nofilmschool » tests

Dude, You Gettin' a Dell? Former Apple Editors Choose 'Yes, Bro' over Mac Pro for Performance

Dave Kendricken — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:18:26 +0000

Something weird is going on. We know the Mac Pro hasn’t had a substantial upgrade in some time. We know that something is looming over the horizon, but we don’t know what, exactly. We also know that Apple will probably over-charge us for it (or it wouldn’t quite feel right for anybody). And while it may not be fair to fault a machine that’s still quite hefty and robust for losing to brand new ones in spec tests and benchmark performance — just what are we waiting for here? Should we even be waiting for it at all? How much incentive to hold out for Apple remains when you can build your own Mac Pro, build your own specialized editing PC — or, for instance, as a recent StudioDaily feature shows many video editors are doing — switch to powerhouse Dell solutions? (more…)

What's the Best Camera Under $1K? Canon T4i, Sony NEX-6, Panasonic GH2 Shootout

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:39:00 +0000

Kevin Good and the Weapons of Mass Production team are on a sleepless mission to determine the best bang for your buck, and weed out all the rest. Each contender will get its due where it excels, but a clear winner will emerge from the settling dust just about every time — and WOMP will suffer no runners-up, all on behalf of the budget shooter. You know this from the show’s 24-70mm lens shootout — you also know how to shoot with an iPhone, or how others measure up to GoPro as action cameras. Now, WOMP sets out to answer the question of questions in today’s camera market: what’s the best you can do for under a thousand dollars? (Runners-up, beware). (more…)

Now That Zacuto's 2012 Shootout Has Ended, Have Your Favorite Scenes or Cameras Changed?

Joe Marine — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 21:30:08 +0000

A lot has been said about Zacuto’s Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012 — on this site as well as on many others. Almost everyone who could weigh in has weighed in, and the positives and negatives of such a subjective/objective test have really been argued ad nauseam. Now that all three parts of the shootout are available to download in full 1080p rather than just streaming, you can watch the test in the best quality possible (besides being in a theater, of course). We’d like to put forward to NoFilmSchool readers, if you’ve already seen the original test, what is your favorite scene now that you’ve had some time to think about it — and maybe even watch it a few more times (in full quality)? Is your favorite scene affected by what you know about the lighting circumstances or the objective test in the third part? Would you choose a camera solely on the subjective test or the objective test? (more…)

Thoughts After Seeing the Zacuto Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012

Joe Marine — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:13:38 +0000

A tremendous amount of time is spent perfecting the Zacuto shootouts, and if you haven’t seen what went into the Revenge of the Great Camera Shooutout 2012, you should watch the behind-the-scenes immediately. The documentary is going to be split into three parts, with part one being released tomorrow, June 15th. I didn’t have a chance to see the RGCSO (as Zacuto calls it in acronym form) at NAB because the showings were cancelled, but thankfully they’ve been showing them around the country and I was finally able to attend. (more…)

How Much Work Goes into Zacuto's Camera Shootouts? Find out in These Production Log Videos

Joe Marine — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:00:43 +0000

While I was excited to see the Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout at NAB, it was not to be, as there were some technical issues, and the screenings were cancelled for the entire week. As many of you know, Zacuto has done a number of camera shootouts in the last couple of years, and many of them have been strictly technical discussions. Their goal this time, however, is to go beyond the tech specs, and really get the most artistically out of each camera. I’ll be seeing the shootout very soon — and will share my thoughts just before it goes live on June 15th — but if you want to see the massive amount of work that goes into producing these things, check out the behind-the-scenes production log videos below. (more…)

So Many New Camera Tests it's Hard to Keep Track: Phantom Miro, RED SCARLET, Sony F3, and Canon C300

Ryan Koo — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:56:43 +0000

We’re trying to share more actual shorts and not just camera tests here, as a difference of one stop in dynamic range from one camera to the next is not going to make or break your narrative or doc. From DSLRs costing hundreds to 4K cameras costing tens of thousands, there is a great camera out there for your budget. Still, one question all filmmakers will be asked is, “what do you want to shoot on?” and so it’s still handy to keep tabs on what’s available. Here are several new tests of some of the latest large-sensor imagers: (more…)

How Durable is Your Camera? A Canon 7D is Tested to the Extreme

Joe Marine — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:39:39 +0000

We’ve been testing cameras for performance in ideal conditions, and also in not-so-ideal conditions, but this is just ridiculous. Kai Wong and the guys over at DigitalRev were kindly donated a Canon 7D to see how much punishment that little camera could take. The 7D has a magnesium alloy body, so it’s much more capable of handling inclement weather — but what if it were frozen in a block of ice, or set on fire? Could it still take photos? Check out the video below to find out. (more…)

RED SCARLET Torture Test: High Speed Handheld Shooting in Subzero Temperatures with 35 Year-Old Lenses

Ryan Koo — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:56:09 +0000

Subzero temperatures. Sunlight filtering through an afternoon forest onto bright white snow. Actors wearing shiny silver outfits, running from direct sunlight to shadows. No neutral density filters and no polarizing filters. No bounce cards and no lights. No tripod. Collectively, all of this makes for some of the worst conditions you could use a camera in. On top of this, it wasn’t even my project, so I was essentially filming a behind-the-scenes featurette with no ability to direct the actors. This was not a project from which to produce a great reel; it was simply a way to put a camera and a new set of lenses to a (freezing) test. With all of those disclaimers, if you care to see the footage, here it is. (more…)

The Canon 5D Mark III, Canon C300, and RED SCARLET Shoot a Nighttime Bike Race Side-by-Side

Ryan Koo — Thu, 03 May 2012 02:36:46 +0000

Remember when video cameras had sensors that were one third of an inch? It was damn hard to shoot anything at night. But now there are a million cameras (well, not a million, but a bunch) with Super35-size sensors. So while you can actually get a decent exposure while shooting a bike race at night now, not all sensors are created equal. Here’s the Canon 5D Mark III, Canon C300, and RED SCARLET filming the same bike race. The first pass of the video has no key (so you don’t know which is which), and then they show you the second time around: (more…)

'Joy Ride,' the First Nikon D800 Test Film

Ryan Koo — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:51:58 +0000

Is the just-announced Nikon D800 the new Canon 5D Mark II? It’s full frame, it’s of a similar size and it’s of a similar price, but it offers a clean HDMI output, and it does 60p (at 720p). The question, I guess, is not how the D800 will fair against the 5D Mark II but how it will compare the Mark III — whenever we hear about that. Thanks to reader Paul, here’s the first (to my knowledge) short film shot on the new D800: (more…)

How Do the Canon C300 and Sony F3 Compare in Low Light?

Ryan Koo — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:43:20 +0000

Cameras have been getting more and more sensitive, so it follows that low light tests are a nice showcase of the latest in camera technology. Here, Sebastian Wiegärtner pits the Canon C300 against the Sony F3 (with S-Log) and Canon 7D: (more…)

Sony F3 and Canon C300 Footage Side-by-Side (and Some C300 Ungraded Files to Download)

Ryan Koo — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:40:14 +0000

How do the Canon C300 and Sony F3, pictured respectively at left, compare? Mario Feil, director of the just-posted C300 short, has released the following comparison video. There’s also a Canon 1D Mark IV thrown in, which quite frankly looks awful at these high ISO levels: (more…)

A Refreshingly 'Awesome' Canon C300 Camera Test

Ryan Koo — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:33:05 +0000

I was just saying something about how the Canon C300 is looking better and better… and now there’s an “awesome” (and funny) camera test further bolstering the case for the initially-maligned shooter. I was actually just doing some scripting for a humorous camera test of my SCARLET-X, but I think by the time my camera arrives in Brooklyn there will have been so many tests that it will be old hat. Still, I’m always a fan of tests that add some humor or story or something to the shot list, and Jonathan Yi’s test demonstrates many of the ways the C300 is superior not only to its cheaper HDSLR ancestors but also to the RED (check out the high ISO tests): (more…)

Zacuto's Great Camera Shootout Concludes with Motion Artifact, Color, and Skin Tone Tests

Ryan Koo — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:11:11 +0000

Zacuto’s excellent behind-the-scenes look at the Single Chip Camera Evaluation concludes with a comparison of motion artifacts, color and skin tone on the ARRI ALEXA, RED ONE-MX, Sony F3, Panasonic AF100, Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 7D, Nikon D7000, Kodak 35mm film, and a few others as well. Here’s the trailer; click on the image below for the full 25-minute episode. (more…)

More Tests Reveal Sony F3 to be an Entirely Different Camera with S-Log Upgrade

Ryan Koo — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:49:27 +0000

There are a number of slow motion sequences in my script for Man-child (only 8 days left… !), which makes a RED appropriate. Otherwise I would probably try to shoot it on a Sony F3 with the S-Log firmware (if the campaign is successful, that is… ). All the footage I’ve seen to date shot in S-Log has been beautiful, with very film-like highlight renditions and gorgeous colors. A common misperception with S-Log is that you need an uncompressed recorder to take advantage of it. Not true! DP Timur Civan recently ran some tests with a Ki Pro Mini: (more…)

The Numbers Are In: the Sony F3 S-Log Firmware Upgrades its Dynamic Range to 13.5 Stops

Ryan Koo — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:40:39 +0000

Sony’s paid S-Log upgrade for its F3 camcorder has been out in the wild for a while now, but to date no one has released a scientific test of how much extra dynamic range the $3,600 upgrade adds to the camera. Abel Cine has just done so, and they find the firmware takes the camcorder from from 12 to 13.5 stops (which is awfully close to ARRI ALEXA territory — and that camera costs $75k). Here’s the test: (more…)

Zacuto's 'Great Camera Shootout 2011' Evaluates Dynamic Range of Eleven Cameras

Ryan Koo — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:52:03 +0000

The first episode of Zacuto’s anticipated sequel to the Emmy award-winning Great Camera Shootout 2010 is now available. This year’s installment is a bit different than last year’s, as it’s actually a documentary on the Single Chip Camera Evaluation conducted by Robert Primes, ASC. The cameras tested include 35mm film (Kodak 5213 and 5219 stock), the Arri Alexa, RED ONE M-X, Weisscam HS-2, Phantom Flex, Sony F35, Sony F3, Panasonic AF100, Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 1D Mark IV and Nikon D7000. (more…)

A Look at the Sony FS100's Dynamic Range

Ryan Koo — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:01:21 +0000

Abel Cine continues their helpful camera tests on their blog with an insightful look at the dynamic range of the post-HDSLR Sony FS100 camcorder. They find the camera gets a respectable 11.5 stops, which according to similar tests is the same as the Sony F3 and Canon DSLRs like the 5D Mark II. They also look at the different CinemaTone settings, which are the customizable knee settings in the FS100. Along with pro audio inputs and interchangeable lens mounts, these settings help separate it from its cheaper HDSLR brethren: (more…)

A Refreshingly Practical Shootout: Six Digital/Film Motion Picture Cameras Compared in Available Light

Ryan Koo — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:39:29 +0000

Just because the latest single-sensor digital camcorders allow you to shoot with available light does not mean you should shoot with available light. However, the importance of being able to should not be overstated. To that end, John Brawley put together a great practical test utilizing six different cameras in the same setting, in order to evaluate which format would work best for a forthcoming feature to be shot mostly on Parisian streets at night. The cameras/formats were Aaton 35mm, Aaton Super 16mm, ARRI ALEXA, RED ONE MX, Canon 1D Mark IV DSLR, and the Sony F3. Here’s the video of the test, which is refreshingly devoid of test charts and instead focuses on the devices as storytelling instruments: (more…)

The Sony FS100 Goes Up to 16,000 ISO

Ryan Koo — Tue, 31 May 2011 04:05:18 +0000

The folks at AbelCine have put the prosumer Sony FS100 through the same tests to which they subjected its professional cousin, the Sony F3, and have discovered some interesting things. First of all, it seems the FS100 gets about 10 stops of dynamic range as opposed to the F3′s 12 stops. But the FS100 has higher sensitivity settings, which let it reach the equivalent of an astounding 16,000 ISO. Here’s the chart that AbelCine came up with, to translate Sony’s video-centric “db gain” settings to the filmic ISO rating to which many are more accustomed: (more…)