Zacuto Camera Comparison Test

Emanuel said:
Yes, I can just agree on that odd part related to the color approach at post, as far as the 5D Mark II is concerned. Too cold for a camera that has been capable on offering warmer skin tones, for instance.
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Can you clarify your statement. Are you saying that you disagree with the color correction done by Filmworkers in Chicago?

Jarrard, let me double check so I don't tell you the wrong thing.
 
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The D90 comes closest to the 35mm DOF. Has the upscaling to 1080 made the D90 footage softer? The D90 "still" doesn't appear as sharp as others I've seen.
 
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Joseph Stunzi said:
Can you clarify your statement. Are you saying that you disagree with the color correction done by Filmworkers in Chicago?

Jarrard, let me double check so I don't tell you the wrong thing.
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I've already read some complaints on the subject matter. I can agree with them. Other footage (from 5D Mark II) has been shown in a better way with distinct results. Skin tones, for instance.
 
Joseph,
It's not that important—don't worry about it if there's any difficulty finding out. It's just useful to compare 30fps since that's what the 5D is designed to shoot.
 
I really hope with Vincent's help and the fact that a post on his blog has 1000+ comment concerning getting a firmware update that will allow 24P... that Canon will indeed release a firmware update. I even think people would pay a small fee for that. Who knows though. I think Canon did the 30FPS aiming at web video destinations.

But... maybe the D400 will be the good 1st generation solution. It's rumored to do 1080/24P. So that'd be a welcome camera in my opinion.
 
I went back to have another look at the shootout specs in relation to DOF. 35mm was shot @ f/4, D90 and 5DII @ f/2.8, and the poor red @ f/1.4. The D90 comes very close to replicating the 35mm DOF as would the red I suspect at the right aperture. The Video cameras in their stock setup look like "video" and with DOF adapters the background is a blury mess. As everybody knows the D90 needs some work in post to get a sharper image and I suspect pushing it to 1080 didn't help.

Some people seem pre-occupied with definition as being the most important factor in creating a film look. I disagree. Take a film like 21 grams for example, grainy as all hell. Re-shoot it on a D90 add some noise to mask some artifacts in post, and who other than a cinematographer is going to know the difference?

So if the purpose of the shootout was to find the camera that most closely resembles the look of film the squigly award would go to the red @ f/4 and the runner up would be the D90 @ f/4.

Just image what the D??? will be capable of.

I applaud the Zacuto guys for their effort. It's practically an impossible mission to run a fair comparison when each camera has such varied specs. You can compare light, color, and definition, but throw a DOF comparison into the mix and the former 3 are out of balance. So the only way to do it would be to run 4 shootouts with each camera set to it's optimum ability in each area as compared to 35mm.
 
I can't afford 35mm or a red so I'm shooting my feature on a D90. I'm calling her "Nicky". She's temperamental but if you treat her just right she makes you feel really good without having to burn a hole in your pocket.
 
There you go squig. You should have seen us (well the Zacuto guys plus me) before we started shooting the test itself. We didn't know how to setup the scene. How to light it. How to run each camera. What exactly we wanted people to get out of the footage... or potentially get out I guess.

Anyway... do what you can with what you have. Jarrard recommended that I check out the movie White Red Panic and that was shot with Home Depot lights and a HV20. It's phenomenal. You really should vimeo it! In the world of RED cameras, affordable CG, and recent articles on indie filmmaking even state thoughts like this, I feel like we can loose sign of the "indie" attitude. I dunno. I just wish I saw wires more often in indie films! *wink*

Is any of your stuff online? I'd love to see it.
 
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Joe,

Great previous post with the frame grabs!

Funny thing is 98% of people would not be able to tell them apart or care if the content was good.

This makes me want to shoot everything on an hv30...

EDIT: I do have to say for the kinda stuff I shoot the hpx 3000 would be sweet.
 
Joseph Stunzi said:
There you go squig. You should have seen us (well the Zacuto guys plus me) before we started shooting the test itself. We didn't know how to setup the scene. How to light it. How to run each camera. What exactly we wanted people to get out of the footage... or potentially get out I guess.

Anyway... do what you can with what you have. Jarrard recommended that I check out the movie White Red Panic and that was shot with Home Depot lights and a HV20. It's phenomenal. You really should vimeo it! In the world of RED cameras, affordable CG, and recent articles on indie filmmaking even state thoughts like this, I feel like we can loose sign of the "indie" attitude. I dunno. I just wish I saw wires more often in indie films! *wink*

Is any of your stuff online? I'd love to see it.
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Hehe, I don't have anything to show you......I've been in the music business for the past 20 years and this is my first film. I used to shoot rave videos back in the day and also worked as a production assistant for a film co in a past life.

I'm warming up with a short that I'm shooting in a couple of weeks and entering it into tropfest. It might be cool or could be a complete disaster considering it involves children and I have to start shooting a couple of days after my D90 rig arrives.....but it will be a good warmup for my feature either way.

In the music production world I always found I achieved the best results with a minimalist setup. When I went out and bought a high end setup I spent all my time playing with my toys and never got any work done. This gig involves me a D90 a macbook pro some diy led lights a cast and some tresspassing.....that's about it. And mb a sound guy if I stuff a mate with enuf pizza!.....Oh and a script. Something a lot of big budget films tend to go without these days.

As soon as I shoot something worthy I'll post it.
 
ChipG said:
Joe,

Great previous post with the frame grabs!

Funny thing is 98% of people would not be able to tell them apart or care if the content was good.

This makes me want to shoot everything on an hv30...

EDIT: I do have to say for the kinda stuff I shoot the hpx 3000 would be sweet.
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I would say Varicam due to the ramping functionality. But yes... the 3000 or 3700 ain't half (well more like 1/100th) bad!
 
You are correct Chip. I just think there's something to doing it natively in the camera!

There was no HV30 footage. I mean I can do a 5D2 to HV30 comparison whenever I get my tester 5D2 here in town. Not much to really be said... both lack über controlability.
 
I think it would have been a funny test if they would have lit the scene for the DSLR cameras instead of the Light hungry ones. Some would feel different about the test at that point...
 
Rick Horton said:
I think it would have been a funny test if they would have lit the scene for the DSLR cameras instead of the Light hungry ones. Some would feel different about the test at that point...
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Yeah, good point.

Any decent test of these cameras would run them all through a range of tests including low light.
 
There's only so much you can do! However... maybe in Version 3 of this test... we'll do a different setup. In regards to low light, I think the 5D2 would shine. I mean most of the footage from that guy is at night and it has wonder (but grainy) nighttime capabilities with little to no light at all! As stated earlier, all of the footage of the coloring suite was done with the 5D2. Did I mention it was pitch black in there?

For anyone wondering about the 5D2 conversion process... here goes.
The 5D footage was taken to Filmworkers where a 30p DPX sequence was made from the quicktime files, then converted to 1080 60i using a D5 deck. For the final edit the 1080 60i footage was cross converted and dubbed using the D5 deck and HD1200 to DVCProHD 1080i.
 
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