See how it ends! The Zacuto Revenge Of The Great Camera Shootout Part 3

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It’s that time of the month again…part 3 of the revenge of the great camera shootout goes live. It’s the last part and a must watch. I won’t put in any spoilers in this. Just watch and enjoy! BTW Darth Vader is Luke’s dad, the bird in the Crying Game was a fella and Bruce Willis was dead all along!! 🙂

Click below after 1200 CST (That’s 6pm UK time!)

18 comments

    1. I think the F65 was doing a bit of cheating. It wasn’t graded by the team, and I don’t remember seeing any ungraded footage from it. Maybe that’s why it looked the best. The strong part was that they only used the empirical lighting.

          1. Citing Bruce Logan from Episode 2:
            30:12 The data from the Sony F65 was taken to Sony colorworks and they did all of the image processing there.
            They controlled their final results. They gave us a 4K image in 16-bit TIFF files. What we did notice was the highlights were slightly pink, which we tried to get rid of in our very final step. Now, we took it through the Baselight and did the scaling and outputted into the test

              1. If anything it demonstrates that a cinematicist would have a
                tremendous imaging system to utilize!

                The unfortunate thing was the documentary gave a great
                insight into different industry professionals and artists with
                the other cameras and it would have been nice to get more
                insight as opposed to the disclaimer: “Sony felt everything
                the F65 can perfectly handle everything here and sent a
                couple of technicians.”

                It sort of turned it from art and expression into a question of
                acquisition, which we’ve had other shootouts cover in years
                past.

  1. I’m a GH2 owner and I was not that impressed with the GH2. I thought it was in someways better then the Canon 7D but the Canon 7D was better in other ways. The pro camcorders all of them looked really nice. There was a lot of people saying the GH2 came in third place but I do not see it.

  2. Well that was anti-climactic….

    More expensive cameras generally do yield better dynamic range, sure, and I suppose it’s nice to know that these masters of their craft aren’t begrudgingly so… but not certain what else there was to be learned from it.

    It’s still a very nice series and thanks to Zacuto for producing it.

    1. yes. this show won’t get an emmy…

      it almost became weird how often the “message” droped.

      you know, mankind shot movies for much more than 100 years and people used some crappy equipment to make timeless stuff.

      one part would have bin enough by far. “hey folks, set the light for the benefit of your camera, work around it’s weaknesses and you can come this close to a professional camera. amazing times we live in!” – 5 minutes

      yes, i appriciate the work behind it and it was important to be done, but… they could have turned this into a dp-masterclass. show how to choose camerapositions and lightingpossibilities… like “avoid soft light/shadow-transitions to prevent banding.” and stuff like this.

      ps.: it’s the story and the man behind the camera 😉

      thumbs up for the next zacuto series

    1. Sorry, but GH2 dynamic range was even worse than 7D in part 3. Was there cinematography skills in part 2? I don’t think so. GH2 guys used tons and tons of light, and people picked it as “best” because it was overlit. That’s all.

  3. Heck, I’m a GH2 user, didn’t like the GH2 image in either part, but still know I like the images I can make from it (as well as the several thousand dollars it leaves in my checking account).

    GH2 vs 7D isn’t the point (and still arguable at that); whatever the camera, they could all be made to look very good in capable hands – hands guided by admirably experienced minds. If anything, I have slightly less admiration for the Arri and F65 drivers, who barely relit, barely graded, and seemed to function more as simple technicians. Great cameras, sure, and sensible if the budget allows, but is getting a great image from one really much of an admirable challenge?

  4. In regards to the post-production workflow of the Sony F65…

    Citing Bruce Logan from Episode 2:
    30:12 The data from the Sony F65 was taken to Sony colorworks and they did all of the image processing there.
    They controlled their final results. They gave us a 4K image in 16-bit TIFF files. What we did notice was the highlights were slightly pink, which we tried to get rid of in our very final step. Now, we took it through the Baselight and did the scaling and outputted into the test.

  5. (Sorry for my english)

    I didn’t like the final test, or I think we still need a last test. Each camera has it’s advantages (size, price, ergonomics, DR, IQ, operating, etc.)… What’s the difference between a $1000 camera, a $5000 or a $30000 if you have to pay more than 5 actors, cinema lenses, studio, pro post processing, tons of lights, etc.

    I mean, is it serious to use an iphone, GH2 or a 7d in that condition? Was it all necesary to proove that the most important thing is your passion in your job? That a camera is as good as the passion and the skill of the DP?

    Well, we’re still reading which camera is better but if we talk about technology I think that is very important that with cameras like GHx or xxxd you can do cinema in a budget (including notebook or desktop for basic postpro). Will you go in a really indie journey across the country with an Arry and those lenses while sleeping in the car? don’t think so… A film about your grandma with an Epic? My grandma is epic! Convince some friends to make a porn movie and rent a studio? Pervert!

    Well, I think that is there (well, maybe not with the porn one) when skill, passion and budget meets.

    Nop, I didnt like final test.

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