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Zacuto 'Revenge of Great Camera Shootout,' featuring GH2
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  • To me the value in this is for us Newbies. More experienced guys can afford to be jaded about all these tests, but you overlook the value of information that is all over these tests not specifically about the pixel peeping, DR, Resolution etc. Little tidbits that we didn't know are all over these tests and I find it highly valuable and informative.

    Now as regards the GH2, it's great to learn more and more about how to coax even more out of the camera. It's amazing to think that we're still getting more and more out of it after all this time. Just when you think we've maxed out on the quality of image, there's another level achieved. I'm very excited to learn more techniques to get around the GH2 limitations and cameras in general for that matter. I've learned something from every Shootout so far.

  • From part two onwards you'll learn more about lighting, grading etc... undoubtedly.

    When I was interviewed I of course plugged the incredible work of VK. He probably doesn't care about this shootout at all but I felt there was one man missing in all this and just had to say something.

  • Well, I don't know if I'm the only one, but I picked H as HANDS DOWN the only viable answer for the GH2. I can pick out that motion cadence / slight artifacting a mile away. If H is seriously not the GH2, I'll be pretty disappointed in myself. I admit I'm not as good as others in detecting comparative differences in dynamic range and other important aspects of an image, but the motion usually is a dead giveaway for which camera is which, at least to me.

  • @L1N3ARX So are you saying you didnt like H? I thought H looked comparably nice as the top choices.

  • @JPB1138 Oh no, of course not. I freaking love my GH2, I'd be shooting on that over any camera under 10k currently out right now. I really love the image that comes out of this little guy and have simply become accustomed to its minor drawbacks enough, that I can spot them instantly when they happen to come up. But yeah, H was definitely among my top 3.

  • @L1N3ARX agreed! about the GH2.. I can't wait for part two.. a whole month away...

  • You will be shocked by the top Hollywood director who chose the GH2. A personal fav of mine. Made me feel good (but Im not allowed to tell, sorry) :-)

  • BTW @driftwood what would you say the differences are between Quantum 9b, Quantum updated with Sedna Matrix, and Sedna AQ1/Q20 A? SInce they used Quantum on this test.

  • Seriously I'm gonna pull my hair out waiting for a month trying to guess which is which, @driftwood, if you find it in your mercy just to pm me which camera H is, I'll be satisfied, even if I don't get to know the rest until next month.

  • Remember they used only the hack available at the time (end of last year / early this year) which was the latest Quantum (9B). We've come on some since then, but undoubtedly a lot of people are wanting to check out the ol' Q9B... just to see... Its still great, for sure, but I stiill love my Sedna/Canis work together with the new Crossfire settings.

  • H is an incredible camera. Thats all Im saying... I feel it would ruin part 2 if I mentioned it. So I'm not gonna be the spoiler. Sorry.

    I did think about putting V and K in the first two boxes though! :-)

  • Aah driftwood, always the good guy : ). I guess I shall wait in agony while you bask in this knowledge.

  • Nice little show.. My ancient macbook leveled the field even more to the point where only the iphone was discernible (drastically lower resolution). Every shot was choppy, so no sense of motion whatsoever. I even had a hard time saying which I preferred as they where so much alike.. I recall one of the shots having very annoying light glare in the actors faces and wether that was a makeup issue or lighting; impossible to tell. On this computer, that is.

    One thing which I thought about; the limited amount of time for this might have made it more difficult for cameras where the image isn't nice "out of the box", in other words footage that is meant to be processed a lot further. When I say limited amount of time, I mean – 1.5hrs for lighting and another 1.5hrs for coloring can be plenty, however – (and this part is unclear) - if you do not know the set up in advance and have no clear objective with the particular setup (other than to render it nicely) it becomes such a technical shoot. And this could be seen from all DoPs wish to retain the window imagery. Adjust accordingly. Now, take the Alexa for instance, it's image straight out of the box is really pleasing to the eye, bending it in post is a joy. I haven't tried the f65 to know if that is similar - but the gh2 does generally look very good "out of the box".

    My theory from all of this is that, cameras aimed for heavy post work (not saying this cannot be done with alexa, f65) may have suffered a bit in this test; maybe more work had to be done just to get them to look like the actual scene.

  • F and H are the standout performers to me, I think. I wish H were the GH2, but I think it's the F65. I think F is the Alexa. I think E is the GH2 - the tonality and noise profile matches it.

    I agree about D being the iPhone and G being the 7D. Those are the only two cameras that put out an unacceptable image, in my opinion. All of the rest are fantastic, and I had a really hard time ranking them without pixel-peeping.

  • @driftwood You are right - the FOV said the exact opposite about H. H is one of the widest and I was writing quickly. :)

    Here are some of my thoughts on first part of the opening, before the door opens when the camera is still at a high angle.

    • D and G shot (or were graded to deliver) a visibly much lower resolution than the other cameras. This can be seen in the zebra pattern on the woman in yellow's top, as well as in the tile pattern near the bottom. F had a lot more resolution than D and G but still seemed like it might have less than the others. B did fine in most areas but does more poorly than F in the detail work near the upper left corner of the frame. NOTE: D and G also did poorly in the upper left corner.

    • When it comes to the yellow contents of the vase with flowers, B and E look almost as if they had additional sharpening applied or something compared to the others. Not entirely sure what caused the look, but the contours are more sharply defined - which could either be good or bad depending on the context.

    • A, F, I, H and G have a noticeably redder tinge to the right curtain than B, F, C, D.

    And thoughts on the section when the guest first opens the door:

    • D and G show much lower resolution on the leaves outside as well, as compared to the other cameras. The consistency of this issue throughout the shot leads me to believe that it is not just a question of approach, but an actual reflection of the camera sensor resolution.
  • Yeah, after looking at the footage on a 52" Plasma, it's much more apparent that B is actually the GH2. The motion artifact was nothing more than the way vimeo was rendering the footage on my monitor this afternoon, when I guessed the GH2 was the H footage. F is definitely the Alexa, H the F65 and I think C was the Canon C300. Favorites were F, H and B.

  • I didn't read a thing here until I saw the shootout for myself, so I can say i honestly had no idea which camera was which, and I wasn't trying to figure it out! I wasn't trying to find the gh2 amidst all the other cameras so I could just praise it for holding up, and you shouldn't either! just pick what looks best. :)

    Anyway, my top 3 (in order) were B, F, and H.

    everything else looked the same except for the one that was obviously the iphone, though i dont remember which one that was specifically.

  • I think B is the gh? Anyway looking at the PDF I see they shot the gh at iso 320, I wonder why they rated it at 320 instead of 160 or 200?

  • @driftwood

    Half the planet already knows who the secret director is. Everyone's already told their friends. lol

    And F, H, and E for me, with C a distant last. Everything else is kinda ugly.

  • Camera A struggled with the detail on the girls black dress...basically it was all blacked out, and elsewhere too

    Camera B was nice and clean, maybe it looked a tad digital, but it was nice and sharp.

    Camera C was also good, picked up the tonal differences a little better than B ...but may have been not as clean in the final close up as B.

    Camera D would have to be the iphone maybe, it just looked kinda lo res somehow and had no controlled DOF on the closeups (the embedded lit panel on the rear left was still clean...sort of).

    Camera E also struggled with tonal detail on the models dress and elsewhere, but it was still a nice image, although the silhouettes were a little digital looking.

    Camera F Nice...again tho the stripes on the black dress were less apparent, but the overall image was very nice.

    G was kinda funky too, I would rate that as the 2nd worst...looked a bit below par really...not as bad as D tho.

    Camera H The best...beautiful detail and captured light nicely everywhere.

    Camera I was quite nice too

    Keen to hear the results actually.

  • When does the Blu-Ray come out?

  • when results will be available? which is which!

  • I can't believe so many people liked camera B. It just screams "Hey, I'm Digital - I show Life as plastic", as do most other Canons. I watched the footages in Part1 over and over again and kept telling myself: "Forget about definition and resolution and dynamic range and all that technical jargon. Instead, focus on Which footages FEEL good?", "Which one feels cinematic?" My final results were: G, F, C, I, A (not necessarily in that order). I think G was the GH2. E was okey as well. D was definitely the iPhone (no follow-focusing capabilities). While putting GH2 and even iPhone next to such big guys as Alexa, Epic, C300, F65 etc is very empowering and encouraging, the point of this shootout, I think, is to deliver a simple message: the technology is already here and at almost accessible prices, the question is, have you got the talent to deliver powerful cinematography and storytelling.

  • the point of this shootout, I think, is to deliver a simple message: the technology is already here and at almost accessible prices, the question is, have you got the talent to deliver powerful cinematography and storytelling.

    There's a bit of contradiction here, as always in the movie business. It's no secret that "powerful cinematography and storytelling" typically requires a lot of money, quite apart from the choice of camera, and anyone with a lot of money would be nuts to use any of the cheaper cameras featured in the test.

    In the end, very low-cost cameras are used on very low-cost productions, with all the limitations of low and no-cost productions apparent. A situation where the filmmaker has everything (lighting, locations, performance, production design, etc.) but has to use a consumer camera, or wants to use one, is difficult to imagine. Possible maybe, in unusual professional circumstances or when it's part of a marketing effort (for the novelty, of shooting on consumer gear), but rare.

  • @kronstadt interesting... we're chuckling here at Driftwood Mansions! Your last point is great.