The Great Camera Shootout 2010

I wish they posted the settings for each camera. For the GH1 it looks like they used defaults, not the lower settings that seems to extend dynamic range.
 
philiplipetz said:
I wish they posted the settings for each camera. For the GH1 it looks like they used defaults, not the lower settings that seems to extend dynamic range.
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I wish they would post the canon picture profiles that they built so we can download 'em !

c'mon P.Bloom, share the love !
 
I thought it was going to be a fair test till I heard that... You have default settings vs Blooms mastered canon settings... er

I was impressed with the 5D... nice to see what the right settings will do for a camera.
 
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Skip first 9 minutes, then it gets interesting. What they shot the movie theater with? Another DSLR? It is jellofest. This is one area where CMOS-based DSLRs will never get close to film - film does not produce jello.
 
subtleinspiration said:
Bloom gave the impression that you couldn't really tweak the GH1 like you could the Canon's though.
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I've had both the GH1 and the 7D/t2i. The GH1 has different picture styles like the canons and you can adjust sharpness, contrast in each of those styles. From memory you can't build your own S curve like you can with the canons
 
>This is one area where CMOS-based DSLRs will never get close to film - film does not produce jello.

No idea where you get this. If they get fast enough they read the whole image fast and Jello is gone. May take a while though.
 
Talking purely from my own observations:
the dlsr's rendered very similar skin tones compared to both film stocks, im not sure if there was a lot of tweaking from the colorist or not, but for me that was the most exciting part.

Also how the dslr's give about the same amount of lower end, shadow detail like film.


Another thing, in the first test (bathtub), with the glass bricks in the background, the 5d seemed to hold the highlights more, compared to the other dslr's, but when it came to the charts it lacked 1/2 a stop more than the rest (besides the gh-1). that was a bit confusing...

I was surprised to see how all the different dslr's handled the light bulb, for some reason the 7d shined when comparing to the others as it bloomed similar to the film stocks (not holding highlights like film, but the flaring was similar)

Besides the highlight issues where film really shines I am very very happy with what these cameras are capable of.

So far i am very impressed, i just want those picture styles Mr. Bloom made!!!!

This knowledge is creeping into younger generations now, I mean I'm only 17 and already I am completely engulfed in all this hype.
 
I think the wonderful thing we can take away from this is that for 90% of our budgets, we now know we can get a look very close to film and concentrate on what's in front of our camera instead of worrying about the equipment. Some will argue that a new age of indie possibilities has been out there since the DVX, but I know for my interest level...it sure looks better now.

I am a real GH1 fan, it's interesting to see, perhaps not a bias, but simply an embracing of the Canons, a feeling that they are the direction to go in, and a concentration, as such, on them. I felt the bath scene looked best on the GH1 of the digitals, and the bulb scene, the worst. I have heard Bloom say before that the problem with it, aside from the codec is that it's 'too sharp' and can't be lowered or customized as much as the Canons.

Never underestimate the power of hype, Chrismagic, as we say...

I felt that they screwed up the count on the dynamic range chart...they said 10.5 for the 5D and counted 11 on the others until they got to the Gh1 but the others (especially the Nikon) didn't look like 11 to me...not sure.
 
What a great video. All of the dslrs looked closer to film than I thought. I do wish the T2i was in it.
 
ATL Media Group said:
I need to watch it agan, I thought Bloom said he didn't tweak the GH1 like he did the Cannons, not that he couldn't tweak it.
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Yeah. He did.

Which sucks because on default settings the Gh1 will be less contrasty than the Canons on default settings, and after you tweak it it should get similar dynamic range to the tweaked Canons.
 
Haha, I spotted my cinematographer professor in a couple of the shots in the introduction. What a good episode! It's so awesome to me that we're actually comparing HDSLR cameras to 35mm film stocks. Digital has come a long way, even if it isn't the "winner" in this test.
 
I almost wished they had in some respects (at least throw in a HVX/HPX and an EX1 in there) just to see how those cameras performed in comparison as well.

Still, great work to all involved.
 
Ok i caught this last night and I must say i was really blown away. I have known for some time and really was an early adopter of this growing trend to use DSLR's for video. I did this because it was a fairly inexpensive (in comparison) way to get into video, without purchasing a second set of equipment from my still camera. I have known since hte beginning of using the D90 that these DSLR's while some great abilities and features have some really serious short commings. Even after upgrading the the 7D which addressed many of these glaring problems there are still some left.

They took great pains to make sure this test was fair and unbiased, even going as far as to use the same Ziess glass on every camera (including the film cameras).

Well after seeing these cameras compared to Kodak and Fuji film stocks, its amazing to see just how close these 2nd gen DSLR's are.

In some low light instances i felt the 5DMKII and 7D actually looked BETTER than the Fuji film stock (the Kodak was still clearly the best of anything on any test).

What does this all mean? Film can cost as much as $800 / min to develop. Record 2 minutes of footage and your spent enough to BUY a 7D, record another minute and your up to 5DMKII range, and thats not even counting the cost to get the film camera (buy or rent).

Seeing actual industry leaders confirm a lot of this was exciting to see.

You can also see the difference in the newer gen vid DSLR's (the canons) vs 1st gen technology (The Nikon D3S), and 1.5 gen technology (Panasonic GH1), and how those two cameras still have a few more short commings that the newest stuff.

You still have the issue of rolling shutter (which is greatly improved from the beginings), and a slightly lower dynamic range, but knowing the limitations its pretty easy to work within them. Also for a photo guy like myself, working with a DSLR is just not a difficult task at all, and i actually rather like it in most cases (aside from the viewing screen).
 
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