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Driftwood Sedna q1 vs Red Epic 5k
  • woodybrandowoodybrando

    Here's a comparison video between my friend's r3d EPIC and my gh2 with driftwood's sedna q1 hack. we're planning a feature and wondering if it'd b better to shoot on 3 gh2's or one EPIC.

    first impressions were that the r3d footage made the gh2 footage look like I'd turned my contrast all the way up in the gh2 I couldn't believe how contrasty the gh2 footage looked in comparison. and I used smooth -2,-2,-2,-2

    anyone have any experience using an ultra con filter to flatten the gh2 image?

    also, noise @ 320 in the darks on the gh2 was pretty bad. about 2 times worse than the epic. maybe it was the iso bug we'll have to test again. or maybe i need to turn noise reduction up it was pretty much a dealbreaker as far as planning to use the current gh2 to make the feature

    good news was sharpness was on par with the 5k image. In fact, I actually added sharpness to the epic footage to match the gh2.

    is there anyway to flatten out the gh2 in the matrix?

    UPDATE: turns out my friend's monitor was exaggerating the difference between the cameras. I color corrected, sharpened and denoised the clips to match each other. Check out the vid and let me know which u think is which:

    and here's the evidence that it really is epic footage vs. gh2 footage

  • 52 Replies sorted by
  • KihlianKihlian

    first Epic second GH2, the skin tones are more natural in the first.

  • bannedindvbannedindv

    you guys can borrow my ultracon filters to test. I'll text Jayson.

  • vladnikvladnik
    1. gh2
    2. epic
  • rikyxxxrikyxxx

    I don't know which is which but I like the first one better.

  • Ralph_BRalph_B

    The next time you guys do a comparison test, match the field of view of the lenses. What you have is apples and oranges. Not very helpful.

  • FulgencioFulgencio

    If you can shoot with 1 cameras why use 3? shooting multicam forces you to a more simple & less estetic lighting aproach, as the light must look good from diferent angles.... but it gives more freedom to actors Shooting with 1 cameras makes you concentrate on building a perfect image. I would shoot Epic I know you can make epic look like gh2.. and that's what we see on this test Epic is by far a deeper, cleaner & useful image maker

  • FulgencioFulgencio

    @LumixUser ...."wondering if it'd b better to shoot on 3 gh2's or one EPIC".... It is said in the first post

  • andyvia68andyvia68

    For difference price.......no comment.gh2 for ever....little space and small weigth.result identical!

  • woodybrandowoodybrando

    @Fulgencio we did this test after shooting a film all day. we got three scenes done in 10 hours. Spending 3 times as long getting singles to match the wide. With 3 cameras we get both singles and the master shot @ once. plus the performaces don't wear down like they do when an actor has to do the same line 5 times for the wide 5 times for off camera single 5 times for on camera single. I'm not saying 3 cameras is better than 1. Just saying we spent 10 hours yesterday shooting with the epic 1 shot at a time and it looks like we could save a hell of a lot of time shooting with 3 cameras. and u make a good point lighting is trickier but that's a trade off worth exploring.

  • woodybrandowoodybrando

    @bannedindv that would be awesome u can reach me at info at AWDEfilms.com cause that is absolutely what is holding me back from saying yes we should shoot with the gh2's is just how contrasty it is.

  • woodybrandowoodybrando

    also someone mentioned matching field of views. but since the sensors are different sizes it still won't be an exact match since the focal planes will be different so we went with using the same lens. Nikon 50mm 1.4 @ f5.6 on the epic and what we were guessing was f5.6 on the gh2 cause the aperture is in the adapter and isn't marked.

  • woodybrandowoodybrando

    @lumixuser but if you were going watch a shitty movie would u rather it was shot on the gh2 or the Epic ;)

  • ChainsawFilmsChainsawFilms

    Epic 1st, GH2 second I think. Very nice comparison.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @woodybrando Would you mind doing an EX24H GH2 vs 1920X1080 crop from the Epic comparison? It would be interesting to see how much of the difference is at the pixel level vs the downscaling one.

  • jaybsharpjaybsharp

    First one is definitely GH2, if you used the same lens on both cams smaller sensor of the GH2 would reduce field of view bringing image closer.

  • bwhitzbwhitz

    Who cares!!? They're both so frigging close. Epic is only worth it for the high-fame rates... or if you're shooting for IMAX.

  • woodybrandowoodybrando

    @ChainsawFilms thx

    @thepalalias yeah we started with the 2k crop vs the GH2 non-crop comparison i may already have some crop footage from the epic but not the gh2. Fom the testing we were doing at first, we saw that the 2k crop on the Epic is so soft that it wasn't worth comparing. since the real strength of the red 2k is that it shoots like 240fps and not it's sharpness it's not really apples to apples. gh2 can't shoot 240fps and red's 2k is really soft. But once we saw the 2k versus the gh2 we were like well damn, lets see how the gh2 does against 5k.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    @WoodyBrando I understand, but I was thinking more about other aspects than the softness/sharpness, so if you have the time, it is possible that something as simple as the approach @LumixUser suggested would let you compare without taking time away from things you found more useful. :)

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    Oh, and a minor typo: it is Sedna AQ1 not Sedna Q1 (since the AQ used here is different than the Q20 used in the other version). Did you use AQ1 A or AQ1 C? I do not have the YouTube video loaded on my phone so I am not sure if that info. was on it but it was not apparent on this thread. C should cut slightly better with Red Epic from what I have observed, but it is a very subtle difference.

  • pinger007pinger007

    As others have already stated, it's all about story. I've seen some amazing short films shot with the HVX200, 5D, and even the tried-and-true DVX100. On the other hand, I've seen absolute trash shot with the RED, 35mm, and Super 16. The difference is story and acting.

    For my next film, I have the option of shooting on the RED for free, or to shoot on three GH2's... I'm going with the three GH2's, and not because I'm a fanboy, but because it is the best tool for the job as I'm working with younger actors and my number one concern is performance. If, on the other hand, I was offered three RED cameras and I had the money for the extra camera crew, then there's no question - I'm going with RED.

    Just remember, an audience will forgive a lot of things (bad sound, bad cinematography, low dynamic range, and noise in the blacks), but the one thing they'll never forgive is bad acting and a lousy story. And if the story and acting are really good, then they won't even notice the technical problems...

  • jamesgh2jamesgh2

    GH2 is #2 and EPIC #1 I hope I'm wrong but it sure looks better on the skin tones in #1.

  • LukeVLukeV

    I think it shows how good the gh2 hacked is that you are comparing these two cameras. I think your script will determine which tool to use. Green screen ,FX work in post, small spaces, gorilla shots (no permits) POV shots plus many more set ups it's all in the script. OH budget and time. Use both if you can match frames which looks pretty close from your clips. Except clip2 the skin tone has a little more red to it. my 2cents

    1.gh2 2.red

  • woodybrandowoodybrando

    @bwhitz people that don't do camera tests but want a video and have very little experience care. They want everything shot on red but they don't have any budget for it or an appreciation for what Linuxuser is saying, that the camera really doesn't sell the video, what happens in front of the camera does. But I'll lose jobs to people who have worse reels but a red. and vice versa i recently won a job because of my vids on my AWDEfilms youtube channel compared to an emmy winning red owner because the artist hiring me appreciated what was going on inside my vids. but i had to spend about 3 hours reeling him in on using a canon dslr (i was using 60d at the time) versus using the red. so tests like this are a nice easy way for me to show a client here's the difference, if your vid is going on youtube you tell me if u can tell the difference.

  • woodybrandowoodybrando

    @LumixUser we did test the 5k crop against the GH2 native and found the 5k crop looked just as soft as the 2k crop and neither was really a match for GH2's native that's why we switched to testing against 5k. I can post those 5k crop vids later.

  • sir_danishsir_danish

    @LumixUser: Didn´t woodybrando already reveal them in driftwood´s thread? Page 12, I think...

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