Zacuto Shootout Episode 2

Jesse Brauning

Jesse Brauning

Well-known member
Hey, I think the AF-100 stood up REALLY REALLY well in this episode. Certainly way better than the DSLRs.
And a shoutout to Jan who gets a cameo. :)
 
That just substantiated what brought me to the AG-AF:

With it we can shoot absolutely high quality stuff if we do not expect the impossible and know what we are doing .... and this at a somewhat "manageable" price point.

If we really need higher quality we should rent one of the grown up cams.

And: Done the right way those two can work together at times.
 
Maybe its just me but I got half way into the video and it was so boring I had to stop watching it. I must have ADD. They did put a ton of effort into it and I'm sure the chart guys love this stuff, but to me real world shooting on the cameras built in codec is the best way to check out what a camera can do, not using a external recorder. Maybe I will try watching it again another time.
 
pretty informative material, well executed. I bet if you had shown these clips to non industry related audience- and asked them to pick out the most cleanest, sharpest, well exposed image, and didn't tell them which cam is which- you would get a lot of shoulder shruggs...
 
Whats strange is how bad the samples look. All of them. Its hard to make any conclusions. The interview camera looked better than the most expensive camera they tested. Is this from cropping the image? I find that odd. I know compression sucks for showing what a camera can do when you put in on the web. I too would have liked to see it on the big screen. And I did finish watching it.
 
Erik, I have difficulty understanding what you mean by bad samples. IMHO, this test demonstrates the differences well... even on Vimeo. I do not think the intent was to make the footage win Technicolor accolades. This series is helpful to learn more about the tools we shoot with to leverage their full potential and avoid downsides. This episode's focus is on sensitivity and resolution/contrast within specific parameters. I believe the Shootout crew achieved what they set on doing. What do you expect to see?
 
maxusa said:
Erik, I have difficulty understanding what you mean by bad samples. IMHO, this test demonstrates the differences well... even on Vimeo. I do not think the intent was to make the footage win Technicolor accolades. This series is helpful to learn more about the tools we shoot with to leverage their full potential and avoid downsides. This episode's focus is on sensitivity and resolution/contrast within specific parameters. I believe the Shootout crew achieved what they set on doing. What do you expect to see?
Click to expand...

I didn't expect to see anything specific only watched the presentation and had my take on it. They worked hard on this project and it showed. I'm not a pixel peeper or a chart shooter so maybe thats why it seems boring to me, The samples all looked bad. Just watching it speaks for itself. Not sure what you mean by Technicolor accolades. If I was going to buy a camera based on this test I wouldn't buy any of them. I own and shoot professionally with the AF-100 and I have never had a image that looks like what they showed in the documentary from my AF-100. I've seen images from most of those cameras as well and again seems like not real world results. I'm not a Zacuto hater. They make great products that I use. This documentary was really for the crowd that saw the results on the big screen not for Vimeo viewers. Just my take and thats all its worth. Peace.
 
Have to agree with Eric here.

I saw what I needed to see while we shot on the preproduction models of the AF-100 on a "A Verse Before Dying".
 
Erik Naso said:
I didn't expect to see anything specific only watched the presentation and had my take on it. They worked hard on this project and it showed. I'm not a pixel peeper or a chart shooter so maybe thats why it seems boring to me, The samples all looked bad. Just watching it speaks for itself. Not sure what you mean by Technicolor accolades. If I was going to buy a camera based on this test I wouldn't buy any of them. I own and shoot professionally with the AF-100 and I have never had a image that looks like what they showed in the documentary from my AF-100. I've seen images from most of those cameras as well and again seems like not real world results. I'm not a Zacuto hater. They make great products that I use. This documentary was really for the crowd that saw the results on the big screen not for Vimeo viewers. Just my take and thats all its worth. Peace.
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Worthy noting is that they designed these sets to exaggerate any camera "flaws" or "weaknesses", which is why real world application (IE, what you saw when testing the AF-100) are much different than this test. I still found it very interesting and informational.

But yeah, you guys are right. Vimeo encoding kinda destroyed the viewing. Wish they had an x264 encode of it in 1080p for download. x264 >>>>> h264, and you can mantain quicktime compatability with the correct settings /fanboyism
 
Erik Naso said:
If I was going to buy a camera based on this test I wouldn't buy any of them.
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I agree and would not buy on this test alone either, but I do not think the main intent of the SCCE was to address the camcorder buying. While the results can and, likely, will be used as another input for selection, to me, this evaluation is primarily useful to understand the territory or roadmap of single chip camcorders, their advantages, downsides, and the magnitude of the relative capability spread. By and large, the pro crowd knows what's out there and the relative ranking at least in their primary segment. Most shooters do not have the time to try out everything first hand. This evaluation can educate even the high-end crowd about the runnerups or emerging products relative capability. The state of affairs. As evident from several commentaries, many surprising discoveries were made by some of the most experienced. Evaluations are usually constrained, with compromises, and may be controversial. I try to not take these evaluations for more than what they are. And in doing so, they can be quite useful.

Erik Naso said:
I own and shoot professionally with the AF-100 and I have never had a image that looks like what they showed in the documentary from my AF-100.
Click to expand...
You are probably correct. With SCCE constraints--often extreme--designed to push a wide range of camcorders to their limits, each camcorder taken individually probably did not show its best, but the tendencies and relative capability is nevertheless revealing.
 
maxusa said:
...but the tendencies and relative capability is nevertheless revealing.
Click to expand...

That's all what it is about. Found it interesting how very different the performance of cameras are and where their strengths and weaknesses may or may not be. Probably would even have loved it more to see / hear more from the audience and less of the "flashy" transitions and graphics that made it look like an arcade game at times... ;-)

But still kudos to them for what they did - within the restrictions of an internet video it's informative to see the more or less complete flock of big sensor cameras show what is the state of affairs right now. No comparisons of any kind can be a surrogate for actual experience though.....
 
I do feel this episode wasn't as exciting but the nature of what they were testing was the culprit. Either way still informative and well done. The AF100 continues to hold its own as a camera in the lower mid-range of price. The F3 is really the gap filler there, with the others outside my ability to get at. It's clear that in the right hands the AF100 is no slouch and can perform quite well. Because the playing field is leveled in these tests, it's hardly an example of what every camera can REALLY do so I don't take it very seriously. It's a good gauge but hardly "gospel."

Looking forward to Ep 3. Still a proud AF100 owner. :)
 
Good points. Both episodes are very good at schooling you on the technical side of digital cinema cameras for sure. I liked episode one, its much better at demonstrating how the cameras handled dynamic range and highlights. Noise test are just to hard to demonstrate on the web.
 
heres the thing
lowlight and dynamic range can be controlled by lighting.
Resolution , you cant control soft images, aliasing diagonal lines and brick moire
 
Love the comment at the 20 minute mark about a grip who unplugged a light during one of the tests - so a highlight is missing from the Alexa footage… Yet the $70,000 camera still looks great. Go Figure.

At over 30 minutes it's too long, and most people sitting on their chesterfield won't care which camera is which as long as the content connects with them.
 
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