550D/GH13 comparision shot

Agh you're a tease, the suspense will be terrible but thanks for doing this. These are my guesses, but I'm taking you at your word that you really did take a third camera along and didn't pull a stunt like use the GH1's 1080 mjpeg mode or use upsampled 720p grabs as your "third camera" (we still remember the time you took a 7D downsampled still and compared it to a video grab and called them cameras "A" and "B". Fool me once....). Well here are my guesses, and FWIW I think they're the same camera throughout:

A - the 7D (a disappointment if true)
B - the GH1
C - a "real" camcorder

Comparison 4 is interesting, did you crop?

Choice number A consistently is the harshest looking, has the least detail and most stairstepping artifacts (again - no funny business, right?). I can't make out many jagged lines on C which makes me think it's not a DSLR or EVIL at all. It also has the most detail and a bit more grain. B has some aliasing on gently sloped lines but holds up surprisingly well
 
1 A:7D B:gh13 C: mystery cam
2 a:gh13, b:mysterycam
3 A:gh13 B:7D C:mystery cam
4 A: gh13 B: 7D
5 A:7D B:mystery cam
mystery cam could be hmc40
couldnt tell much diff from the gh13 and 7D... but i could certainly tell the dslr from a camcorder

i guessed some as a gh13 because of the over sharpening... but if that was a 7d id be surprised.
 
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There was no funny business related to what was tested -- meaning, there were three different cameras involved, and it's not a case of using MJPG mode or using stills downsampled or anything like that. There were indeed three separate products, each different from the other.
 
Rakesh Jacob said:
Wow! one these kids is not like the other ones, one of these kids needs lasik, and I think it's obvious what that kid's name is...
Click to expand...

Was it as telling for you as it was for me? LoL...

Shoot it up!

P.S. Thanks a lot Barry. I know the lowlight requests are about to come pouring in as well. For me, just isn't necessary.
 
I have looked only at the first three pictures.
My guess is:
a) 7d-550d
b) ? (hv20 camcorder?)
c) gh13

I am about to get a gh1 too and hack it asap. But after looking closely over and over at these tests, I have some doubts.
I think that the gh13 looks a bit more contrasty than the canons and tends to accentuate vivid colors (as all panasonics by the way), by contrast to the muted colors of the canons. This can be good and bad depending on the situation.
But maybe overall it is better to have muted colors and color correct in post.
Moreover, the panasonic tends to look artificially (?) sharper than the canons, and in some cases much too sharp for my taste (much sharper than the natural vision of the human eye).

Personally, I am not pixel peeping and in some cases I think that sharper is not better especially for filming. Of course I am not trying to bring the gh13 down, I have always liked it's features which are rather camcorder oriented and most probably I am going to get it, just thinking out loud and expressing my doubts.
By the way, I have a rather extensive collection of fast Canon FD lenses, so this is also a restriction for my future purchase. Getting a 550d would mean that I'd have to restart collecting canon ef lenses and this would be far too expensive at the moment.

Hopefully I won't regret it.
 
Great comparison! These are my favorites:

1 - C
2 - B
3 - C
4 - B
5 - B

For me, the A camera images are lacking in detail, and have halos and other sharpening artifacts. I'm actually surprised that some of the other responses said that A had more detail... I had to go back and check if I got the letters mixed up or not. :)

I really liked the way the C camera images turned out... maybe that's because of the exposure differences. I thought B and C looked very similar to each other in detail.

I know you said that A could have been the 7D in one shot and GH-1 in the other, but based on the sharpness and color rendition, I think they are consistent... B is always sharper and leans more yellow. And C is the mystery camera, because the exposure is different from the other two.

If I had to guess which camera is which... B=GH13 because of the sharpness, A=7D and C is a more expensive pro camera.

Those are my impressions, I could be totally off my rocker. Looking forward to seeing the answers!
 
richtrav said:
A - the 7D (a disappointment if true)
B - the GH1
C - a "real" camcorder
Click to expand...

Agreed. After 2 days with the GH13, I can't believe how awful my 7D footage looks in comparison.

Sample a:
A is def a 7D with sharpness at the middle
B is a GH13,
C is a HMC40 or some other full raster small cam

If I'm wrong, well I cant be wrong about the 7D :D
 
JoeJITSU said:
Courtesy of Mark Nicholson:
http://vimeo.com/12783523
Click to expand...

According to that test the Canon 7D looks better / more natural. It is no myth, I owned a GH1 and the camera was simply not very good in low light. Now with the Canon t2i it was simply better.

Now of course you can get faster lenses for the Gh1 and shoot some great looking footage, but when just saying low light performance the Canons still have the edge here.
 
That comparison is great.
I find myself changing my opinion about which sample of each scene I like best. That I didn't expect.
 
I'll look at them on my iMac later but on my iPad C looks best to my eyes in the first batch.

No need for lowlight comparisons as it's pretty clear that Canon owns that one. Philip Bloom has made that clear. I find it is important though, especially for low budget indie film makers like myself who like to use practical lighting.

MAH
 
In Comparison 3 (now on my iMac) C looks the best. Although A & B almost look slightly overexposed? 'A' looks slightly sharper than 'B' but they are both very close.

Now, if A & B are the Canon and the new hack then I'm not sure what all the fuss is about? If 'C' turns out to be the hack then I get it. :)

Comparison 4: B looks better.

Comparison 5 is really interesting as it's just down to the colour for me.
I'll call it a tie since the colour can be boosted either way in post and it's hard to tell which one is accurate although I'm betting 'A' is closer to real life.

Comparison 2 is really tough. I'm guessing it's the hack and the mystery camera. Both look great but one of them is messing with the colour.
I think I prefer 'B' over 'A' as it looks like 'A' is artificially sharper near the top. Very close though. Both look good to me.

Back to Comparison 1: 'C' looks the best. 'A' looks better than 'B'.

PS - To the guys not actually posting their guesses, come on, play along! You can't say "I knew it!" if you don't post it. :)

To sum up...

#1: C wins
#2: B wins
#3 C wins
#4 B wins
#5 Tie.

I could guess at what camera is what but that would be just that, a guess. Especially since one is a mystery.
If the GH13 ends up being the winner in all of my picks I'll be really impressed.

As far as second and third place goes, I don't see a huge difference either way except that the further away the image the better result for what I would consider second place.
Although in some cases it just looks sharper.

Thanks for doing this, Barry! Great group of photos to go by for sure.

MAH
 
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#1
A: Canon
B: GH13
C: Mystery Camera

#2
A: Canon
B: GH13

#3
A: Canon (though I think it might be the same as cam B but with sharpening turned on)
B: GH-1
C: Mystery Camera

#4
A: GH13
B: Mystery Camera

#5
A: Canon
B: Mystery Camera

If I'm correct then I think the mystery cam and the GH-1 are very similar in terms of sharpness. Their only difference is one is darker than the other...which makes the colors pop more. The 7D looks like it has halos all over the place and is obviously not as detailed as the other two. Though...the closer the objects in the frame of the 7D..the more it does look like the other two (strange).
 
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Commenting just on the first A, B, C set, A unfortunately appears to be the Canon. The giveaways are psuedo-HD res and subtle color moire in the water ripples. Won't comment on exposure, dynamic range and color, although A also suffers on those counts in this image set. I would guess that B is the GH13 and C is a prosumer vid cam. Liking the image qualities of C.
 
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