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196. The Great Camera Shootout 2011: Episode 1 ~ "The T…
8 months ago
In the most scientific camera comparison to date, "The Great Camera Shootout 2011: a documentary of the Single Chip Camera Evaluation (SCCE)" premieres with Episode 1: ''The Tipping Point." The first episode of the 3-part web series examines three SCCE Tests: The Dynamic Range Test, The Under Exposure Test and The Over Exposure Test.
Robert Primes, ASC, designed and administered the full series of tests. "That's right," says Web Series Director Steve Weiss,"We didn't want people to think that these tests were biased in any way. So Bob created the SCCE as an independent organization to conduct the testing." Additionally, Bob Primes designed the tests with his own technicians and selected the cameras to be tested.
The impressive 12-Camera line-up includes: 35mm Kodak 5213 & 5219 Film, Arri Alexa, RED ONE M-X, Weisscam HS-2, Phantom Flex, Sony F-35, Sony F3, Panasonic AG-AF100, Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 7D and Nikon D7000. In addition to the SCCE tests, the web series features commentary from some of the top DPs in the industry, which was filmed at worldwide screening locations in Sydney, Amsterdam, New York, London, Las Vegas (NAB) and Hollywood "You'll hear from indie filmmakers, event shooters, commercial DPs, directors and corporate filmmakers," says Steve Weiss, "Although you are not watching these tests in a 2K theatrical setting, hearing such commentary from people in the ASC, BSC, ACS, CSC, NSC, ICG and the SOC, will help you evaluate the significance of these tests."
This first episode of the series looks at the dynamic range and usable latitude of each camera. "We need to see how these cameras record real scenes," says Jens Bogehegn. Thus, Bob Primes, ASC, designed an under-exposure scene and an over-exposure scene. In regards to methodology, the camera master had to set their camera to record the widest dynamic range and they were not allowed to change any settings between the two scenes. The combination of both of these scenes will show the usable dynamic range of each camera. The featured scenes are shot by Michael Bravin and lit by Matt Siegel and Nancy Schreiber, ASC.
***The featured tests include three scenes: a back-lit test chart shot by Michael Bravin, an under-exposure scene lit by Matt Siegel and an over-exposure scene lit by Nancy Schreiber, ASC.
For more information on "The Great Camera Shootout 2011, go to zacuto.com/the-great-camera-shootout-2011. To watch previous episodes of The Great Camera Shootout 2010" visit zacuto.com/shootout
Commentary in this Episode Features:
Academy Award Winner Russell Boyd ASC, ACS (Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, Ghost Rider, Forever Young); Academy Award Nominee Don McAlpine ASC, ACS (Moulin Rouge, Patriot Games, X-Men Origins: Wolverine); Calvin Gardiner ACS; BAFTA TV Award Winner Nic Knowland, ASC (The Final Passage, Around the World in 80 Days); Emmy Award Nominee & ASC Nominee Gale Tattersall, ASC (House, Ghost Ship, Wild Orchid); Mykelti T. Williamson, Actor (Forrest Gump, 24, CSI: NY); Ken Glassing (CSI: Miami); Philip Bloom (Sophia’s People, Greenpeace: Voices of Change); Terry Hopkins (London Film School); Dan Chung, James Mathers (Digital Cinema Society), David Wexler (Broken, The Wind) and more.
CAST & CREW
The web series documentary features two different independent crews. The SCCE Crew: Administrator Robert Primes, ASC; Station Chiefs: Michael Bravin, Stephen Lighthill ASC, Nancy Schreiber ASC, Matt Siegel and Mike Curtis; Line Producer Josh Siegel. The Shootout 2011 Crew: Editor Karen Abad, Graphic Designer Chris Voelz, Producers: Daniel Skubal, Scott Lynch, Jens Bogehegn and Eric Kessler; Web Series Director Steve Weiss.
Robert Primes, ASC, designed and administered the full series of tests. "That's right," says Web Series Director Steve Weiss,"We didn't want people to think that these tests were biased in any way. So Bob created the SCCE as an independent organization to conduct the testing." Additionally, Bob Primes designed the tests with his own technicians and selected the cameras to be tested.
The impressive 12-Camera line-up includes: 35mm Kodak 5213 & 5219 Film, Arri Alexa, RED ONE M-X, Weisscam HS-2, Phantom Flex, Sony F-35, Sony F3, Panasonic AG-AF100, Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 7D and Nikon D7000. In addition to the SCCE tests, the web series features commentary from some of the top DPs in the industry, which was filmed at worldwide screening locations in Sydney, Amsterdam, New York, London, Las Vegas (NAB) and Hollywood "You'll hear from indie filmmakers, event shooters, commercial DPs, directors and corporate filmmakers," says Steve Weiss, "Although you are not watching these tests in a 2K theatrical setting, hearing such commentary from people in the ASC, BSC, ACS, CSC, NSC, ICG and the SOC, will help you evaluate the significance of these tests."
This first episode of the series looks at the dynamic range and usable latitude of each camera. "We need to see how these cameras record real scenes," says Jens Bogehegn. Thus, Bob Primes, ASC, designed an under-exposure scene and an over-exposure scene. In regards to methodology, the camera master had to set their camera to record the widest dynamic range and they were not allowed to change any settings between the two scenes. The combination of both of these scenes will show the usable dynamic range of each camera. The featured scenes are shot by Michael Bravin and lit by Matt Siegel and Nancy Schreiber, ASC.
***The featured tests include three scenes: a back-lit test chart shot by Michael Bravin, an under-exposure scene lit by Matt Siegel and an over-exposure scene lit by Nancy Schreiber, ASC.
For more information on "The Great Camera Shootout 2011, go to zacuto.com/the-great-camera-shootout-2011. To watch previous episodes of The Great Camera Shootout 2010" visit zacuto.com/shootout
Commentary in this Episode Features:
Academy Award Winner Russell Boyd ASC, ACS (Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, Ghost Rider, Forever Young); Academy Award Nominee Don McAlpine ASC, ACS (Moulin Rouge, Patriot Games, X-Men Origins: Wolverine); Calvin Gardiner ACS; BAFTA TV Award Winner Nic Knowland, ASC (The Final Passage, Around the World in 80 Days); Emmy Award Nominee & ASC Nominee Gale Tattersall, ASC (House, Ghost Ship, Wild Orchid); Mykelti T. Williamson, Actor (Forrest Gump, 24, CSI: NY); Ken Glassing (CSI: Miami); Philip Bloom (Sophia’s People, Greenpeace: Voices of Change); Terry Hopkins (London Film School); Dan Chung, James Mathers (Digital Cinema Society), David Wexler (Broken, The Wind) and more.
CAST & CREW
The web series documentary features two different independent crews. The SCCE Crew: Administrator Robert Primes, ASC; Station Chiefs: Michael Bravin, Stephen Lighthill ASC, Nancy Schreiber ASC, Matt Siegel and Mike Curtis; Line Producer Josh Siegel. The Shootout 2011 Crew: Editor Karen Abad, Graphic Designer Chris Voelz, Producers: Daniel Skubal, Scott Lynch, Jens Bogehegn and Eric Kessler; Web Series Director Steve Weiss.
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Jens BogehegnProducer -
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Kessler CraneEric Kessler: Producer -
Karen AbadEditor -
Chris VoelzGraphic Design
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Well done...
We compared the Nikon D3s to the Canons and film last year. You can find those episodes here:
vimeo.com/11080239
vimeo.com/12919826
vimeo.com/11082700
This year as we state in the beginning the main focus of this comparison was to test Cinema Style cameras.
-Scott
No camera test is perfect and completely all-encompassing, the FS100 wasn't able to be tested, or the EPIC, or anything from Sony's Alpha line, and yes in hindsight, we regretfully did not include the GH2.
There aren't any intentional slights going on here. Originally we only wanted the one camera from each manufacturer. But as this test became 10 times larger then we planned a bunch of cameras were added to the roster, including an F35, Weisscam, Phantom, and 2 extra Canons.
As we say in this episode, Bob was given final say as to what he wanted to include.
I also want to stress that the SCCE was not designed so people would know what camera to buy, and it would be impractical to test every single camera that's on the market with this type of comparison. Our reasons for doing the documentary was to educate about images and cameras are tested and evaluated.
We would encourage people to continue doing their own tests and to publish the results.
Sorry that the GH2 wasn't included, but there's nothing I can do about it.
-Scott
It is not a stills camera with a 1st generation add-on video mode and 3 year old image processors, it resolves twice the resolution of the 5DMkII in video mode and without the same moire issues.
So its omission is rather silly and it's a real frustration not more in the industry recognise the GH2 compared to the Canons which are overrepresented despite being mostly inferior, full frame sensor of the 5DMkII aside.
The EPIC and FS100 weren't properly available when the shootout was made but the GH2 was and a great deal of Zacuto's customers would have been encouraged by the results. As it is I feel the shootout is much less positive about DSLR video than the first one.
Take this as constructive criticism, I like it overall but it misses the qualifying statements about price and target shooter, I think. Aspiring filmmakers will watch this and think they need to spend $10,000+ on gear when quite frankly they'd be better off with a sub $1000 DSLR in many cases.
I have seen total crap shot with a RED and I've seen gorgeous stuff shot too. The same goes for every other camera. We are all putting way too much emphasis on having the "best camera". THERE IS NO BEST CAMERA!
I can tell you that because I've been in the business for 28 years and up until recently we would always rent our cameras, the right one for the right job. I'm not getting embedded into a unit in Afghanistan with an Alexa or RED. A DSLR would do perfectly, as we saw in Danfung Dennis' amazing film. This test is just to show and teach you about how these different cameras work, learn about what dynamic range, latitude, color space and other mythical terms that none of us really knew were. It's not make you re-think everything you ever knew about your cameras. You were fine with your camera before the test and so should you after the shootout.
Bob Primes said it best. A real DP will make anyone of these cameras look great. It's in you! Your lighting, framing, etc.
Don't focus on the cameras so much. Nobody every said "that movie sucked but it sure looked nice". Focus on story, acting, sound & food for your crew. Picture comes below those 4 items for me!!!
Zacuto did not conduct this test. Bob Primes and the SCCE did! Zacuto just made this documentary about the test which includes the results of the test. Bob picked the cameras and he chose not to pick the Gh2, based on Panasonic's advice that they would rather have the AF100 in the test. Panasonic was at the test.
To me as the director of this show, I think people need to lighten up, it's just entertainment.
best,
Steve
I'm sad to see the type of responses posted here.
After clearly stating the purpose of this shootout, people still treat it like a buyers guide or something equivalent to such.
Please rest assured that the other 79863 individuals who have watched this video and chose not to leave a comment, have understood and enjoyed your efforts.
Furthermore, I really appreciate you including the D7000, even though it was not your choice which cameras to feature. I am also extremely glad to see the 7D in a direct comparison to the Alexa and the Red MX, and I'm sure if you include the Gh2 in 2012, somebody will complain about you not including the goPRO or a FLIP.
Looking forward to watch the other episodes.
Keep up the great work and contribution to the community.
Kind Regards,
Milan
That is the most clueless statement here. Go look in the viewfinder of a Canon or Nikon DSLR when shooting a video and tell me what you see.
GH2 video shot @ F0.95:
vimeo.com/27365630
I'm asking this, because there is a sacrifice in latitude and obviously post production manipulation to gain the contrast and color i've seen.
Well, i know it's impossible to establish a perfect comparison, just want to know how the test was made.
The Alexa in these scenes was recorded as ARRIRAW to an s.Two.
In post a slight curve (but not quite Rec709) was added to make the images seem more normal.
Bob didn't want to do a lot of post-production to the footage, as he didn't want it to turn into a comparison of colorists. So all the footage was recorded as uncompressed as possible, and then slight gamma curve adjustments in post to make them seem more natural, but that was it.
-Scott
p.s. As a side note though, we did record every scene with a variety of formats. The Alexa, for instance, has ProRes422 and 444 versions of tests that we didn't show in this episode. In Episode 2 we'll talk more about compression and how the tests were recorded.
...and once you start shifting the gamma, you do get clipping.
cheers!
I love all your series.
We want the 2 episode? please
please just tell us why you did not us GH2 ?
The GH2 is better (in several aspects - resolution/moire/aliasing/no recording limit/less issues with overheating) than a lot of the Canons even though it's not made by a professional division.
The reason for not including it is arbitrary and does not reflect its usage in the field and its capabilities.
But, what can we do? :)
I am excited to see the second episode!
In all the tests it looks like they were just eyeballed. And if thats is the case these tests are worthless and expensive at the same time.
Example, the front of the coffee table is a dark feature which should barely change from camera to camera yet its all over the place.
Same for the under exposure test. Why is it that the top brightest LED lights are exposed differently, quite differently in some cases. Really unusable data.
Every exposure in this test was checked and re-checked with light meters. With this level of talent on the set I can assure you that absolutely nothing in this test was eyeballed.
The mid tones were exposed properly for each camera. But as we mention in the show, each camera distributes it's latitude differently. This means that the shadow detail and highlight detail can very dramatically between different cameras and different manufacturers. Some may have only 5 stops in the shadows and have 7 stops in the highlights, others may have 8 stops under and only 3 stops over.
To see if the exposure was set right you need to look at the two girls in the fore-ground of each scene, they were lit to be the midtone. The idea was to expose for that and then let the shadows and highlights fall where they may.
-Scott
Also in the low light test the D7000 clearly out performs the 5DMkII yet you've rated the 5D better. The Canons all look soft and the Nikon is a lot sharper if you watch her face and the pattern on the lamp. To me the D7000 looks slightly better in the side by side than the Red despite the different lens FOV, especially when looking at the shading on the corner of the couch. The Canons all basically look black and soft.
I've used both and found the D7000 to have a lot more dynamic range. DXO Mark rate the D7000 at 13.9 Ev and the 5DMkII at 11.9
dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors/Compare-cameras-side-by-side/(appareil1)/680|0/(appareil2)/483|0/(onglet)/0/(brand)/Nikon/(brand2)/Canon
I'm not really sure how DXO Mark actually does their testing, but some of the differences could be:
-We were testing the video output of the cameras, I believe DXO works with the RAW still files from the cameras.
-The DR testing in the SCCE is based on luminance, but only luminance where all three colors were there were valid (for example if a camera's highlights started to clip earlier in the blue channel then that clipping point would be the limit of the DR)
-The D7000 also has a Zeiss ZF lens on it and not the PL Fujinon. Zeiss lenses are generally have more contrast and therefore appear sharper.
-The D7000 has looks less compressed when in video mode (less "h.254" blocky-ness maybe?) this may be reason why it scores lower in the signal to noise ratio in the second episode.
But I think the most important thing to keep in mind that numbers can't sum up what it means to use a camera, and numbers don't necessarily mean that you will like one camera over the other.
The numbers in the charts shouldn't be taken as "ratings" or "scores" basically all the numbers say that if you take this imaging system and shoot this chart the camera shows this "x" number. So many factors go into creating an image that not one set of numbers or test can ever be definitive.
-Scott
Only cameras from the professional divisions were included and Bob had the final say in what cameras he wanted to test.
-Scott
Edit: A fact that slipped my mind is how similar the AF100 and the GH2 sensors are, so there's still room for some based speculation regarding the performance of the GH2.
I'd recommend Nikon pro glass over Zeiss. Although in this test perhaps the reason the D7000 is sharper than the Canons could be the PL Fujinons. It would have been interesting to see how they did with Canon Pro glass.
By the way, love your products. They are so well made and I can't imagine working without your Z-finder Pro.
Great job. Thank you, Zacuto. Few questions: What's with the dynamic range of the 7D? Just as last year, I am amazed by the 7D. As a filmmaker, from a budget POV, the 7D seems to be the most attractive alternative to renting a real camera. The biggest surprise to me was the D7000. Unfortunately, in a negative way. Recently I've been seriously looking into the D7000, over the 7D, and it just lost a whole lot of points.
Honestly, I was skeptical that this year's shootout would not live up to last year's and that it might have only been produced because the one last year was so well received. The 2010 shootout was amazing but the 2011 one is even better.
Thank you again, Zacuto. This really does help!
'Not every camera is right for every job.'
All kidding aside, you guys really knocked this shootout out of the park! Seriously, this is incredibly informative and an absolutely brilliant way to demonstrate each of these cameras at there weakest points, at their limits, where they all fall short in one way or another.
As someone trying to get their first indie feature film produced, this resource you've provided is truly invaluable. My sincerest thanks to all you guys at Zacuto, to Eric Kessler, to Robert Primes, and to everyone else that took the time to make this shootout as good as it is.
If you feel compelled to complain about what these folks have managed to do here, then you clearly have no concept of the monumental (and thankless) amount of work that went into this. I'm just saying.
The comments about some people in the video are pretty naive : "I did not like the highlights but loved the darker scene !" Off course, if the highlights are overexposure, the darkest point will be better exposed than the ones shot with properly exposed cameras !
A+B=C
We cover the use of external recorders and bit depth in Episode 3, which can be found here: vimeo.com/29708051
-Scott