Jump to content

C300 mk II disappointing?


Kristoferman
 Share

Recommended Posts

Guest Ebrahim Saadawi

It is a bit sad that my Facebook feed is full of groups for cameras like the NX1 and A7s and are now saying with concrete authority that the C300 II only has 12.5 stops of DR, completely ignoring any tests that show otherwise, just to try and make themselves feel better about their cheaper cameras (I own both, great cameras, but i'm not gonna try and convince myself that they are now somehow better because of this C300 II review!).

 

If it makes the consumer-gadget internet users feel better, the power to them, it might even encourage them to shoot something since they don't need a C300II.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EOSHD Pro Color 5 for Sony cameras EOSHD Z LOG for Nikon CamerasEOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
  • Super Members

Is Dynamic Range the measurement of light it can handle?

Its the meauserement of how much you can see from the darkest shadow (black) to the lightest highligt (white).

If you have 1 stop you have black, grey and white.

If you have 2 stop you have black, dark grey, light grey, white.

(its not exactly like this but imo it illustrates the point.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dynamic range, in visuals, is the difference between the brightest and darkest area. In photography, film and video, we're dealing with (a) the dynamic range of the subject/scene we record, (b) the dynamic range the film/sensor can reproduce, (c) the dynamic range of the particular reproduction medium (screen, print etc).

In photography and film, we're often dealing with light in relative measurements. Opening one f-stop of a lens means to let in twice as much light. 

If I'm shooting the desert at noon, with the sun visibly in the camera shining light on a palm tree, my scene "(a)" will have nearly infinite dynamic range from the darkest shadow of the tree to the sun. In a normal bright sun light situation, without holding the camera into the sun, my scene will have about 15-17 stops dynamic range. The camera sensor "(b)" can only record a limited part this dynamic range - typically, something around 8-10 stops usable dynamic range -, so the camera operator will need to make a decision which areas s/he should let clip to white respectively black. For example, I could expose for the palm tree, then the sky would likely clip to white.  Or I could expose for the sky, then the palm tree would turn black. In this situation, an Arri Alexa will give me more range than, for example, a C300 or (let alone) a GH4, with a higher likelihood that shadow details of the palm tree will still be visible when exposing for the sky.  

Third in the equation is the dynamic range of the output medium (c). An average flatscreen TV might have a contrast ratio of a 1:1000, which is about 2^10 (1024), u,e, ten f-stops. In this case, camera dynamic range and display dynamic range are roughly equivalent (although, if we deliver in 8bit, we can't encode 10 f-stops dynamic range without color banding - another can of worms). If we print on photo paper, we'll have maybe 6 f-stops dynamic range and compress the recorded dynamic range into that. (On a postcard, you can still print near-infinite dynamic range of the subject (a) - from shadows of trees to blue skies - by compressing dynamic range.) 

In studio production, camera dynamic range isn't really an issue, because you simply light the scene (a) within the dynamic range of the film/sensor (b). This is why Hollywood could make films even in times when film had poor dynamic range. (And the same reason why the GH2 did will at the Zacuto camera shootout - back then, the GH2 team properly lit the scene for the camera's limited dynamic range.)

- Oh yeah, if I lived in a science fiction world (or in Plato's cave, for that matter) where there were nothing but either pitch-black or fully-white objects, and my camera and display could reproduce this, then my scene (a), my recording medium (b) and my display medium (c) would all have infinite/perfect dynamic range. So Mattias' explanation is, in fact, wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They should test the ML features and the Nikon Hacker features and all of the third party stuff that comes with them. 

hahaha. Zacuto were extremely shocked by all the brickbats from the Companies, the DoPs and the participants, when online  users started randomly quoting single sentences and taking random figures frlm their findings. It got to the point that they couldn't take it anymore, and they cancelled any further tests/ shootouts.

With Hacked Canon and Nikon, Zacuto wohld be digging a 100 metre grave for themselves, which they might never be able to come out of. Hehehe ;-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Super Members

For me the last Zacuto Shootout showed that no more shootouts needs to be made. Its still 100% current and adding the c300ii, fs7, ursa mini etc would not ad anything valuable to the test.

The result would still be, given a good DP and enough lights, they can all look good.

Thats why I a while back tested and imo sort of proofed the opposite. If you take a couple of cinema cameras and a couple of cheap once but pay zero attention to lights and grading. It will again look pretty much the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Hi there,

We just posted a follow up on our article with Canon's response and ours and their testing methodology side-by-side:

https://***URL not allowed***/canon-measured-15-stops-dynamic-range-c300-mark-ii/

It is always great to be able to understand all the testing methodology and have the relative comparisons between cameras. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • EOSHD Pro Color 5 for All Sony cameras
    EOSHD C-LOG and Film Profiles for All Canon DSLRs
    EOSHD Dynamic Range Enhancer for H.264/H.265
×
×
  • Create New...