eatstoomuchjam

The P4K doesn't really have "better codec options" at this point unless you mean braw - and that will probably be less of a competitive advantage when ZCam release the first version of their raw implementation sometime this month. Otherwise, the ZCam has ProRes HQ at up to 4kp30 and ProRes 422 at up to 4kp60 as well as h.265 with decent bitrate. If you tested months ago, the quality of 4kp120 has improved since then - they upped the bitrate on it a bit. In the next release, they are upping it more (I think to 500 megabits/second). And you're very likely right about the A73 sensor - or something similar to it. In general, if you check the features of a Z-Cam vs a list of modern Sony sensors, you'll find that they align really nicely. It's why people keep asking about 4kp120 in the bigger sensor cameras and getting turned down. None of the bigger Sony sensors support it. The BMPCC4K is a great camera and a fantastic value, no doubt about it, but the E2 is also excellent and I'm glad I bought it over the BM. I love that I can rig it on a big heavy shoulder rig with huge EF lenses and F-970/V-mount batteries for long life... or I can throw on a tiny Micro 4/3 prime like the Panasonic 14/2.5 or 20/1.7 and put in an F550-type battery and have a super tiny light camera. The lack of a built-in screen is mitigated very nicely by being able to wire in my phone as a screen which I very much prefer to using wifi - it gives me an excellent 5" or so low-latency screen with a built-in battery. Not bad.

I had the E1 (was in on the original kickstarter at full price) and really didn't like it. I ended up selling it for almost nothing. I gave them another chance with the E2 and I really love it. It's a really huge leap ahead in usability and quality. There's firmware coming in April that should be addressing some/all of the complaints with the camera - including improving the audio and increasing the bitrate in 120p (they already increased it once, but they are increasing it again after users requested it enough). And FWIW, even though the firmware number is 0.xx, I wouldn't consider it a "beta." Z-Cam considers it to be release firmware and after November, I haven't had any stability problems with the camera at all. It's been absolutely rock solid for hours of shooting, including some stuff that I shot at -30F in Alaska in January.