Zak Forsman

haha! yeah, I love my Z-Cam F6. it's amazing in so many ways.

4K high framerates and auto-focus aside, the S1H objectively delivers a better image on the whole. A7SIII still suffers from substandard color fidelity and baked in noise reduction that wrecks detail. The way i look at it is that the S1H excels at the minimum specs that i consider essential, while the A7SIII excels at some specialty operations, but doesn't meet important specs I consider essential. I was hopeful that the A7SIII would surpass the S1H but there are base operations that have to be met before I can get excited about 4k 120p (which is overkill for most situations, anyway. I find b-roll captured at 48-72fps more useful in the edit). I usually have to speed up 120fps for pacing.

That is not a minor quibble when it comes to our clients' confidence in us. We don't need any more hurdles (big or small) to doing our job and "selling" a client (who only knows enough to ask for a Red) on a different camera package gets old fast. If the EVA2 looked more like a baby Varicam, I would be very happy.

Dear Panasonic, I would buy this L-mount, FF, 4K 120fps, EVA2 in a heartbeat. Signed, a former EVA1 owner that is getting by with two S1H bodies at the moment.

I needed something that could get banged up traveling from shoot to shoot in situations where gear can get knocked around, so i didn't want to spend a lot. I bought this 2 years ago and have been very happy with it. Despite some battle scars, it's still kicking. $900 USD. Lilliput BM150-4K https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1248684-REG/lilliput_bm150_4k_15_6_carry_on_rackable_4k_broadcast.html

Jason Zhang, the owner of the company, posted a test 4 months ago.

if the battery element is important, the Nanlites are definitely better there. Quasar Science offers batteries but they look clunky and dangle from the power socket. I think The Nanlites last about two hours? In terms of equivalency, I'd estimate you'd need 6 or 7 Nanlite tubes to match the output of 4 Quasar Science tubes. But that's matching full power. I have run into situations where a single QS tube at 1% is too intense and I've run a strip of gaff tape down it to cut it down further.

it isn't much, but I set up a couple of the Quasar RGB tubes for this test of a Z-Cam E2, Speedbooster, modded Contax-Zeiss combo. Honestly, this was less of a test and more of a chance to mess around with new gear while chatting with my buddy.

Because of the price, I looked into the 4' Nanlite RGB tubes but remember some reviews saying they were underpowered. And the Quasar Science tubes had just gone on sale so I went with those and have been very happy.

kept both.

I don't think you're going to make any money going that route. if money isn't a goal, that's fine. but even if it's to be seen, the film will be buried so deep in their libraries that almost no one will even accidentally stumble upon it. a good avenue for indies that want eyeballs and decent money (that aren't picked up by a mini-major for distribution) is still cable VOD. it outperforms all other platforms. not that you shouldn't also get it onto itunes, netflix, prime, hulu, etc. but cable VOD will account for the majority of revenue. the last time i released a feature, it was 79% of revenue. itunes was about 15%. all other platforms combined made up the remainder. my advice is to submit it to small distributors that have strong relationships with cable providers across north america. do a day and date theatrical release of at least 15 north american cities, and make sure the cable providers know you're doing it, so that your title is listed under "new release" and "now playing in theaters" on their VOD systems. Otherwise you run the risk of going in as a library title where no one will find you unless they already know you title and browse alphabetically for it. a day and date theatrical release will give you premiere placement on cable VOD system resulting in 5-10x more revenue.

I've been doing this for a decade and 2017 was the first year that I cracked low six figures, before taxes. I shoot, edit, and color behind the scenes and EPK for the major studios. What I make after taxes is between me and my accountant. I live in Los Angeles so living expenses are astronomical. My advice: take care of your body. I tore my rotator cuff six months ago and lugging cases from job to job has been hell on earth. Still haven't fully healed.

No, I own a Z-Cam F6 and have since november. It has had ProRes from the beginning.

yep, this. They are both fantastic. I love shooting full frame *and* having the option to switch over to a S35 crop anytime i need to. The S1H I reserve for run and gun doc work, behind the scenes on movie sets, travel or anytime I want a light setup. I'm also thinking of selling my EVA1 and buying a second S1H (or S1) for perfectly matching A-Cam / B-Cam interviews. Z-Cam F6 packs in much higher framerates, ProRes, swappable mounts: EF/PL with E and M coming soon, and its anamorphic mode uses the full height of the sensor. I'd choose it over the S1H for narrative shorts/features, or more "produced" doc work. I fully intended to sell one or the other after auditioning both, but I love their individual strengths too much to let either go.

my serials are all pretty close. but I wouldn't worry to much about color. any difference, if there even is one, is going to be a minor shift that's easy to account for in post. This is my first camera with IBIS and it takes getting used to. When using manual lenses you have to remember to set IBIS for the correct focal length and I've managed to bungle that a few times already. I also learned (the hard way a few months ago) that IBIS is not something you want to use with an 18mm lens. Ruined more than half of my footage. Now, what I'm liking about the IBIS is that it doesn't feel like stabilization (unless you screw up the settings). It almost feels like the type of handheld camerawork you get with a nice heavy 20lbs+ cinema camera rig. Oh he was really happy with it. But he has a healthy approach to it. He sees it as a separate work of art and encouraged them to make it their own and to not feel beholden to make a straight adaptation. That being said, it's pretty damn faithful. Some shots are basically live-action recreations of his panels. I was surprised just how faithful they were.

Seems people like pairing their S1H with Leica-R lenses... and I'm one of them! I'm shooting a short doc on my brother about his comic book, "I Am Not Okay With This", as it's currently being adapted into a series for Netflix. This will be the second time he's had a comic book adapted into a series. The first was "The End of the F*cking World" which did well, however, he told me that people would see him signing copies of the original comic at cons, and accuse him of "ripping off the show". So this time, i wanted to help raise his profile a bit when "I Am Not Okay With This" is released, and it gives me something to flex my creative muscles on. Anyway, some sample stills... Panasonic S1H, Leica Summicron-R 35mm, 50mm, & 90mm. Not a final grade -- just wanted to get some images out.

I've had my Z-Cam F6 for a couple of weeks now. It's amazing what they have packed into this little camera. They gave me early access to the firmware they released yesterday which had a lot of color improvements. I also own an S1H and although i planned to sell one or the other, i'm keeping both. The S1H makes run and gun doc work easy. So when i'm hired to shoot behind the scenes footage by the studios, it'll be with the S1H. It will also serve as a B-Cam to my EVA1 for EPK interviews. The Z-Cam F6 on the other hand has strengths i'd want in a cinema camera that I'd use on productions where I'm not flying by the seat of my pants: shorts, features, dramatic documentaries. I'm loving the pairing of my SmallHD 702 Touch with the F6. I know they recommend the PortKeys BM5 because it can control the camera, but I wasn't a fan of the UI or the quality of the screen.

Haha! This is a still from the first clip i shot on my F6. Leica Summicron-R 35mm f/2. Will post more when I have it. Bought an S1H too, so i'm looking forward to comparing them.

10-bit.

Starts at 23.976fps, then 48fps, then 72fps when the actor is sitting. Very last clip with text over it is 120fps.

A couple weeks ago I shot some test footage with my buddy, John. He's a great actor that has played lead roles in a few of my films. Anyway, to get the old creative juices going again, I invited him over so I could see how the E2 reacted under my Quasar Science RGBX LED lamps. I used a combination of daylight balanced and cyan. I intended to sell the E2 when my F6 arrives at the end of this month, but I think the E2 plus speedbooster will be an excellent b-cam to my F6 when I need high frame rates that the F6 can't reach. Z-Cam E2 Metabones Speed Booster XL (.64x) Contax Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 (2x Oval Aperture Mod) Quasar Science RGBX 4ft LED Tubes

I believe it was the Panasonic 24-105mm f/4.

yeah, here's some more liberal trash blaming videos games... AND THE INTERNET!!!

yep, I've seen the F6 rolling shutter and it is on par with other full frame sensors in this pricing bracket. Meaning, not great. But you'd really have to purposefully induce it for it to be a problem. That being said, if you need to do a whip-pan, the E2 with a .64x speedbooster will get you nearly to full frame (1.2x crop) and be a good back-up for this, HFRs, etc. Weight difference is only 100g. No idea about timecode.