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Z-CAM E2 camera is coming with 4K at 120fps
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  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    Mine has arrived - so far, I've seen some what may be some small bugs, but the usability is a lot better than the older camera. The picture looks really nice on my external screen. It could still use some dials and some more buttons, but so far, it seems "good enough" and changing basic exposure settings hasn't been a headache. I'll go out and shoot some stuff after work this afternoon (I also have a c.fast card on order since that'll come in useful for actually recording anything).

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @eatstoomuchjam

    I'll be nice to make small video preview for PV channel.

  • konjowkonjow

    +1 @eatstoomuchjam

  • perderperder

    Sounds good, looking forward to it!

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    My order got stuck in customs for a few days, but it cleared today. Supposedly it will be arriving by around 10:30 am tomorrow.

    As far as where the hype is, z-cam is a small company without a big marketing department. It seems unlikely that they will be flying youtubers with 100k+ subscribers to Hawaii to try out their camera. From the responses to my post complaining about the customs headache, it seems like nearly everybody in the US had to fill out paperwork to get their camera through customs. Also, the camera is not done yet - the only orders which are shipping are for the folks who took a chance on "early bird." On the facebook group, people are complaining that autofocus (and in some cases, manual focus) doesn't work on their lenses. The iPhone app is also not done.

    I will put it through its paces, though, and put together at least a short-form review. I'm excited - the footage I've seen so far looks really nice - a whole lot better than the E1.

  • perderperder

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev I saw on the Facebook page that prores is coming, just pending license approval, so I guess there will be a few updates on bitrates and formats in the coming days/weeks, but then at least the early speculation that you'd only get the insanely high bitrates seem to be wrong

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @perder

    I'll try to ask Z-CAM about this :-)

  • perderperder

    Man, where is the hype for this camera? Literally started arriving on people's doorstep late last week, and I can't find a single peep about it anywhere except on the closed Facebook page. I guess they don't have a marketing dept... Any pv-users order one?

  • perderperder

    So, I've seen people saying bitrate is 1.6gbps (~200MB/s), but the specs on the website says 230/200 Mbps (bits, not bytes). So which is correct and which is wrong? 230Mbits/s is more likely, no?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @Firworks

    Then there's also a risk in adding that hardware in the event that let's say, BMD loses a lawsuit with RED and suddenly gets an injunction against BMRaw and then other camera manufacturers bodies are caught up in that mess.

    No BRaw had been possible without some private agreement with Red. But content of this agreement...

    I fear we won't like the consequences.

  • FirworksFirworks

    Yeah I was not surprised by their response just sort of noting it down here before probably postings of "I wonder if Z Cam will add BRAW".

    Also I've been wondering the same thing. If maybe BMRaw is going to be easy for BMD to add because their digital side is an FPGA instead of a purpose built LSI. Other manufacutrers will have to build that in from the start of their ASIC development and then it'll be a long time before we could even see it (if we ever see it from other manufactureres that is). Then there's also a risk in adding that hardware in the event that let's say, BMD loses a lawsuit with RED and suddenly gets an injunction against BMRaw and then other camera manufacturers bodies are caught up in that mess.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @Firworks

    Adding such things to other camera is certainly not free and very hard to do.

    I suppose whole aspect is close to Red in a way that it is made to be implemented in FPGA.

  • GrimorGrimor

    Cinemartin will do.

    Fingers Crossed

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  • FirworksFirworks

    Someone asked Kinson Loo about adding BRAW support to the E2 on their Facebook group. He gave an emphatic NO.

  • sammysammy

    They came up with a WDR mode,which they came to get 16 stops of DR .. WIth out it enabled its 13 stops of dynamic range (per the Facebook page).. Here is a test of that mode https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SK1Rdh7Gl7bpmEpFFiSB20o5F0LznY0h/view

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    I got the email today. My preorder should ship next week.

  • MckiniseMckinise

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev I'm not sure if it's absent from the mobile app. The last time I tried the mobile app, it didn't work well (I think it crashed a couple of times) so I gave up on it. I've seen some others complaining that the mobile app doesn't work well in the Z-Cam E2 group as well. If it's working for you, great!

    Heck, if I'd known you planned to acquire some for your teams, I'd have just donated mine instead of selling it to Adorama. I didn't get a lot (though keep your eye on their site - if it isn't already listed used, it will be soon, I'm sure).

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @eatstoomuchjam

    Exposure preview is absent from mobile app also?

    Is it auto lenses thing?

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    I ended up selling mine. While the most recent firmware updates improved quality and usability to acceptable, the lack of exposure preview drove me crazy and some of the still-existing usability problems would be difficult to correct without adding more buttons (or a much better mobile app, maybe). I used it as a secondary safety camera for a few things to test it - it was a headache to set it up each time and took time away when I could have been focused on other stuff and in the end, the picture was unremarkable at best, and the low light performance remained fairly poor.

    With that said, I'm excited for the E2. The samples that they've been posting in the group have been pretty exciting and it sounds like they're pretty close to having a usable +3-stop WDR mode.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    It is very sad to see E1 discontinued, hope they'll have Mark II quite soon.

    Cheap, compact m43 camera.

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    Discontinued for sales doesn't have to mean discontinued for firmware upgrades. How long has the GH2 been discontinued?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    They promised at the meetings where the Z Cam E2 was introduced that there would be another firmware upgrade for the Z Cam E1 (it's in the video, you can check). Liars

    It will be 100%. I have assurance from their CEO. Do not worry.

    I am especially interested as some of our teams will be using E1's soon. :-)

  • markr041markr041

    They promised at the meetings where the Z Cam E2 was introduced that there would be another firmware upgrade for the Z Cam E1 (it's in the video, you can check). Liars. So, who knows what else is not true?

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    The latest comments from Jason in the facebook group indicate that they have production models of the camera and are ready to start shipping. Exciting! This might also explain why the E1 is listed as discontinued now.

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/zcame2/permalink/213010226096597/?comment_id=293968828000736&reply_comment_id=296921624372123&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R8%22%7D

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