I was lucky enough to steal a preview seat of the Single Chip Camera Evaluation. If your familiar with the 2010 shootout, the 2011 isn't much different: it's a precise look at exactly what the differences are with each camera and what it means. And the list is huge: Arri Alexa, Sony F35, RED One MX, Phantom Flex, Weisscam, Sony F3, Panasonic AF100, Canon 5D MkII / 7D / 1D MkIV, and Nikon D7000. The review is vast too: dynamic range, color, compression, sharpness, rolling shutter, shadow detail, every question you ever had. So what does it all mean?
There was so much information in 20 minutes that it tends to all bleed together, but there were a few distinct verdicts that stuck out. DSLRs suck when you really, really stress the footage, but everyone knows that already, and its almost exclusively because of the line skipping and compression. The Alexa is bad-ass, even without all the fancy RAW stuff from RED; at times I thought it looked better! Most impressive was the mid-range of cameras; the F3 and even cheaper AF100. The Sony F3 must have been the greatest surprise, which held up impressively well against the larger, more formal cameras. The AF100 was also very close in quality in the tests, although I couldn't help but notice a slight yellow tinge to some of the footage. Those two cameras are incredible in their versatility and image quality.
What also amazed me was specifically in the DSLR's. The Canon 1D MkIV is known as the best for low-light shooting; but in the highlights test, both the 5D and 7D saved highlights detail and the 1D lost it all. It looked like video.
So look for the shootout hopefully on a web release in the next few months. It's the most comprehensive set of comparisons everyone wants to know, but no one has ever wanted to do.
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