The Sub £3K Camera Shootout

[Mattias Burling]

 

Don't know if this been posted. Stumbled on it today.
Heres what the description says.

"

The aim of the test is to showcase what's available to shooters under the £3000 mark. Unfortunately, we couldn't get our hands on a Sony A7S. We had a Krasnogorsk SUPER16 camera lined up however we discovered it had faulty gate.

We decided to shoot a night interior as most shooters crave the "cinematic" look. The easiest way to get a "cinematic" look is through lighting, set design and on-screen talent.

The lighting was the same for all cameras (somewhat unfair for cameras with smaller sensors). To my surprise, they all look pretty similar. The differences can be seen in how each camera handles highlights and how it renders skin.

Mild colour correction applied to each camera footage; exposure, saturation, contrast, curves

My thoughts:
I really like the image from the RED ONE MX, bargain for under £3k, however, the camera is heavy and will require a very sturdy tripod. 
The BMPC4K could almsot be intercut with the RED quite easily, I love how versatile the image is.
Not sure I really liked the 5DmkIII, that big sensor stood out like a sore thumb even though we tried to compensate with camera placement and stepping down.
The GH4 stood its own surprising despite getting a bad rap for low light performance. Skin wasn't particularly nice.
The BMPCC threw us a curve ball. This camera seems to like ETTR. I got into the edit room and the footage looked really underexposed. User error on our part exposing the flat image with the onscreen monitor.
Even though i love the look of the SUPER 8, I felt like I was watching some archive footage. Doubt there is a place for a SUPER 8 outside of stylised videos. It's a great gateway drug to shooting film though. I'd encourage everyone to play with one. It really changes the way you shoot.

CAMERAS:
RED ONE MX (RAW, ISO800, f2/2.8)
BLACKMAGIC Production Camera 4K (4K RAW, ISO400, f2/2.8)
CANON 5DMKIII w/ML RAW (RAW, ISO800, f5.6)
PANASONIC GH4 (4K, ISO400, f1.8)
BLACKMAGIC POCKET CINEMA CAMERA (RAW, ISO800, f1.8)
BRAUN NIZO 801 SUPER 8 (25FPS, 200ASA, f1.8)

Lens:
ZEISS ZF.2 35 & 50mm
SIGMA 18-35 F1.8

Graded in Davinci Resolve
Cut in Premiere Pro CC"

[fuzzynormal]

I think I figured it out.  He's attempting to modify his budget so he can buy more IKEA coffee mugs!

At any rate, great test.  Highly informative.  

All the cameras and lenses are competent, yeah?  I'd doubt the lay person would be able to distinguish much subjective difference between shots. My take away from the video is that shooting engaging cinema really comes down to the implementation of the craft.

If you told me I had to shoot a narrative film on a GH4 rather than a Red. Well, I'd certainly prefer the Red, but if I didn't have the option, I'd still be confident with that GH4.

That's ultimately what the EOSHD philosophy is about, yeah?  High level cinema on low budget gear.  The wall of entry into the making of film has certainly crumbled fast, hasn't it?  I always looked forward to when it was going to happen.  Now that it has, I'm still sort of amazed.