I'm sure some of you might have seen this video, but I thought it was pretty awesome, and it's a nice little general comparison of a 3CCD 1/3" sensor prosumer Canon camcorder and the 35mm 5D2's motion capture.
Now, I did not do this test, so I can't say what settings the 5D2 had. So, I'm not going to judge the exposure, contrast, color, and sharpness of the 5D2 video (it has a neutral look to it), and in some of the 5D2 shots, it looks like the focus could have been a bit more precise, but it has a dreamy fantasy look to it, which is a plus for story-telling.
On the other hand, the camcorder footage just screams "I'M A HOME VIDEO!!!" Check out those blown highlights.
To me the difference is far more than just depth of field. It's an entirely different look. More dynamic range, not quite video-looking, but not quite film-like either. It's unique and pleasing, and it's not even 24P.
I think this is a good test for people who say "Video is video, I'd rather use a camcorder, because that's what it's made for." And that's true in a lot of cases.
But they're two completely different tools for different shooting situations, for the same price... but this camcorder model is now discontinued.
I did an approximate sensor size comparison. 2/3rd inch sensors are considered pretty damn big in the video world compared to the 1/4th-1/7th inch sensors in the consumer camcorders. And to think, RED is coming out with 645 sensors that capture 9K...
From left to right: 1/3rd inch, 2/3rd inch, 35mm.
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