Excellent BMC - Canon Mk III comparison

[Glen Vandermolen]

This is a great comparison between these two cameras. The video from the BMC is incredible! I am stunned by the images, and I watched it compressed.
I never gave the camera serious thought, but now....

Vimeo

To be fair, one is a digital cinema camera and one is primarily a stills photo camera. But that doesn't take away from the BMC's images.

[Michael Wisniewski]

Even with the Vimeo compression, the BMCC looks really good.

I'm not sure if I'm more impressed by the images from the BMCC or by what is probably the best camera comparison I've seen - it even had a story/character arc ..

[Warren Kawamoto]

That was awesome!

[Dom Stevenson]

Wow!

Superb camera. Amazing demo. Thanks.

[Michael Kraus]

What an awesome demo!

Sheesh now I'm stressing again about my plans to by a 6D....

[Dom Stevenson]

When you consider how close the contenders for the Zacuto shoot out were, these two are night and day.

[Simon Wood]

Nice test. The BMC is clearly a superior camera (in terms of the image it produces) - though there would still be scenarios where a DSLR might be preferable (in terms of storage space, battery life, battery size, media size, media cost, weather sealing, being able to film in public discretely, variety of lenses etc, never mind having a quick turnaround in post).

While the BMC images are quite amazing, I have to say I have rarely seen such terrible footage from a 5DMk3. A cursory search on the internet will reveal any number of 5D videos better than the one seen there.

For example; a popular video made by a guy on holiday, shooting a 5DMk3 in public, handheld, without any special rigs or tools (yet it somehow looks infinitely better than what was produced by a production company):

Big Little World on Vimeo

[Chris Barcellos]

Simon: I think the demonstration footage is just that- it demonstrates the deficiencies or benefits of the particular camera. We all know that footage from most any camera will look and feel fantastic depending on the finish put on it by the edit. I wager if you took the raw footage from the 5DIII film you showed, those problems would still be evident. But that is not what that film is about.

[Tim Polster]

I agree with both of you but have to admit the 5DMKIII video posted above (Little Big World) has some amazing images. Much better than I was expecting. The BMC clearly does a great job and has a lot more resolution and range. But it seems we as viewers are used to dynamic range varying. Once you are into a video you stop comparing and enjoy the story/images.

I think if BMC comes out with a s35 sized sensor camera after learning from the 1st generation it will be quite the all around answer.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

I think if BMC comes out with a s35 sized sensor camera after learning from the 1st generation it will be quite the all around answer.

Yep, I agree -- but only if they also abandon that silly form factor.

-- peer

[Khoi Pham]

Are you guys kidding? didn't you read that the BMCC footage were graded and the Mark 3 was raw straight out of the camera with flat settings design to be graded but not? this look like a commercial for BMCC, I don't think that even if Mark 3 footage were graded it probably won't look as good, but come on this comparison is so bias it is not even funny, and some of the shots in Mark 3 was over exposed, btw I don't have the Mark 3, don't think I will be getting one either, but I think this comparison is bogus.

[Noa Put]

this look like a commercial for BMCC

I had exactly the same feeling, just look the way the guy speaks, reminds me of those tv programs where they try to sell something to you.

[Murray Christian]

It says quite clearly it was not graded, but only debayered, at the start. Surely if the dynamic range and the resolution are higher grading is not going to make any difference to the things he's pointing out.
The one thing that springs to mind is the sharpness setting. Zero is pretty low (even though lots of people swear by it). Personally I think it actually adds more mush than necessary to the footage, rather than removing digital sharpening to give a pure image. In any case, it is customary to give a little sharpening touch in post to give a Canon a hand these days and it's no bad thing.

[Tim Polster]

Originally Posted by Peer Landa

Yep, I agree -- but only if they also abandon that silly form factor.

-- peer

I thought about this a little more and I also agree. Blackmagic if you are listening... If you could make a s35 sensor camera with 1080p60/720p120, proper viewfinder, removeable battery, XLR audio and HDMI output you could rule the world! - or at least the under $10,000 video market.

[Toenis Liivamaegi]

Look closely, there is something really weird going on in the lens flares of BMC camera footage, some sort of RGB artefacting? Not to mention that its looking like all sharp video production (not a bad thing).

But still, if people rave about Fuji "white orb problems" then this lens flare artefacting certainly is an issue, it's the worst I have seen so far.

T