Dead set or just dead?

A

arrestthisman

Well-known member
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-10042-10239-10240

(BTW, I wasn't sure, rules-wise, if you can link like this. I've never posted a link before. I just read the rules and couldn't find anything about links, but if it's a problem, please take down this post and accept my apology. Thanks. Sorry to sound like a n00b. I should know better being here since 2004.)

Ok. I looked at the Reggae video (towards the bottom).

Is it just me or is the compression TERRIBLE! I was all set to get the 7d when it became available. I currently own an hmc150, and was planning to keep them both.

Now I'm really not sure. I've seen clip after clip show serious macroblocking and compression artifacts despite having double the bandwidth in the h.264.

I know it's all in the implementation though, and afaik Canon doesn't use B-frames, which seriously hampers efficiency.

I've seen great footage too, but I have yet to see great footage of the 7d off of native files. The only good footage I've seen (besides one clip which looked good not great) has been re-compressed and downsized.

I'm not trying to knock it. I'd love to be proven wrong, and I'm sure in the right hands it could produce great footage, but I've just seen too much bad footage and it scares me.

I've also noticed the dynamic range (less so on the 5d) looks very poor to my eye versus the 150/170 or the sony cameras as well.

Should we take it that this is 1st gen, more meant for web-delivery, and not up to par with a real video camera?

I've put DVX100 footage on a 20' screen and it looked great to me (albeit soft), but looking at the native 7d stuff I can't imagine it holding up on a large screen.

Sorry if this is rant-y, but I'm so disappointed. I really wanted to get this camera. I knew I'd be getting a different look entirely, but that was the point. Two cameras for different jobs but at least close to the same quality.

The footage from the hmc40 looks much better to me. (I mention this because of the price bracket.)

Does anyone else agree? Am I missing something?
 
This is one of the first posts that went up with footage a while back. The rail clips had me freaking. But it is a preproduction model and since then there have been much better stuff online.
7Ds are about to drop, so wait and see what you think then, no need to worry just yet.
And like with ANY camera from the DVX to the Red1 there's gonna be stellar stuff and collosal crap depending on the end user. I'm sure Michael Jordan can basketball in flop flops better than I can in HiTops any day :)
 
arrestthisman said:
Sorry if this is rant-y, but I'm so disappointed. I really wanted to get this camera. I knew I'd be getting a different look entirely, but that was the point. Two cameras for different jobs but at least close to the same quality.
Click to expand...


There's an easy choice, don't buy it. Keep shooting with what you've got or wait for something better to come out next year. There's no need to be proven wrong, it either works for what you're doing or the workarounds are not suited to your shooting style.
 
Isaac, I think the point of my post was to get a consensus from anyone willing to share, if my perception of low quality was true, or if there were mitigating factors.

It sounds like it's a combination of both.

Thanks for all of the feedback though! I think in short I'm going to need to play with one, take the footage home and see for myself. It was easier with my current camera where every shot I ever saw looked great, and I was like, "that's the one for me." Not so with the 7d.
 
Even if the consensus is against you, your own opinion is still the only one that really matters. If you just don't like the image, then I don't think that anyone (or everyone) can simply talk you into liking it. So I'm afraid that gauging the consensus won't help you very much...
 
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