GEAR // Philip Bloom’s D4 vs D800 vs 5DmkIII Shootout

Tim Wu — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:03:00 +0000

Oh Philip Bloom… I’ve never actually seen anything you’ve shot, but you have a slider named after you and a British accent, so I’ll listen to you anyway. Below is his long-awaited (?) comparison of the Canon 5DmkII and Nikon’s new HDSLRs, the D4 and the D800:

In case you don’t have 30 minutes to kill to watch the full review because it’s a Monday afternoon and you have like, a real job (PFFT), here are the results in a nutshell~

Nikon D4 – $5995.95
- completely useless in video mode unless you’re shooting at 2.7x crop – FAIL

Nikon D800 – $2999.95
- produces the sharpest image of the three
- aliasing is worse than the 5DmkIII but better than the 5DmkII
- has clean HDMI out, allowing you to feed to an external recorder like the Sound Devices Pix240
- usable image up to 3200iso

Canon 5DMkIII – $3499.00
- images needs to be sharpened in post to compare to the D800
- performs the best when it comes to aliasing
- ALL-I compression bests the Nikon’s at 90mb/sec
- usable image up to 6400iso

So you’ve got a mixed bag of pros and cons where no one camera stands out as THE MOST ULTIMATE CAMERA EVER CREATED. But then again, that’s electronics for ya. While you get a sharper image straight out of the camera with the D800, it’s at much lower bitrate than the Canon, which may screw you if you’re looking to do a lot in post. But then again, you could just go HDMI out of the Nikon into a recorder and get 220mb/sec Pro-res files, which would be miles better than the Canon. But then you suffer in low-light and aliasing performance. OH DECISIONS.

There is something to be said though about where the industry stands when it comes to that question of “what camera should I buy?” My first HDSLR was that cute little Panasonic GH1, and I loved it. Especially with the bitrate hack, it was an awesome camera. But I ended up selling in lieu of the Canon 60D because, as much as I thought the GH1 was a better camera, Canons were what more people were using, and, more importantly, Canons were what clients were hiring.

If you’re looking to get a camera for your own personal use and make really really good looking sex tapes, then knock yourself out, get whatever camera you want. (I suggest Go-pros, they’re easy to hide) But if you’re working freelance, 9 times out of 10 clients are looking for Canon cameras. Whether it’s to work with B-cams or match something that’s already been shot. As a freelancer, the worst thing you can do is be a pain in the ass. And if you’re that guy who they and their editors have to make all these exceptions for because you’re shooting at a different codec or on different media or they have to rent rigs specifically for your camera body because the heights are different, chances are you’re not gonna get the job.

BUT THE BIT-RATE IS HIGHER ON MY GH-13!!! Yeah, well, the number on my paycheck is higher, BOOM. Now bring me more cake.

Of course, things may change. I’m not saying don’t get anything other than Canon cameras. In a couple years, Brett Ratner may be shooting the Tower Heist/Rush Hour cross-over on that goddamn Black Magic Cinema Camera. WHO KNOWS? It’s just important to gauge where the industry is, especially if you’re looking to invest in a camera body with the intention of making it back in rentals~

NAB ’12 – Canon, Sachtler, and Arri

Tim Wu — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:18:00 +0000

It’s NAB 2012 tiiiiiiiiiiiiiime. I actually didn’t have much time to browse the showroom floor because I got to Vegas later than expected today. On a completely unrelated note, there are delightful sales going on right now at the Tanger Outlets just outside of Las Vegas.

In the hour I did have before closing though, I did get to check out some of those items at Canon that EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHERS RAGING OVER. (My mom was not as impressed D:)

So here’s the 1DC, Canon’s latest and greatest in tiny sized movie making technology. In a nutshell, all the hub-bub is surrounding its ability to shoot 4K in a DSLR body. ZOMG. It’s that DSLR form factor that by now we’ve all (by force or not) have come to know and love, but with more flavors of recording. A lot more, actually~

Along with 720p, 1080p and 4k, you can also shoot in a Super35 aspect ratio. This S35 option allows you to use cinema lenses that don’t quite cover full frame sensors (which ironically includes some of Canon’s new cinema zooms). I was gonna type out the full specs, but then I saw it was long… Soooo, I took a photo of it instead.

(Click on it to see it IN STUNNING 4K) As you can see, there’s a lack of frame rate options, which is a shame~ For that, you’ll have to turn to the C500. BUT, the C500 can only capture 4K 4:2:2 into an external recorder as opposed to the 1DC, which can do it straight to CF cards. I didn’t get the chance to see the C500 up close and check it out, but this is what the guy in the Canon polo tells me, SO HE MUST BE RIGHT.

Here are Canon’s new cine zooms~

And primes!

Here’s a 400mm (I think?… I’m the worst blogger ever) on a 1DX, the stills version of the latest in the 1D series. The photo rep guy told me was he was sad that everyone kept coming over thinking it was the 1DC, and would leave when they found it wasn’t. “This camera is cool too!,” he said. To which I responded with, “Ooh, Sachtler makes steadicams?!?” and walked over to try one on.

I actually didn’t even know they made Steadicams. They’re part of a line they call the Artemis, and they come in at pretty curious price points. Their mid-range level model, for example, which is supposed to compete with the Glidecam X-22 or Steadicam Zephyr comes in at under half the price point (~$4500). They didn’t have one on display, unfortunately, SO I CAN’T JUDGE IT WITH MY HANDS.

Before the hall closed, I got the chance to take a look at some of Arri’s new swag. With new camera bodies coming out more often than George Takei updates his facebook (ducks, whaaaaaaaaaaaat), I’ve found that more recently I’ve turned my financial attention towards BLING. Here are Arri’s latest grips, essentially their version of O-grips, with ball-joint handles that lock in an infinity number of positions.

They adapt to lightweight 15 and studio 19mm rods, so you’d be able to use them with both DSLR rigs as well as larger Alexa or Red rigs, which is ideal sauce.

Plus the handles and rod bracket are tapped with 3/8 16 holes all over, which allows you to Noga arm off all sorts of things, like a monitor, an evf, or a piece of chicken.

And here’s Arri’s 15mm base plate for the Epic/Scarlet. I was wondering when they’d come out with support for those cameras, considering Wooden Camera seems to have a monopoly on aks for those bodies at the moment~

I’ll be more productive tomorrow, I SWEAR.

But I did just get a coupon from Banana Republic…

Tim Wu » canon

GEAR // Philip Bloom’s D4 vs D800 vs 5DmkIII Shootout

NAB ’12 – Canon, Sachtler, and Arri