Z Cam E2 Series: price drops across the board! (Z CAM E2-M4 is only US$1,499)

[MeanRevert]

2 hours ago, Trek of Joy said:

WOW! The M4 is the swiss army knife of E2's - and I love how aggressive the Zcam team is adding features and options. They have the E-ND mount, m43, EF and so on - plus they're introducing their own speedbooster. At $1500 this is seriously tempting.

Chris

 

So you have to buy a separate mount?

[majoraxis]

With the price drop, the Z CAM E2-S6 is now more interesting.  I compared the specs to the pocket 6k and the following caught my eye:

1. The camera body price is higher than the pocket 6k.

2. The C-fast media costs are higher.

3. Doesn’t come with resolve studio

4. Doesn’t support BRAW for 12 bit 4:2:2 small file size.

5. Does not seem to have the same glorious Pocket 6k sensor.

6. Not sure if it has phantom power, but it did not seem to list it in the specifications.

On the plus side:

1. Interchangeable mount for MFT mount option.  Though this costs extra apparently.

2. Some people prefer a box camera body.

3. Ethernet port can be used for web cam style streaming in future firmware update.

4. Offers different / higher frame rates and crop factor and /or scaling options.

Conclusion:  not for me.  But may be for others so I wish them luck.

Request:  BLackmagic please offer a MFT Pocket 6k for the same price of $1995 and I will purchase immediately, and so will others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[andrgl]

No SDI-out is a shame.

Also no positive lock MFT mount is sad. Would be awesome to use the few m43 lenses that have proper mechanical focus.

 

I still think a Kinefinity Terra is a better entry level cinema camera: you get RAW and ProRes at 160fps in 4K.

The Terra is just way more expensive now.

 

Z-cams have a mishmash of framerates and codecs. Annoying in post.

[KnightsFan]

3 hours ago, MeanRevert said:

So you have to buy a separate mount?

If you want the turbo mount pictured on the right, you have to buy it separately. The camera comes with a MFT mount.

1 hour ago, majoraxis said:

5. Does not seem to have the same glorious Pocket 6k sensor.

I could be wrong, but I believe it is the exact same sensor as the P6K.

1 hour ago, majoraxis said:

6. Not sure if it has phantom power, but it did not seem to list it in the specifications.

I think all E2's have phantom power. The original E2 does for sure. Though, audio on Z Cam cameras is an afterthought at best anyway.

1 hour ago, majoraxis said:

3. Ethernet port can be used for web cam style streaming in future firmware update.

You can stream with the ethernet port on current firmware. You just have to run the StreamConverter software at the same time, which will enable it as a virtual camera for use with OBS, Zoom, etc. The future firmware is to stream wirelessly directly to FB or YT without a computer at all, and I think there's another update which would allow the cameras to work natively with OBS/Zoom (i.e. without StreamConverter).

27 minutes ago, andrgl said:

Z-cams have a mishmash of framerates and codecs. Annoying in post.

You can choose any codec you want, unless you're at such a high framerate/resolution that your options are A) shoot H.265 or B) buy a  more expensive camera.

31 minutes ago, Elagabalus said:

I wish Blackmagic would take the 4K and 6K Pockets and put them in boxes like Z Cam and Komodo. No need to change anything else, just put them in a box. Their current form factor really sucks, don't know what they were thinking. 

Agreed. I probably would have bought a P4K if it was boxy with an larger battery.

[IronFilm]

7 hours ago, andrgl said:

No SDI-out is a shame.

Also no positive lock MFT mount is sad. Would be awesome to use the few m43 lenses that have proper mechanical focus.

 

I still think a Kinefinity Terra is a better entry level cinema camera: you get RAW and ProRes at 160fps in 4K.

The Terra is just way more expensive now.

Kinefinity does seem to be an outlier now, of course compared to the "big boys" (ARRI / RED / etc) then Kinefinity is priced very competitively!

But against Blackmagic? (and now, Z Cam too)
Then Kinefinity feels kinda "overpriced"

In the past, I felt Kinefinity meshed in well "in between cycles" vs Blackmagic. 
In that they'd trade blows back and forth. Each time Blackmagic or Kinefinity released a camera, they'd seem to be offering a much more appealing option than the competition. Until the next round of cameras came out.... and they'd swap places again.

6 hours ago, KnightsFan said:

You can choose any codec you want, unless you're at such a high framerate/resolution that your options are A) shoot H.265 or B) buy a  more expensive camera.

 

Exactly. The multitude of options Z Cam offers is a good thing, you can choose whatever codec matches your needs best. 

[FranciscoB]

I think kinefinity is in a great position. That last model that they announced is a great specced camera. Since the mavo lf has a great image, the edge seems that it will be a great camera. They are the underdog, as zcam and others, so they have to offer more for less. And that's what they did. That camera is in another league right now.