A house camera leaves the body on SDI, crosses to the rack on SMPTE hybrid fiber when a camera-end converter is fitted, and lands on a switcher input. The return runs back the same way and carries the viewfinder picture, tally and camera control.
URSA G2 body12G-SDI main out · SDI return in
Camera fiber converterBolted to the body · 1 of 3 seen fitted
SMPTE hybrid fiberPicture, return and power on one cable
Rack fiber converter3 racked and live · no spare
Switcher inputs 1–3Program returns to Return 1
House convention
Stated September 12, 2026
House camera numbers, positions, lenses and switcher inputs
Lens pairing follows the position, not a nightly call: the longer front-of-house throw takes the 22×. Pit placement inside the convention is the tour's call; the house advises and sets ground rules. One baseplate is hand-marked CAM 3.
Return 1 carries five services
One failed leg, five symptoms
On the rack converter, Return 1 carries program, camera control, tally, genlock and intercom. If that leg fails, the viewfinder picture and shading control go together, which matches Camera 1 on September 11.
At FMP, genlock is not in use and fiber talkback is deliberately unused. Comms run on Clear-Com, which the audio department manages.
Three bodies, one per staffed position, all Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2. The G2 stamp is legible on the hardware, and the lenses sit on the 4K B4 mount that ships installed on this model.
Identity
Last observed September 11, 2026
QUANTITY
3 in service · no spare recorded
MODEL
URSA Broadcast G2 · part CINEURSAMWC6KG2 · settled September 18, 2026
LIGHT COST
The 4K B4 mount costs about 1.1 stops of light, which drives lens and spare choices in a dark bowl.
NEXT READ
Read and record the serial number on each body. Ask the Head of Video for clearance first.
SERIALS
Not read on any body
Known issues
Camera 1, September 11: the front SDI output stopped feeding the viewfinder and CCU control was lost; the other bodies were fine. Tracked as two faults, the front SDI output and the control/return behavior. Return 2 restored a usable viewfinder feed. Do not merge them until a controlled test proves a common cause.
Camera 3, reported September 17: a curved, color-fringed arc split the frame warm and cool. Cause: the ND wheel was not fully seated. Reseated in the field and it now clicks firmly into each detent. If it drifts again without anyone touching it, flag the detent for service.
Camera 2: the right side handle clamp is broken and runs on a magic arm. Do not try to tighten it.
Connections
INPUTS
12G-SDI in (program return, tally, CCU, reference, timecode) · BNC reference/timecode in · 2 XLR mic/line/AES with phantom · 3.5 mm headset · 2.5 mm LANC · 12-pin Hirose lens · 4-pin XLR 12–18 V DC · 12-pin Molex under the battery plate for the fiber converter
OUTPUTS
12G-SDI main out (rear) · 3G-SDI front monitoring out, which feeds the viewfinder · +12 V 4-pin XLR out (shares 2 A with the lens connector) · D-tap 12 V 1.5 A on the V-plate · USB-C for media and zoom/focus demands · a second USB-C for updates
NOT ON THE BODY
No HDMI and no Ethernet. Control arrives over the SDI return from the switcher, or by Bluetooth, LANC and USB Camera Setup.
Camera ID: the switcher Camera ID set on the body must equal its switcher input. A wrong number makes a live camera look dead on the camera control panel.
Per-output monitoring: the LCD, front SDI and main SDI each have their own MONITOR page. Clean feed, status text, zebra and focus assist set on one output do not carry to another. Set operator overlays on the front SDI page only, never the main SDI.
Reference: referencing to the switcher return needs program selected as the reference source in Setup.
Power
4-pin XLR 12–18 V DC from the supplied 100 W adapter, a V-Lock battery, or fiber-delivered power through the camera-end converter. External power takes priority and fails over to the battery. Which method is live at each position is not recorded.
Three lenses on a B4 mount: two 16× on the pit bodies and one 22× at front of house. Only one barrel has been read, and the capture did not record which body wore it.
Identity
Barrel read September 14, 2026
QUANTITY
2 × 16× (pit) · 1 × 22× (front of house)
READ
One 16× barrel: FUJINON LA16x8BRM-XB1A, 1:1.9/8-128mm. Position not tagged.
UNREAD
The second 16× and the 22×. Do not assume both 16× lenses are the same model.
MOUNT
B4 on Blackmagic's first-party 4K B4 mount, visible as a 4K BROADCAST badge at the turret. No adapter is involved. The mount costs about 1.1 stops.
DRIVE MODULE
A FUJINON FMM-X1 unit sits on the underside. What drives it, and from where, is untraced.
Two lens types by sight
The September 1 frames show a second, visibly different optic with a white and green focus scale in feet and meters and an iris scale of 1.9, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11 and 16. That corroborates two distinct lens types before either model number is read.
Focus through the zoom
When a lens and body are paired differently, or a shot is sharp at telephoto but soft at wide, run the back-focus procedure for the lens actually on the body. Reading a model number does not supply the procedure.
Blackmagic pairs one camera-end converter with one rack converter per camera. Three rack units are live, so three camera-end units should exist. One has been seen. Look at the back of the body you are building before you trust the fiber.
What has been seen
September 14, 2026
One body with a camera-mounted box feeding three short BNC jumpers into SDI OUT, SDI IN and REF IN/TC IN, plus a large round multipin connector consistent with a male SMPTE 304. A camera-end converter is fitted on that body. Its model is inferred; the plate is unread.
A separate frame shows a body whose SDI OUT runs to a single coax with no converter jumpers. It cannot tell a second body on copper from the same body seen from another side.
Neither capture recorded the camera position.
If a body has no converter, SDI is its live path. That matters most at front of house, where SDI needs reclocking beyond roughly 200 ft.
Identity
EXPECTED
3, one per body · Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter CINEURSANWFRCAM
FORM
Mounts on the rear of the body by bracket. The battery plate comes off and the V-Lock plate rides on top of the converter. 19.1 × 14 × 13.8 cm, 2.2 kg.
IN THE BOX
Converter, mounting bracket and three short 12G-SDI jumpers. No camera-end spare exists if all three are fitted.
Connections
INPUTS
SMPTE 304 hybrid fiber (male) · 12G-SDI camera feed in · 2 XLR mic/line/AES with 48 V · 10-pin Hirose tracker · DE-9 PTZ (RS-422) · USB-C · Molex to the camera
OUTPUTS
3G-SDI return to the camera · 3 × 3G-SDI return loop outs · REF OUT · 2 × 5-pin XLR headset · +12 V D-tap (the manual states both 2 A and 500 mA; the conflict is retained) · 4-pin DC out 12 V 500 mA
JUMPERS
Short 12G-SDI from the camera main out to the converter feed in · short 3G-SDI from the converter return out to the camera SDI in
FORMATS
720p50–60 · 1080p/PsF/i at all rates · 2160p23.98–60 · 4:2:2 10-bit. UHD returns down-convert to 1080p. Needs camera software 4.6 or later.
FMP rules
Do not connect a headset to the converter's 5-pin XLR. Fiber talkback is unused at FMP; Clear-Com is the comms path.
Do not connect or disconnect hybrid fiber until the responsible technician confirms fiber power is off.
Cap the SMPTE connector the moment the fiber comes off. Two cap sets exist unfitted, and the Head of Video will not reuse a cable that took dust.
Power
Powered over the SMPTE hybrid fiber from the rack unit, which also powers the camera and its accessories through the Molex. If fiber power drops, the camera on its own 4-pin XLR, or a V-Lock battery on top of the converter, can carry it. Firmware: unplug the fiber, power the camera from mains, then use Blackmagic Camera Setup over USB-C.
Three Blackmagic Studio Fiber Converters are racked and live, one per body, with no spare. A fourth unit is the only way to cover a failure without dropping a camera to SDI.
Identity
Hardware verified · September 1, 2026
QUANTITY
3 racked and live · CINEURSANWFRSTUD · labels and serials not read
FORM
2RU half-rack width. The front carries the SMPTE connector, USB-C, a 5-inch LCD and the power switch, so the unit mounts facing the rack rear by design. 21 × 8.8 × 37.2 cm, 2.8 kg.
POWER
Single IEC inlet, 100–240 V AC. It sends about 200 V over the fiber to the camera end, with a power handshake and a 30 mA imbalance cutoff. It carries the camera and camera-end load, so budget the circuit accordingly.
CONFIGURATION
All on the front LCD. PTZ source is SDI (switcher) or 9-pin; talkback source is SDI plus DB-25, or DB-25 only. The language prompt returns after every firmware update.
Failures on record
September 1: one unit dropped on a firmware fault and was recovered by reflashing through the front USB-C with Blackmagic Camera Setup. The unit and version were not recorded.
September 11: Camera 1 lost its return (viewfinder and CCU control). Check that unit's LCD first.
Connections
FRONT
SMPTE 304 hybrid fiber (female) · USB-C
REAR INPUTS
3 × 12G-SDI return in · REF IN · DE-9 PTZ (RS-422) · DB-25 intercom/tally · IEC
REAR OUTPUTS
2 × 12G-SDI camera out · REF OUT · 4 × XLR analog audio out
NOT THE FIBER PORT
The blue optical I/O cage on the rear is a 10 GbE port the product does not activate. It is not the camera fiber and not a spare network port, so an idle cage proves nothing about fiber service.
One rear panel, as found
September 14 · rack position not identified
12G OUT 2 populated, OUT 1 empty.
RETURN IN 1 populated, 2 and 3 empty.
REF IN and REF OUT, intercom/tally, PTZ, Ethernet and all four audio outputs empty.
That matches the house practice: fiber talkback deliberately unused and genlock not in use.
Front-of-house loop
When a tour asks for a house front-of-house camera iso and accepts a loop, the 12G-SDI camera outputs here are the probable loop point, not anything at the camera. Settle it before the advance.