We were fortunate enough in Nashville TN to have the Zacuto 2012 Shootout screen at one of our theaters yesterday. It was a great experience. My blind picks were Arri, Sony F65, Sony F3, Sony FS 100, and Red Epic.
All test cameras were pretty amazing even the "iPhone" ;-)

Bottom line ..
"How much work do you want to do to get your camera of choice to look good."

The high-end choices seemed to require less "work" at the production phase and post phase to look great.

So much of it is in the tweaking. The results I get out of my Nikon DSLR are way better than they were in the first month I had it. Each of these cameras (aside from the iPhone) has all sorts of tweakable adjustments that often make more of a difference in the final quality than even stepping from one camera to another.

Anyone know what the oblique blue and yellow rectangles around [14:36] (interview with Red Epic master) are about? At first I naively guessed they were associated with scene design but I guess more likely to be selecting different parts of image for monitoring/measurement, in which case is that a feature of RED Epic or some monitoring system?

"The hacked GH2 certainly has something special. " - Paul W.

Paul, I cannot emphasize enough how much the GH2 has re-invigorated my interest in DSLR film-making. For me, at least, it's been a liberating and transformative event, all starting with the meager cost of a used GH2 body and a cheap Russian Helios 58mm manual lens. I quickly added more (thank you, eBay!).

This was my first day knocking around with the GH2, factory 24mbit AVCHD codec, before I even knew how to use it, or set it up, and just the Helios 58:




For me, at least, it IS a real "movie camera." Even the digital ISO noise looks like film-grain.

Lens options are obviously more limited, it's a light gobbler, and it requires a subtly different approach with the 2x crop factor and depth of field, but the benefits vastly outweigh the limitations. And just wait till the GH3 comes out! That will be a monster.

I also hear that Panasonic is hard at work on a Global Shutter, so the Jello thing will soon be ancient history.

Just my thoughts, from one disenchanted 7D owner to another.

Regards,

darby

Yep, i agree with the GH2 comments. The 7D was right up there when not much else could match it at the time, along with the 5D... But as always, technology has, and always will move on.

For anyone interested, the part 1 of the shoot out is here:
http://www.zacuto.com/shootout-revenge-2012/revenge-great-camera-shootout-part-one

I have my fav's listed after watching the film, looking forward to part 2 which i think is coming rather soon.
Its really worth a viewing if you haven't already done so. Very nicely done.

Paul.

@darbpw1,

Can't see your YouTube video. Try editing your post, remove the html and type the following:

[link=

...Jerry

Thanks, amendegw!

My Forum markup skills suck.

darby

i'm looking for a second camera to lock-off on wide (two) shot during interviews. till now i've used my z5 and v1 with great success - easily matched in post and of course able to record LONG takes (z5 with cf recorder - v1 into on location - bothe backed up with tape).

unfortunately the v1 has developed a back focus problem, so i thought i'd look at alternatives to a (perhaps) hefty repair bill.

my basic requirement is the ability to record long (30min+) takes, with audio for guide track.

i was looking at around $1k mark, cheaper would be better... i looked at (but couldn't finding a tm700), but this thread prompted me to ask about dslr's in this situation?

anyone have any experience - i'm NOT interest in dof, etc., i just want a good, clean, easily matched shot to my z5.

thanks, as ever....

"my basic requirement is the ability to record long (30min+) takes, with audio for guide track."30min+ takes should not be a problem with a non-hacked GH2, and it may not be a problem when hacked. When hacked, unless your SD card is ultra-fast write capable, it may have problems with 4GB spanning (and this limit the total record time). Not that it's important, but the builtin mic is stereo.

btw, the GH2 produces some mighty fine images even out-of-the box (i.e. non-hacked). Here's a non-hacked 720 60p (to get better SloMo).



Can't help with matching to your z5.

...Jerry

thanks jerry - pretty spectacular pics....

worth looking into. as for the spanning, well hopefully it wont happen when i'm changing frame on the z5 ;-)

Hi Laurence, aside from WB, aperture, & basic scene presets, etc, what sort of settings are you referring to.

I use a GH2 (non-hacked) for theatrical productions all the time - it records flawlessly for as long as the battery lasts - I believe the longest its run for me is just under two hours. Love my GH2s!
Here's an example: https://vimeo.com/42005192

Just ordered a GH2, two additional batteries and three 32GB Sandisk Extreme SD cards. Threw in an A/C adapter also. Oh, and a Canon EOS lens adapter.

My FX1 has served me well over the years, soon to be another B cam!

I won't hack it for a while, at least until I can buy another one or a GH3 if that turns out to be a viable option.

The GH2 is about two years old. Amazing that it is still so relevant!

For GH2, look for Minolta MD and canon FD lenses, you can buy them by the bushel and they are tack-sharp with a $20.00 Fotodiox adapter. I have adapters for all types- EOS, FD, MD, M42, Nikon. Results are uniformly impressive across all brand types.

Scrapping much of my Canon rig this Summer- 7D and 5D bodies, everything except a few L's and super-wide lenses, hopefully for which I will get a Metabones adapter (if they actually build one). I can no longer abide the powder-soft, sub-700 line "HD" resolution, the shot-ruining moire, the aliasing. For me, that boat sailed almost 4 years ago.

Canon is coming out with a mirrorless soon, but my loyalty has shifted away from Canon because they shifted their attention towards high-end video, relying on a "that's good enough for 'em" policy towards their "low-rent" under $5K customer base.

Getting the GH3 as soon as it arrives. I realize now that in order to make technically acceptable films with a DSLR form factor, my eggs will have to sit in a brand-new basket.

Part 2 now available to view:
http://www.zacuto.com/shootout-revenge-2012/revenge-the-great-camera-shootout-part-two

very interesting..

My top 'i would use' cameras were:
Arri Alexa
Sony F3
Sony F65
Red Epic
and believe it or not - the Canon 7D.

the F3 and Arri Alexa were my favorites, even beating the F65.
the iphone was easy to spot, came last on my list,
My own kick in the private parts was my FS100 - it was not in my 'would use' list !! But i made a note 'fine image, just highlights a little blown'..That could easily have been a profile or grading adjustment. The GH2 also was in my 'not use' list.
And big shock - didnt like the C300.

Its very subjective stuff, and ALL of the cameras were usable. Its just the difference in the amount of post work and lighting needed from one to the other was massive.

Paul.

Really great piece isn't it. Really great, but not really relevant to my work. In this piece, the cheaper the camera, the more the lighting had to be done extremely well in order to compensate. Yes you can shoot on an iPhone and if you light it right, it will look very good. Now my situation is that I want to do more documentaries that deal with human and social issues like this one. In order to polish my craft, I'm doing local ads like these, while limiting myself to the same sort of light equipment that I can stick in a small bag that I can pop on the seat beside me in planes, taxis and small pickups going to third world locations. In my local ads I use the same light setup tone in the workflow. The most interesting camera in the bunch to my own workflow is the 7d. The iPhone needs too much light. The high end cameras are too expensive for projects involving churches and non-profits. The GH-1 is almost great, but that would limit me to lenses that are either slow and need a lot of light, or lenses that are using adapters that make you have to set everything manually. Full manual is grat if you have some sort of contol over what is happening, but not if you are there trying to be sort of unobtrusive observer in the background who can't interfere too much in the things that are happening around him. The 7d isn't too expensive, it's weather sealed and rugged, you can put fast lenses on it and still use things like auto-aperture and the shutter button as a "push to focus". With a fast lense with image stabilization you can still get a very nice image without interfering with no added light or control of the action. You can also grab the high quality stills that you also need along the way.

No it wasn't my favorite look in the tests, but it would be my choice among those options. At the moment I am looking hard at the Nikon D800 at the moment because in addition to what the 7d has it would give me less moiré, full frame prime lens interviews, full audio control with DC bias to power mics from microphone madness.com, great stills with TTL Off camera flash, semi auto very fast shooting in a weather sealed and relatively tiny setup that can go in one carry on bag anywhere in the world on a commercial flight.

The tests in this thread are fascinating and I enjoyed watching them very much. They are just not relevant to my needs and goals.

>>>>The GH-1 is almost great, but that would limit me to lenses that are either slow and need a lot of light,<<<

Not really, there are a few native micro 4/3 lenses which are very fast and have excellent image quality, just as good as anything Nikon or Canon have. It will cost you $1000+ probably, but that is what a quality lens costs.

Can you give me a link or point me in the right direction? I can find fast primes, but what I really want is a 2.8 zoom with a comfortable shooting rang and image stabilization like the 24-70 VR (IS) Tamron.

Well, most of those fast ones are primes and/or in case of Voigtlander manual.

This one would be exactly what you're asking for http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/standard.html#i_012-035mm_f028_x_lens_panasonic, but I don't know how good it is. 12-35 is the equivalent of 24-70 on full frame. and it's f 2.8. It's $1200 so it better be good. ( actually it seems that's pre-orders only, so really new )

Here is a chart of micro 4/3 http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/lens_chart.html. You can find images and more info on the same site.

If you really need a great zoom then for $2500 you can get the best there is. It's 4/3 so you need the 4/3 to micro 4/3 adapter.

http://www.four-thirds.org/en/fourthirds/telephoto.html#i_035-100mm_f020_olympus

fwiw, Olympus & Panasonic have taken different directions in micro four thirds image stabilization. Olympus does it in-camera; Panasonic does it in-lens. See: Image Stabilization - Different approaches

What does this mean for the current discussion? To my knowledge there are no Olympus micro four thirds lenses with OIS. So, adding an Olympus lens to a Panasonic GH2 will not have image stabilization. This may-or-may-not be an issue depending upon how the camera is used.

...Jerry

PS: Here's another micro four thirds lens reference Micro Four Thirds Lenses (pay close attention to the OIS & AF specs)

The 3rd and final part is now online:

http://www.zacuto.com/shootout-revenge-2012/revenge-of-the-great-camera-shootout-part-three

Paul.