GunDoom pits the 4K DVX200 against the what is it now the 13th time that 18meg sensor was put into another body from… Wait, wait swivel screen changes everything Canon 600D CAMERA.
Here is GunDoom’s findings.
Panasonic recently released the AG-DVX200, a “professional” 4K video camera. Back in 2011, Canon released the 600D, which is a 550D with a tilt screen.
You may think this test is not fair because I’m comparing a pro camera and a consumer based DSLR, but what I wanted to see here is how does a 4000$ camera exceeds another that’s only 400$. The answer is obvious but still interesting.
My thoughts on each camera:
– AG-DVX200 4K:
Highlights – OK
Midtones – great
Shadows – awful
Notes: The V-Log footage is hard to color correct properly without LUTs. Some colors don’t behave naturaly, and from my experience, the blue colors from the sky, sometimes, are not even there! Never really had problems with banding or aliasing, although some footage may look really over sharpened. For this video, the camera has the v1.29 version for the firmware, and it does look better than the default firmware. This is not the proper camera for low light situations and in some cases you may encounter a steped chromatic trail in the shadows that can totally ruin your footage. It feels like each CCD is out of sync when the footage is processed. On the plus side this camera has great slow-motion of 50fps in 4k and 120fps in 1080p. It includes V-Log which is convenient for grading and with an external recorder you can get 10-bit 4K footage. If you’re planning on buying a camera with a 4000$ budget, you have better options like the Sony A7s II or the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4K. Considering the price and what it does I give 6/10.
– Canon EOS 600D/T3i (Canon EF 16-35mm f/2,8L II USM lens)
Higlights – bad
Midtones – good
Shadows – awful (mostly because of compession)
Notes: This camera is about 5 years old, and its sensor is even older. There are a few typical Canon DSLR things present here like the footage on itself lacks a bunch of detail. When recording 1080p it looks much more like 720p and in-camera sharpeness is horrible, but if you cranck that up in post it looks decent. This isn’t a good option for low-light, you need to have a very fast lens to get something good out of it. At ISO800 it starts to get really noisy and you should never go as high as ISO1600. The only thing I think this camera does clearly better than the Panasonic is the color science. Canon have, in my opinion, some of the best colors out there, they really nail the color science and colors always look the way they should. Slow-motion is only available at 720p of 60fps (max) and it looks the way expect it to look. Unlike the DVX200, the Canon is full of aliasing and moire. It’s clearly visible in electric cables and repeated patterns. Also, it is convenient to install a third-party picture profile like Cinestyle from Technicolor, to get the best out of it. This camera is capable of amazing stills though, especially in RAW, and considering that and its price range I give it 8/10.