Zacuto Revenge Shootout Part 3

agcohn said:
Why's that? Because the GH2 doesn't have as much dynamic range / latitude as cameras 10-100x as expensive?
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Yes, because GH2 fanboys, after part 2, were proclaiming GH2 is the greatest thing ever made since slice bread, even better than Alexxa and F65

Where did all these people go? EOSHD hasn't even bothered with posting part 3 on his site.
 
evilthought said:
Yes, because GH2 fanboys, after part 2, were proclaiming GH2 is the greatest thing ever made since slice bread, even better than Alexxa and F65

Where did all these people go? EOSHD hasn't even bothered with posting part 3 on his site.
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There are different cameras for different people and different budget levels. I don't know why you are looking for a fight with the GH2 fanboys about this. Of course a $700 still camera is not going to be as good for video as professional video cameras that cost anywhere between $7000-70000.

That doesn't mean that you can't shoot a great looking short / music video / feature film on the GH2 or iPhone. It's just going to take a little more work on your part to make it look great.
 
Well, I liked the Alexa overall the best, simply because you get great footage right out of the box and don't have to grade it up the wazoo to get anything usable. So yeah, if you look at the blacks, highlights and low light detail handling you'll see the cameras break into classes, with a cluster of the most expensive, the mid-range and the low-budget. The more expensive are clearly better as a class and the low-budget are the most limited, but that's not where the interest is. The interest is in cameras within a class. So in the low budget class (7D, GH2, iPhone), I liked the GH2 the best, and in the expensive, I liked the Alexa. Obviously, if I had the budget, I'd shoot on the Alexa, because it gives me the best footage, but that's not my budget. I'm in the zero budget realm ($10K full feature), so my choices are only in the low budget class, and here, I'm happy with the GH2. So sue me.

Meanwhile, I would not pay the money for the C300, or the Epic for that matter. I'm not saying the GH2 is better than the C300 - of course not. What I'm saying is that C300 is pointless to me. I'll either go low budget GH2, or if I do have a budget, I'll step up to the Alexa. If I have to go mid-level budget, I'd rather go FS100. To each his/her own.
 
I also liked the Alexa best overall. Just saw Total Recall and the Red Epic looks stunning in this movie, but in the Zacuto Test the Alexa is the winner IMO.
 
In terms of best bang for the bucks, I was quite impressed with the image the Sony F3 created. Great image for a moderate amount of money.

The image from the RED Epic in this test seemed to be a little harsh considering the cost of this camera.
 
TheDingo said:
In terms of best bang for the bucks
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not sure how accurate these numbers are, but ...

http://www.ryanewalters.com/Blog/blog.php?id=4955533891225329768




Apple iPhone - TOTAL COST: $5,212.56
Camera: - $350. (16GB iPhone $200 w/contract - $550 lens rental)
Time On Set: $3,200
Grip & Electric: $855
Storage Space: 33GB (Roughly 11GB / hour, or 180MB / Min)
Storage Cost: $7.56
Post Production: $1,500


Panasonic GH2 - TOTAL COST: $7.167.06
Camera: $40 (Rate taken from Cleveland Camera Rentals)
Time On Set: $5,220
Grip & Electric: $360
Storage Space: 205.5GB (Roughly 68.5GB / hour or 1,140MB / Min @ 150 Mbps)
Storage Cost: $47.06
Post Production: $1,500


Canon 7D - TOTAL COST: $5,290.74
Camera: $160
Time On Set: $3,500
Grip & Electric: $117
Storage Space: 60GB (Roughly 20GB / hour, or 330MB / Min)
Storage Cost: $13.74
Post Production: $1,500


Sony FS-100 - TOTAL COST: $5,089.27 [$4,792.58 internal recording]
Camera: $550 ($300 for camera + $250 for AJA KiPro)
Time On Set: $2,723
Grip & Electric: $262
Storage Space: 237GB (Roughly 79GB / hour , or 1,320MB / Min @ 176 Mbps for ProRes 422 (HQ))
[Internal Recording: 33GB (Roughly 11GB / hour, or 180MB / Min @ 24 Mbps)]
Storage Cost: $54.27
[Internal Recording: $7.58]
Post Production: $1,500


Canon C300 - TOTAL COST: $10,550.80
Camera: $450
Time On Set: $8,400
Grip & Electric: $185
Storage Space: 69GB (Roughly 23GB / hour , or 375MB / Min @ 50 Mbps)
Storage Cost: $15.80
Post Production: $1,500


Sony F3 - TOTAL COST: $6,100.75 [$5,529.99 internal recording]
Camera: $950 ($450 for camera + $500 for Gemini 444)
Time On Set: $3,630
Grip & Electric: $189
Storage Space: 357GB (Roughly 119GB / hour , or 1980MB / Min @ 264 Mbps for ProRes 4444)
[Internal Recording: 48GB (Roughly 16GB / hour, or 263MB / Min @ 35 Mbps)]
Storage Cost: $81.75
[Internal Recording: $10.99]
Post Production: $1,250


Red Epic - TOTAL COST: $8,037.14
Camera: $1,000
Time On Set: $5,046
Grip & Electric: $171
Storage Space: 1,398GB (Roughly 466GB / hour , or 7.76GB / Min @ 129 MB/s for 5k FF, RC 7:1, w/HDRx)
(Red can record in a wide range of compression ratios, with and without HDRx. All effect the total file size.)
Storage Cost: $320.14
Post Production: $1,500


Arri Alexa - TOTAL COST: $5,993.75 [$7,099 for ArriRAW]
Camera: $1,500 (+ $500 to record Arri RAW via Gemini 444)
Time On Set: $3,368
Grip & Electric: $44
Storage Space: 357GB (Roughly 119GB / hour , or 1980MB / Min @ 264 Mbps for ProRes 4444)
[Arri RAW: 3TB (Roughly 1TB / hour , or 18GB / Min @ 300 MB/s)]
Storage Cost: $81.75
[Arri RAW: $687]
Post Production: $1,000


F65 - TOTAL COST: $3,687
Camera: $2,500
Time On Set: $0
Grip & Electric: $0
Storage Space: 3TB (Roughly 1TB / hour , for 4k RAW)
Storage Cost: $687
Post Production: $500
 
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I really felt that Sony pulled it off with the F65. It had dynamic range, resolution, a greatly improved color space, and the ACES workflow.
Of course the Alexa was a very close second. After that I have to give it to the F3.
 
Am I the only one who wants to go out and try to shoot a short film on an Iphone after these tests? It would seem like a fun little challenge, and really put your skills to the test.
 
not sure how accurate these numbers are, but ...
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I guess these figures could vary wildly, depending on the situation. Nonetheless, a good clue as to why a lot of larger productions would want to shoot with a more "expensive" camera.
 
Postmaster said:
Here are some thoughts of Art Adams on "Why Zacuto’s Latest Camera Test May Have Screwed Us All"

http://provideocoalition.com/index....s_latest_camera_test_may_have_screwed_us_all/
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Frank, this article is simply amazing. I felt like he read my thoughts about the RGCSO. I agree with him for 100%.I wanted to write similar article here at dvxuser but I didn't, just because I knew how much hate I would get. I really liked the fact that Art Adams was more confident about expressing his opinion, even though (like me) he already knew that he would get a lot of hate emails and comments. Also, that part when he said: "The danger is that a producer or director is going to hear Francis Ford Coppola’s quote about the GH2 looking the best and they’re going to go out and buy a GH2 that one of us is going to have to use to shoot their next movie/feature/TV series" now believe me or not but I know a guy who bought GH2 (none filmmaker, just a want to be guy) right after the second part of the RGCSO and he tried to convince his friends that people use GH2 in the Hollywood. Well and I know that there will be more people like him. Also in the part two, I liked what Steven Poster said, that "this staff is really dangerous and it affects everyone in this room" and it's true but it affects not only the people in that room but everyone of us who put the food on the table and pay bills by what we doing.
 
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LOL, have Coppola shooting with a GH2 for a week, and I bet he regrets that statement.

But yeah, especially Gizmodo did a lot damage - that's what happens when no camera people talk about cameras.

Frank
 
i've said this before, i think it would be better if they could just present the results without trying to warm the cockles of my heart. why go to a camera test to learn that story is really, really important?
 
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