The great camera shoot out. Do they have an F3?

C

Cinesin

Carbonite Member
The Zacuto shoot out thing they did last year is happening again. I was wondering if they have an F3? If so, it seems like this will be another one of those never-ending deals where they put all these cameras up against each other but one or two will be wild cards because something wasn't in full operation yet, like the F3's S-log in this case. They will probably use the on-board cards on top of that.

It's a shame because I think the F3 may rival anything else there, esp. if you consider ease of use, ease of post, price, etc. Does anyone else feel this coming already? The only reason it bothers me and I bring it up is that people investing $15k+ into camera systems are sometimes at the mercy of demos like this that producers may watch and not understand. These are the same producers that hear that a TV show used a 5D and think it's good for everything else now.

And is it just me or is there something kind of pretentious and embarrassing about their videos/demos? I don't mean to be so harsh to the zacuto guys as I know they try hard but the style of these videos should maybe be a little less scripted, or if you are going to do that, hire some actual actors. The new critic video comes to mind. (what is with the dolly moves?) :undecided
 
Zacuto Films Original Programming

COMING SOON...

"Premiering April 2011: "The Great Camera Shootout 2011" will feature a new line-up of dueling cameras: Alexa, RED, AF100, F3 & DSLR & more. Shooting in LA, Skywalker Ranch, LucasFilms Ltd., and Chicago. Screenings in NY, LA, and London!"

http://www.zacuto.com/original-web-content

ShootoutTechPoster_675w.jpg
 
Also, yeah cinesin, I definitely feel you in the weird vibe/pretentiousness of zacuto. I don't really understand it.

Wanna know a funny story? You know their critics "show", where they pick out videos online and go over/criticize them?

Well, maybe half a year or so ago, they picked out one of my videos. Out of all my work on vimeo, they picked a lowlight noise test I shot in 5 minutes on the ex1. I was like 17 when I shot it as well. In the title it is clearly called a "quick lowlight test"

They picked this video for their critics show. they NEVER contacted me in any fashion, let alone to ask me for permission. They never even informed me they used it. I had no idea until someone posted a comment on vimeo referring to seeing it on the critics show.

I was very confused and caught way off guard. Funny part is phillip bloom tried to halfway defend it stating it was a test video, and that he appreciated the cinematography, while the dude from zacuto would not stop bashing it's lack of narrative. (it's a f***ing test video!!)

I contacted phillip about it and he apologized, promising to make it up to me by including one of my actual shorts in the next critics episode. That, of course, never happened. Will personally never be purchasing anything from zacuto, but that's just me. I don't mind at all the criticism of the piece (although it was a test video, come on). What really irked me in that whole situation is they never made any attempt to contact me, whatsoever.

this is the video they chose - http://www.vimeo.com/1742810
 
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I like the super deep blacks, very nice! Shooting at night has become an small obsession with me. Not so much getting the best image I can (although that would be nice) I try and pull as much detail out, noise be damned. But then again I don't do this as anything but a hobby. Nice video foh!
 
Thanks! I had just gotten the camera, I don't recall the PP being tweaked at all. Don't even recall what gamma curve I was using, and didn't even bother shooting in 1080 heh. Over the past 2-3 years I've really dialed that camera in, I love it! So good in lowlight. That's why I just can't fathom how much better the f3 is going to be.
 
Im glad Im not the only one who feels a little weird when I see those things. I like their baseplate and got one and thats how I ran into it. Yeah, unqualified people should just stay quiet... it's embarassing to watch. Anyway, I just hope the F3 is accurately represented when its obvious they are DSLR and red fans. However that 35mm camera will still kill anything there (outside of not being super economical) if it's handled correctly.

They should have contacted you for sure, that's unprofessional.
 
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