Zacuto Camera Comparison Test

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The shootout is now officially up.

Check it out on vimeo here. http://vimeo.com/2437826
More information can be found here. http://www.zacutoimages.com/p82280286/h1429ae6c#h1429ae6c

Higher quality uploads are also in the pipe for anyone interested.
 
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I won't drop all of them, but I will say the HPX170, REDs, EX-3, oh and this little guy known as the HPX3000. There's a few more in there including... oh yeah DSLRS!
 
aw man the d90 is gonna take a beating unfortunately, but im glad i purchased nonetheless, the bokeh is awesome : )
 
Here's a more formal plug...
"In the Great Shootout of ’08 see a same shot comparison of: 35mm motion picture, RED, EX3, HVX200, HPX170, HPX3000, Nikon D90, Canon 5D Mark II, Letus35 Ultimate and Elite DOF adapters, Redrock and more. A discussion precedes and follows by four filmmakers ranging in age from 18-46. They discuss what's best. You won’t believe the conclusions."
 
interesting, but some of shots were focused off the girls face and on the violin and was it me or did someone forget to lock the exposure on the D90?
 
exposure looked locked to me. no way in hell the d90 is that ugly though. ive gotten beautiful footage with even less light, and i still really dont know how to use the d90. 35mm film though, damn thats nice.
 
i downloaded and watched the video, didnt watch from vimeo. yeah there's one frame where the whole thing just shifts exposure. but overall, they made the quality of the vimeo and even the mark II look all fudgey
 
yeah I am a mkii man myself and it wasn't pretty
looked like the contrast was through the roof, but it did make me wounder about dynamic range. I thought the 3000 and ex3 were a little too sharp. Well you we could just wait for scarlet and not worry about any of this.
 
Nice, Film still looks the best. However, it's nice to know a small investment of $1200 can be on a list like this. Interesting times in HD video. ;)
 

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Yes we did have some problems with the D90 during the shoot. I produced it if you haven't seen from the poster yet! :) We're not experts on these cameras... the DSLRs. However, we were trying to understand them and get them to look as best we could. Keep in mind all of the footage was color timed to look similar. So each camera will have it's own "look" so to speak as well when not corrected. Everything was lit for the M2 as well... being that the M2 was the most light hungry adapter. If you have specific questions, feel free to PM me or shoutout here. i'll try to answer as many as I can.
 
I don't think that comparison was fair, especially not for the 5D2. People are still just learning how to use it, its just too new. I doubt they played with the contrast/saturation/sharpness settings, and I'm positive that they did not touch the software or custom curves.

Furthermore, I have seen a lot of 5D2 video much sharper and better looking than that. I think part of the problem is the post house they took it to. Its possible they just not prepared to work with the format.
 
Yes we did have some problems with the D90 during the shoot. I produced it if you haven't seen from the poster yet! :) We're not experts on these cameras... the DSLRs. However, we were trying to understand them and get them to look as best we could. Keep in mind all of the footage was color timed to look similar. So each camera will have it's own "look" so to speak as well when not corrected. Everything was lit for the M2 as well... being that the M2 was the most light hungry adapter. If you have specific questions, feel free to PM me or shoutout here. i'll try to answer as many as I can.

Insightful video nonetheless, I think the judging was fair. Although I think the final conclusion was a cop-out! But true nonetheless. All in the hands of the beholder
 
Joseph, It looks great. Would you mind sharing which film stock you used?

The differences are very subtle. But they are noticeable.

And of course the high end setups require work on the post end. They are designed to give you the most play with the footage. It is clear that still, digital systems can't compare to film. But it was interesting to see the differences.

I think it was the fairest test you could have designed.
 
hmmm. odd. I get "Converting. This video is being converted right now"

Is this a new version going up?

Also, my D90 footage is not so soft as the pic mrmoe posted, which I presume is a frame grab from vimeo. What lens, iris, etc was that?
 
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