Blackmagic PYXIS 12K Lab Test – Rolling Shutter, Dynamic Range and Exposure Latitude

Lab Test

by Gunther MachuDecember 18^th, 2025

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The new Blackmagic PYXIS 12K camera has arrived at our CineD headquarters. After the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF camera, we now have the same 12K sensor in the smaller, box type sibling. Will it perform in a similar way? Curious to hear the results? Then read on …

About a year ago we ran the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF camera through our standardized CineD lab test (results here). It set a new benchmark in terms of performance to price, and scored superb values for dynamic range. Now, the very same sensor but a different signal processing pipeline is implemented in the much smaller footprint of the PYXIS body, which already hosted the 6K sensor of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K.

The PYXIS 12K was announced at NAB 2025 in April – please head over here for our detailed coverage on this camera.

Again, let me say a big “thank you” to my dear colleague Florian Milz who helped me to shoot and analyze this lab test.

Rolling Shutter of the PYXIS 12K

As usual we use our strobe light at 300Hz to reveal the pairs of black / white bars in order to measure rolling shutter. Blackmagic had already posted a table of the rolling shutter values in all the different sensor modes on their forum, so we just crosschecked and found them to be very accurate.

For example, in 12K 3:2 open gate mode we get 24.1ms (less is better), which is on the high side, comparing it to more recent hybrid consumer cameras (please have a look at our database) and is also double the value we got for the URSA Cine 12K:

The interesting part about this new sensor design (RGBW) from Blackmagic is the fact that if it is switched to lower resolutions like 8K and 4K, the readout speed vastly improves. Switching to 8K open gate we get 13.5ms, which is a very decent value! Please have a look at our database to see all the values for all the different sensor modes, including the 9K sensor crop.

Dynamic Range of the PYXIS 12K camera at ISO800

If you don’t know how we test dynamic range, please first head over here.

All dynamic range results were shot at the highest available bitrate in Blackmagic RAW 3:1 at ISO800. Files were developed in the camera RAW tab of DaVinci Resolve 20.3 (using Wide Gamut Gen 4 / 5 and Film Gen 5). So, let’s have a look at the waveform plot of 12K 3:2 open gate mode on a 12K timeline:

We can easily identify 13, if not 14 stops above the noise floor – very promising! However, the 14th stop seems somewhat weaker than what we saw for the URSA Cine 12K LF.

IMATEST reveals 12.8 stops at a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 2, and 14.2 stops at SNR = 1. These are very good results, but interestingly a tad worse across different sensor modes (~0.3 stops) than the URSA Cine 12K LF.

Switching the camera to 8K, we get the following result:

We now get 12.3 / 13.9 stops at SNR = 2 / 1. Again, a tad worse than the URSA Cine 12K LF which scored 12.6 / 14.2 stops at SNR = 2 / 1.

Quite interestingly, we get the highest dynamic range score in 4K full frame sensor mode, where the PYXIS 12K exhibits 13.2 / 14.6 stops at SNR = 2 / 1.

Please head over to the CineD database for all the other results in the different sensor modes.

Exposure latitude of the PYXIS 12K at ISO800

Latitude is the capability of a camera to retain details and colors when over- or underexposed and pushed back to base exposure. Some time ago, we chose an arbitrary value of 60% luma value (in the waveform) for our subjects’ faces in our standard studio scene. This CineD base exposure should help our readers get a reference point for all the cameras tested, regardless of how they distribute the code values and which LOG mode is used.

Again, we develop the files in the RAW tab of DaVinci Resolve 20.3 and use a Blackmagic LUT (Blackmagic Gen5 Film to Video) to convert into the Rec709 space. Strangely, our usual method of using a color space transform (CST) to DaVinci wide gamut, then adjusting everything and then another CST to Rec709 started to clip the blacks at 5 stops underexposure.

Our latitude test starts by adjusting the studio lights such that at T1.5 and 1/25s shutter, we are at the cusp of clipping the red channel on the forehead of our subject’s head, in this case, my dear colleague Johnnie. This happens three stops above the base exposure level, and then in post, we push it down again to base and obtain the following image:

For comparison, base exposure looks like this (no adjustment in post):

Now, we close down the iris of the lens in 1-stop increments until T8, and from there onwards we underexpose further by halving the shutter value to 1/50th, 1/100th and so on.

Let’s move ahead to 5 stops underexposure, pushed back to base. This is the first time when some color shifts start to appear, and noise kicks in significantly:

We are now at 8 stops of exposure latitude, and we have to use noise reduction in post to clean this up:

Quite interestingly, the colors are a bit shifted when compared to the big brother, the URSA Cine 12K LF:

The URSA Cine 12K LF has a more pinkish appearance, while the PYXIS 12K image is more yellowish, using exactly the same development settings. That also leads to a visually less pleasing chroma noise appearance for the PYXIS. In general, the URSA and PYXIS images show larger blotches of chroma noise hovering around the image.

These larger blotches of chroma noise are also the reason why we reach the limit at 6 stops of underexposure:

Now we have very rough blotches of chroma noise hovering around the image, and noise reduction can barely clean this up without creating other artefacts (reducing overall resolution and a plasticky skin):

As can be seen above, 3 frames for temporal noise reduction are used, and a big number for chroma noise reduction (spatial NR) which is definitely borderline.

We are at 9 stops of exposure latitude. However, on a positive note, just faint signs of vertical or horizontal lines are appearing – a good sign, as past Blackmagic cameras have suffered from these phenomena, as well as fixed pattern noise.

The Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF behaved a tad better here in my opinion – but compare for yourself, in our lab test here.

Just for reference, here is the 7 stops underexposed image:

Noise reduction cannot save this.

Now, how does this compare to other cameras? Well, it has about 1 stop better exposure latitude than the PYXIS 6K version. But then there is the Panasonic LUMIX S1II, which scored 10 stops of exposure latitude (9 stops with DR Boost OFF) with some room towards 11 (lab test here) – like the ARRI ALEXA Mini LF (lab test here). The recently tested Canon EOS R1 (lab test here) also scored 9 stops of exposure latitude.

The leader of the pack is still by far the ARRI ALEXA 35 (lab test here) with 12 stops of exposure latitude. But of course, this camera is in a completely different price bracket.

Summary

The Blackmagic PYXIS 12K shows solid but not exceptional results in our lab test. It offers superb resolution and Gen 5 color science, but frame rates are roughly half that of the big brother, the URSA Cine 12K LF, due to double the rolling shutter readout speeds. Switching to 8K / 4K modes again you get a very good but not exceptional rolling shutter, and very good dynamic range results.

The latitude result of reaching 9 stops of exposure latitude has been reached and even surpassed by other cameras in a similar price bracket during the year 2025.

But the overall package in my point of view is still superb – fully integrated in the Blackmagic ecosystem, including a DaVinci Resolve Studio licence, small footprint, fully riggable with lots of great accessories by Blackmagic.

Have you shot with the PYXIS 12K camera yet? What are your impressions? Please let us know in the comments below.