Z-CAM quietly announce 8k and 6k FULL FRAME cameras - no joke!

[Zak Forsman]

3 minutes ago, KnightsFan said:

Thats a good idea. What strengths do you see in the E2 over the F6? Rolling shutter will probably be better, better high frame rate options, and of course it is smaller and lighter. Maybe better battery life as well.

Do you have any idea how timecode will work on the flagships? A long time ago, either Jason or Kinson implied there would be an adapter from the camera to allow a further stacking of their existing COM-BNC timecode accessory on top of that, but i hope that there is a simpler way.

yep, I've seen the F6 rolling shutter and it is on par with other full frame sensors in this pricing bracket. Meaning, not great. But you'd really have to purposefully induce it for it to be a problem. That being said, if you need to do a whip-pan, the E2 with a .64x speedbooster will get you nearly to full frame (1.2x crop) and be a good back-up for this, HFRs, etc.

Weight difference is only 100g. No idea about timecode.

[newfoundmass]

Honestly the more I see the more I like. I was very skeptical about ZCam but I'm glad they've made me eat some crow. 

I'm glad they exist, at the very least they're pushing things forward! 

[zerocool22]

Im still bummed they keep increasing the price of the F6 in europe. Otherwise I might have pulled the trigger, but for now I can wait it out and wait on some reviews and on when they get available used. 

[Amazeballs]

The internal ND is awesome! And look at the size of it! That alone doesnt leave space for anymore bullshit excuses why you cant put it in DSLR type mirrorless body. You can defiantly house it inside instead of shutter. So I dont know why Panasonic didnt do it with S1H for example.  Hope it does with GH6.

[Coiii]

To be honest this is the first time I'm reading about this brand and their cameras. They look insanely good for the price, specially the Super35 at $3000. 

Can anyone please share some insight about the reliability of this cameras?

[kye]

A couple of very interesting reviews from Lok and Kai.  

Kai struggled to think of any real problems with the $2K one and especially liked the 709 profile and the 4k160 mode.

 

 

[thebrothersthre3]

Not to spam with youtube videos but seeing as their aren't a ton of Z-cam reviews on Youtube I thought this was interesting. He had previously switched from Fuji to BMPCC4K. He was impressed with the RAW and better tonal transitions going from 10 bit H265 to BRAW. He seems to really love the Z-cam though. 

[heart0less]

58 minutes ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

He seems to really love the Z-cam though. 

IMHO, it's comparing apples to oranges.

BMPCC4K is a M4/3 camera sold for 1300$, whereas Z-CAM S6 features S35 sensor and costs almost twice as much - 2499$. And you don't get a free Resolve Studio with it.
To be honest, I'm surprised to see that the Z-CAM isn't that much better than Pocket 4K.

If he were to compare E2 S6 to BMPCC6K, then alright - it'd be more fair, but still, BlackMagic is cheaper (1995$ for 6K) and gives you an amazing piece of software without any additional fee.

Spenser Sakurai uploaded a video recently, where he discusses Z-CAM F6 (the one with FF sensor) and he was quite pleased with it, but he mentioned that the whole Z-RAW idea is terribly implemented at the moment. Nothing really supports it.

Having said that, Z-CAMs look great to me and I'm glad they're here as a brand.
I don't think I'd ever want a BM camera, even though the image they tend to give seems really nice.

[thebrothersthre3]

3 minutes ago, heart0less said:

IMHO, it's comparing apples to oranges.

BMPCC4K is a M4/3 camera sold for 1300$, whereas Z-CAM S6 features S35 sensor and costs almost twice as much - 2499$. And you don't get a free Resolve Studio with it.
To be honest, I'm surprised to see that the Z-CAM isn't that much better than Pocket 4K.

If he were to compare E2 S6 to BMPCC6K, then alright - it'd be more fair, but still, BlackMagic is cheaper (1995$ for 6K) and gives you an amazing piece of software without any additional fee.

Spenser Sakurai uploaded a video recently, where he discusses Z-CAM F6 (the one with FF sensor) and he was quite pleased with it, but he mentioned that the whole Z-RAW idea is terribly implemented at the moment. Nothing really supports it.

This dude's main reason for purchasing it was form factor. He found a rigged up P4K to be impractical on rough and dirty shoots. He still loves BRAW though he said the Z-cam has more dynamic range. Form factor is honestly a big reason I didn't pull the trigger on the P4K, though I still might get one honestly. If the P6K had full sensor 4k RAW I'd be all over it. 

[heart0less]

1 hour ago, thebrothersthre3 said:

He found a rigged up P4K to be impractical on rough and dirty shoots.

Precisely. That's the biggest issue with this cam - it's totally impractical. 

And while Z-CAM is just a lovely little cube, to my eyes it looks far more professional than the outgrown toy-camera which BMPCC4K is. 

Apart from that, their mobile app is awesome and allows you to use a simple iPad as a director's monitor. No need for wireless transmitters. 

[kye]

This recent video is interesting as the guy uses a ZCam and talks about how things like the 4k120 (or 4k100?) is great as it is slow motion but also allows a bit of digital reframing.

I've also noticed a few people who seem to be shooting the same combo of ZCAM with the Vazen 40mm 1.8X T2 anamorphic.  The guy in this video says they call it the "baby RED".  For the money, this combo (or with the Vazen 28mm T2 1.8X anamorphic), with a Vmount / monitor / matte box, seems like the real deal.

 

 

[tweak]

I've been shooting the E2 with anamorphics for over a year now, it's an amazing package for the price. I mostly shoot in 48fps Zlog2 Pro Res for the best of both worlds. A lot of what I do is sports.

Here's the latest thing I did with mostly 2x anamorphics, the waterhousing stuff is 1.33x GH5. Just scrub through and you can find some shots. Very happy with the camera.

 

[PannySVHS]

@tweak, some crazy ass rebels infront and behind that camera! Hard to believe. What was your taking lens?

 

[tweak]

10 minutes ago, PannySVHS said:

@tweak, some crazy ass rebels infront and behind that camera! Hard to believe. What was your taking lens?

 

hahaha. Just doin it for the love! (I'm the dude with the glasses btw). I didn't really set out to make this thing I just shot and it happened.

Lenses on E2 +MBXL:
nFD taking lenses - 85mm f1.8, 135mm f2.8, 200mm f4
Anamorphic: ISCO s8.
Rapido FVD8A variable diopter.
(There's also a couple of shots of the yellow rail and kicker which were taken with el-nikkor 50mmf4 and Kowa8).

Lenses on GH5 + MBXL (housing shots mostly):
nFD 24mm f2
Sony 1.33x anamorphic

Drone and Action Cam:
Hero 7
Mavic