St. John Knits Commercial Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65
DP Jeffrey Vogeding used high resolution camera to capture intricate beauty for luxury fashion campaign.
Design today announced that DP Jeffrey Vogeding used Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65 digital film camera to capture luxury fashion looks for St. John Knits’ fall campaign. Vogeding shot the commercial against the beauty of Lake Tahoe, CA, using the camera’s RGBW 65mm sensor and 16 stops of dynamic range to capture the fine details of both the knitwear and natural beauty.
According to Vogeding, “I chose the URSA Cine 17K 65 because of its unique sensor design and outrageous 17K resolution, which let me capture everything from sweeping mountain vistas to the tiny stitches in St. John’s famously detailed knits. Lake Tahoe threw everything at us, from snow, sleet, and rain during prep to 75 degrees and sunny on shoot days, but the camera didn’t blink. I didn’t baby it; it just kept going no matter the conditions.”
With the camera’s ability to shoot in 17K, 12K, 8K or 4K without cropping the sensor, Vogeding weighed the different options for the project but ultimately chose to shoot in 17K. “While I don’t believe resolution is everything, in this case it solved real world problems. In 2025, every frame also has to work as a homepage banner, a vertical reel, or a TikTok. Normally, framing for 2.39:1, 16:9, 1:1, 4:5, and 9:16 all at once would be impossible, but with this camera, I could confidently frame extra wide knowing we could punch in later without compromise.
“We even risked putting the talent small in the landscape, which is something most clients would normally panic about, but we felt confident based on the sensor. I wanted the clothes to feel small against nature, because that scale tells its own story,” Vogeding continued. “It may sound lazy to frame loose, but it was liberating. I shot more wide, sweeping landscapes than I normally ever would, and the camera gave me permission to do it. That kind of creative freedom is rare.”
However, post production was where the camera really impressed Vogeding. “The files came in cinematic but honest: skin tones, fabric textures, and the whole frame looked incredible right out of the box,” he stated. “We barely touched grading, which meant more time spent on creative decisions instead of technical fixes. And with the camera’s built in Media Module now supporting up to 16TB, we could literally shoot all day in max resolution without sweating storage.”
Vogeding noted that even with a mountain of data, playback was shockingly smooth: “I edited on a 4K timeline, and the 17K files played back in real time in DaVinci Resolve Studio on both a Mac Studio and a MacBook Pro. Ironically, I’ve had mirrorless cameras shooting plain old 4K that were far more taxing to edit. This was the opposite: massive images, featherweight workflow.”
Despite this shoot being Vogeding’s first time using the camera, he found the design and Blackmagic OS incredibly easy to use. “Tactile buttons everywhere, menus that actually make sense, and a solid first AC meant I could just dive in and shoot. It’s not something I’d risk with most cameras, but this one made me look smart; because who doesn’t want to capture images fit for IMAX and TikTok at the same time?” he asked.
Vogeding concluded, “Ultimately, I shot at 17K because I could, but honestly, 12K or 8K would’ve been stunning too. That flexibility is rare. What blows me away isn’t the resolution; it’s the dynamic range, the color science, and the flexibility of the files. That’s what makes the images truly beautiful. The resolution is just icing on the cake. I can’t think of another camera that offers this combination, let alone on a 65mm sensor.”
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