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Gerald Undone on camera fans and his Z-CAM review


Andrew Reid
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Zcam is the most defensive community I am a part of. I have never been part of a group of apologists like them before. There are no faults with their camera. None. NONE. You are doing it wrong. Every time. I always see  questions being dodged regarding crop, dynamic range, etc.  Any times hard facts get pushed around it's either ignored or you are told it doesn't matter. 

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Just saw a post on there to promote scratch which supports zraw. Zraw is prolly the most useless codec out there right now. They should talk to bm asap and either implement braw or hope bm resolve will include zraw support. 

They seem to dodge this question. Maybe they already had contact, an open communication on this would be appreciated. 

2 minutes ago, cam1982 said:

More defensive community than Red?

Haha yeah I heard a lot of bad posts about the komodo just got deleted. Nah zcam is def more chill then red. You could ask questions to the CEO and he would respond, i dont think I ever saw deleted posts about any zcam.

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48 minutes ago, Mike Mgee said:

Zcam is the most defensive community I am a part of. I have never been part of a group of apologists like them before. There are no faults with their camera. None. NONE. You are doing it wrong. Every time. I always see  questions being dodged regarding crop, dynamic range, etc.  Any times hard facts get pushed around it's either ignored or you are told it doesn't matter. 

This is not my experience and I've met Kinson at IBC in person! Very nice guys, open to feedback and they constantly fix and improve firmware.

I believe you are confusing defensive fanboy users on Facebook with Z-CAM themselves!

13 minutes ago, zerocool22 said:

Haha yeah I heard a lot of bad posts about the komodo just got deleted. Nah zcam is def more chill then red. You could ask questions to the CEO and he would respond, i dont think I ever saw deleted posts about any zcam.

It is good enough that Kinson actually takes the time to engage directly with users on Facebook.

Do you see the Canon CEO doing that?

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The Z-Cam folks definitely seem receptive. In many ways they're a model for what more companies should be doing. You can't compare them to anyone else in the camera game when it comes to listening to their user base, they're unmatched. I don't know that they'll be able to continue that as they get larger, but I certainly hope so! 

The users though are definitely fervent, and it's not always endearing. It seems your best bet, before criticizing anything, is to heap praise first or risk getting their fan base riled up. 

I watched Gerald's original review and I thought it was fair, and pointed out serious issues. I really didn't expect it to get the reaction it got. 

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It was pretty factual, not too hyperbolical.

Making a camera is hard and reviews can really hurt sales. I can see why a company doesn't like it when the balance of a review is negative.

I am sure there are those at Panasonic who don't like my thoughts on the G100!

Well, they have to take stock of it and listen. Personally, I think Z-CAM do that. And that is the important thing here.

The Camera Conspiracies guy seems to be growing to be mega popular. Like the next Kai. I must be missing something because I find it all a bit amateurish yet between them he and Kai are commanding MASSIVE audiences. To be honest it makes me feel really fed up because I've poured 10 years of my life into filmmaking and original content, but it turns out I should have just put on a funny voice and walk down the street making quips instead.

Or is it just likeable satire? I can't decide. Sometimes he is actually right. He is right about the G100 for one.

 

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Kai isn't a real reviewer. It's all fluff. This guy actually is the best for what he is, which is discussing vlog equipment. He never purports to be anything more. But the crossover comes if you are interested in a cameras ability to autofocus and stabilise. He has the best reviews in that regard with the most comparisons. Things like autofocus and ibis need a long format review, multiple reviews in fact, to discuss and show the cameras abilities. No one else takes the time to do that or show that. 

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Camera Conspiracies doesn't take himself seriously. He mocks himself and his skills but in doing so kinda mocks the camera community in general. I think his channel name and his content is YouTube genius. Is it quality? Nah. Dude is making money goofing off. He is a smart, only slightly paranoid, man.

Funny though, if Panasonic hired him as a consultant for the G100, they would have made a infinitely better camera. So, you be the judge.

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I did like that G100 piece. He nailed it. Totally got it.

The humour is wry and I like it. Not all the time, but in general it works.

He is absolutely right about the G9 being a better buy than the G100 for vloggers as well.

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Camera Conspiracies is definitely satire, with the occasional good point here and there. Half the time he has no idea what he's doing, which is part of the charm. He makes fun of everyone, especially himself. Example: Instead of f-stop he calls it Toneh, as a dig on Tony Northrup after Tony posted this video:

 

I don't know what Tony was thinking here. "I'm gonna go on the beach and shoot wide open so you can't see anything behind me. Oh and I'll frame myself terribly."

Screenshot_20200627-201519_YouTube.thumb.jpg.3714d4ff6334db4f9c3d2ded078cb685.jpg

Eventually people were so confused about why he was calling it Toneh that he made a video about it

Once you get where he's coming from he's one of the most entertaining channels on YouTube. 

Have you seen the Canon Cripple Hammer? Screenshot_20200627-202058_Chrome.thumb.jpg.12562d787399d57bcf54a70f2222773b.jpg

And the Panasonic Pony of Hope? Screenshot_20200627-202108_Chrome.thumb.jpg.5807d8f3c80352ee71fcfdb59badcb21.jpg

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The risk with comedy is that occasionally it falls flat ... or is off topic ... or does not work as intended.

Deprecation ... sly stupid comments ... sense of timing ... Camera Conspiracies has it in spades ... rivals some of the best standup comics ... but really

young, not battle tested ... put him in a comedy club scene for a year and could have a superstar ... or a very damaged ego.

But much to love ... knows his stuff ... and appeals to those who are tired of being sold a sack of feathers ... marketed as best camera to come their way.

But back to the original topic ... GU consistently defines strengths weaknesses and areas of concern ... pretty brand agnostic ... and well versed in those

technical aspects that are important to the potential buyer. I like the fact that he does not pretend to be a media star, expert in film craft, or major corporate

DP ... just does his due diligence and shares his thoughts.

ZCam has made a great start ... but their response and ability to adapt to technical issues , marketplace desires and perception will define their future. One can

get 95% of it right ... the 5% that you miss ... if it is of a critical nature will sink you. But as Gerald pointed out ... they can resolve most of this with a firmware update.

If it is hardware related they will probably have two iterations to market before Sony releases the A7S dream camera.

 

 

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@Andrew Reid I can agree that it is not ZCAM the company itself that is at fault most of the time but the community.

That being said, Kinson is not without fault when it comes to running the company. I understand that the company is growing, but can you at least an updated website and camera details?

Lets take a look at their website here. Flagship product. Claims 15 stops. By who? Can you at least give us a chart showing how the dynamic range is distributed in the shadows and highlights? There is so many combinations of frame rates and codec options, can you at least release a chart like Panasonic did?  They don't even have listed they record to ProRes! Or better yet...crop. You write the word crop. What does that even mean? By how much. Or even other codecs? Prores HQ....BRAW?

But each of those issues are asked time and time again, and Kinson gets tagged in the posts. And they are ignored. Every. Time. What you do have, are what I assume are ZCAM ambassadors, stepping in for him telling you that you are wrong. Or that you are exposing wrong. Or dynamic range does not matter. Or the camera does not crop. 

And that's one of the problems that I have. For a company that is so "hands on" with the community, they rarely ever answer the "important" questions that people have. But what the CEO will do, is hop on and write posts like "I took a Sony NP-F970 and mounted it on my E2-F6 like 10 times. No issue at all." Cool story bruh. 

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Camera Conspiracies has become 'successful'/popular by accident rather than design.

The guy simply set out to find a better or 'perfect' camera for his other channel, Vegetable Police (don't ask) and the reality is that for his needs, the 'perfect' camera for his or 99% of every other vloggers already exists...but it's kind of come self-perpetuating now, - he can't just stop and it's become 'a thing'.

Some of the endless testing gets a bit boring now but he's a funny guy and doesn't take himself seriously.

None of his reviews are actual 'serious' reviews that anyone should ever base a decision on such as if the colour is off, it's usually because he's fucked something up himself etc, but instead it's exploring and learning in real time so hardly at the same level as say a Gerald or a Gordon.

Kai cracks me up. He's like an overgrown posh asian schoolboy and though he takes the piss most of the time, sometimes he can be quite serious. Best with Lok and his weedios.

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Honestly the fact he is triggered by such things makes me think less of him. (Same with other people labelling a whole group, based off comments made by a small minority).

All camera communities are basically the same (all FB groups also the same), once they reach a certain size you have a decent cross section of society and it becomes all encompassing (unless entry is censored). 

To say "Zcam group is bad" because there's a defensive minority, is like saying a certain racial group or religion is bad because you've seen a small minority doing bad things. I'm a part of many camera FB groups, to me they all seem about the same (unless you decide to get particularly triggered by certain responses or viewpoints).

I think these reviewers need to come back down to reality a bit.

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13 hours ago, zerocool22 said:

Just saw a post on there to promote scratch which supports zraw. Zraw is prolly the most useless codec out there right now. They should talk to bm asap and either implement braw or hope bm resolve will include zraw support. 

They seem to dodge this question. Maybe they already had contact, an open communication on this would be appreciated. 

They've actually answered it a ton of times in the group, search it up.

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