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Hi.
I am thinking to buy a Z cam E2 with a Nauticam Housing.
I need it for broadcast and mainly in temperate waters.
Have not found much about it for underwater use.
Do any of you guys use it or have any suggestions for this cam?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in Advance.
Søren
This would be my number one pick for a number of reasons. I've been shooting video for 10 years.
https://www.backscatter.com/Gates-Pro-Action-Red-Epic-Weapon-Arri-Mini-Underwater-Housing
Hi
I follow this company on Facebook, they bought this setup not long ago. Seen them post some clips lately using it underwater.
2 hours ago, bill1946 said:This would be my number one pick for a number of reasons. I've been shooting video for 10 years.
https://www.backscatter.com/Gates-Pro-Action-Red-Epic-Weapon-Arri-Mini-Underwater-Housing
Thanks, Looks great, but a little over my budget at the moment;)
1 hour ago, Aquatic Images said:Hi
I follow this company on Facebook, they bought this setup not long ago. Seen them post some clips lately using it underwater.
Thanks, just saw they films, looks ok.
Just wondering if anyone have use it. Stability, how good is the Cam in poor light conditions etc??
No personal experience sorry. It does have dual iso though so I imagine it's decent for low light.
I had an E2 to play with for a little while. It is certainly a capable of producing excellent results but requires a lot from the operator. Continuous AF is out of the question...actually not even sure it has a C-AF function. You would likely want to manual focus anyway. No stabilization. It is a dual base gain with micro 4/3's sensor design so noise can be an issue as it would for any other camera. The Nauticam housing is tiny but depending on that you are doing, you might need to add an external monitor.
2 hours ago, Akoni said:I had an E2 to play with for a little while. It is certainly a capable of producing excellent results but requires a lot from the operator. Continuous AF is out of the question...actually not even sure it has a C-AF function. You would likely want to manual focus anyway. No stabilization. It is a dual base gain with micro 4/3's sensor design so noise can be an issue as it would for any other camera. The Nauticam housing is tiny but depending on that you are doing, you might need to add an external monitor.
Thanks for your description. It would be fine with manual focus. Yeah, stabilization could be an issue. I do have an external monitor
that could work with these cam( Small HD 502 in Nauticam housing).
Here is a video taken on the Z cam E2. Maybe you could contact Herg ? Probably the best thing to do as he has used one.
https://wetpixel.com/articles/video-raja-ampat-with-the-z-cam-e2-by-hergen-spalink
Hope that helps
Diggy
8 hours ago, diggy said:Here is a video taken on the Z cam E2. Maybe you could contact Herg ? Probably the best thing to do as he has used one.
https://wetpixel.com/articles/video-raja-ampat-with-the-z-cam-e2-by-hergen-spalink
Hope that helps
Diggy
Hi Diggy.
Thanks;) I Will have a look and try that.
Regards
Søren
Amazing shots but light and filters set used cost nearly the camera setup.
It would be nice seeing shots with a much simpler light setup.
Have you considered the Black Magic Pocket Camera 4k/6K? I know it is bigger in size but it comes with 5 inch monitor and once you add the monitor to the Z cam, size becomes similar. But with Z cam you’ve got an extra housing/monitor to deal with.
In terms of the maturity of the whole system, I will personally choose the BMPCC over Z cam:
12 bit color depth,
BRAW is integrated in Davinci Resolve,
BM color science,
You get Davinci Resolve Studio (Noise reduction, great stabilization - available in the free version of Davinci- needed for both cameras)
1 extra stop of Dynamic range cording to https://www.cinema5d.com/z-cam-zraw-vs-blackmagic-raw-which-one-is-better-our-lab-test/ useful for shooting big structure, schools of fish, in ambient lightwhere light and where artificial lights can not be used.
All required video monitoring tools are available such histogram, focus and focus peaking etc...
Autofocus (Push focus, not continuous focus) useful
12 minutes ago, thani said:Have you considered the Black Magic Pocket Camera 4k/6K? I know it is bigger in size but it comes with 5 inch monitor and once you add the monitor to the Z cam, size becomes similar. But with Z cam you’ve got an extra housing/monitor to deal with.
In terms of the maturity of the whole system, I will personally choose the BMPCC over Z cam:
12 bit color depth,
BRAW is integrated in Davinci Resolve,
BM color science,
You get Davinci Resolve Studio (Noise reduction, great stabilization - available in the free version of Davinci- needed for both cameras)
1 extra stop of Dynamic range cording to https://www.cinema5d.com/z-cam-zraw-vs-blackmagic-raw-which-one-is-better-our-lab-test/ useful for shooting big structure, schools of fish, in ambient lightwhere light and where artificial lights can not be used.
All required video monitoring tools are available such histogram, focus and focus peaking etc...
Autofocus (Push focus, not continuous focus) useful
All cameras on the market already have more DR than you need and once compressed in rec709 it caps at 10.7 stops anyway.
You already have the tools you need if you want more DR go into HDR and then you will be able to see it instead of going around the block
If instead we are talking about colour manipulation than for sure the codecs of BMPCC have much more headroom but let's not confuse matters the BMPCC has no more DR than the GH5
1 hour ago, Interceptor121 said:All cameras on the market already have more DR than you need and once compressed in rec709 it caps at 10.7 stops anyway.
You already have the tools you need if you want more DR go into HDR and then you will be able to see it instead of going around the block
If instead we are talking about colour manipulation than for sure the codecs of BMPCC have much more headroom but let's not confuse matters the BMPCC has no more DR than the GH5
it is unfair to compare GH5 to BMPCC (may be GH5s is comparable). I have worked with RAW before in the BM cameras and for underwater footage especially shot without artificial light you have really enough head room to correct for under or over exposure and you can push and do color correction and you will have enough latitude before you break the codec. You can not do the same with GH5. I have it as well and tried it and that’s why I went for the GH5s (same housing).
I agree with you that we end up mostly exporting for SDR Rec 709 but we do this only after color correcting our footage and this is in my opinion the biggest differentiator. And this is why we need good a good color depth and enough latitude.
If you are shooting with artificial lights the GH5 is a very good solution. Even a gopro with lights can do very well.
Re. HDR, I am not sold yet cause in most of the situation - but shallow waters - their is not enough contrasting scenes or highlights that requires HDR.
1 minute ago, thani said:it is unfair to compare GH5 to BMPCC (may be GH5s is comparable). I have worked with RAW before in the BM cameras and for underwater footage especially shot without artificial light you have really enough head room to correct for under or over exposure and you can push and do color correction and you will have enough latitude before you break the codec. You can not do the same with GH5. I have it as well and tried it and that’s why I went for the GH5s (same housing).
I agree with you that we end up mostly exporting for SDR Rec 709 but we do this only after color correcting our footage and this is in my opinion the biggest differentiator. And this is why we need good a good color depth and enough latitude.
If you are shooting with artificial lights the GH5 is a very good solution. Even a gopro with lights can do very well.
Re. HDR, I am not sold yet cause in most of the situation - but shallow waters - their is not enough contrasting scenes or highlights that requires HDR.
HDR is not just about DR is about having a 10 bit process all the way through. So even in a normal scene you have built in latitude you almost never need to correct anything and it does not clip.
I have had myself this misconception until now that with covid-19 I bought the V-LOG. V-Log to PQ is unbeatable in any situation and requires no work. The camera manages 0 to 1000 nits in the same scene. The moment you go back to rec709 is all washed out and need to add constrast saturation to simulate that look but it is never the same.
Do BMPCC work in PQ HDR format?
51 minutes ago, Interceptor121 said:HDR is not just about DR is about having a 10 bit process all the way through. So even in a normal scene you have built in latitude you almost never need to correct anything and it does not clip.
I have had myself this misconception until now that with covid-19 I bought the V-LOG. V-Log to PQ is unbeatable in any situation and requires no work. The camera manages 0 to 1000 nits in the same scene. The moment you go back to rec709 is all washed out and need to add constrast saturation to simulate that look but it is never the same.
Do BMPCC work in PQ HDR format?
My intention of participating in this post was to show a comparable option for the Z cam.
Massimo, you have a good post on HDR https://interceptor121.com/2020/04/05/hdr-or-sdr-with-the-panasonic-gh5/ Let us continue this healthy discussion on HDR that post.
But to answer your question: BMPCC has a 12 bit HDR gamma curve. And it can output 10bit HDR on HDMI for monitoring. Resolve Studio version can output HDR over HDMI. But as you know you need the right workflow/monitor to be able to master HDR correctly. I am not an expert on HDR but I mostly shooting in ambient light and that is why I am not convinced that exporting HDR is useful for my situation. If you are shooting in bright scenes or with artificial lights it might make since. I am willing to learn and change 
with little investment hopefully.
The point I wanted to make is that in a SDR workspace the quality difference with those expensive cameras are so marginal that none of them may be worth it considering the price point. While there is more potential to be leveraged from existing equipment by removing legacy considerations.
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