Fujifilm X-H2s vs RED Epic Dragon 6K

[@EvanSchneider]

BTW, the a-roll shots were filmed with the X-H2s, and the camera b-roll shots were filmed with the opposite camera. So the RED b-roll was shot with the X-H2s and the X-H2s b-roll was shot with the RED! Could you tell the difference?

[@mehmetkocaman326]

Sorry do you mean all clips are opposite ?

[@mnmlflmkr]

@@mehmetkocaman326 Yeah I don't know what the fuck he meant by that hahahah

[@ChristopherKou]

The fact that this is an actual test that exists is pretty amazing in itself. The fact that there is virtually no distinguishable difference in picture quality is mind blowing. There are differences in the picture, of course, but at this point I feel like it comes down to preference.

[@EvanSchneider]

Absolutely. And it also comes down to what kind of camera body and rigging you want to have. Pretty amazing though, we’re spoiled!

[@koni-video]

Of course not, dude. It's just not the right test, and you're the wrong guy - you dont need Epic. It's simple.

[@ChristopherKou]

@@koni-video way to completely miss my point.

[@AaronRash]

I wasn't a fan on the X-H2s, it just looked like a really sharp high quality video camera to me. I think a lot of people associate a sharper image with it being better, but it just looks video ish to me. The Dragon sensor to me is the best sensor RED ever made IMO. It just feels thick, cant exactly describe it. I have a Red One MX, an ARRI Alexa Classic , a BMPCC4K and an R5. While I love them all, The Pocket 4K and R5 also suffer from what I see in the Fuji. It looks absolutely fantastic but there this "weight" or thickness in the image that it just cant do. Also, it processes movement differently. Another thing is the noise and grain from the Red and Alexa sensor look much more organic/soft. None of this maters to most people. But that's just my experience with the past 10 years of owning these cameras and it becomes very apparent in the D.I where you start pulling and stretching grades. I can try my hardest to make skin tones fall apart on the Alexa and it just won't happen. The Red will mush up much quicker. All great cameras, just thought I would share my opinion here!

[@Hakku1403]

I guess you mean the 3D Pop of the picture. I have an R5 and the image is somewhat digitally sharp without a real 3D Pop, it looks more flat and 2D - like you´ve said - without weight

[@IlyaPodnebesmiy]

I'm just thinking about buying either the ARRI CLASSIC or the RED DRAGON 6k. Based on your experience, which camera can better shoot a dark object in front of a window in this way - we are exposed to a bright window, and pull out black areas during post-processing?

[@brunochansou2164]

Thanks for the comparaison. Very interesting. We can use a CST node with the F-Log2. You just have to put gamut : REC2020 and gamma : ArriLogC (the Flog2 and ARRILogC3 curves are almost the same.)

[@Pepp_ered]

After buying one a couple weeks ago and the new resolve 19 update coming out, I legit found this out by accident when using a power grade that I set up for an Alexa grade and was confused until I looked up the white papers ha. I’m glad others know this

[@seacamtv]

I had Red Cameras from the Red One to the Red MX to the Dragon and was always scratching my head as to why they never looked sharp to me, especially underwater since that was my primary use for them. Also struggling to get rid of the magenta cast in the highlights in the sky, shooting up towards the surface of the water. I always thought I was doing something wrong. Then I got a mirrorless camera, in my case the Samsung NX1 and wanted to cry. Cry about all the money I had wasted on the bodies, monitors, accessories firmware upgrades, lenses memory cards etc. that Red forced me to buy in order to stay in their ecosystem. Then they switched the system entirely and were going to force me to start all over again with their version 2 system of monitors and memory cards etc. Never again. Not after I saw the quality of that NX1. It was the image Red always promised but never delivered. And the NX1 was using an h.265 codec that was a fraction of the size of the Red Raw footage and required only a fraction of the tweaking to get a brilliant noiseless image. And don't get me started on Red's chroma and luma noise. Thank goodness I was able to dump my Red gear before it became totally obsolete. My NX1 unfortunately has also become obsolete and is no longer being made or supported. I have been looking for a replacement and almost bought an XT3 then a XT4 after playing with them in a BestBuy they had a similar low-noise floor high sharpness and beautiful color science, but I am glad I waited for the XH2S with the stacked sensor because the only weakness was the jello rolling shutter issue. Now that seems to be solved. The fact that you compared it to a camera ten times its price and found the Red was the camera that came up short in all the issues previously mentioned, vindicates my position. Maybe the new 50K+ Reds have solved some of these problems but that is 47k down the drain in my book.

[@Taramundifilms]

I bought my NX1 back in 2015, and used it for 8 years. It was way ahead of it’s time. I bought the XH2s one week ago and just finished my first shoot with it. The footage looks amazing, couldn’t be happier, but i dislike the fact in manual focus, when using highlight peaking, the highlights stay visible when recording. I hooe they’ll fix this through a firmware update. I also feel the menu system is not so user friendly, but maybe i just have to get used to it. All in all it makes me realise how stunning that NX1 was, although it’s single codec and low bitrate. Sad they didn’t continue this line.

[@xxphactor]

Another thing to think about in terms of Fujifilm's sharpness (besides not using the 180 rule for motion blur) is that the X-H2s is also a photography camera where sharpness is important. So its actually serving two beasts whereas the Red is strictly for filmmaking.

[@EvanSchneider]

Good point

[@JS_Leger]

The Dragon has a Optical low pass filter, wich make a big difference too

[@KarlGutowski]

The main difference between the two cameras is that RED handles extreme highlights more pleasantly than the H2S. This could be an issue with Evan's LUT, but in the footage of the sun, the Fuji has a clearly visible clipped circle around the sun, while the RED is more of a gradient. F-Log and F-Log2 are known to be unkind to overexposure and I tend to underexpose for this reason, always checking the histogram for that wall of clipped white on the right hand side of the graph.

[@EvanSchneider]

This actually comes down to a creative decision in the color grade of how gently to rolloff the highlights. The RED decoding was set to Medium/Medium, I believe, which means that it has medium contrast and medium highlight rolloff. My LUTs have a bit of a harder highlight rolloff, intended to retain fine detail in the bright highlights instead of compressing them, which makes them harder to access in the creative part of the grade. So long story short, this is all by design and not a fault in the LUTs, giving you the creative freedom to create a softer highlight rolloff if desired.

[@YOUAREMYKIN]

Wow. What a pleasant surprise. At least on KZbin, the XH2S seems to hold more info in the highlights! Lime on that shot w you at your desk by the window. Great test 👌⚡️

[@EvanSchneider]

I was impressed as well! Thanks for watching.

[@ChristopherYork1978]

The shadows tell the story there. The RED has more dynamic range in actuality. The blues on the wall were also much cleaner on the RED. Both are amazing, no doubt however. We're blessed these days.

[@tuberisnaturesparesort]

Best video to proof, it's not about the camera. But: skill, good story, good acting, good lighting, high quality lenses

[@dennisradtke8142]

I was an X-T2 shooter. And when I got into videography I picked up the X-T4. Now I am looking to upgrade but was on the fence about going to Sony full frame. This convinced me to stick with Fuji and get the X-H2S, which is great since I have a bunch of XF lenses. It just sucks that there is a stigma about APS-C cameras that cause people to hesitate hiring you cause it's not full frame, regardless of the skill level.

[@tuberisnaturesparesort]

no customer has ever asked me which cameras i use. The only 2 advantages of VOllformat can be balanced with APSC nowadays. 1. low-light performance, with new AI tools in Lightroom/Photoshop, Topaz and Neat-video - so a little more post-processing can now achieve similar results 2. dynamic range: the latest ApsC cameras such as X-h2s can now keep up almost identically 3. bokeh. Yes full frame gives more bokeh at the same aperture, but if you use fast apsc lenses with F1.2 or F1.4, the bokeh is again identical to normal full frame F2.8 lenses. You don't need more bokeh either

[@blasepivovar]

This comparison was very cool to see. Thanks Evan!

[@EvanSchneider]

It was a fun one! Makes me love my X-H2s even more hehe

[@fanjan7527]

Thanks for the comparison. We are so spoiled for choice in cameras now. The quality is insane. The H2s will be my upgrade as a great hybrid at the pricepoint. Before I buy a S1Hmkii, I'd rather purchase a Dragon 6k for higher end productions.

[@EvanSchneider]

Absolutely! We are totally spoiled.

[@capionstudio]

Neat. Two things to consider; add a Ninja V+ to this with ProRes Raw, and you'll even the playing field entirely with no baked profiling (NR / Sharpening). If you're a Resolve user you can of course transform to CDNG and maintain the rgb mosaic. The second part is you can boost your XH-2S to full frame equivalency with the Open Gate, so you can achieve an even larger (theoretical) sensor than the Dragon. Very interesting results indeed!

[@Tyrell_Corp2019]

Thanks for that tip. Do you know if using the Ninja V+ on something like the Fuji XT-4, which doesn't 'meet Netflix requirements' with it's F-Log and a few other minor things would bring this up to Netflix standards? After all the Fuji XT-4 shoots in 4k. It seems like it would. 🤔

[@EvanSchneider]

Open Gate 6.2K mode on the X-H2s has the same field of view and horizontal sensor readout as UHD mode. The UHD image is downscaled from the sensor. So unfortunately it's not technically full frame equivalency, you're still getting an APS-C crop factor, just with more vertical resolution in open gate mode. But yes, I'd be curious to see how ProRes Raw and BRAW look like coming out of the X-H2s. Thanks for the comment.

[@capionstudio]

@@EvanSchneider unless there is an inherent crop in Open Gate mode (which then it wouldn't be "open gate"), with a 0.71x you'll achieve a 1.065 crop equivalency (0.71(booster) x 1.5X (crop sensor) = 1.065 equivalency. No matter what way you want to slice is (semantical debate) it will have a wider field of view (horizontally and vertically as its using nearly the full image circle of a full frame lens) and greater DOF than the Dragon which is my original point. Hope this helps clarify.

[@EvanSchneider]

@@capionstudio then maybe the term "open gate" is misleading in this scenario, because I've tested it myself and both the 6.2k mode and the UHD mode on the X-H2s have the exact same horizontal field of view. The only difference in terms of field of view is that in 6.2k mode on the X-H2s, you have a larger vertical field of view, simply because the UHD mode crops those vertical pixels off to create a 16:9 image.

[@capionstudio]

@@EvanSchneider hey, maybe this was lost in translation.. im talking about adding an optical speed booster to the camera. Doesnt matter what mode its in (open gate or otherwise), as long as the mode is using the full horizontal width of the sensor (APS-C 1.5X crop) with a 0.71X optical speedbooster you will have a theoretical full frame image.

[@BTMovieSecondChannel]

Interesting comparison! Generally, I like the Fuji colors a bit better. In some shots, especially the office shot, the dynamic range seems to be better on the Fuji also. The Red Komodo is less sharp, and generally I prefer that. Also, the image seems more 3D on the RED. I think it's because the image is less sharp en the exposure gradations seem to be a bit better. Also, the colors look a bit 'thicker' on the RED (although I generally prefer the tones on the Fuji).

[@AxTechs]

This is the red dragon, not Komodo, although with the exception of rolling shutter I'd expect them to look very similar

[@BTMovieSecondChannel]

@@AxTechs little typo!

[@EvanSchneider]

Totally agree with all you're saying. Especially the "thicker" colors. It especially shows in skin tones, the RED feels more rich and captures really nice gradations that make it look very life-like.

[@BTMovieSecondChannel]

@@EvanSchneider Yes, I definitely like that look! But as said, in general I found the Fuji tones more pleasing. Except for some shots, where the RED looked more natural.

[@BennieWoodell]

Wow, I just bought a X-HS2 this week and I am so happy to see this comparison. I was happy with my decision when I tested it out yesterday, but now I'm even happier seeing absolutely no noticeable differences in the two images in this video. Now I have to show my wife this so she won't be as irritated I spent 2500 bucks lol.

[@grahmdoughty]

I also have an X-H2S. Love the dynamic range, rolling shutter performance, and open gate 6K - but I think it's just way too sharp, even at -4. And obviously it's missing a lot of useful video tools and assist features. I want so badly to love it since I'm a big Fuji fan and love their colors for photos, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep it around.

[@EvanSchneider]

Totally agree, I talked about this near the end of the video. The RED just has all of the features that give you total confidence shooting on set. The Fuji is lightweight and versatile while maintaining image quality. I like them both for different reasons. I really want Fuji to adjust their sharpness settings. However a tiny bit of blur in post actually does the trick in most situations.

[@BTMovieSecondChannel]

@@EvanSchneider It would be amazing if Fujifilm would give more freedom to adjust sharpness! I feel it sometimes draws to much attention the background, because everything appears somewhat sharp because of it. When most is quite blurry and only the subject is decently sharp, it gives more of a 3D feeling. The texture is the thing that differs my Fujifilm camera's most from 'real' cinema camera's in my book.

[@itsaaronmiller]

Have you tried flog1? I never knew what people were talking about with the oversharpened image until I tried flog2. I still use flog1 because I didn’t have time to experiment with a new workflow. It has the same amount of DR as the pocket cams but appears way less sharp than flog2

[@BTMovieSecondChannel]

@@itsaaronmiller That’s suspicious! I like the colors of F-log2 better tho.

[@dccoletrain]

They do make filters….

[@OllieLoops]

Great video. I just got an XH2s. This is reassuring that I made the right decision.

[@EvanSchneider]

Glad to hear!

[@arantesFilms]

It's nice to see XH2S comparing with Red and keep up. When I shoot in Flog2 i notice some red, pink skin tones.

[@EvanSchneider]

Definitely! And I noticed that too, I adjusted for those tones in my conversion LUTs because the Fuji versions tend to lean more magenta.

[@BuddyG]

4:52 seems to be getting better DR from the XH2s... the highlights are blown in the RED EPIC DRAGON... Personally I think the XH2s image looks cleaner and sharper than the RED. A lot of people turn down the sharpness on their camera's but me personally I actually LIKE a sharp image. You can always desharpen an image if you don't like the sharpnes...

[@EvanSchneider]

If you like a sharp, clean image, the X-H2s is definitely for you!

[@BuddyG]

@@EvanSchneider Yep! I have one already :)

[@angryrabbitproductions1690]

It’s honestly a wash. The two are so close. The XH2S is well implemented. Fujifilm really optimized the image from this sensor. I’d love to see a cinema focused version of this with built in eVND and built in fan. That would be an instant preorder for me. Great video and great comparison.

[@cinematic_monkey]

Hi. Great video. I was under impression from samples I downloaded that h2s is very noisy in the shadows. Would love to see S5II in the comparison too. Such an underrated camera.

[@DonnieGQX]

Can we do a similar test with the S5ii and the RED and Fujifilm. Stuck on which of the 2 obviously more affordable options :D to get as they are both great at what they do..

[@EvanSchneider]

That would be a great test. I don't have access to an S5ii unfortunately. But if you find someone who compared the X-H2s to the S5ii you could probably get a better answer.

[@creativenords]

I’m doing one soon. I tested my Scarlet W against my S5ii. The RED is more filmic and the S5 has a more modern clean look.

where you can always see the bigger bitdepth is in the saturation in the lows. the alley shot and the interior shot show this well imo but other than that the fuji looks amazing

[@avarmadillo]

EXACTLY! I thought the largest difference was in the blues, which I far prefer in the Fuji, which leans to Cyan, whereas the Red tended toward purple.

[@bionommc]

The colors of the fuji are just.. nailed! Love it

[@matangox]

Look at 4:38 through the window, the moment it switches camera. It seems like the Fuji has way more dynamic range, or at least that's what it looks like in the highlights area. The crazy thing ais that it seems the same is true in the shadows area, but that is less obvious to me. Can someone comment on that?

[@EvanSchneider]

You’re right, the Fuji does appear to be retaining more detail in the highlights in those shots. This could be due to slightly differing exposures, or even the highlight roll-off in the conversions from their respective log encodings. If I were to try to keep the highlights more in tact outside, I’d probably stop down 1-2 stops and then lift the shadows inside in post and denoise if needed.

[@area51pictures]

What's amazing is using a ProRes Raw recorder with the H2S, then using Play Pro Studio to extract the 1:1 Uncompressed CinemaDNG RAW video from the sensor. You'll have occasional dead pixels, and it eats up a motherlode of space, but seeing that 14-bit readout with no spatial NR or chroma-smoothing is absolutely astonishing.

[@EvanSchneider]

Sounds like a fun experiment, I'd love to see the results. Not sure about its viability and payoff on a real-world shoot though. I love the ProResHQ F-Log2 image anyways.

[@Rockingvideos42]

It would be good to see the same comparison with different lenses since lenses can affect colour and interact differently with each camera.

[@EvanSchneider]

That would be more of a lens comparison at that point. My goal was to eliminate as many variables as possible to accurately compare the cameras and nothing else

[@jordanwright5795]

Great video and a really well done test. I owned an XH2s for a bit and used it alongside my Komodo and 1DXM3. I sold off the XH2S but really regret it now. Fantastic camera. I still own an XT5 and it scratches my Fuji itch but plan on buying an XH2S again soon. One thing you did on this video that I have generally been doing for a while now is forgoing ND filters for higher shutter speeds / lower shutter angles. Motion blur is always something you can add back in post. Have a crisp image so you don’t get residual motion blur buzzing during post stabilization is really a life saver for some situations. I have owned some very expensive ND filters and despite claims to the contrary I feel like they always introduce some type of contamination to the image.

[@EvanSchneider]

Thanks. I actually went without ND in order to reduce the variables in the comparison. Typically I do shoot with ND to achieve a 180 degree (or close) shutter because I like motion blur and adding it back in post can introduce artifacting and is pretty processor intensive. But I do see your point and agree you get better results stabilizing footage with no motion blur. So if that’s your workflow, go for it. I wouldn’t say ND “contaminates” the image, but it is helpful to know the physics behind variable ND’s to avoid unwanted results.

[@jordanwright5795]

@@EvanSchneider most of the time I’m able to get really good motion blur results in Nuke but it think it’s use case specific. I’m in the VFX side of things and most of the footage I deal with is background plates that get composited with CG / VFX that I generate in Houdini / C4D. I have gotten used to that client workflow and just have adopted it for my own personal use as well. I guess by contamination I mean color. I have tried everything starting from polar pro, Nsi, Vaxis all the way up to Schneider and formatt and always get some kind of color shift. I avoid any filters that use cross polarization like variable NDs like the plague. Nuke has an excellent algorithm / machine learning workflows for adding in post motion blur without the motion artifacts you get with Resolve / Fusion / AE’s pixel motion blur / optical flow based methods. It’s an extra step but we regain a lot of control. It’s allowed me to go handheld and gain a lot of control on just how “handholdy” I want the footage to be without dealing with in camera motion blur.

[@francissosing]

Wow.. incredible video. Thank you for this insight! I love my xh2s. It's a great tool

[@jaywbus]

pretty awesome fuji does all the RAWs externally. Davinci or Apple Pro res.

[@shankuwanku9174]

May I ask why shoot in 23.98p instead of 24p? Would love to learn more!

[@EvanSchneider]

Just a preference that I’m used to. There’s no visual difference between the two.

[@shinkunAvi]

Amazing man, in most samples fuji looks more intresting in my opinion.

[@joelombard4970]

Helpful as always Evan!! Thanks for the tips!

[@EvanSchneider]

Yooooooo Joe! haha great to see you here

[@ZeitouniJad]

Interesting findings, I think the xtrans Stacked sensor is very capable, The XH2s is an excellent hybrid camera.

[@VideoProAcademy]

Hey Evan, just discovered your channel, lovely stuff! I was wondering what your storage/ RAID solution looks like? Would be great to see a video about your current workflow. Also, did you notice a bit difference with the autofocus with the new 3.0 Firmware on the X-H2s? Keep up the videos! :)

[@AllThingsFilm1]

I liked the Fuji more in many shots. Especially the daytime outdoor shots, where the RED footage had a magenta shift in the skies. At 3:42, I could see a green shift in the RED footage around the silver air conditioning tubes and the right side of the shot. After hearing about the new RED Komodo X camera, I've been looking at more videos about RED. But, I have to say, aside from the superior dynamic range and shallower depth of field of the RED in many shots, the Fuji held up really well by comparison. Nicely done comparison video.

[@EvanSchneider]

Glad it was helpful! Yes, it's impressive what the X-H2s can do in comparison to a RED. I will say though, that the RED Epic Dragon was released in 2012 and is over 10 years old now. The Komodo X is quite superior in terms of specs and if I was between that and an X-H2s I'd choose the Komodo X. But the X-H2s still holds its own for sure!

[@CheerleaderTW5566]

Does the flog2 need to overexposed to right? (EV+) or Just use EV+0 , thank you!

[@EvanSchneider]

No, I wouldn’t recommend ETTR. I usually shoot around 0, +/- about .3 on the EV but I always save my highlights as you can always bring the exposure up but you can’t save clipped highlights. Worst case, which doesn’t happen often, I’ll denoise it if I have to bring it up a lot.

[@CheerleaderTW5566]

@@EvanSchneider Acknowledge! many thanks!!

[@dwaynepiper3261]

I suspect with most cameras even if you turn noise reduction and sharpening off there is still some level being processed in the camera.

[@EvanSchneider]

Definitely, for consumer and prosumer mirrorless cameras there’s really no way of truly knowing what’s going on under the hood. Professional cinema cameras I trust much more.

[@videomakerlucasw2878]

super cool and well recorded content, thank you. The only thing that worries me about choosing the Fuji xh2s, I hear it is very sharp, did you correct this in post production? Did you have any problem?

[@EvanSchneider]

Yes, the X-H2s is very sharp. I didn't do anything in terms of sharpening or blurring on the footage in this test. But normally if I want my X-H2s footage to look more filmic, I do apply a bit of blurring which does the trick. Sometimes I actually appreciate the sharpness and keep it as-is.

[@videomakerlucasw2878]

​@@EvanSchneidernice, easy. Thanks for reply Evan 🤝

[@tonnib]

yes, very interesting comparison

[@gurugamer8632]

What’s the difference between XH2 and XH2s? Which one best?

[@GabrielScindian]

What do you use for audio on the RED. I have had mine since 2015 and the audio has always been hit or miss

[@EvanSchneider]

Wooden Camera A-Box always. Works like a charm

[@Denis-wb6ld]

Thank you so much for the video. Wow the dynamic range X-H2S is fantastic for a camera price 2500 $

[@EvanSchneider]

Absolutely, I was pretty impressed too!

[@DLHMedia]

Thanks for doing this!

[@EvanSchneider]

Sure thing!

[@FattySoprano]

thanks for making this comparison ! i've also purchased the X-H2s as a BCam / CCam for my komodo and scarlet dragon setup . I ended up selling it , i did not like the oversharpened image and manipulating Flog2 was a little weird in the grading process . Red log , Slog3 are much smoother options in my opinions and easier to match .

[@EvanSchneider]

Interesting, I actually felt like F-Log2 is pretty easy to match with my RED. The sharpness is definitely tough, I find that a tiny bit of blur in Resolve takes the edge off nicely though.

[@mjsvisualsnz]

1/8 mist filter to help with sharpening

[@FattySoprano]

@@mjsvisualsnz i've used 1/8 , 1/4 and even 1/2 different diffusion filters . And still fujifilm has this baked oversharpened look . I ended up selling it . I've orginally purchased it as a Red dragon BCAM but did not end up liking the postproduction workflow . Another thing to consider is that the 4k 120 fps has a lot of line skipping and banding which no one talks about ( not just the 240fps HD which is unusable) .

[@DmytroPitenko]

ACES...

[@smartideas-pedro1690]

Yeah, theres ACES, Davinci Wide Gamut. So many options to match cameras on post. Also, soften and sharpen tools on Davinci Resolve are a breeze to use. I personally wouldn't sell such a great camera because of an easy problem to solve.

[@Mushu8495]

Whats the best option for desharpening the fuji files in post

[@EvanSchneider]

I just use the blur tool in Resolve, nothing fancy. Does the trick.

[@girishkhakurel2673]

Hey Evan. I was just wondering, in terms of noise reduction what settings do you use? Really been trying to refine my noise reductions settings for with this camera as it does very well from what I can see on yours and other people channel. Do you use davinci? If so do you use temporal (faster , better or enhanced)? Or do you use spatial. Specific settings would be really appreciated my friend.

[@EvanSchneider]

Hey! I actually made an entire video exactly about this and went over my settings. You can find it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXrbeXejfKyseJY

[@girishkhakurel2673]

@@EvanSchneider thanks Evan your an absolute legend.

[@girishkhakurel2673]

@@EvanSchneider hey Evan I had one last question. I have a MacBook Air m1. It can definitely do the noise reduction but it struggles to play back. Is it possible for me too: - noise reduce all my log footage - export the footage back onto my hard drive - import the already noise reduced footage onto a timeline - than colour grade it to be able to get consistent play back. Or will this process tamper way too much with the extent and over all quality of the noise reduction?

[@JasonSturgess]

Fujifilm X-H2S Does the camera overheat or do you get non stop recording in all conditions ?

[@EvanSchneider]

I’ve seen temperature warnings but I’ve never had the camera stop recording because of it. It seems to warn you well before it reaches the temperature limit.

[@JaymesMedia]

Enjoyed this

[@BLAC_WORX]

Curious why you shot in 23.98 vs 24?

[@EvanSchneider]

Just what I prefer and have done forever. Some argue these days that true 24fps is better. I just do 23.98 out of habit and comfort.

[@BLAC_WORX]

Gotcha and thanks for the reply. I am just getting into it so I have plenty of questions and fewer answers at the moment.

[@adnan_velic]

After using the xh2s for over over a year now I’m not surprised by these results. The stacked sensor fuji created is something that should honestly not exist in a small body like this but they did it anyway… 14bit sensor readout at 30fps in 4K and 6k let that sink in… I even have proper audio set up with mine using the tascam xlr hotshoe adapter. I have the fan attachment to keep the camera cool but I rarely use it as the camera can handle most scenarios except for extreme heat. I can flip a switch and it becomes a world class photography camera. I can hook up my ninja v and now I can shoot 12bit prores raw with zero noise reduction applied. I honestly have no idea what else anyone could want.. I suppose internal ND’s but then the body becomes much larger… Shutter angle would be nice and I do believe that will come but we’ll see.

[@EvanSchneider]

You nailed it. These are all the reasons I love my X-H2s and it never disappoints!

[@maurice-vincent-komischke]

Hey Evan, I also own a Red Epic Dragon and an XH2S. I can only agree with you on all points. I would be interested in your sensor cleaning intervals? how often do you clean your sensors on the Epic or XH2S? Do you do it yourself? Greetings from Berlin :)

[@EvanSchneider]

Never cleaned either of them haha

[@maurice-vincent-komischke]

@@EvanSchneider

[@nativestrong7253]

The FUJI is open gate with 14 stops of dynamic range and up there with the best in photographic stills. There are aftermarket cine rig accessories for it. You cannot drop the Komodo on an affordable gimbal or car rig.

[@arnoldzaba6902]

I think that within 10 years there will be a great revolution in cinematographic equipment. Camera body costing less than $3,000 are already clearly comparable in terms of rendering with state-of-the-art equipment. This could reduce the production costs of many projects in terms of equipment. I've always known that the limit isn't always the equipment, but rather the knowledge and marketing behind each bra

[@EvanSchneider]

Absolutely. Now it comes down to how well you know your camera and getting the best image possible out of it.

[@anthonyjackson31]

Great vid. Loved this.

[@phillies4eva]

the fuji looks so much better. I was actually shocked when you did that first comparison and the fuji colors just popped while maintaining a pleasing organic feel. The Red just looks washed and kind of bland. Amazing test

[@NABphoto]

The color science doesn't really seem close. The FUJI's handling of greens in particular is odd. The greens shifted blue in the shot when pointed at the sun, and then later seemed desaturated and yellow in the shot at 6:05. The skies seem to also shift teal on the FUJI. I don't know. It doesn't really seem close to me. It seems like it would be super annoying to color grade as it feels like you'd be in the whole magenta/green, blue/yellow hell hole where nothing looks correct and you're creating like 12 parallel nodes trying to correct everything.

[@EvanSchneider]

Both of those sound like a personal preference and also an easy correction in Resolve

[@Keep_Creating_Art]

awesome video dude!

[@findingefilm]

Very cool video! Lovin' my xh2s, however im really curious how it would hold up against the RED Raven, that being a very comparable camera in terms of specs IMO

[@EvanSchneider]

That would definitely be an interesting comparison! I don't see too many Ravens out in the wild. But the results would probably be similar in terms of dynamic range since the Raven uses the same Dragon sensor as the Epic Dragon. But if I were to choose between the Epic Dragon and the Raven, I'd choose the Epic Dragon since it's a full 6K sensor while the raven is cropped to 4.5K. If I were to choose between the X-H2s and a Raven, I'd probably choose the X-H2s. If I were choosing the Raven for R3D, expandability and reliability, I'd just buy a DSMC1 Epic Dragon. Or save more for a Komodo or some other used DSMC2 model.

[@PengTn]

God damn i miss pasadena so much. I went to pcc then transfer to ucsd. Spent so many years in pasadena area.. amazing film as alwayss

[@EvanSchneider]

Nice! I love it here. Lots of fun little pockets to film camera tests!

[@GabrielScindian]

Did you use HDRX on the red?

[@EvanSchneider]

No, I never use it

[@LucasRocksFilms]

why kind of noise reduction settings are you using in resolve for flog2?

[@EvanSchneider]

I didn't do any noise reduction on the clips in this video. But if I do add NR to the Fuji, my basic settings are 3 frames, Better, Medium range and Threshold set to 7-8. Sometimes I unlink and set Luma a bit higher since there's less chroma noise generally. I have a whole video on Resolve NR on my channel here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXrbeXejfKyseJY

[@LucasRocksFilms]

@@EvanSchneider ah perfect. Definitely going to check out that video. Appreciate all the info. Real good stuff.

[@xmanreturn]

Amazing video 🎉

[@robvision3888]

As a RED Dragon shooter.. I approve of the X-H2S and I’m looking to buy one as a B Cam

[@fotomaton7852]

Sharpness aside RED has this great filmic motion where I find the XH2S always kind of looks like its shutter speed is too high or something. I don't know if its user error, lack of shutter angle or 1/48 or maybe just that extra sharpness that ruins the motion but its really quite jarring to my eyes versus any other current camera. That said 6K open gate with internal ProRes and super fast readout stacked sensor is pretty much second to none in mirrorless landscape so I really want this badboy. Just gotta figure out how to soften the image either in post or with filters and soft vintage lenses.

[@EvanSchneider]

Totally agree. I mentioned at the beginning of the video that I had to crank the shutter on both cameras to match exposure since I didn’t use ND and I wanted to keep aperture consistent. So this test does not account for motion blur. At 180 degree shutter the X-H2s has nice motion blur and it definitely helps with the sharpness issue. I find that a softening filter helps, and sometimes I even just apply a very slight blur in Resolve which works well.

[@fotomaton7852]

@@EvanSchneider Yeah but even with the over cranked shutter on both, the RED still comes off better in motion probably due to the softer more organic image processing. Again I think it might be the over sharpening on Fuji that messes with motion cadence. I've always noticed it on Fuji footage but its even more prevalent on 6K sensor. This is really the main issue I have with the camera and I'm not alone on this, every XH2S comment section mentions this. Personally I hate adding blur (or sharpening) to footage in post so not something I really recommend. I've been experimenting with 6K ProRes XH2 footage by downscaling it to 2K (allowing for a lot reframing and digital zooming) and then upscaling it back to 4K. Sounds a little goofy I know but it does rub off some of that sharpness without blurring out details. Another thing I've heard is to shoot externally to Braw or ProRes RAW that bypasses all the X-Trans image processing.. anyways food for thought to get the most of this beast!

[@EvanSchneider]

@@fotomaton7852 oh yeah I'm aware about the sharpness comments, people either love it or hate it. But personally, I'd rather blur it a bit rather than do a bunch of scaling stuff. I definitely want to do my own tests and I'll likely report back on my findings in a new video. I've chatted with Joshua Martin from the Cinedailies channel and he says that Braw out of the X-H2s does feel more organic and less sharp. So that's always an option.

[@fotomaton7852]

@@EvanSchneider I like his XH2S results a lot but he mainly shoots it with a metabones speed booster and soft vintage cine glass. That combo will definitely rub off a lot of the digital sharpness but if AF is important and you're shooting native Fuji glass or even super sharp glass like Sigma ART like you're doing here then the issues will appear more clearly. Anyways glad to engage this topic with you and I look forward to your findings on how to mitigate this in post or whatever!

[@chrisjenkins9978]

Looks like the Fuji is more crunchy due to digital sharpening. It’s doable but, I prefer the natural look of the Red roll-off and it’s seems a bit more color accurate and organic.

[@EvanSchneider]

All aspects that can be tweaked in post. Highlight rolloff can be dialed in via a tone curve, color accuracy can be adjusted via hue vs curves, and sharpness can be dehanced via a blur and some light grain.

[@chrisjenkins9978]

@@EvanSchneider - Agreed but, you can’t remove baked-in sharpness without losing detail. Blurring just makes it look smudgy.

[@maniratnamcreator]

can we use this luts on xs20 flog2? is it the same?

[@EvanSchneider]

Yes, F-Log2 uses the same transfer function across all cameras so you're good to go.

[@maniratnamcreator]

@@EvanSchneider any coupon code or discount ? which would be helful for a budding filmmaker like me

[@tylerhenry4167]

Great work, I definitely prefer the XH2S

[@leventebaumann6001]

Xh2s is fantastic:)

[@properginko]

Very nice shots and colors. For the cost Fuji is a Winner.

[@alexlubensky]

Dragon has some more color nuance, but is still suffering a bit from IR pollution (pinky skies in some shots). Surprisingly in some shots there's more detail in highlights in X-H2s, and in some - there's more detail in the Dragon shots, I suppose it's just about how those shots were exposed. Overall sharpness in overrated - lower end cameras tend to bake in a lot of sharpness, which one can't take away. It's a huge problem actually for theatrical release, cause on bigger screens it just looks bad. Like we had to actually blur the footage from Inspire and Mavic drones to be even possible to be put in the edit together with Alexa and Dragon footage. It's much, much harder to blur footage then to sharpen it.

[@alexlubensky]

Idk does the X-H2s has an OLPF or not, but on BM, Sony and Canon hybrid and mirrorless most are lacking the OLPF which makes the footage ultra sharp, and the focus area fall-off is kind of non-existent, which vastly ruins the image on pricy lenses like Cooke, or Ana ones. Still, I have to say that Fuji has a really pleasing image out of the box. I don't really like the skintones much, but outside it stands out more and I'm sure it's much easier to use ;) While the cyans are good in the skies, the patagonia jacket is well nailed by Dragon.

[@tyoung]

Hey I live in south pasadena! Looks great

[@EvanSchneider]

Nice! Thanks, appreciate it

[@SumrSurf]

im a fuji guy , super clean images but every shot on the red looks like a movie scene.

[@michaelm7901]

You can always blur the footage if its to sharp. You cannot sharpen it if its to blurred. So the cinema look should be easy to achieve.

[@EvanSchneider]

Exactly why I love the X-H2s!

[@Ouo3396]

Excellent

[@VladOnEarth]

When you say the only difference is camera body, you are being either biased or simply overlooking basics. For example Autofocus modes, IBIS, STACKED sensor with fast readout? Yes, some filmmakers may not need these, but hey, these features are included in Fuji for 1/3 of red price. You also havent mentioned how incomparable prices are for these. Fuji is also half the weight too, big deal as well, unless you never carried a camera :) And you can take photos with fuji! If you have done a fair all around comparison, looks like fuji would have destroyed the red

[@EvanSchneider]

True, but this was not a comprehensive comparison. I’m mainly focused on comparing the image from each camera in this video.

[@VladOnEarth]

@EvanSchneider then why say that the only difference in body in the conclusion? Bidy isnt a part of an image 😁🤷🏻‍♂️ you are the only one oerson on youtube by the way who compared these two models. I wish you did an in depth comparison, wiuld be interesting to hear all the specs. Side to side. You did the hardest oart actually - shot footages, the rest can be just spoken by soec sheets. I already purchased and use the fuji and the quality is amazing. I feel like more people should know about such options to not overpay so much for red for no reason and getting less value. Thats what I think anyways.

[@motionpikczer]

I have the same experience with my Raven 4,5k + xh2s :)

[@EvanSchneider]

Nice, also a great pairing.

[@GarretGrayCamera]

Fuji would do really well if they came out with dedicated video camera.

[@andersistbesser]

Fuji looks much sharper and the colors are more neutral. Red looks good but soft. Fjuji made a great camera for the money

[@EvanSchneider]

Yup, we're spoiled these days

[@robeytherobot5712]

Can’t tell a difference, except I like Fuji’s blues better, and Red’s red & green better.

[@BalaKrishna-bq5iz]

As a RED user, I can say XH2s is clearly better than Epic Dragon in many ways. Even from your own footage. I don't know why you're skirting around saying that and being diplomatic by saying, 'it is almost as good as', 'almost comparable to' etc. Maybe because fanboys (especially the new Komodo users or ones planning to get a Komodo) will come hounding 'how dare you say that'???? XH2s had just as much dynamic range as a RED Komodo with V Raptor having a stop more. It samples 14 but color, has rolling shutter as good as cinema cameras, records prores internally. There are reasons to pick Komodo-X or V-Raptor over XH2s but not Epic Dragon which is outdated at this point. It is still good but way more cumbersome for the image it gives compared to much smaller modern bodies.

[@EvanSchneider]

The point of this video was not to convince people to purchase an Epic Dragon over an X-H2s. Rather, to point out how great the X-H2s is that we've gotten to the point of cinema camera quality. At the beginning, I mention that the RED Dragon sensor is still my favorite RED sensor in terms of tone, sharpness, and noise structure. Plus, I still own it, so I wanted to test them side by side to see how they compare.

[@CINENIMUS]

nice one

[@webequiesupplyroad]

Nobody using a dragon is using (EDIT.) default rec.709 LUTS to crush all their dynamic range. I mean the Canon 5K MK2 would start measuring up if you're focusing on a color editing scheme that ends with the out of the box REC.709 LUTs. So does this mean the X-H2 isn't a RED, nope. It means that in specific circumstances it can easily measure up to a RED and that's pretty cool, but you just wouldn't use a RED like that.

[@EvanSchneider]

If you paid attention to the video, you'd notice that I used a Resolve Color Space Transform to transform the RED footage to Rec.709 and not a LUT. I would have no problem using a LUT to do the transform though, because there's nothing inherently wrong with LUTs, and your comment is based on a false perception that LUTs are "bad". Plenty of people using RED cameras use LUTs and there'y nothing wrong with it. Who are you to tell people what they can and can't do with a RED?

[@webequiesupplyroad]

A LUT is a form of color space transform, there's nothing inherently different except that you're mapping colors to another SMPTE and/or manufacturer's specific colorspace. What I am saying is you are using a default 709 LUT, and nobody is just dropping a default LUT on and being like "oh that's the be all end all." In reality you're remapping all the extra information where you want, and I'd doubt in all working environments you'd be arguing the X-H2 holds up against the Dragon. Not once did I shit on LUTS and/or you, but it's useful information for someone wondering why Dragons are still used on sets, and Fuji isn't.@@EvanSchneider

[@Kaze919]

Accidentally turned my XH2s to +4 Sharpness and now I need new retinas

[@EvanSchneider]

I can’t even imagine 😵‍💫

[@Jeevanmn]

The red somehow looks more cinematic!

[@JS_Leger]

The footage from the X-H2s looks good but way too sharp for my taste. It has this "mirrorless look" unfortunately, even if you tell us to get pass that 😅The image coming from the Dragon looks much better personnaly, much more "filmic" (I even prefer this look over the Raptor)

[@jpw5820]

Much more natural contrast on the RED

[@iquinn]

Great test! I preferred the Red in all instances. I thought the skin tones, less contrast, less sharpness was more to my personal tastes. That said, with some filtering on the lens and colour tweaks I would say it would get even closer. Love my Fuji’s, really interesting to see how great the XH-2s is.

[@hyperborean2576]

The key thing here is we're comparing a 20.000$ camera with a 2500$ camera, and the difference in image is slim to none. X-H2s is a no brainer.

[@EvanSchneider]

As I mentioned at the beginning, you should also consider is that the RED Epic Dragon 6K was introduced back in 2012 for $24k (brain only). But these days you can pick up an Epic Dragon 6K kit for around $7-10k. In terms of image quality, the X-H2s gets really close, but I still say the RED wins in terms of full production capabilities like mounting wireless, follow focus, rigging, batteries, grip, etc. But yeah it's pretty crazy.

[@hyperborean2576]

@@EvanSchneider Indeed, and i'll even add that the RED is far more suited for a movie set than the X-H2s, that's what is was designed for. That being said, the X-H2s is the best option for solo filmmakers on a budget. Love the Fuji colors, forgiving F-Log2, beautiful organic noise, the dynamic range and 3:2 open gate.

[@robertdouble559]

Skintones on the A roll for the main video look a bit chalky. Like the highlights have been pulled down in a weird way.

[@Markplaats-x1h]

red is better, but, they're also 6 times bigger, if not more

[@dccoletrain]

Fuji done released a cinema camera for those paying attention….

[@robertbland5131]

FUJIFILM all day long ….xH2S…. Wow going against the dragon.. **Nice work Fuji….!!!

[@jameshandley7197]

your saving like 12k or more going with xh2s with smaller more portable easyer to use camera with just as good image . the epic dragon is a waste of money you can lower the sharpning in post in 2 seconds if it bothers you . and another thing 90% of epic red consumer OWners are not making NETFLIX MOVIES or high end docs are good indie movies there taken it out for casual shooting or for travel youtube vidoes if were being honest and thats the big elphant in the room. and why i say most pepple are throwing away 10k or more

[@koni-video]

This is a strange test. You should have put your iPhone next to it. It is necessary to show exactly those moments where the Fuji shits itself. And Fuji will thoroughly fail against the background of the Red Epic.

[@EvanSchneider]

What you’re proposing is an even stranger test

[@koni-video]

@@EvanSchneider This is not a suggestion, but sarcasm. Your test simply misleads amateurs - they will think that the Fuji is a camera, and the Red Epic is a toy for rich boys.

[@Markplaats-x1h]

red is more true to life, fuji is a bit more vintagy vibe

[@EvanSchneider]

Yup, but all characteristics that can be easily tweaked in the color grade.

[@Markplaats-x1h]

yea. I'm seeing xh2s for €2000 secondhand with 6 month warranty. would be my first time going that expensive second hand with a shorter warranty. you da pro, what's you gut feeling?@@EvanSchneider the company is mpb, I could send a link, though, I would not click a link from the comment section myself, so I thought it best not to send you one either.

[@sergiologullo2217]

Fujihas better colors!!!!

[@akanbilincoln1307]

Fuji is better.

[@guillaumecottin7251]

Wow. Well, the Fuji wins!