Red One, 5D Mk II, and GH1 Footage Comparison

Martti Ekstrand

Martti Ekstrand

Veteran
Just found on Vimeo the famed test film that Birns & Sawyer LA commisioned which is shoot with all the above cameras and intercut. It's the version with camera info for each cut, the one without doesn't seem to be available. Sorry if it's been posted here already - did search here but couldn't find a previous post with link.

http://vimeo.com/5981422
 
I miss the Gh-1 so bad... how sad. Seriously, I couldn't find a single moment where the GH-1's image didn't look cinematic as all get back. And, as well, all the talk about how RED is "slow" now, pfft. The RED footage here doesn't even look like it's been processed and it still is outright incredible, especially the lowlight stuff.

I doubt they shot with B20 and used the new Color Science, which has turned RED into an all new beast on its own.

But damn, GH-1 man... sob.
 
Yeah, it really looks like the RED images especially need some processing to crush the blacks and increase contrast. The 5D and GH1 would do that some of that sort of thing automatically, I imagine. I'd love to know what RED build this was shot on.
 
This is one of the most compelling sales tools I have ever seen for the GH1...makes me wish they were available and makes it hard to w8 to see what the 60D offers.
 
WOW!!! Thanks for posting that. Absolutely phenomenal video, those guys who made it rule.

GH1 IS AWESOME!!!!! I've been using it lately for run and gun stuff, shooting short interviews outside with the kit lens... footage has been pretty damn good imo! It's not just for people who can set up shots and use lights and stuff... I think a great documentary could be done with this. At least 80% of the time people think I'm setting up for a still shot, lol! Makes them much more natural on camera.

But... I've realized the GH1 shines the lower the f-stop you can get on it. I need some Canon FD's, damn converter will take 2 weeks or something to ship from Europe though? Damn :( Also, the more contrast in colors the betters... the shot with her on the gray pavement wall parking structure thinger, it wasn't as good. Also, I don't think the 300mm on the GH1 looked as good as the other stuff either.

5d Mk II didn't look that much better than the GH1 at all, the RED you could tell the diff, but for the price the GH1 delivers amazing results for lower budget filmmakers

edit: has anyone seen good wide shots with the GH1? it can't really do these bc of the 17mpbs codec limitation right? That's how I understand it. I want to see some kind of establishing shots with wide angle lenses from the GH1... Though a good workaround if you aren't gonna move the camera would be to shoot burst mode on stills for like 3.5fps? 4K resolution and I think with the right editing it could work.
 
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If you look around you'll find some Red footage that looks way better than what's being shown here. This doesn't look like an objective comparison to me.
 
Considering that selling / renting out pro-gear at fairly high prices is Birns and Sawyer's main business it doesn't sound likely that they are interested in commissioning a test intentionally biased towards either GH1 or 5DmkII over Red One.
 
Would have liked a comparison with the SI-2K, the camera used for Slumdog Millionaire. Red is overrated.
 
Mike@AF said:
If you look around you'll find some Red footage that looks way better than what's being shown here. This doesn't look like an objective comparison to me.
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That said, I do think the Red and 5D look the best there. I like the 5d's colour richness, but I'm don't think the Red's colours and sharpness have been pulled out as nice as it could have been.

The GH1 looks distinctly weakest to my eyes, but it is still the best GH1 footage I've seen.
 
Was the GH-1 shot 1080p24? Can't find that info, but I assume so.

My GH-1 is frustrating me. The image is incredible at 720p60 and it really sucks at 1080p24 (in my opinion). Color banding. macro blocking. patch work pattern when underexposed. When you then use it at 720p60, it really feels like panasonic is screwing up the 1080p24 on purpose.

If the slowmo didn't look so great I would probably sell it. I don't feel like any jobs will want to shoot on it over my 5d.

Also - just got back from a studio web series shoot. We shot the 5d. Will be about 2 months before I can post anything though.
 
ryansheffer said:
Was the GH-1 shot 1080p24? Can't find that info, but I assume so.

My GH-1 is frustrating me. The image is incredible at 720p60 and it really sucks at 1080p24 (in my opinion). Color banding. macro blocking. patch work pattern when underexposed. When you then use it at 720p60, it really feels like panasonic is screwing up the 1080p24 on purpose.

If the slowmo didn't look so great I would probably sell it. I don't feel like any jobs will want to shoot on it over my 5d.

Also - just got back from a studio web series shoot. We shot the 5d. Will be about 2 months before I can post anything though.
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The 30p from MKii is killing me. In this very example the conversion sticks out like a sore thumb and when it's not converted, it shoots the great compositions to hell.
 
BandanaDan said:
That said, I do think the Red and 5D look the best there. I like the 5d's colour richness, but I'm don't think the Red's colours and sharpness have been pulled out as nice as it could have been.
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I was thinking the same thing, but the bottom line is WOW, these all looked fan-freaking-tastic. I'm flabbergasted and fusticated (Mike Tyson coined that one) at how good these all looked together. Sure I could tell them apart due to the color correction not being a 100% match between all three cameras. Also, the text on the bottom of the screen kinda makes it obvious, but still. WOW.

Now maybe the Red can annihilate these other two once it goes through the whole post color grading process, but then again, a Red One's cost including all the necessary accessories is what, 3 times the cost of a 5D mkII? Not bad when you take that into account.

I have to say, I would love to see a version of this video with all the footage color matched as close as possible and the lens/ISO/iris info taken out of the video.

Kholi said:
The 30p from MKii is killing me. In this very example the conversion sticks out like a sore thumb and when it's not converted, it shoots the great compositions to hell.
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Really? It could be that it's just me, but I didn't notice anything horrible about the Canon's 24p conversion. Maybe I should go back and watch it with that in mind to see if I can pick them up. Then again, some people will be sensitive to it, while others (general audience) won't even notice.

It would be great if Canon could include 24p on the supposed 60D this fall. I doubt it though. It'll probably be 30p again.
 
John Caballero said:
Thanks God for choices. Whoever is not happy with the GH1 have a choice of 30p Mark ll or $30k Red One. It is that simple, isn't it?
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Well, in my case I can't afford the Red One. I'm sure if Santa Claus were real and he brought me a Red One or a S35 Scarlet for Christmas I'd love it though.

I'm also sure that I'd probably be happy with the GH-1, but since they're hard to find now and Canon is probably going to soon announce a 60D, I figure might as well wait. I'm not crazy about the 30p but I do like that robust Canon codec over AVC-HD. Also, I'm just not seeing anything horribly wrong with the mark II's 30p to 24p conversion.
 
Ghosting will definitely stand out to an audience. And so will 30p in something that's supposed to be a "movie". There's no denying that.

The conversion that they did is ghosting, or you can see the image "trailing" behind itself.

I've been trying to placate myself with some 24p conversions, and then this test shows up and reiterates the importance of in-camera acquisition. Doh.
 
Kholi said:
Ghosting will definitely stand out to an audience. And so will 30p in something that's supposed to be a "movie". There's no denying that.
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I'm just not seeing the ghosting you talk about. Same thing with a lot of other 5D mkII videos I've seen online. It could be that I need to see the video full screen on a TV or computer monitor. Maybe the Vimeo version is small enough to hide it?

As for 30p, I obviously wouldn't have my final edit of a film delivered in native 30p. Yuck.
 
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