Last week, Panasonic released the official promo films shot on the Panasonic EVA1 camera, the “Shot on EVA1” Iceland footage by Filippo Chiesa, then “Radio 88” (Johnny Derango) and “Near to Superstition” (Elle Schneider), both of which were more narrative oriented compared to the first footage that Filippo shot, which was designed to represent the camera in a more fashion/commercial oriented way. The films premiered at a few select launch events in New York and LA, and then were also exhibited at IBC 2017 in Amsterdam, and now they have been unveiled to the public in 4K on Vimeo on the official Varicam & EVA1 account.
If you have been following the marketing effort by Panasonic regarding their new EVA1, you’ve probably already seen these shorts, however, as they were originally posted to YouTube and even a version on Vimeo, which was only 720p (due to the limitation of the account it was originally posted on), they didn’t really represent the footage in the best way possible. This is of course due to the inherent web compression, which tends to degrade the image to a degree. Not that Vimeo is perfect, no online platform is, but at least Vimeo’s treatment of UltraHD is much better in my opinion.
Prior to this, Panasonic unveiled the accompanying “behind the scenes/making off” promos for each short – you can see those here.
Panasonic have been pushing the EVA1 hard given their extensive marketing campaign, which started with a teaser all the way back at NAB 2017 in April, then continued with an official announcement at CineGear in June.
ICELAND footage by Filippo Chiesa:
Director of Photography Filippo Chiesa.
Colour grading done by Frédéric Savoir, Amazing Digital Studios.
“Radio 88”, shot by Johnny Derango:
“Near to Superstition” Director of Photography Elle Schneider:
Panasonic AU-EVA1 Highlights & Features
- 5.7K Super 35 CMOS sensor
- Dual Native ISO (800 and 2500)
- Native EF Mount (non-interchangeable)
- 4K at up to 60p / 2K up to 240p
- 10bit 4:2:2 internal codec for 4K and Full HD
- Up to 400 Mbps data rate for internal
- V-log & V-gamut
- Records onto SD cards
- 5.7K Raw Output (planned future update)
- Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS)
- IR Cut can be moved out of image path with a button
- Built-in ND Filters – 2/4/6 stops
- Dual XLR audio inputs
- Tool-less design for top handle and side grip
- Both HDMI & SDI can output 4K
- Weight: 1.2 kg
- Dimensions:
- 6.69″ x 5.31″ x 5.23″ (L x H x W)
- Price/Availability:
To my eye, all three films look a lot better on Vimeo, but they are not perfect. As already discussed in this post here, the EVA1 footage is far from perfect – some exterior night shots (that campfire scene) in Near to Superstition still look a bit dodgy, but the well lit exteriors look even better compared to YouTube. One can’t blame all artifacts to web compression, and from all three shorts so far I am yet to see solid ISO 2500 noise-free image (or at least one that has the same noise as ISO 800).
Sony A7s II the EVA1 ain’t, and despite the broad generalization, and the fact that the EVA1 has never been developed (at least to my knowledge) as a super-low light camera. The well lit scenes look great, although I must say I am not a fan of the super-sharpness that the camera tends to exhibit in a few of the shots. I quite liked the heavily diffused interiors in Radio 88 and the naturalistic magic hour scenes in Near to Superstition. The camera has some pull for sure, it looks like Panasonic have really done great things with the sensor, colours look very Varicam-like, but I do think they need to work more on that Dual ISO, for it to be considered a USP worth talking about.
I am looking forward to seeing what many of you will create once the camera is finalized and start shipping towards the end of October.
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Based on the available footage that is out there, it appears that the C200 is going to smoke the EVA1 in lowlight. The dark stuff around that campfire in “Near Superstition” is pretty dang noisy.
EVA is already dead not even launched yet! … I m not a Canon funboy, actually I use Panasonic & Sony.
I also noticed that and I was pretty shocked. So for low light 4k/60, the EVA1 is not optimal, the URSA is not optimal, the C200 seems fine and the FS7 seems to (still) be the only really decent Super35 camera for low light use.
FS7 works great in low light. I rented the C200 for a night shoot this week, so I will know how that fares in a few days. The tests I’ve seen looks like the C200 actually does better than the FS7 in lowlight, and that is the conclusion that Phillip Bloom came to when he tested it as well. But the FS7 is certainly a great lowlight camera and I still may buy it over both the C200 or the EVA1.
C200 footage is fairly noisy too. From some tests I saw, the humbly priced GH5 beat it hands down.
But let’s not forget, the EVA1-footage was shot on pre-production firmware, which is a risky thing to do for manufacturers. Let’s wait for our final judgements and see if it improves when the final firmware is out.
So, all the wedding vidiographers won’t buy this nonlow light $7000 camera? The better productions all use lights so this is never a problem. I bet the c200 beats Alexa in low light too. This matters net.
Matter not, I meant
The different features and attributes of a camera have varying levels of importance to different people. Lowlight cameras are not just for wedding videographers. And the “better productions” don’t always use a ton of lights. I am one of the head cinematographers for The Sierra Club and am often assigned to shoot in remote regions of the backcountry. I’ve never seen any brides wandering out there but I have seen a lot of grizzly bears!
I don’t think the EVA1 is going to be a bad camera. I actually think it’s going to be a great camera. But there are a lot of things I was anticipating about it that I am now questioning.