turned ‘off’ when you disconnect your microphone.

19 Control and Playback Buttons

Focus

When using a B4 or EF lens that supports electronic focus adjustments, press the ‘focus’ button to activate auto focus. A white focus square will appear on the fold out monitor. Anything within the square will be correctly focused. When the lens is focused, the square will disappear.

To use the ‘focus’ button, your B4 lens must have servo focus control, with the servo activated. See the ‘getting started’ section for more information. Some EF lenses also have both manual and auto focus modes. In order for URSA Broadcast G2 to be able to auto focus with your lens, you need to ensure that your lens is set to auto focus mode.

Peak

Press the ‘Peak’ button to activate focus peaking. Your camera has two focus peaking modes, traditional focus peaking, which artificially sharpens areas of the image that are in focus, and ‘colored lines’ with overlays the sharp areas of your image with black, white, red, green or blue colored lines. See the ‘monitor settings’ section of this manual for more information.

TIP If you are recording your video output to a Blackmagic Video Assist or

HyperDeck Studio HD Mini, you may want to ensure that you don’t have peaking switched on for that output. This can be done by using our ‘clean feed’ feature on your front SDI or main SDI.

For more information on outputting a ‘clean feed’ see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

Program

The program button is marked PGM and lets you switch the LCD and front SDI output between the camera view and any signal plugged into the camera’s 12G-SDI input on the rear panel. This means if you’re using your camera in a live broadcast, you can plug in the switcher’s program output and monitor it during the shoot. Press and hold the program button to see your program feed. Double press the button to lock the program feed on. Press again to turn the program feed off.

To display a switcher’s program output, your camera and switcher must be set to the same resolution and frame rate.

Press the ‘menu’ button to open the dashboard. Refer to the ‘settings’ section for more information about the dashboard feature and how to adjust settings.

Record

Press any of the record buttons marked REC to start and stop recording. Refer to the ‘recording’ section for more information.

Playback Control Buttons

The playback buttons let you start and stop playback, plus skip to the next or previous clip. When using the EF mount, the forward and reverse skip buttons can also be used to open or close the iris when using compatible lenses. Refer to the ‘playback’ section for more information on how to use the playback buttons.

53URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

NOTE You can power your URSA Broadcast G2 on or off via a combination of

internal control panel buttons. Holding the ‘rec’ and ‘forward skip’ buttons will power up the camera if it is turned off, or power it off if it is turned on. If your camera’s power switch is set to ‘on’ but your camera is powered down, it may have been powered down via the control panel. Toggle the power switch to return it to normal operation.

Camera Video Outputs

HD Monitoring Output

Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2’s down converted 3G-SDI out connector always outputs 1080HD video so you can easily connect to routers, monitors, SDI capture devices, broadcast switchers and other SDI devices. This output is labeled ‘front SDI’ in the touchscreen settings menu.

12G-SDI Output

The 12G-SDI out connector on the rear panel supports HD and Ultra HD video including high frame rate progressiveformats such as 2160p50, 59.94 and 60 on a single SDI cable. Interlaced HD formats are also supported including 1080i50, 59.94 and 60. You can use the 12G-SDI output to connect to anySDI monitor as well as Ultra HD switchers such as ATEM Production Studio 4K. This output can be switched between HD and Ultra HD by selecting 1080p or 2160p in the ‘SDI output’ setting for the ‘main SDI’ on the ‘monitor’ tab on the touchscreen. For more information please refer to the ‘monitor settings’ section later in this manual.

Connecting to Video Switchers

The SDI outputs allow you to use your camera for live television production. You can connect the rear panel SDI output directly to production switchers for live production work, or to ATEMCamera Converters to convert your signal to optical so you can send it hundreds of meters to a broadcast truck on location.

When connected to a switcher, you can easily view the switcher’s program output on your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2. To do this, first connect the switcher to your camera’s rear 12G-SDI input. Now press the ‘program’ button marked PGM on your camera’s fold out monitor. To switch back to the camera image, simply press the PGM button again.

54Camera Video Outputs

You can connect the 12G-SDI output to any 1080 HD or Ultra HD live production switcher or monitor. The HD monitoring output can be plugged into an external viewf inder, such as the Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder, or plugged into an external monitor when mounted to production equipment. For example a jib arm or crane

Connecting to Monitors

SDI monitoring can be really helpful when accessing the fold out monitor is impractical, such as when secured high on a jib arm, on a crane, or mounted on a vehicle.

Monitoring information is displayed via your HD-SDI monitoring out connector by adjusting the settings for the ‘front SDI’ on the ‘monitor’ tab on the touchscreen. These settings enable frame guides and information such as recording details and camera settings. If you simply want to monitor your shots, you can always turn overlays off for a clean SDI output.

Connect the camera’s SDI output to SDI monitors or to a Blackmagic SmartScope Duo 4K for live waveform monitoring.

NOTE The rear SDI output and 3G-SDI monitoring output automatically flag HDR

video with ancillary metadata when you are working in ‘Film’ dynamic range and use the Gen 5 Film to Rec 2020 Hybrid Log Gamma or Gen 5 Film to Rec 2020 PQ Gamma LUT on the SDI output. This means you can display stunning HDR images on HDR enabled screens from either SDI output.

SDI Output Formats

Rear SDI Output 2160p23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, 60.

1080p23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, 60. 1080i50, 59.94, 60.

3G-SDI Monitoring Output 1080p23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, 60.

1080i50, 59.94, 60.

55Camera Video Outputs

TIP To make a live recording with two codecs at once or a simultaneous backup,

youcan feed the rear SDI out from URSA Broadcast G2 to a Blackmagic Video Assist orHyperDeck.

Touchscreen Controls

Touchscreen

Your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2’s fold out LCD touchscreen pivots for shooting high and low angles. Buttons on the outside of the LCD panel let you control your URSA Broadcast G2 when mounted on your shoulder using the URSA Viewfinder and the LCD closed.

Touchscreen Features

The LCD touchscreen features a touch and gesture based interface that is specifically designed for fast and intuitive user operation. By touching and swiping on different areas of URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen, you can quickly access the camera’s functions while shooting.

The touchscreen display features upper and lower toolbars. The upper toolbar provides access to commonly used settings such as shutter speed, iris and gain controls. The lower toolbar includes storage indicators, audio meters, transport controls and a histogram.

Your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen has a comprehensive head up displayand gives you easy access to your camera’s most used settings

Upper Toolbar

LCD Monitor Options

Tap the ‘monitor’ icon at the top left of your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen to access the LCDmonitor settings. These settings let you toggle and adjust the appearance of your URSA Broadcast G2’s monitoring features, including zebra, focus assist, frame guide, and grids. When accessing LCDmonitor options, the controls for these features appear in a tabbed menu along the bottom edge of the LCD touchscreen.

56Touchscreen Controls

Tap the icon at the top left of your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCDtouchscreen to access LCD monitor options

Zebra The ‘zebra’ setting toggles the appearance of zebra on the LCD touchscreen, as well as setting the zebra level for all URSA Broadcast G2’s outputs.

Zebra displays diagonal lines over areas of your image that exceed a set exposure level. Forexample, setting zebra to 100% shows which areas are completely overexposed. This is useful for achieving optimum exposure in fixed lighting conditions.

Tap the ‘zebra’ icon while accessing ‘LCD monitor options’ to access your URSA Broadcast G2’s zebra settings

To toggle zebra for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the ‘zebra’ tab.

Set the exposure level that zebra appears at by dragging the slider left and right, or tapping thearrow buttons next to the zebra level indicator. There are eight zebra presets available including middle gray and middle gray plus one stop, then in five percent increments from 75 to 100 percent exposure.

For information on enabling zebra on your camera’s front and main SDIoutputs, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

TIP If you’re shooting in variable light such as outdoors on a partly overcast day,

setting your zebra level lower than 100 can warn you of potential overexposure.

Focus Assist

The ‘focus assist’ setting toggles the appearance of focus assist on the LCD touchscreen, aswell as setting the level of focus assistance for all outputs on your URSA Broadcast G2.

Tap the ‘focus assist’ icon while accessing ‘LCD monitor options’ toaccess your URSA Broadcast G2’s focus assist settings

To toggle focus assistance for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of thescreen while in the ‘focus assist’ tab.

To set the level of focus assistance for all outputs on your URSA Broadcast G2, drag the slider left and right along the bottom of your touchscreen, or tap the arrow buttons next to the focus assist level.

57Touchscreen Controls

The optimum level of focus assistance varies shot by shot. When focusing on actors, for example, a higher level of focus assistance can help resolve edge detail in faces. A shot of foliage or brickwork, on the other hand, may show distracting amounts of focus information athigher settings.

For information on enabling focus assist on your camera’s front and main SDI outputs, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

TIP Your URSA Broadcast G2 has two focus assist modes. You can switch between

‘peaking’ and ‘colored lines’ focus assistance in the ‘monitor’ settings menu. Formore information, see the ‘monitor settings’ section and the ‘focus assist’ section.

Frame Guides

The ‘frame guide’ setting toggles the appearance of frame guides on the LCD touchscreen. Youcan also choose from frame guide options for all outputs on your URSA Broadcast G2.

Frame guides include aspect ratios for various cinema, television and online standards.

Tap the ‘frame guides’ icon while accessing ‘LCD monitor options’ to access your URSA Broadcast G2’s frame guide settings

To toggle the appearance of frame guides on your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen.

Choose the frame guide you want to use by dragging the slider left and right, or tapping the arrow buttons on either side of the currently selected aspect ratio.

The available guides are:

2.35:1, 2.39:1 and 2.4:1

Displays the broad widescreen aspect ratio compatible with anamorphic or flat widescreen cinema presentation. The three widescreen settings differ slightly based on the changing cinema standards over time. 2.39:1 is one of the most prominent cinema widescreen standards in use today.

2:1

Displays a ratio slightly wider than 16:9 but not as wide as 2.35:1.

1.85:1

Displays another common flat widescreen cinema aspect ratio. This ratio is slightly wider than HDTV

1.78:1 but not as wide as 2.39:1.

16:9

Displays a 1.78:1 aspect ratio compatible with 16:9 HD television and computer screens.

This ratio is most commonly used for HD broadcasting and online videos. The same aspect ratio has also been adopted for Ultra HD broadcasting.

58Touchscreen Controls

14:9

Displays a 14:9 aspect ratio used by some television broadcasters as a compromise between 16:9 and 4:3 television sets. Ideally, both 16:9 and 4:3 footage remains legible when center cropped to fit 14:9. You can use this as a compositional guide if you know your project may be broadcast by a television station that uses 14:9 cropping.

URSA Broadcast G2 LCD touchscreen with 14:9 frame guides enabled

4:3

Displays the 4:3 aspect ratio compatible with SD television screens, or to help with framing when using 2x anamorphic adapters.

1:1

Displays a 1:1 ratio slightly narrower than 4:3. This square ratio is growing in popularity on social media.

4:5

Displays a 4:5 aspect ratio. This vertical aspec t ratio is ideal for portraits and viewing on smar tphones.

Custom Frame Guide Ratio

To create your own frame guide ratio for a unique appearance, tap on the ratio displayed between the arrow buttons. On the ‘custom frameguide’ screen tap the backspace button to delete the current ratio, then use the numeric keypad to specify a new ratio. Tap ‘update’ to apply your custom frame guide ratio and return to shooting.

Use the numeric keypad on the ‘custom frame guide’ screen to enter a new frame guide ratio

59Touchscreen Controls

TIP You can change the opacity of frame guide overlays. For more information see the

‘monitor settings’ section of this manual.

NOTE For information on enabling frame guides on your camera’s front and main

SDIoutputs, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

Grids The ‘grids’ setting toggles the appearance of a rule of thirds grid, crosshair or center dot on theLCD touchscreen, as well as setting the overlay that will be visible on all URSA Broadcast G2’s outputs.

Tap the ‘grids’ icon while accessing ‘LCD monitor options’ toaccess your URSA Broadcast G2’s grid settings

Grids and crosshairs are overlays that can help with image composition. When ‘grids’ are enabled, your URSA Broadcast G2 can show a rule of thirds grid, crosshairs, or center dot.

To toggle the appearance of grids on your URSA Broadcast G2 touchscreen, tap the switch icon inthe bottom left of the screen while in the ‘frame guides’ tab.

When your URSA Broadcast G2 is set up and connected to an ATEM switcher as the current program source, and ‘grids’ are set to ‘on’, the red ‘program’ tally outline will automatically illuminate on the LCD.

When connected to an ATEM switcher sending a tally signal, a red border will appear around your camera’s image preview when grids are set to ‘on’

To set which overlay you want to display on all URSA Broadcast G2 outputs, tap the ‘thirds,’ ‘crosshairs,’ or ‘center dot’ options.

60Touchscreen Controls

The rule of thirds grid automatically scales to any on screen frame guides

Thirds

The ‘thirds’ setting displays a grid with two vertical and horizontal lines placed in each third of the image. Thirds are an extremely powerful tool to help compose your shots. For example, the human eye typically looks for action near the points where the lines intersect, so it’s helpful to frame key points of interest in these zones. An actor’s eyeline is commonly framed along the top third of the screen, so you can use the top horizontal third to guide your framing. Thirds are also useful to maintain framing consistency between shots.

Horizon

The ‘horizon’ meter indicates when your camera is rolled left or right and tilted up or down. This can help you keep the horizon level during handheld shots and balance the camera tilt on a gimbal.

The gray ver tical and horizontal indicators move away from the center as the camera is rolled and tilted. The distance the lines move away from the central crosshair is proportional to the amount of roll or tilt. After you calibrate the camera’s motion sensor, the motion indicators will illuminate blue when the camera’s roll and tilt become level.

Note that if the camera is tilted straight down for an overhead shot or straight up, the horizon meter takes this into account. If you roll the camera to shoot in portrait orientation, the horizon meter rotates its axes 90 degrees.

This table shows examples of the horizon meter indicating tilt and roll of the camera.

Horizon meter Description

Straight and level

Tilted down and level

Straight and rolled left

Tilted up and rolled right

For normal use, calibrate the horizon meter for straight and level operation. If you want to use the horizon meter to help maintain a consistent ‘dutch angle’ or a consistent tilt for a low or high shot, you can calibrate the horizon meter at an incline. For information on how to calibrate the horizon meter, see the ‘motion sensor calibration’ section.

61Touchscreen Controls

Crosshairs

The ‘crosshair’ setting places a crosshair in the center of the frame. Like thirds, the crosshair is a very useful compositional tool, making it easy to frame the subject of a shot in the very center of a frame. This is sometimes used when filming scenes that will be assembled using very fast cuts. Keeping viewers’ eyes focused on the center of a frame can make rapid editing easier to follow.

Center Dot

The ‘center dot’ setting places a dot in the center of the frame. This works in exactly the same way as the ‘crosshair’ setting, albeit with a smaller overlay that you may find lessintrusive.

You can enable a combination of ‘thirds’ and ‘crosshairs’ or ‘thirds’ and ‘center dot’ bytapping both options in the ‘grids’ menu. ‘Crosshairs’ and ‘center dot’ cannot be selected together.

TIP For information on enabling grids on your URSA Broadcast G2’s front and main

SDIoutputs, see the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual.

Safe Area Guides

The ‘safe area guides’ setting toggles the safe area guides on or off the LCDtouchscreen, aswell as setting the size of safe area guides for all outputs on your URSA Broadcast G2.

Safe areas can be used in broadcast production to ensure that the most important parts of a shotcan be seen by viewers. By keeping the most important parts of your shot within a central ‘safearea,’ you can avoid cropping on some televisions, as well as leaving space for abroadcaster to add bugs, news tickers and other overlays along the edges of the screen. Manybroadcasters require footage to be submitted within a 90% safe area.

Safe area guides can also be used to assist with framing your shot where you know that the shot will be stabilized in post production, which can crop the edges of the image. They can also be used to indicate a specific crop. For example by setting it to 50% whilst recording at Ultra HD 3840x2160 you can see what a 1920x1080 crop of the frame would look like. The safe area guides also scale to your frame guides, so they will adjust to indicate the chosen percentage of your target frame.

The ‘safe area’ indicator set to 50%

To toggle safe area guides for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the ‘safe area guides’ tab. To set the level of safe area guides for all outputs on your URSA Broadcast G2, tap the left or right arrows on either side of the current numerical value at the bottom of your touchscreen. Alternatively, you can drag the slider left or right.

62Touchscreen Controls

False Color

The ‘false color’ setting toggles the appearance of false color exposure assistance on the LCDtouchscreen.

False color overlays different colors onto your image that represent exposure values for different elements in your image. For example, pink represents optimum exposure for lighter skin tones, while green is a good match to darker skin tones. By monitoring the pink or green false color when recording people, you can maintain consistent exposure for their skin tones.

Similarly, when elements in your image change from yellow to red, that means they are now over exposed.

The IRE false color chart on the left side of your camera’s display shows you how to interpret the different false colors.

False Color Meaning

95%WC White clipping

80%WC Near white clipping

MG+1 One stop over middle gray

18%MG Middle gray

NBDL Near black detail loss

BDL Black detail loss

In a well exposed image, skin tones are represented by green and pink false colors

To toggle false color for the LCD touchscreen, tap the switch icon in the bottom left of the screen while in the ‘false color’ tab.

The ‘false color’ exposure assistance tab

63Touchscreen Controls

Screen Brightness

Tap the ‘screen brightness’ icon and drag the slider to the left or right to adjust the brightness of your URSA Broadcast G2’s touchscreen.

The ‘screen brightness’ setting set to 50%.

ND Filter indicator

Your URSA Broadcast G2 has an ND filter indicator in the top left of the LCD touchscreen and any SDI outputs set to show status text. The indicator uses the format you’ve selected in the ‘setup’ menu.

ND filter setting indicator on your URSA Broadcast G2

NOTE You can adjust the terminology used by the ND filter indicator to reflect the

conventions you’re used to. The options are ND number, stops and fractions. You can set your preferred format in your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘setup’ menu.

LUT indicator

A white icon will be visible on the LCD, front SDI or main SDI when ‘status text’ is switched on and you have a LUT applied to that output. If you are recording to Blackmagic RAW and have ‘Apply LUT in File’ switched on in the ‘Record’ settings the LUT icon will be blue.

The LUT icon lets you know that you have a LUT applied to the image

Frames Per Second

The ‘FPS’ indicator displays your currently selected frames per second.

URSA Broadcast G2’s frames per second indicator. Tap this to access frame rate set tings

Tapping the ‘FPS’ indicator lets you change your camera’s sensor and project frame rates via amenu at the bottom of your LCD touchscreen.

64Touchscreen Controls

Project frame rate

The project frame rate is URSA Broadcast G2’s recording format frame rate and provides aselection of common frame rates used in the film and television industry. This frame rate is normally set to match your playback speed used in your post production workflow.

Your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 has 8 project frame rate settings including 23.98, 24, 25,

29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 frames per second.

To adjust your URSA Broadcast G2’s project frame rate while in the ‘FPS’ menu, tap the left or right arrows next to the current frame rate at the bottom left of your touchscreen. Alternatively, you can drag the slider left or right.

Tap the arrows on either side of the project frame rate or move the slider to make adjustments

TIP Your URSA Broadcast G2’s project frame rate also sets the frame rate of the front

and main SDI outputs.

Sensor frame rate

The sensor frame rate sets how many actual frames from the sensor are recorded every second. This frame rate will affect how fast or slow your video will play back at your set project frame rate.

With ‘of f speed frame rate’ enabled, tap a preset or the arrows on either side of the sensor frame rate or move the slider to make adjustments

By default, your URSA Broadcast G2’s project and sensor frame rates are matched for a natural playback speed. However, by tapping the ‘off speed frame rate’ switch icon in the bottom right hand side of your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘FPS’ menu, you can independently set your sensor frame rate. It’s worth mentioning that the ‘off speed frame rate’ option is only available when recording to Blackmagic RAW or ProRes codecs.

To change your sensor frame rate, tap the arrows next to the sensor frame rate indicator in the lower left of your touchscreen. You can also drag the slider left or right to increase or decrease the frame rate. Once you release the slider, the sensor frame rate will be selected. Above the slider, you can tap on a common off speed frame rate. These are based on your current project frame rate.

65Touchscreen Controls

You can create dynamic and interesting speed effects in your clips by varying the sensor frame rate. Setting the sensor frame rate higher than your project frame rate willcreate slow motion during playback. For example, shooting with a 60 FPS sensor frame rate and playing back at a 24 FPS project frame rate creates slow motion at less than half the real speed of action. Alternatively, the lower your sensor frame rate, the faster your clips will appear. The principle is similar to overcranking and undercranking a film camera. Overcranking speeds up the sensor frame rate so you can stretch out moments in time during playback to enhance emotion. Undercranking slows down the sensor frame rate so you can increase the action in fast moving scenes. The creative possibilities are endless and entirely up to you!

For information on the maximum frame rates available for each recording format and codec, refer to the table in the ‘recording’ section of this manual.

NOTE When ‘off speed frame rate’ is selected your URSA Broadcast G2’s audio and

video are no longer synced. This is true even if you set the same project and sensor frame rate. For this reason, ‘off speed frame rate’ should never be selected if you want to guarantee audio syncing.

Shutter

The ‘Shutter’ indicator displays your shutter speed. By tapping this indicator, you can manually change your URSA Broadcast G2’s shutter speed or configure shutter priority auto exposure modes.

URSA Broadcast G2’s shutter indicator. Tap this to access shutter settings

Shutter speed defines the level of motion blur in your video, and can be used to compensate for varying light conditions. The shutter speed setting for natural motion blur, and the settings available, depend on the frame rate you are using. For example, when shooting at 30p, a 1/60 of a second shutter speed is the equivalent of a 180 degree shutter angle, a very common setting for film projects. However if you are shooting at 25p, you will need to set the shutter to 1/50 for the same look.

For natural motion blur you can calculate the shutter speed by doubling your frame rate. Soat30p, set your shutter speed to 1/60 of a second for natural motion blur.

If you need more light on the sensor, you can set the shutter at the slowest setting corresponding with your frame rate. For example, 1/25 for 25p, or 1/30 for 30p. At the slowest shutter speed, your motion blur will appear slightly exaggerated.

If you want to reduce the motion blur so action appears sharper and more defined, set the shutter to a faster speed, such as 1/120 of a second for 30p, or 1/100 of a second for 25p. Ifyouare familiar with shutter angles, this equates to a shutter angle of 90 degrees.

It’s worth experimenting with different shutter speeds to see how this setting can provide different levels of motion blur to your image.

When shooting under lights, your shutter speed can affect the visibility offlicker. Your URSA Broadcast G2 will automatically calculate flicker free shutter speeds for your current frame rate. These speeds are affected by mains power frequency in your region. You can set your local power frequency to 50Hzor60Hz in your URSA Broadcast G2’s setup menu. See the ‘setup settings’ section in thismanual for moreinformation.

66Touchscreen Controls

Tapping the ‘shutter’ indicator brings up the shutter speed menu along the bottom of your URSA Broadcast G2’s touch screen. If you have auto exposure set to ‘off,’ this screen will show youyour currently selected shutter speed, as well as the available flicker free shutter speeds, based on the mains power frequency you have selected in your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘setup’ menu. Formore information, see the ‘setup settings’ section in this manual.

NOTE The characteristics of different light sources may still cause flicker even when

using flicker free shutter speeds. We recommend always performing a test shoot when not using continuous lights.

To select one of the flicker free shutter speeds, simply tap on one of the displayed shutter values. Using the arrows on either side of the current shutter value indicator will cycle through some of the most commonly used values.

Your URSA Broadcast G2 will suggest flicker free shutter speeds based on the mains power frequency you choose in the ‘setup’ menu

If you would like to choose a specific shutter value, you can do so by double tapping the current shutter indicator at the bottom left of your screen. This will bring up a keypad that allows you to type in any shutter value you wish.

If you type in a shutter value that is less than your current frame rate, for example 1/25th when shooting at 29.97 frames per second, the nearest achievable shutter value will be used. Thenearest shutter speed in this example would be 1/30th.

The manual shutter keypad allows you to type in any shutter value you wish

Your URSA Broadcast G2 has three shutter based auto exposure modes. To select one of these, tapthe ‘auto exposure’ button in the far right of the shutter menu.

Tap ‘auto exposure’ to access shutter based auto exposure modes

67Touchscreen Controls

Shutter

This setting automatically adjusts shutter speed to maintain a constant exposure while keeping iris aperture constant. If you want to maintain a fixed depth of field, this is the setting to choose. It’s worth mentioning that the subtle automatic adjustments of the shutter may have an effect on motion blur. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for any flicker that may be introduced from various light fixtures on indoor shoots. URSABroadcast G2’s auto iris feature is not available when the ‘shutter’ auto exposure mode is selected.

Shutter + Iris

Maintains the correct exposure levels by adjusting the shutter, then the aperture. If the maximum or minimum available shutter speed is reached and exposure still cannot be maintained, URSA Broadcast G2 will begin adjusting the aperture to keep exposure constant.

Iris + Shutter

Maintains the correct exposure levels by adjusting the aperture, then the shutter speed. If the maximum or minimum available aperture is reached and exposure still cannot be maintained, URSA Broadcast G2 will begin adjusting the shutter speed to keep exposure constant.

TIP When an auto exposure mode that effects the shutter is enabled, a small “A”

willappear next to the shutter speed indicator at the top of your URSA Broadcast G2 touchscreen.

Iris

The ‘Iris’ indicator displays your current lens aperture. By tapping this indicator, you can change the aperture of compatible lenses and configure iris based auto exposure modes.

Your URSA Broadcast G2’s iris indicator. Tap this to access iris settings

NOTE To adjust your iris from the LCD touchscreen, your URSA Broadcast G2 must

befitted with a lens that supports changing aperture via the camera. If you are using a B4 or PL lens connected via the broadcast 12 pin connector, make sure that the lens iris switch on the handgrip is set to ‘A’ or ‘auto.’

Tapping the ‘iris’ indicator once brings up the iris menu along the bottom of your URSABroadcast G2 touchscreen. You’ll see your current lens aperture at the far left of this menu. You can change the aperture by tapping the left and right arrows on either side of the current aperture, or moving the slider left or right.

While in the ‘iris’ menu, tap the arrows on either side of the iris indicator or use the slider to adjust iris settings

68Touchscreen Controls

Tapping the ‘auto exposure’ switch icon at the far right of the iris menu opens the iris auto exposure menu.

While in the iris menu, tap ‘auto exposure’ to access iris based auto exposure modes

This gives you the following auto exposure options.

Iris

This setting automatically adjusts the aperture to maintain a constant exposure, while keeping shutter speed constant. This will keep motion blur constant, but may affect your depth of field.

Iris + Shutter

Shutter + Iris

When an auto exposure mode that effects the iris is enabled, a small “A” will appear next to the iris indicator at the top of your URSA Broadcast G2 touchscreen.

TIP Automatic exposure works smoothly with compatible B4 or PL lenses which are

designed for video or film production. EF lenses may produce noticeable ‘steps’ in exposure when changing aperture. For this reason, werecommend using only ‘shutter’ auto exposure mode if shooting with EF lenses.

Duration Display

At the top of your URSA Broadcast G2 LCD touchscreen, you’ll see your camera’s duration display.

Your URSA Broadcast G2’s duration display. This will turn red while recording

The duration display provides a timecode counter for checking the duration of your clips and monitoring timecode during recording and playback. The counter displays a time sequence showing Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames and will progress through the sequence as you record or play back clips. The timecode will turn red during recording.

The displayed duration of each clip starts from 00:00:00:00 for each clip. The clip duration ofthe current, or last recorded, clip is displayed on the touchscreen. Time of day timecode is embedded into clips for easier post production.

To see the timecode, simply tap the duration display. Tap the duration display again to return toclip duration.

69Touchscreen Controls

Additional status indicators may appear around the duration display:

Appears to the right of the duration display when showing timecode.

Appears to the right of the duration display if an external timecode is connected and valid.

Appears to the right of the duration display if the camera is running off an internal timecode after being ‘jam synced’ anddisconnected.

Appears to the right of the duration display when you are viewing preset record run timecode.

Appears when a valid reference source is connected andlocked, based on the reference input settings.

Appears to the left of the duration display when your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 is using a windowed sensor mode.

Gain

The ‘Gain’ indicator displays your URSA Broadcast G2’s current gain setting, or light sensitivity. Tapping this indicator lets you adjust your gain to suit varying lighting conditions.

The optimum setting for URSA Broadcast G2 is 0dB.

Your URSA Broadcast G2’s gain indicator. Tap the indicator to access gain settings

While in the ‘gain’ menu, your URSA Broadcast G2’s gain settings appear along the bottom of the LCD touchscreen. The slider and arrows below the presets let you adjust the gain in 1/3 stop increments.

Depending on your situation, you may choose a lower or higher gain setting. For example, inlowlight conditions +18dB can be suitable but may introduce some visible noise. In bright conditions -6dB can provide richer colors.

White Balance

The ‘WB’ and ‘TINT’ indicators display your camera’s current white balance and tint. Tapping these indicators lets you adjust your camera’s white balance and tint to suit varying lighting conditions.

Tap the white balance and tint indicators to access white balance and tint settings

70Touchscreen Controls

Every light source emits a color. For example, a candle flame emits a warm color, and an overcast sky emits a cool color. White balance settings are used to color balance your image so white stays white by adjusting the mix of orange and blue in your image. For example, when shooting under tungsten lamps which emit a warm, orange light, selecting 3200K adds some blue to the image. This balances the color so white is accurately recorded.

Your URSA Broadcast G2 comes with white balance presets for a variety of color temperature conditions. These are:

Bright sunlight (5600K)

Incandescent bulbs (3200K)

Fluorescent bulbs (4000K)

Mixed light (4500K)

Cloud (6500K)

You can customize any of these presets by tapping or holding the arrow icons to the left and right of the temperature indicator in the bottom left of the ‘white balance’ menu. Each tap moves the color temperature up or down 50K, but holding the arrow icons down will increase these increments for faster changes. Alternatively, you can move the temperature slider in the middle of the ‘white balance’ menu.

To further dial in your image, you can adjust the ‘tint.’ This adjusts the mix of green and magenta inyour image. For example, adding some magenta can compensate for the green cast of many fluorescent lights. Many of your URSA Broadcast G2’s white balance presets include some tint.

Tapping the white balance and tint indicator on your URSA Broadcast G2 gives you access to fivepresets, as well as a white balance indicator and slider on the left, and a tint indicator on the right. Adjust thesetoset a custom white balance for your lighting conditions

While in the ‘white balance’ menu, your camera’s current tint setting is shown at the bottom right of the screen. To adjust the tint, simply tap or hold the arrows to the left and right of the tint indicator. The available range is -50 to +50 in one unit increments. Holding down on the arrows speeds up adjustment.

NOTE Customizing the white balance or tint will change your preset to‘CWB,’ or

custom white balance. Custom white balances are persistent; your CWB settings will stay configured between power cycles, and when switching to a preset and back to CWB. This makes iteasy to compare a custom white balance to the last preset used.

Auto White Balance

Your URSA Broadcast G2 can set white balance automatically. Tapping ‘AWB’ will bring up the white balance screen.

71Touchscreen Controls

When setting white balance automatically, a square will be overlaid on the center of your image. Fill this square with a neutral surface such as a white or gray card and tap ‘update.’ Your URSA Broadcast G2 will automatically adjust its white balance and tint values to ensure that the average of the white or gray within the white balance square is as neutral as possible. Once updated, this will be set as your camera’s custom white balance.

Tapping the ‘AWB’ icon in the white balance menu will bring up theauto white balance screen. Use this with a white or neutralgray surface to automatically set a neutral white balance

Power

Your URSA Broadcast G2’s power status is displayed in the top right of the LCD screen. There are five possible indicators:

Your URSA Broadcast G2’s power indicator is at the top right of the LCD touchscreen. Whileusingbatter y power, tapping this toggles between ‘voltage’ and ‘percentage’ displays

AC Displayed when your URSA Broadcast G2 is plugged into mainspower.

If you are using a percentage accurate battery and plate combination and

Percentage

Battery bars

Voltage

Fiber

have your battery display set to ‘percentage,’ theindicator will display your battery level as a percentage. At20% charge remaining, the indicator will turn red.

If your battery display is set to ‘percentage’ but your battery plate andbattery combination does not support percentage accurate battery information, your URSABroadcast G2 will display abattery icon that drains in 25% increments. At 20% charge remaining, the battery bar will turn red.

When your battery display is set to ‘voltage,’ this indicator will display your battery’s remaining voltage. When your battery drops below 12.5 volts, this indicator will turn red. Your URSA Broadcast G2 will automatically shut down once the battery reaches 11.9 volts.

Displayed when you have Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter attached to your camera and are powering thecamera through theSMPTE fiber cable. If you have an XLR power cable plugged into URSABroadcast G2 whilst the conver ter is attached, the AC icon will be displayed instead.

72Touchscreen Controls

When using battery power, you can switch between ‘voltage’ and ‘percentage’ or ‘battery bars’ power indicators by tapping the power indicator.

Lower Toolbar

Histogram

At the bottom left of your URSA Broadcast G2 touchscreen, you’ll see the histogram. The RGB histogram shows the tonal distribution of the image separated into individual red, green and blue channels.

The histogram gives you an indication of the tonal rangebetween shadows and highlights in your clip. Itis also a helpful tool for checking thebalance of your exposure and to prevent your highlights from clipping

The left edge of the histogram displays shadows, or blacks, and the far right displays highlights, or whites. When you close or open the lens aperture, you’ll notice the information in the histogram moves to the left or right accordingly. You can use this to check ‘clipping’ in your image shadows and highlights. When clipping occurs in the red, green or blue channel, the respective indicator on the right side of the histogram lights up. If the left and right of your edges of the histogram come to an abrupt stop rather than falling off gradually, you may be losing highlight or shadow detail.

If you don’t see a histogram in the bottom left of your touchscreen, your LCDmonitor settings may be set to display ‘codec and resolution.’ See the ‘monitor settings’ section in this manual for more information.

Record button

Next to the histogram at the bottom of your URSA Broadcast G2’s touchscreen, you’ll see a round button with a red center. This is the ‘record’ button. Tap this once to begin recording, andtap it again to stop. While recording, button, media bar icon and the timecode at the top of your URSABroadcast G2 touchscreen will turn red.

Your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘record’ button, next to the storage indicatorsat the bot tom of the LCD touchscreen

The ‘record’ button turns red when recording

73Touchscreen Controls

Apply LUT in File

If you are recording to Blackmagic RAW and have chosen to apply a LUT to your recorded clips in the ‘record’ settings tab, a blue ‘LUT’ icon is displayed next to the ‘record’ button. The LUT indicator is displayed in both standby and record mode.

For more information on recording LUTs with Blackmagic RAW, refer to the ‘Record Settings’ section later in this manual.

A blue ‘LUT’ icon is displayed when recording to Blackmagic RAW

Record LUT to Clip

If you are recording to ProRes, H.264 or H.265 and have chosen to record a LUT to your recorded clips, a red ‘LUT’ icon is displayed next to the ‘record’ button. The LUT indicator is displayed in both standby and record mode.

For more information on recording LUTs with ProRes, H.265 or H.264 video codecs, refer to the ‘Record Settings’ section later in this manual.

A red ‘LUT’ icon is displayed when recording to ProRes, H.265 or H.264

Dropped Frame Indicator

The ‘record’ button will be overlaid with a flashing ‘!’ indicator if your URSA Broadcast G2 begins dropping frames while recording. The time remaining indicator for the affected card or cards will also turn red. For example, if you are recording in dual card mode and card 1 is dropping frames, the ‘!’ indicator will appear over the ‘record’ button, and the time remaining indicator on card 1 will turn red. This lets you know if a particular card is too slow for your currently selected codec and resolution. The ‘dropped frame indicator’ will also display if you have dropped a frame on the previously recorded clip. This indicator will continue to display until another clip is recorded, or the camera is power cycled. Refer to the ‘Choosing a CFast

2.0 card’ ‘Choosing a fast SD Card’ and ‘Choosing a fast SSD’ sections in this manual, for more information on how to avoid dropping frames.

Dropped frame indicator for CFast card 1 dropping frames

TIP If you have your URSA Broadcast G2’s status LED enabled, this will rapidly flash

red when dropped frames are detected. For more information, see the ‘setup settings’ section in this manual.

74Touchscreen Controls

NOTE You can set your URSA Broadcast G2 to stop recording if dropped frames are

detected toprevent a situation where you waste time shooting unusable footage if youdon’t notice the dropped frame indicator. See the ‘record settings’ section in this manual for more information.

Storage Indicators

At the bottom of your URSA Broadcast G2 touchscreen next to the ‘record’ button, you’ll see the storage indicators.

Recording Time Remaining

When a CFast or SD card is inserted, or a USB-C flash disk or SSD is attached to your camera, the storage indicators show how much recording time is left on each card or drive. The recording time is displayed in hours:minutes:seconds based on your chosen frame rate and codec and is automatically recalculated if you change either of these settings.

When there is approximately 5 minutes remaining on your card or drive, the indicator text will turn red. If you are recording to a single card or drive or have filled any additional storage attached to your camera, the indicator will blink slowly when there is 3 minutes remaining and blink quickly when there is less than 30 seconds of recording time remaining.

Your URSA Broadcast G2’s storage indicator will display the name of your CFastcard, SD card, SSD or USB flash disk and the remaining record time

Media Bar

The media bar icon above the recording time will be either blue, white or red depending onitscurrent status and will display the used space on the card or drive.

The blue drive icon indicates the active drive. This is the drive that will be used for recording.

A white drive icon indicates there is media present, but not active. A solid white icon indicates the media is full.

The bar will illuminate red during recording.

To switch recording to a different card or drive, press and hold the name or media bar of the card, USB-C flash disk or SSD that you wish to record to.

Tapping the storage indicators will bring up the storage and formatting menu.

75Touchscreen Controls

Tap the storage indicators on your URSA BroadcastG2’s LCDtouchscreen to access the storage manager

This menu displays the amount of free space on each CFast card, SD card, USB-C flash disk or SSD currently connected to your URSA Broadcast G2, as well as the name of the card or drive, remaining record time, total number of clips, and the file format for each card or drive. Tapping the card or drive name in the storage menu sets it as the active card or drive. Your URSA Broadcast G2 will fill this card first.

You can format your media from this menu. For more information on formatting media using URSA Broadcast G2, see the ‘preparing media on Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2’ section ofthis manual.

Audio Meter

The peak audio meters display audio levels for channels 1 and 2 when using the internal microphone, or via external audio when connected. You can display PPM or VU meters. To change the meter type, see the ‘setup’ settings later in this manual.

The colored bars on the audio meter represent peak audio levels. Ideally your peak audio levels should fall in the upper end of the green zone. If your peaks enter into the yellow or red zones your audio is in danger of clipping.

You can tap the audio meter to bring up volume controls for audio input channels 1 and 2, aswell as headset or speaker volume.

76Touchscreen Controls

Tap the audio meters on your URSA Broadcast G2 LCD touchscreen toeasily access volume and headset or speaker settings

Focus Zoom

You can magnify any part of your URSA Broadcast G2’s preview image by double tapping the LCD touchscreen in the location you would like to zoom. You can move the magnified image by dragging your finger around the touchscreen. This is very helpful when checking focus. To return to the standard magnification, double tap on the touchscreen again.

When you have ‘focus zoom’ enabled you can also make a pinch to zoom multitouch gesture to adjust the zoom level on the touchscreen. The ‘setup’ menu on your URSA Broadcast G2 lets you configure a function button as a ‘focus zoom’ toggle that behaves like a double tap on the touchscreen. This can be configured to show on the LCD or the front or main SDI to outputs. For information on how to configure a function button as ‘focus zoom’, see the ‘Function Button Behaves as Preset or Toggle’ section.

While zoomed in, an indicator in the top lef t of your LCD touchscreen will show which part of the image you are viewing. You can move around the image using the menu wheel or by dragging your finger around the screen.

77Touchscreen Controls

Full Screen Mode

It can be useful when framing or focusing a shot to temporarily hide your touchscreen’s statustext and meters. Simply swipe up or down on URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen to hide these. Therecord indicator, frame guides, grids, focus assist and zebra will remain visible.

Swipe up or down to hide all status indicators on your URSA Broadcast G2 LCD touchscreen

Playback Menu

Press the ‘play’ control button to access the playback menu. You can control previously recorded clips with your camera’s control buttons or the LCD touchscreen.

The LCD touchscreen displays a timeline of segments representing all the recorded clips. Each segment in the timeline represents an individual clip. The current clip name and number is shown at the top left of the display and the total number of clips on the card or drive is shown in brackets.

The counter ahead of the timeline displays the current location of the playhead and the counter after the timeline displays the total duration of all the clips.

The playback controls below the timeline let you navigate through the clips.

78Touchscreen Controls

Tap the ‘record’ button in playback mode to return your camera to standby mode, ready to record.

Tap the ‘play’ button to view your clips. You are now in ‘playback’ mode.

Press the ‘stop’ button to stop playback. Pressing the ‘stop’ button a second time will return your camera to standby mode.

Tap the ‘skip’ back button once to move the playhead to the first frame of the current clip. If the playhead is already on the start of a clip, it will jump to the first frame of the previous clip.

Tap the ‘skip’ forward button once to move the playhead to the last frame of the current clip. If the playhead is already at the end of a clip, it will jump to the first frame of the next clip.

Press and hold the ‘skip’ back and ‘skip’ forward buttons to change them to ‘rewind’ and ‘forward’ shuttle buttons. Now you can use them to change the shuttle speed to 2x, 4x, 8x or 16x.

To reduce the shuttle speed, simply tap the button in the opposite direction.

The shut tle speed indicator displays the speed and direction of footage being fast forwarded or reversed

You can change the playback mode from ‘all clips’ to ‘single clip’ in the ‘setup’ menu. In ‘single clip’ mode the last recorded clip is displayed when you press ‘play’.

TIP Swipe up or down on your URSA Broadcast G2’s touchscreen to hide status text

while playing back footage. Entering the slate in playback mode will allow you to mark the current clip ‘good take’ in metadata. For more information, see the ‘entering metadata’ section in this manual.

Looping playback

Tapping the play button more than once enables the ‘loop’ feature. Looping can be useful if you want to continue looping the same clip, or loop all clips on the timeline.

Loop

Loop all

Once your clip is playing, press the ‘play’ button again to set your camera to play the current clip on a continuous loop.

Tap ‘play’ again to play all your recorded clips on a continuous loop.

Play

Tap again to return to real time playback.

79Touchscreen Controls

Settings

Dashboard

Pressing the ‘menu’ control button on your URSA Broadcast G2 will bring up your camera’s dashboard. This is a tabbed menu containing the settings not available from your URSA Broadcast G2’s head up display. Settings are divided by function into ‘record,’ ‘monitor,’ ‘audio,’ ‘setup,’ ‘presets,’ and ‘LUTS’ tabs. Some tabs, such as ‘record,’ ‘monitor,’ and ‘setup’ contain multiple pages. You can cycle between these pages by tapping the arrows on the left and right of the settings screen, orswiping left or right as you would on a smartphone or tablet.

Tap the ‘record,’ ‘monitor,’ ‘audio,’ ‘setup,’ ‘presets,’ and ‘LUTS’ headings to move between your URSA Broadcast G2’s dashboard tabs

Record Settings

The ‘record’ tab allows you to set your video format, codec, and resolution, as well as other settings which affect the footage saved by your URSA Broadcast G2, such as preferred card and detail sharpening. This menu has three pages, which you can cycle through by tapping the arrows at the edge of your camera’s touchscreen, or swiping left or right.

Record Settings 1

The first page of the ‘record’ settings tab contains the following settings.

80Settings

Codec and Quality

The ‘codec and quality’ menu is split into two rows. The top row lets you choose between three codec families, Blackmagic RAW, Apple ProRes and H.264/5, while the bottom row offers quality options in those families. For example, the quality options available in the ProRes codec family are ProRes HQ and ProRes 422. Blackmagic RAW options are divided between four ‘constant bitrate’ and four ‘constant quality’ settings.

Blackmagic RAW ‘constant bitrate’ and ‘constant quality’ options

TIP The amount of video you can record on your storage media on URSA Broadcast

G2 will increase when choosingcodecs that utilize higher compression. Refer to the ‘record duration table’ inthe ‘recording’ section for more information.

Resolution

This setting works in combination with the ‘codec’ setting. Use it to select the resolution for your desired recording format.

For example, if you want to record Ultra HD clips using ProRes HQ, select ‘ProRes’ and ‘HQ’ in the ‘codec and quality’ menu. Now choose ‘Ultra HD’ in the resolution menu.

Blackmagic RAW ‘resolution’ options

NOTE Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 supports Blackmagic RAW in all resolutions,

Apple ProRes in Ultra HD and HD, H.265 in Ultra HD and H.264 in HD.

Record Settings 2

The second page of the ‘record’ settings tab contains the following settings.

81Settings

Dynamic Range

Adjust the ‘dynamic range’ setting by tapping the dynamic range icons. Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 has three dynamic range settings:

Video The ‘video’ setting is the best choice for recording to a high contrast,

saturated look suitable for direct delivery or minimal post processing. Video uses Rec.709 primaries with a pleasing roll off in the highlights. This is a good option if you want an accurate starting point that still has a pleasing gamma curve with room for grading if needed.

Ext Video The ‘extended video’ setting is based on Blackmagic Wide Gamut with

contrast and saturation applied. The most notable differences to the video mode come from the magenta/green axis having less saturation which is more typical of print film.

Film The ‘film’ setting shoots video using a log curve that allows you to maintain

the greatest dynamic range and maximizes the information in your video signal to help you get the most out of color grading software, such as DaVinci Resolve.

If you are using ‘video’ or ‘extended video’ dynamic range, make sure that display LUT is not enabled on any of the monitor outputs, LCD, Front SDI or Main SDI.

If the display LUT is enabled, the LUT indicator will be visible on the HUD and the image appears to have more saturation and contrast than intended. To check your display LUTs setting, see the ‘monitor’ settings later in this manual.

Sensor Area

This setting is available when shooting in ProRes, H.265 and H.264 video codecs. It lets you choose between scaling from the full ‘6K’ sensor area, or using a smaller ‘window’ of the sensor area. Choosing a larger sensor area like 5.3K or 6K gives you a wider field of view whereas choosing a smaller sensor area like 2.7K gives you higher frame rate options. It’s important to mention that windowing to a smaller area only uses the center of the camera’s sensor, the field of view of any given lens will be narrower due to the crop involved.

When using broadcast lenses on URSA Broadcast G2’s B4 mount you should ensure that your sensor area is set to 4K as this is the area of the frame that these lenses will cover. The 5.3K and 6K sensor area is roughly Super 35 size and so is compatible with most EF, F mount and PL lenses.

For more information on ‘full’ and ‘window’ formats, see the ‘maximum sensor frame rates’ section.

Project Frame Rate

The project frame rate is URSA Broadcast G2’s recording format frame rate and provides a selection of common frame rates used in the film and television industry. For example, Ultra HD at

29.97 frames per second using ProRes HQ. This frame rate is normally set to match your playback speed and audio sync used in your post production workflow and delivery requirements.

Your Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 has 8 project frame rate settings including 23.98, 24, 25,

29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 frames per second.

82Settings

NOTE Your camera’s project frame rate has a large impact on the ‘look’ of footage.

Inbroadcast environments, frame rates are typically set to 50, 59.94, or 60 frames per second. These relatively high frame rates are great for capturing smooth motion and eliminate or minimize stutter while panning.

Lower frame rates, such as 24 or 25 frames per second, are typically used for cinema production. These have a distinct filmic ‘look,’ but require much slower camera movement to avoid stutter.

Off Speed Recording

By default, your URSA Broadcast G2’s project and sensor frame rates are matched for a natural playback speed. However, by tapping the ‘off speed recording’ switch icon you can set your sensor frame rate independently. This option is only available when recording to Blackmagic RAW or ProRes codecs.

Off Speed Frame Rate

With ‘off speed frame rate’ enabled, tap the arrows next to the ‘off speed frame rate’ indicator toset your URSA Broadcast G2’s sensor frame rate.

The sensor frame rate sets how many actual frames from the sensor are recorded every second. This frame rate will affect how fast or slow your video will play back at your set project frame rate.

For more information on off speed frame rates, see the ‘frames per second’ section in the ‘touchscreen features’ section of this manual.

NOTE For information on the maximum frame rates available for each recording format

and codec, refer to the ‘maximum sensor frame rates’ table in the ‘recording’ section of this manual.

Preferred Media for Recording

Use this setting to select which storage card, SSD or flash disk your URSA Broadcast G2 will record to first when more than one storage slot is in use. The options are ‘card 1’, ‘card 2’, ‘USB’ and ‘fullest’. Picking either ‘card 1’ or ‘card 2,’ isa matter of personal preference, but using either consistently will let you know which card to swap out first as your storage fills up. ‘Fullest card’ can help group files chronologically when shooting a single camera project. The ‘fullest card’ setting is based on the percentage that your storage cards are filled, rather than their sizes or the amount of data used.

The setting you choose is applied when a CFast card, SD card or SSD is inserted or when a USB flash disk is connected. You can override this setting at any time by entering the storage manager and setting a different card as ‘active.’ It’s important to note, however, that ejecting and reinserting cards will revert to the current ‘preferred media for recording’ setting.

Record RAW on

Recording Blackmagic RAW on two cards lets you record extremely high resolution clips at high frame rates with lower levels of compression. Insert a pair of CFast or SD Cards and choose the ‘2 cards’ option. Since this relies on striping across both cards sequentially, the data rate of the slowest card will be the limiting factor, so you are advised to use two cards of the same or similar specification.

You can also stripe between a CFast card in storage slot 1 or 2 and a USB-C flash disk in storage slot 3.. When you use the ‘2 cards’ option, the speed limit is twice the data rate of the slowest card in the striped array.

83Settings

Merging ﬁles for Editing

Copy the .BRAW and .BRAW2 files from both memory cards into the same folder on your computer, and DaVinci Resolve will bring them in as a single, merged clip when you import them into your media pool. If the .BRAW and .BRAW2 files are separated, the clips can play independently at half the frame rate. To play back a .BRAW2 file independently, change the file extension from .BRAW2 to .BRAW.

TIP You can use the Media Management tool in DaVinci Resolve to combine a .BRAW

and .BRAW2 file into a single, independent clip.

Combining .BRAW files heps to make sure they can’t be separated. This can be useful for media management or if you are sending files to another editor.

For more information, refer to the ‘Using Media management’ section in the Davinci Resolve manual.

Record Settings 3

The third page of the ‘record’ settings tab contains the following settings.

Timelapse

This setting activates the time lapse feature to automatically record a still frame at the following intervals:

Frames 2 – 10

Seconds 1 – 10, 20, 30, 40, 50

Minutes 1 – 10

For example, you can set the camera to record a still frame every 10 frames, 5 seconds, 30seconds, 5 minutes etc.

The time lapse feature offers many creative options. For example, setting a 2 frame time lapse interval will give your recorded video a high speed effect when played back.

The format of each still frame is based on your recording format, so if you set the camera to record Ultra HD using ProRes HQ, the time lapse setting will maintain this format. The frame rate will be based on your project frame rate. This is so your time lapse footage can be easily incorporated into your post production workflow.

84Settings

When you record footage in timelapse mode, the timecode counter updates when a frame of video is recorded.

Your URSA Broadcast G2 will indicate it is in time lapse mode with an icon over the ‘record’ button

Detail Sharpening

Use this setting to sharpen your URSA Broadcast G2’s image. When sharpening is enabled, decrease or increase the level of sharpening by selecting ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’.

When sharpening is enabled, it will be applied to ProRes video recorded on camera as well as your URSA Broadcast G2’s SDI output.

This setting is intended for live studio production where there is no time for post production and you want to output the image live to air. If you are doing extensive image manipulation and color correction in post production then we recommend leaving detail sharpening ‘off’. For this reason sharpening is not applied to Blackmagic RAW files that are intended for significant post processing.

TIP When post processing your Blackmagic RAW files, you can achieve a comparable

level of sharpening to these settings by using the blur/sharpening tool in DaVinci Resolve’s ‘color’ page.

Set the tool to a radius of 0.48 and adjust the scaling to 0.6, 0.3 or 0.15 for comparable sharpening to ‘high,’ ‘medium,’ or ‘low.’

For detailed information on sharpening in post production, see the ‘motion effects and blur palettes’ section in the full DaVinci Resolve manual.

If Card Drops Frame

Use this setting to configure your URSA Broadcast G2’s behavior when dropped frames are detected. When set to ‘alert’ the dropped frame indicator will be displayed on the LCD touchscreen, and recording will continue with dropped frames. When set to ‘stop recording’ your camera will stop recording when dropped frames are detected. This can prevent you wasting time shooting unusable footage if you don’t spot the dropped frames indicator.

Refer to the ‘Choosing a CFast 2.0 card’, ‘Choosing a fast SD card’, ‘Choosing a fast SSD’ and ‘Choosing a fast USB-C flash disk’ sections for more information on how to avoid dropping frames.

Apply LUT in File

If you are applying a LUT to any of the outputs from your URSA Broadcast G2, the selected LUT will be embedded into the Blackmagic RAW file you are recording.

This means that the LUT will be saved in the header of the file and can easily be applied to the clip in post production without needing to handle a separate file. When the ‘Apply LUT in file’ switch is set to ‘on’ in URSA Broadcast G2’s record menu, this clip will open in Blackmagic RAW Player and DaVinci Resolve with the chosen LUT already applied to it. The LUT can then be easily toggled ‘on’ or ‘off’ but will always travel with the Blackmagic RAW file as it is written into the clip itself.

85Settings

DaVinci Resolve also has an ‘Apply LUT’ switch in the RAW settings palette for enabling or disabling the 3D LUT in the Blackmagic RAW file. The ‘Apply LUT’ setting in DaVinci Resolve is the same setting as in the camera. This means that when shooting you can direct the colorist to use the LUT by setting it in the camera, but they can switch it off easily in DaVinci Resolve by setting ‘Apply LUT’ to ‘off’.

Record LUT to Clip

The ‘record LUT to clip’ option is available when shooting with ProRes, H.265 or H.264 video codecs. YourBlackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 does not apply, or ‘bake in,’ LUTs by default to recorded footage, however you can choose to ‘bake in’ the LUT to your footage by tapping the ‘record lut to clip’ switch icon.

This can be a useful option for situations where you do not have the time to grade your footage in post-production, or where you need to give the footage directly to a client or an editor. For more information, refer to the ‘3D LUTs’ and ‘touchscreen controls’ sections.

Lens Correction

Broadcast zoom lenses can often suffer from color fringing at the edge of frame or near the corners of the image. This is more prominent in high contrast image areas on more affordable B4 lenses, particularly those with more extreme zoom ranges. The Lens Correction feature allows you to correct for this in-camera on URSA Broadcast G2 with broadcast B4 and broadcast PL lenses. It is switched on by default when the camera detects necessary information from the broadcast lens.

File Naming Convention

Clips are recorded in the Blackmagic RAW format, Apple ProRes and MP4 formats, depending upon which recording format you have chosen.

The table below shows an example of the file naming convention:

A001_08151512 _C001.mov QuickTime Movie Filename

A001_08151512_C001.mov Camera index

A001_08151512_C001.mov Reel Number

A001_08151512_C001.mov Month

A001_08151512_C001.mov Day

A001_08151512_C001.mov Hour

A001_08151512_C001.mov Minute

A001_08151512_C001.mov Clip Number

Still image files captured in DNG format using the still button will follow the file naming convention for video clips, however the filename will have an ‘S001’ representing the ‘still number’ as the last four digits of the filename in place of the clip number. For more information, refer to the ‘Status LCDControls’ section in this manual.

86Settings

Monitor Settings

The ‘monitor’ tab lets you adjust status text, overlays, and other monitoring options for your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen, front and main SDI outputs. Options are arranged by output between ‘LCD’, ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’. Each of these menus have five pages of options, which you can cycle through by tapping the arrows at the edge of your camera’s touch screen, or swiping left or right.

Monitor Settings 1

The first page of the ‘LCD,’ ‘front SDI,’ and ‘main SDI,’ monitor tab contains identical settings for each output. Forexample, you can set ‘zebra’ on for the LCD touchscreen, but off for the front or main SDI outputs.

Clean Feed

Tap the ‘clean feed’ switch in the ‘LCD,’ ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ menus to disable allstatus text and overlays for that output, except the record tally indicator.

Your URSA Broadcast G2 LCD touchscreen will still display a record tally in clean feed mode

NOTE LUTs will still be applied to outputs with ‘clean feed’ enabled. Todisable LUTs,

disable the ‘display LUT’ switch in the ‘Monitor’ menu for thatoutput.

87Settings

Display 3D LUT

Your URSA Broadcast G2 can apply 3D LUTs to any output to approximate the look of color graded footage. This is especially useful when shooting with ‘film’ dynamic range as it can produce an intentionally ‘flat’ low contrast image.

If your URSA Broadcast G2 has a 3D LUT active, use this setting to independently apply that LUTto your LCD touchscreen, front or main SDI output.

NOTE For more information on loading and using 3D LUTs, see the ‘LUTS’ section of

this manual.

Zebra

Tap the ‘zebra’ switch in the ‘LCD,’ ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ menus to enable zebra guides for those outputs. For more information on zebra guides and setting zebra levels, see the ‘touchscreen features’ section in this manual.

Focus Assist

Tap the ‘focus assist’ switch in the ‘LCD,’ ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ menus to enable focus assist for those outputs. For more information on focus assist and setting focus assist levels, see the ‘touchscreen features’ section in this manual.

Frame Guide

Tap the ‘frame guide’ switch in the ‘LCD,’ ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ menus to enable frame guides for those outputs. For more information on frame guides and choosing different guides, see the ‘touchscreen features’ section in this manual.

Grid

Tap the ‘grid’ switch in the ‘LCD,’ ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ menus to enable a rule of thirds grid for those outputs. For more information on the rule of thirds grid, see the ‘touchscreen features’ section in this manual.

Safe Area Guide

Tap the ‘safe area’ switch in the ‘LCD,’ ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ menus to enable safe area overlay for those outputs.

For more information on safe area guides, and setting the level of safe area guides, seethe ‘touchscreen features’ section in this manual.

False Color

Tap the ‘false color’ switch in the ‘LCD,’ ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ menus to enable false color exposure assistance for those outputs.

For more information on false color, see the ‘touchscreen features’ section in this manual.

88Settings

Monitor Settings 2

The second page of your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘LCD’ monitor tab contains some settings that vary depending on the selected output.

LCD, Front SDI and Main SDI

Statu s Te xt

It can be useful to hide the status text and meters on your LCD, front SDI or main SDI output, leaving only the information necessary to compose or direct a shot. Tap the ‘status text’ switch icon in the LCD, ‘front SDI’ or ‘main SDI’ monitor menus to toggle the appearance of status text and meters for that output. Overlays such as frame guides, grids, focus assist and zebra will remain visible, if enabled.

Swiping up or down on your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen has the same effect for the touchscreen.

Anamorphic Desqueeze

When shooting with anamorphic lenses, the image will appear horizontally ‘squeezed’ on your URSA Broadcast G2’s preview outputs and in recorded files. Enabling ‘anamorphic desqueeze’ will correct the preview image on your URSA Broadcast G2 as well as recording the desqueeze amount used in the clip metadata for easy correction in post.

The desqueeze amount you choose will vary depending on what you’ve set your URSA Broadcast G2 resolution to, but the resulting image will always be in the cinematic widescreen 2.4:1 aspect ratio.

Anamorphic lenses designed for film typically have a 2x squeeze factor. Your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘3.7K anamorphic’ resolution is designed for use with these lenses and will perform a 2x desqueeze when set to this resolution with ‘anamorphic desqueeze’ set to ‘2x’.

Anamorphic lenses designed for 16:9 digital image sensors often use a 1.33x squeeze factor to produce 2.4:1 cinematic widescreen images from the entire 16:9 sensor. Therefore, when your URSA Broadcast G2 is set to 16:9 resolutions such as ’4K 16:9’ and ‘HD 16:9,’ ‘anamorphic desqueeze’ should be set to ‘1.33x’.

TIP If your image appears horizontally stretched when shooting with a standard

spherical lens, make sure you don’t have ‘anamorphic desqueeze’ enabled.

89Settings

LCD Only

Display

Instead of a histogram and audio meters, your URSA Broadcast G2 can display codec and resolution information at the left and right bottom edges of the LCD touchscreen. This can be useful if you prefer to use false color for dialing in exposure, or are recording audio separately and want to display additional information in the space normally used by the histogram and audio meter. Simply tap ‘meters’ or ‘codec and resolution’ in the ‘LCD’ menu to select your preferred view.

Front SDI and Main SDI

Display Status Text For Cinematographer or Director

The LCD touchscreen displays information such as ISO, white balance, and aperture that is useful to a camera operator or cinematographer setting up individual shots on that camera. Your camera’s SDI output, however, can also show information useful to a director or script supervisor who is keeping track of multiple shots or cameras.

Setting the status text to ‘director’ in your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘front SDI’ or ‘main SDI’ monitor settings changes the status text for that output to show the following information.

 FPS

Displays the currently selected frames per second. If off speed frame rate is disabled, only the project frame rate will be shown. If an off speed frame rate is being used, the sensor frame rate will be shown, followed by the project frame rate.

 CAM

Displays the camera index as set in your URSA Broadcast G2’s Slate. See the ‘slate’ section in this manual for more information.

 OPERATOR

Identifies the camera operator as set in your URSA Broadcast G2’s Slate. See the ‘slate’ section in this manual for more information.

 DURATION DISPLAY

Displays the duration of the current clip, while recording, or the last recorded clip in the following format: hours:minutes:seconds

 REEL, SCENE, TAKE

Displays the current reel, scene and take. For more information on reels, scenes, takes and their labelling conventions, refer to the ‘slate’ section in this manual.

 DYNAMIC RANGE

The bottom left hand corner of the monitor displays your URSA Broadcast G2’s currently applied LUT, if applied to that output. If no LUT is applied, ‘film’ or ‘video’ dynamic range will be displayed.

90Settings

 TIMECODE

The bottom right of the monitor displays your URSA Broadcast G2’s timecode, in the following format: hours:minutes:seconds:frames.

Monitor Settings 3

The third page of the ‘LCD’, ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ monitor tab contains identical settings for each output. These settings act globally across all three monitoring outputs. For example, if focus assist is enabled on your Blackmagic URSA G2’s LCD, Front SDI and Main SDI outputs changing the ‘focus assist type’ from ‘peaking’ to ‘colored lines’ will effect all three outputs.

Zebra Level

Set the exposure level that zebra appears at by tapping the arrow icons on either side of this setting. There are eight zebra level presets available, from middle gray through to 100 percent exposure.

For more information, see the ‘zebra’ guide in the ‘touchscreen features’ section of this manual.

Focus Assist Type

Your URSA Broadcast G2 camera has two focus assist modes, ‘peaking’ and ‘colored lines.’

 Peaking

When ‘peaking’ style focus assist is selected, areas of the shot that are in focus are heavily sharpened on your LCD touchscreen or SDI outputs, but not in the recorded image itself. This causes focused parts of your shot to ‘pop’ out of the softer background on screen. As no additional overlays are used, this can be a very intuitive way to tell when focus is dialed in, especially when the subject you’re focusing on is physically well separated from other elements in shot.

 Colored Lines

When ‘colored lines’ style focus assist is selected, a colored line is superimposed around the parts of the image that are in focus. This can be a little more intrusive than ‘peaking’ style focus assistance as the lines are drawn over your image, but especially in busy shots with a lot of visible elements, it can be a precise focus aid.

Focus Color

Use this setting to change the color of focus line overlays when using ‘colored lines’ style focus assistance. Changing the focus line color can make it easier to tell focus assistance lines apart from your image. The available options are ‘white,’ ‘red,’ ‘green,’ ‘blue’ and ‘black.’

Focus Assist Level

To set the level of focus assistance for your LCD touchscreen, front SDI or main SDI, move the slider from left to right.

91Settings

TIP The optimum level of focus assistance varies shot by shot. When focusing on

actors, for example, a higher level of focus assistance can help resolve edge detail in faces. A shot of foliage or brickwork, on the other hand, may show distracting amounts focus information at higher settings.

Monitor Settings 4

The fourth page of the ‘LCD’, ‘front SDI’ and ‘main SDI’ monitor tab contains identical settings for each output. These settings act globally across all three of your camera’s monitor outputs.

Frame Guides

Tap the left or right arrows in the ‘frame guides’ menu setting to cycle through frame guide options for all outputs on your URSA Broadcast G2, including EVFs such as Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder. The options are detailed in the ‘touchscreen features’ section of this manual, and are also accessible from the LCD monitoring menu in your LCD touchscreen head up display.

Safe Area Guide

To adjust the size of the safe area overlay on your URSA Mini’s LCD touchscreen, front SDI and main SDI outputs, tap the arrows to the left and right of the percentage displayed in this setting. This percentage indicates the size of the safe area in relation to the image frame. Most broadcasters require a 90% safe area.

Guide Opacity

Tap the left or right arrows in the ‘guide opacity’ menu setting to choose the opacity of the areas blocked out by frame guides on your LCD touchscreen, front and main SDI outputs. The options are 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.

Guides Color

Tap the left or right arrows in the ‘guides color’ menu setting to choose a color for the guides.

Grids

To set which combination of grids and crosshairs you want to display on your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen, front and main SDI outputs, tap the ‘thirds’, ‘horizon’ ‘crosshairs,’ or ‘dot’ options in this setting.

For more information, see the ‘grids’ guide in the ‘touchscreen features’ section earlier in this manual.

92Settings

Monitor Settings 5

The fifth page of your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘LCD’ monitor tab contains some settings that vary depending on the selected output.

LCD only

LCD Brightness

Drag the ‘LCD brightness’ slider left or right to adjust the brightness of your URSA Broadcast G2’s LCD touchscreen.

Front SDI and Main SDI

SDI Output

Both outputs allow you to choose between progressive and interlaced HD output or progressive Ultra HD. The options available in this setting depend on your camera’s resolution and frame rate settings. Progressive HD, or ‘1080p’ is always available regardless of your recording resolution and frame rate, while interlaced HD, or ‘1080i’ is available when your project frame rate is set to 50, 59.94 or 60. Ultra HD SDI output, or ‘2160p’ is available when shooting at Ultra HD resolutions.

3G-SDI Output

You can change the 3G-SDI output standard to maintain compatibility with equipment that can only receive level A or level B 3G-SDI video. This option will only appear when you are operating in 50, 59.94 or 60 frames per second and outputting 1080p. Tap the ‘Level A’ or ‘Level B’ icon to select each standard.

Audio Settings

The ‘audio’ tab lets you adjust the audio input and monitoring settings on your URSABroadcast G2.

The settings are spread over two pages and divided between channels 1 and 2, while an upcoming software update will add two additional channels.

You can map each audio channel to a different source, as well as adjusting various settings such as padding and low cut filters.

93Settings

These settings work together with the switches on your URSA Broadcast G2’s internal control panel. So after you’ve set your audio source for a particular channel, you can use the internal control panel switches to set the signal type and whether phantom power is enabled for that channel.

Audio Settings 1

The first page of your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘audio’ tab contains the following settings.

Channel Source

Use the ‘channel 1 source’ and ‘channel 2 source’ buttons to select your audio source for each audio channel. The options are:

 Camera Left or Right

Use this setting to record from your camera’s internal microphones.

 Camera Mono

Use this setting to record audio from your URSA Broadcast G2’s built in microphone’s left and right channels onto a single audio channel.

 XLR 1 or 2

Use this setting to record from your camera’s XLR inputs. Depending on which audio signal you’ve set on your URSA Broadcast G2’s internal control panel switches, your XLRinput may be listed as ‘mic,’ ‘line,’ or ‘AES.’ If phantom power is enabled and you have your XLR input set to ‘mic’ you’ll also see a ‘+48V’ indicator here. It it is important to ensure that the +48V switch gets turned ‘off’ when you disconnect your phantom powered microphone.

 XLR 1 or 2 - Mic Backup

Use this setting to record audio from a microphone plugged into your URSA Broadcast G2 XLR 1 or 2 input at a lower level than the standard ‘mic’ recording. This can be used to avoid audio clipping in the event of an unexpected increase in loudness. This feature will only be available as a selectable item if the XLR 1 or 2 input switch is set to ‘mic’.

 None

Use this setting to disable your audio channel.

Channel 1/2 Level

Use these sliders to adjust the recording levels of your chosen channel 1 and 2 sources. Audiometers are included with each slider to help you set the correct audio level. These levels will also update when you adjust the audio using the audio knobs on the ergonomic control panel.

94Settings

Pad XLR -20dB

The -20dB pad option gives you added control to further reduce the input gain levels on your URSA Broadcast G2’s XLR audio inputs when shooting in a loud environment even after your input levels are already turned down.

Pad Cam Mic - 15 dB

The -15dB pad option gives you added control to further reduce the microphone input gain levels on your URSA Broadcast G2’s internal microphone when shooting in a loud environment even after your input levels are already turned down.

Cam Mic Low Cut Filter

Tap this switch icon to enable the low cut filter for your camera’s internal microphones. This filter helps to reduce potential wind noise or low frequency rumbling that may occur in exterior shooting conditions. Note that the ‘pad cam mic -15 dB’ selector must be switched off for this function to work.

Audio Settings 2

The second page of your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘Audio’ tab contains the following settings.

Audio Meters

You can choose from two different audio meter display types.

VU The VU meter, or ‘volume units’ meter, averages out short peaks and troughs in your

audio signal. If you are using VU metering, adjust the input levels on you Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 so that the meter peaks at the 0db indicator on the audio meter. This maximizes the signal to noise ratio and ensures your audio is at the highest quality. If your audio peaks beyond the 0dB indicator there is a high risk of sound distortion.

PPM PPM meters, or ‘peak program meters’ displays a ‘peak hold’ feature that momentarily holds

the signal peaks and a slow fall back so you can easily see where your audio is peaking.

95Settings

Both VU and PPM meters are available at reference levels of -18dBFS or -20dBFS so you can monitor your audio to suit different international broadcasting standards.

Audio meter setting Standard

PPM (-20 dBFS) SMPTE RP.0155

PPM (-18 dBFS) EBU R.68

Headphone Level

This slider adjusts the output levels for headphones attached to URSA Broadcast G2’s 3.5mm headphone jack. Move the audio slider left or right to adjust levels. These levels will also update when you adjust the headphone volume using the settings wheel on the forward control panel.

Speaker Level

This slider adjusts the output levels for your URSA Broadcast G2’s built in speaker. Move the audio slider left or right to adjust levels. These levels will also update when you adjust the speaker volume using the settings wheel on the forward control panel.

Setup Settings

The ‘setup’ tab contains your URSA Broadcast G2’s identification settings, software version, function button settings and other camera settings not directly linked to recording or monitoring. This menu has nine pages, which you can cycle through by tapping the arrows at the edge of the LCD touchscreen, or swiping left or right.

Setup Settings Page 1

The first page of your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘setup’ tab contains the following settings.

Setup menu on URSA Broadcast G2

Date and Time

Tap the pencil icon to set your URSA Broadcast G2’s date and time. The date format is year, month, day and the time format is 24 hour. Your URSA Broadcast G2’s date and time are also used for time of day timecode if an external timecode source is not connected.

96Settings

Language

URSA Broadcast G2 supports 13 popular languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Polish and Ukrainian.

The language page will also appear on initial start up.

To select your language:

1 Tap the pencil icon and select your language from the list.

2 Select ‘update’ to return to the setup menu.

Shutter Measurement

Use this setting to select whether to display shutter information as ‘shutter angle’ or ‘shutter speed’. It’s important to note that both shutter measurements effect motion blur, but work in slightly different ways. See the ‘touchscreen controls’ section of this manual for a full explanation of shutter measurement.

Flicker Free Shutter Based On

Use this setting to change the mains power frequency your URSA Broadcast G2 uses to calculate flicker free shutter settings.

When shooting under lights, your shutter speed can effect the visibility of flicker. Your URSABroadcast G2 will automatically calculate flicker free shutter speeds for your current frame rate and display suggestions in the ‘shutter speed’ menu. These speeds are effected by the frequency of the local mains power supply used to drive those lights. In most PAL countries, this frequency is 50Hz, while NTSC countries typically use 60Hz power. Simply tap ‘50Hz’ or ‘60Hz’ to set the right frequency for your region.

97Settings

Characteristics of various light sources may still cause flicker even when using flicker free shutter values. We recommend performing a test shoot when not using continuous lights.

Drop Frame Timecode

Use the ‘drop frame timecode’ option to use drop frame timecode when using NTSC project frame rates of 29.97 and 59.94. Drop frame timecode drops a small number of frames from the timecode at set intervals. This keeps your project timecode accurate despite each second not containing a whole number of frames at NTSC frame rates.

Display ND Filter As

Use this setting to adjust how the ND filter indicator on your URSA Broadcast G2 displays your NDfilter setting. Each setting corresponds to a different camera convention. Cinematographers typically use ND.number notation, while those familiar with DSLRs or broadcast cameras may prefer this information in f-stop format, or as a fraction of available light.

These options are available here as ‘number,’ ‘stop,’ and ‘fraction,’ respectively.

Setup menu in URSA Broadcast G2 with the option to customize how the ND filter information is displayed

Setup Settings Page 2

The second page of your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘setup’ tab contains the following settings.

ATEM Camera ID

If you’re using URSA Broadcast G2 with an ATEM Switcher and want your camera to receive tally signals from the switcher, you’ll need to set the camera number on your camera. This ensures the switcher sends the tally signal to the correct camera. The camera number can be set to a value of 1-99 by tapping the left or right buttons. The default setting is 1.

98Settings

Color Bars

Outputting color bars rather than a preview image can be useful when connecting your URSABroadcast G2 to a switcher or external monitor. The appearance of your URSA Broadcast G2’s color bars onyour switcher or monitor confirms the connection, and you can perform basic monitorcalibration based on the colors of the bars. To turn on color bars for all outputs on yourURSABroadcast G2, including the LCD touchscreen, simply tap the ‘color bars’ switch icon.

Reference Source

This setting is used to select the reference source. Your URSA Broadcast G2 can lock to an internal or external reference source, or to the reference signal in the program input from an ATEM switcher. Ifyou are using your URSA Broadcast G2 with an ATEM Switcher’s camera control function, you should always set your reference source to ‘program’ unless the switcher itself and all connected cameras are set to an external reference.

NOTE When you are setting your reference source for URSA Broadcast G2, you may

experience a small dropout on your camera’s outputs when switching between your reference sources. This is because the camera is adjusting its referencing timing to match that of the external source. For this reason it is important not to change this setting during a production and only while setting up.

Reference Timing

These settings allow you to manually adjust the reference timing on a line or pixel basis. Simply tap the arrow icons on either side of the “lines” and “pixels” settings to make adjustments.

Setup Settings Page 3

The third page of your URSA Broadcast G2’s ‘setup’ tab contains the following settings.

Program Audio Source

When connected to an ATEM switcher, setting ‘program audio source’ to ‘switcher’ prioritizes the program return audio as your input source to be mixed with talkback when monitoring using headphones or a headset. This is useful when you are not feeding the switcher audio from your camera but you still want to listen to the program feed from the switcher via the ‘SDI in’ port. Setting ‘program audio source’ to ‘AFV’ prioritizes audio from your camera’s internal mics or ‘audio in’ XLR ports, and is the default setting.

Program Mix

This setting changes the balance of camera sound to talkback sound. The headphones will output audio following what is displayed on the LCD. For instance, if you are in camera view,

99Settings

Blackmagic Design URSA Broadcast G2 Users Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Getting Started

Attaching a Lens

Powering your Camera

Using Servo Zoom Lenses

Setting the Back Focus on B4 Lenses

Storage Media

CFast Cards

SD Cards

Recording to USB-C flash disks

SSDs

Preparing Media for Recording

Preparing Media on Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2

Preparing Media on Mac

Preparing Media on Windows

Recording

Recording Clips

Choosing the Codec, Resolution and Sensor Area

Blackmagic RAW

Recording to Blackmagic RAW

Choosing Frame Rates

Triggering Record on External Equipment

Record Duration Table

Playback

Camera Front

Left Side

Left Side Controls

Right Side

Rear Panel

Top Panel

Underside

URSA Broadcast G2 Controls

Forward Control Panel

Ergonomic Control Panel

Internal Control Panel

Camera Video Outputs

HD Monitoring Output

12G-SDI Output

Touchscreen Controls

Upper Toolbar

Lower Toolbar

Looping playback

Settings

Dashboard

Record Settings

File Naming Convention

Monitor Settings

Audio Settings

Setup Settings