Footage Comparison: Sony FS7, Canon C100, and Canon 5D Mark III (Magic Lantern Raw)

[QuickHitRecord]

I had the opportunity to rent an FS7 for a shoot and in the down time, I tested it against my C100 and 5D Mark III (with ML raw loaded):

 

There is additional info in the video description for those who are curious.

[sam]

I think you pointed out something interesting in the comments on Vimeo about the pinkish cast in Chrome.  The difference in presentation of images between browsers (let alone different display devices) is quite noticeable. As an experiment, I tagged an image srgb and uploaded it to both my website and then to Facebook.  Next, I opened both the website and Facebook images in both IE and Chrome.  So now I had four images side by side. None of them looked the same in color or apparent sharpness.  Just another pitfall to be aware of when making comparisons.

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

Would love to just see ungraded untouched LOG from all the cameras at the same settings. I think applying LUTs and conversions to footage that affect colour is the problem off all tests out there. For example here the 5D has a complex LUT from Blackmagic applied, and the C100 has a canon WDR LUT applied, while the fs7 is pure. 

Thanks for sharing anyhow. Helpful to see. 

 

[agolex]

I think you pointed out something interesting in the comments on Vimeo about the pinkish cast in Chrome.  The difference in presentation of images between browsers (let alone different display devices) is quite noticeable. As an experiment, I tagged an image srgb and uploaded it to both my website and then to Facebook.  Next, I opened both the website and Facebook images in both IE and Chrome.  So now I had four images side by side. None of them looked the same in color or apparent sharpness.  Just another pitfall to be aware of when making comparisons.

​Firefox has extensive color management options which Chrome does not. You can have Adobe RGB colors in Firefox. I've never been really content with a single browser, there's always something missing. Chrome makes the most sense for me due to the extensions and Google integration, but back then I liked Opera the most.

[MattH]

There does seem to be a difference in browsers.  Chrome seems a little redder, but it also seems to have darker shadows which makes the red that is there deeper.  I suppose its something look for and maybe to compensate for.  

Can I ask did you choose to upload the video at 720p.  I don't know if it is a recent change in vimeo but it seems most tests I have seen recently are in 720 instead of 1080.  With no options to download 1080 either.   It seems a little difficult to evaluate quality when the image is either small or stretched.  Surely most people have at least native 1080 monitors these days.

It also would have been nice to see c-log as well, but I'm glad you tested wideDR.

The following comments are from viewing on firefox.

From what I could see at this resolution (colour and tone), ungraded, the FS7 looked about equal to 5d3 raw. The c100 looked video-like in tone and sharpness and skin looked pink.  Graded I thought the 5d3raw looked best. The c100 actually looked ok graded.  The FS7 looked the worst particularly in the first shot.  Obviously I just didn't like the grade.

Always useful to see these tests, so thanks.  If it comes available at 1080p I will give it another look.

[DigitalEd]

C100 looks the best to me its the sharpest and has good colors, The FS7 is soft looking as it is in most every FS7 video i have seen.

[QuickHitRecord]

I think applying LUTs and conversions to footage that affect colour is the problem off all tests out there. For example here the 5D has a complex LUT from Blackmagic applied, and the C100 has a canon WDR LUT applied, while the fs7 is pure. 

​The Wide DR on the C100 is in-camera. The 5D as it appears out of the camera would give weird skintones. It's like a placeholder LUT applied since it's in raw. I just changed that LUT.

Can I ask did you choose to upload the video at 720p.

Good point. I looked at the settings and it deferred to 720P. I've updated it to 1080P.

[j.f.r.]

C100 Looks sharper than all, 5D definitely out of focus on the close up or at least a little soft. Honestly though they all look good minus the color grade which I didn't like for any of them. Burnt blacks look just as bad as clipped whites, definitely would tell people to STOP crushing the blacks so much as you are loosing the beautiful little details that reside in that shade.

[QuickHitRecord]

Honestly though they all look good minus the color grade which I didn't like for any of them. Burnt blacks look just as bad as clipped whites, definitely would tell people to STOP crushing the blacks so much as you are loosing the beautiful little details that reside in that shade.

​It's not a "grade". I did not touch the colors for the FS7 and C100. I referenced the scopes to push exposure to be as consistent across the three clips as possible for the sake of comparing the footage.

[MattH]

Looking in 1080 they all looked suitably detailed.  Although there was nothing particular in the scene that would provoke any issues like aliasing, all cameras handled the scene well in that regard.  I thought the c100 was a little bit over sharp but I've always thought that about the c100/c300.  I also noticed that one thing I disliked about the ungraded c100 shot is that it seemed over exposed.  In your grade you darken it quite a bit, so I think if the exposure had been slightly less if might have looked right without needing much of a grade.  But to say it looked over exposed it recovered well.   One thing I seemed to have noticed in c100 videos is that under exposed areas seem to blockey due to compression. This video shows what i'm talking about particularly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuVT9MJrBvM in the dark areas of the water it actually looks cleaner at higher ISOs.  Is that something you have noticed, or is that just web compression? 

[QuickHitRecord]

Looking in 1080 they all looked suitably detailed.  Although there was nothing particular in the scene that would provoke any issues like aliasing, all cameras handled the scene well in that regard.  I thought the c100 was a little bit over sharp but I've always thought that about the c100/c300.  I also noticed that one thing I disliked about the ungraded c100 shot is that it seemed over exposed.  In your grade you darken it quite a bit, so I think if the exposure had been slightly less if might have looked right without needing much of a grade.  But to say it looked over exposed it recovered well.   One thing I seemed to have noticed in c100 videos is that under exposed areas seem to blockey due to compression. This video shows what i'm talking about particularly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuVT9MJrBvM in the dark areas of the water it actually looks cleaner at higher ISOs.  Is that something you have noticed, or is that just web compression? 

From past shoots, I've seen some minor aliasing from the 5D3 and the C100. I didn't see any from the FS7 during my short time with it.

​I agree, I think that the C100 is too sharp on its own for most narrative work (though, it's perfect for corporate work). The 5D3 has a certain mojo in this regard that the C100 lacks, which is why I keep it around.

Regarding exposure on the C100, I remember checking the waveform and putting her skin at 70 IRE. It's definitely brighter than the footage from the other two cameras, for which I did not have the benefit of a waveform while exposing my shots.

I looked at the original C100 footage and I didn't see any blocking. Must be a Vimeo thing.

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

The fs7 actually looks best to me, most filmic. I am sure the C100 in C-Log with sharpening turned completely off would be as filmic or even more so. The BM Lut destroys the 5D colours here for me, it looks like Sony a7s brown/yellow ungraded skin/colours. 

The problem with testing non-raw cameras is that now we're comparing not only sensor quality, but in-camera luts/looks too. So comparing with the LOG luts offered by both manufacturers would be the best way, because how the manufacturer designs the log gamma curve is a vital IQ element, for example Canon Log vs Sony S-log, 

This however is a good comparison between FS7 with slog3 LUT vs c100 with WDR LUT. 

 

[hmcindie]

You really need to turn down the sharpening on the C100.

[QuickHitRecord]

Ebrahim, here's a download link with raw frame grabs from the 5D Mark III straight from the camera: http://adobe.ly/1vPe9Ub

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

Oh, only now I know why you guys rave so much about the 5D raw quality.