I was vocal about my disdain for the DSLR craze in a posting from last year and in a post a few weeks ago, I was pleased to announce that the Cineroid EVF alleviates many of my gripes with using a still camera to make motion pictures. Last Friday, I used Cineroid’s competition from the Chicago-based company, Zacuto, and their Z-Finder EVF Pro.

So what’s the difference between the two models? Mainly price.

While I didn’t look to hard (because I’m not in the market), the cheapest I could find the Zacuto was for $950 (MSRP is $1,000 – and you have to give Zacuto credit for not sugar coating the price with the customary $999.99, they went ahead and let you know it is a 4-digit accessory). Are the extra $401 dollars warranted? If I’m a buyer, then probably not, but I will definitely ask for the Z-Finder whenever I’m renting (they are very competitively priced online at Lensrentals.com, especially for multi-day jobs).

I prefer the Zacuto for the following reasons:
-it allows you to have both Peaking Sharpness and Zebra bars functioning at the same time (this seemed like a bizarre shortcoming on the Cineroid).
-it has a USB port for Firmware updates
-it has a single menu option that properly flips the monitor’s image (while the Cineroid offers more rotational options, I can’t think of enough instances where this is beneficial, and the extra steps are annoying)
-when power is lost on the EVF, the camera does not stop recording.
-there are several frame line generating options (the Cineroid advertises this, but the manual and time with the unit failed to demonstrate this feature)
-it uses full size HDMI ports for both the IN and OUT functions. This means a more durable connection and I’m pretty sure cheaper cables. Either system you use, expect to go through a ton of cables. It’s disgusting how flimsy they are. What I wouldn’t give for an HD-SDI connection on the 5D Mark iii…
-it uses Canon DSLR camera batteries, which is great for Canon owners (clearly it was developed for 7D/5D enthusiasts, but the unit itself is also handy for other camcorders so this isn’t a universal advantage even though the batteries are affordable)

The only technical aspect of the Cineroid that I appreciated over the Z-Finder is that when you turn the unit off, the image returns to the camera’s on board. This saves wear and tear on the fragile HDMI cables and their equally weak ports, but it comes at a price. There were numerous instances where this resulted in the camera prematurely cutting. I don’t know about you, but I want to limit the number of ways that my camera can accidentally stop recording. It helps the whole job security thing. The Cineroid also offers a function called Clip guide, which tells you exactly where you are overexposed past the point of no return. This is superfluous if you set one of your Zebra bars to 100, so I’m not sure who benefits from this.

The Cineroid also offers colored peaking (red), but I’ve never been a fan of such a function, so that is a draw. The only big disappointment of the day came with the loupe on the Zacuto, which fogged up VERY quickly. However, that may have had more to do with the atmospheric conditions than the unit, so I’d need to do a side by side comparison to fairly judge the two. In its defense, the fog dissipated immediately after I moved my eye away from it. I also failed to use an eye piece chamois (on both units), which could have effected things (doubtful though).

The rest of this post is mostly copied from my last one, just in case you didn’t read it and are wondering why an EVF is a wise accessory for your next DSLR gig (in no particular order):

–Peaking Sharpness – finally no more of this bullshit black & white with red highlights telling you that something is sharp (does anybody in the world like this mode?). We can kick it old school with peaking sharpness that we know and love.
–Zebra bars – here’s a novel idea for a video camera: customizable zebra bars (it allows 2 different types from 0-100 IRE)
–HDMI loop through – no longer are we limited to a single monitoring source. Yes, I’m aware that HDMI splitters exist, but this is simpler and more streamlined.
–Pixel to Pixel mode – what makes this a true “feature” is that you can utilize it while the camera is rolling to check focus. however, you can’t select a particular section of the image, it defaults on the center.
–Flexibility – with the aid of a quality israeli arm, you can get this bad boy into any ergonomic position you desire which makes operating comfortable with or without a handheld rig.

Both units aren’t without flaw. They boast a limited resolution of 800×480 (to put this in perspective, the iPhone4’s Retina display is 960×640). When you don’t use the optical loupe, the 3.2″ display appears very similar to the on board 3″ display (which is only 640×480). However, when you flip over the loupe, the magnification calls attention to the lack of resolution. It is reminiscent of a low grade viewfinder we’ve spent countless hours enduring before stunning images shown on items like the RED Bomb EVF significantly raised the bar. Then again, the Cineroid retails for $599 and the Zacuto for $999. RED charges $3,200 for their EVF, so it is not really a fair comparison seeing as though you can buy either EVF AND a DSLR for less than that!

I didn’t spend much of any time testing out the unit’s False Color Mode. For some reason I’m convinced that nobody but RED does a good job with it. When shooting DSLR, I often use the on-board for exposure choices because the contrast ratios on the Cineroid and Marshall monitors leave much to be desired. There is something comforting about the image on the camera’s LCD compared to external monitors. Sounds crazy, but so is using a DSLR to shoot anything other than home videos…

Author

Dustin Pearlman Dustin Pearlman is a plant-based Cinematographer. Aside from film, he's passionate about the environment, music, and cycling. He's a member of IATSE Local 600 and lives in Los Angeles with his mini-schnauzer Iris.