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Z Camera E1 for $200


Don Kotlos
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EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs

I saw that...and was about to buy it. But looked at the reviews and decided, I rather spend $200-300  more and buy a GX85 or something. The reviews were not only bad, but made the camera seem not that useful at all. 

Then I went to the manufacturers website and it looks like they have completely shifted their focus doing VR cameras. Which means there will be no additional firmware improvements and I'll be left with a $200 junk. I rather spend $500 and have something like the GX85, I think. 

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19 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

What are the advantages to a GX800 or GX85 other than price difference?

Form factor, IBIS, and UI / usability. 

19 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

I don´t know why I find this cubic form factor appealing, just like the blackmagic micro cinema and micro studio cameras. :)

Because a "cube shape" means a poor man's RED?! :-P lol

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On 11/21/2017 at 10:54 PM, salim said:

I saw that...and was about to buy it. But looked at the reviews and decided, I rather spend $200-300  more and buy a GX85 or something. The reviews were not only bad, but made the camera seem not that useful at all. 

Then I went to the manufacturers website and it looks like they have completely shifted their focus doing VR cameras. Which means there will be no additional firmware improvements and I'll be left with a $200 junk. I rather spend $500 and have something like the GX85, I think. 

The latest firmware update was October. Your inference is wrong.

Most of the reviewers on the Amazon and BH web sites either do not understand how to use the camera or are using much earlier firmware. There have been many firmware updates since the camera became available. It would be nice to have someone here test it, if they think it useful.

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Ok. I have the camera. So, let's get real :).

First, at the firmware .23 that comes with the camera, half of the features do not work and autofocus does not work right. With the October update (.30), the focus now works - push to focus. You can set shutter speed, aperture, and ISO - you can set ISO to Auto and set aperture and shutter speed manually, for example. There are many tweaks for picture, including NR and sharpness.

Second, the complaints about shadow noise may also be due to old firmware, since with the new firmware you can adjust noise reduction. In any case, the sensor is exactly the same as the one in the Panasonic GH4. So, performance should be similar (not identical, could be better given a newer processor and how it's tuned).

So, how about a 4K30P comparison of the GH4 and the Z Camera E1 - same scene, same lens, same shutter and aperture? This is actually with the old E1 firmware.

Leica Nocticron f1.2 lens (yes, a $1500 lens on a $199 camera) on both.

Here it is. Same scene at F2 and at F5.6 (and ISO 800 for that scene). The cameras are in the same order for each lens/ISO setting. Which is which? which do you like better? Which has more noise? Which is more accurate?

One camera's color is too orange (only I know the actual colors). WB was auto. No color correction in post. Default settings for the scenes.

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6 minutes ago, mercer said:

@markr041 thanks for the tests. These look quite nice. I love the color. Interesting camera. 

Can you list some pros and cons compared to some similarly priced cameras?

You are welcome. I am not sure there are any comparable cams - it is $249 at BH. It is the smallest ilc , but bigger sensor. The small size means no dials, just buttons (2 assignable). No focus peaking, but does have auto magnification or push button to magnify. AF is like all Panasonic's, slow. There is push button AF and CAF. DR is 11 stops. No picture profiles except Z log! There are settings for NR , saturation, contrast, sharpness. No zebras or histogram.  But the results are at least as good as the GH4. 60 Mbps bitrate though.

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