EX3 with Nanoflash Vs Canon 5D II / 7D

Chris Newcombe · March 21, 2011

It's my first post on here so please - be gentle.

We are shooting a short film in the coming weeks. It's going be a mixture of a single, low-lit interior, and assorted exteriors. We'll be shooting about two-thirds of the film during daylight hours, using as much natural light as possible. There will be two shoots in the low-lit interior; one at midday, the other in the evening. We want it to look like a squat, so we'll be keeping our lighting to a bare minimum. It has two large windows on one of the walls, so we'll have some daylight to work with on the day shoot.

We already own a Sony EX3, and having used it in conjunction with a Nanoflash in the past for green-screen shoots, I have been impressed with the crispness of the image (I usually shoot in 100 MBps Long GOP) and the ease at which it grades thanks to the 4:2:2 colour space. I was hoping to use this setup bolted to a Technik Pro 35 adapter and a mixture of Nikon primes. The producer, however, is eager to use a DSLR: namely the Canon 5D II or Canon 7D. Whilst both these cameras have enormous chips, lending themselves well to shooting at night with natural light, I always find the finished image a little fuzzy due to the compression. Also, it's also not as forgiving in the grade. If I were to choose between the 5D II and the 7D, I would go for the latter so we are covered should we want to shoot some smooth half-speed.

With that out of the way, the question!

My suggestion to the producer has been to shoot all of the daylight interiors and exteriors with the EX3 rig, and any low-light scenes with the DSLR. I wanted to see what your thoughts were, and if anyone has had the chance to do a side-by-side comparison between the two formats? We are working on a limited budget and timeframe, so unfortunately I will not have the opportunity to do any comparison tests of my own. We intend to submit the finished short to various festivals, as well as the usual DVD / Web distribution for cast and crew.

Much appreciated,

Chris