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These are the best and worst brands you can buy for shooting video… maybe

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Camera gear talk is always quite interesting and often pretty amusing. So many are loyal to their brand, not that I’m pointing any fingers, and just can’t seem to look at things objectively. And while most brands these days have got things pretty good when it comes to stills, the sub-$5,000 camera market for video shooters is still a bit all over the place. Relatively speaking, though, it’s a pretty young sector of the market and everybody’s still trying to figure things out. One or two might have it almost right, though.

In this video, Caleb Pike looks at all of the manufacturers currently producing cameras for less than five grand to see how they really compare to each other, including everything from build quality to ergonomics and features to overheating issues and some 30-minute time limits in between. And while Caleb doesn’t really cite any specific camera models here, just the brands as a whole, it’s pretty interesting to hear his take. Even if it is still pretty subjective.

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The Z-Cam E2 now comes with a locking Leica M mount option

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The Z-Cam E2 series of cameras has proven to be very popular.  With a product range covering everything from Micro Four Thirds through Super 35 up to full-frame they have something to cater to pretty much everybody. Until now, interchangeable lens mounts have been available for EF, MFT and PL mount lenses, but now they’ve added Leica M to the lineup with a new mount option.

Available as a separate $99 purchase, the new interchangeable M Mount plate replaces your existing mount and allows you to film with Leica M mount lenses at Super 35 and full-frame formats on your Z-Cam E2-S6, E2-F6 and E2-F8 cameras at up to 6K60fps or 8K30fps.

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This guy built his own SSD side handle for the Z Cam E2 so he wouldn’t have to buy a cage rig

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Sometimes, you have a camera rig and you need a thing, and there’s just no real commercially available solution out there to give you exactly what you need. So, you make your own. And that’s exactly what filmmaker Maximillian Wasinger did for his Z Cam E2 rig, with this rather fetching looking wooden side handle that also acts as SSD storage.

And when we make such things, sometimes we document the process to share with others. And, thankfully, Maximillian did that, too. DIYP spoke with Maximillian to find out more information on his process to design and build this handle, and he was more than happy to share it with us.

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Z Cam’s new E2-M4 cinema camera shoots 4K 10-Bit ProRes at up to 120fps for $1,500

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Z Cam has announced the new E2-M4 cinema camera. It’s a Micro Four Thirds unit with 13 stops of dynamic range (16 with WDR enabled) that shoots 10-Bit 4K DCI at up to 120 frames per second in ProRes 422 and 1080p at up to 240 frames per second.

Like Z Cam’s other cinema cameras, it’s essentially an aluminium alloy cube with a hole in the front for your lens, a handful of buttons, and connection points spread all around.  It features an OLED display on top and has gigabit ethernet and wifi for streaming, remote control and preview.

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Z Cam’s electronic variable ND filter for their 6K and 8K cameras is now available

Z Cam’s eND filter is now available to pre-order. It’s an electronic variable neutral density filter designed for use with the Z Cam E2-S6, E2-F6 and E2-F8 cinema cameras. It was first shown off at IBC 2019 last September and offers a range of 1.7 to 6.7 stops of neutral density in 1/3rd stop increments.

We swung by the Z Cam booth when we were at IBC last year to check out the then-newly announced Z Cam E2 S6, F6 and F8 along with the eND electronic neutral density filter.

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2019 DIYP Holiday Gift Guide – Cameras

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Black Friday may be well and truly over, but there are still a lot of sales going on and we’re well into the Holiday Season now. Have you already got your loved one (or yourself) that perfect gift? If not, here are some options for you. This is the first of our 2019 gift guides, and we’re going to start with cameras. These are some of the new cameras that have come out over the last year as well as some of the steadfast favourites that we’ve used throughout the year.

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Z-Cam’s new flagship cameras offer 8K and 6K full-frame and super 35mm sensors

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When it comes to cameras, Z-Cam feels like the new kid on the block. Before NAB earlier this year, nobody had heard of them, and now they seem to be everywhere. Recently, they announced three new flagship cameras, the E2-S6 6K, E2-F6 6K and E2-F8 8K so we stopped by their stand at IBC 2019 to find out more about them.

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Z Cam opens up their budget full-frame 6K and 8K cinema cameras for pre-order

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Z-Cam was pretty much unheard of until relatively recently, but they made quite a big splash at NAB earlier this year. They had a pretty sizeable stand offering up some pretty big promises for the filmmaking industry with a set of 4K, 6K and 8K cameras. The 4K Z-Cam E2C was announced just over a week ago, and now the company has followed through with their full-frame E2 F6 and E2 F8 models, capable of shooting 6K and 8K respectively.

They’re both pretty bare-bones, boxy-looking cameras sold with no accessories. But when you consider that they’re priced at $5K and $6K each, with both available in either EF or PL lens mounts, one can hardly expect much more than they’re already offering.

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The Z-Cam E2C is a 4K Micro Four Thirds cinema camera for under $800

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The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K made some pretty big waves when it was announced last year. And given its current high demand, there seems to be no shortage of customers for such a low budget camera. Especially one with such capability. So, it’s not much of a surprise that other manufacturers want to muscle in on that market.

Z-Cam is one such company. They’ve just announced their new E2C camera. A 4K cinema camera, which may very well be the smallest and least expensive on the market right now. And while it doesn’t shoot ProRes or raw video (yet?) it does look like a fairly impressive unit for the price.

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World’s Smallest Micro 4/3 Camera Will Give GoPro a Run For Its Money

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We all love the GoPro for a variety of reasons.  But, one major drawback of the well-known action cam is a sacrifice on quality due to it’s sensor size.  Oh, and you’re kinda stuck with the stock the fisheye-like lens.

Z Camera is looking to give GoPro a run for their money with the introduction of the E1, the world’s smallest micro 4/3 camera with interchangeable lenses and 4K video.  Although it hasn’t yet hit mass production, this feat of photographic engineering is shaping up to be fun!

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