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So I got a Z10K about a week after I got my AG-3DA1, got a card and went to a parade and shot some 3D, also tested out each of the 2D settings. I have to say I'm a little disappointed with the 3D on the ZK10. When I sat down to watch it later I got very fatigued with eye strain. I thought it was because I was just tired from a full day, but after a second viewing, I've confirmed it's the camera. Part of it is lower resolution than the 3DA1 but I think the biggest problem is the closer lenses. They're about 3/4 inch closer, which might be fine for kids, but it just gives me a headache. Keep in mind I don't get fatigued with any 3D Blu rays, 3Net, or footage from the 3DA1.
With 3D and the Z10K, the 3DA1 is in a whole other league, which the Z10k doesn't belong. I'm thinking I may just resell the z10k because of this. Trying to use 3D footage from this camera with the 3DA1 might not blend too well. I'm not making a final decision yet as I didn't take the 3DA1 with me on this shoot, but comparing footage that I've previously shot with the 3DA1 it just totally blows the Z10K away. It's not even close.
3D aside, I tried out the 2D settings and I must say I was extremely impressed with the 60p function on the Z10k which I have not used before. It was absolutely beautiful, with such low judder and no interlacing issues at all. Very nice quality. The 30p resembled my GS4 only better but with the same frame speed. And 24p was equally as good, I just wish Blu ray supported 60p and can't understand why hollywood is still using 24p for films, 24p really is slow in comparison. 60p is where it's at.
However, I could just get a Canon XA20 or 25 with a 1/2 inch senor which also has 60p, which would be better, so I may just sell the Z10k. I've only done one shoot with it, so I'm not making any decisions yet, just my initial observations. I really wish I had taken the 3DA1 along today to do direct comparisons in the same lighting and setting conditions. I didn't realize there would be that big of a quality difference but it's actually quite noticeable. It also has bad ghosting problems -notably when cars with whitewall tires, they would duplicate in the right frame for no apparent reason.
Bottom line: the lenses are way too close, also the overall lens aperture on the Zk10 is much smaller than the 3DA1. The resolution is noticeably lower on the Z10k while having the advantage of AVCHD 2.0's 28 mbps, it combines the left/right frames with 28 mbps overall while it really could use at least 40 mbps to do this. Note: while shooting in 2D at 60p it uses the entire 28 mbps bitrate for one frame and it also uses 28mbps in 3D which means you're only getting around 14 mbps for each frame. Not a good idea as the image comes out looking like what is shown on 3Net. The 3DA1 uses 21 avg to 24 mbps max per left/right frame instead of a combined bitrate, which still, at times you can notice a lower quality especially with 24p, but it's nowhere near as bad as the Z10k's 28 mbps overall bitrate. A big improvement would be a 28-35 mbps per lens and also at 60p. Now that would be impressive. But it probably won't arrive until 4k 3D.
These are just my findings on the first week, but I think my findings are pretty close to reality. In order to get anything better with what's currently on the market, you'll need 1/3 or 1/2 inch sensors the 3DP1 or the Sony TD300, which aren't in my budget right now. So I'll just have to live with the 3DA1 and maybe try to do some more comparisons with the Z10k. 2D at 60p was really impressive on the Z10k, and at the price I paid, I couldn't get a XA25 near that, though that one has a 1/2 inch sensor compared to 1/4.
With 3D and the Z10K, the 3DA1 is in a whole other league, which the Z10k doesn't belong. I'm thinking I may just resell the z10k because of this. Trying to use 3D footage from this camera with the 3DA1 might not blend too well. I'm not making a final decision yet as I didn't take the 3DA1 with me on this shoot, but comparing footage that I've previously shot with the 3DA1 it just totally blows the Z10K away. It's not even close.
3D aside, I tried out the 2D settings and I must say I was extremely impressed with the 60p function on the Z10k which I have not used before. It was absolutely beautiful, with such low judder and no interlacing issues at all. Very nice quality. The 30p resembled my GS4 only better but with the same frame speed. And 24p was equally as good, I just wish Blu ray supported 60p and can't understand why hollywood is still using 24p for films, 24p really is slow in comparison. 60p is where it's at.
However, I could just get a Canon XA20 or 25 with a 1/2 inch senor which also has 60p, which would be better, so I may just sell the Z10k. I've only done one shoot with it, so I'm not making any decisions yet, just my initial observations. I really wish I had taken the 3DA1 along today to do direct comparisons in the same lighting and setting conditions. I didn't realize there would be that big of a quality difference but it's actually quite noticeable. It also has bad ghosting problems -notably when cars with whitewall tires, they would duplicate in the right frame for no apparent reason.
Bottom line: the lenses are way too close, also the overall lens aperture on the Zk10 is much smaller than the 3DA1. The resolution is noticeably lower on the Z10k while having the advantage of AVCHD 2.0's 28 mbps, it combines the left/right frames with 28 mbps overall while it really could use at least 40 mbps to do this. Note: while shooting in 2D at 60p it uses the entire 28 mbps bitrate for one frame and it also uses 28mbps in 3D which means you're only getting around 14 mbps for each frame. Not a good idea as the image comes out looking like what is shown on 3Net. The 3DA1 uses 21 avg to 24 mbps max per left/right frame instead of a combined bitrate, which still, at times you can notice a lower quality especially with 24p, but it's nowhere near as bad as the Z10k's 28 mbps overall bitrate. A big improvement would be a 28-35 mbps per lens and also at 60p. Now that would be impressive. But it probably won't arrive until 4k 3D.
These are just my findings on the first week, but I think my findings are pretty close to reality. In order to get anything better with what's currently on the market, you'll need 1/3 or 1/2 inch sensors the 3DP1 or the Sony TD300, which aren't in my budget right now. So I'll just have to live with the 3DA1 and maybe try to do some more comparisons with the Z10k. 2D at 60p was really impressive on the Z10k, and at the price I paid, I couldn't get a XA25 near that, though that one has a 1/2 inch sensor compared to 1/4.