Komodo vs Gemini Low-Light Performance

[Mohammed Almedfa]

I know it may be too early to ask this. But planning my camera purchases and wondering whether a Komodo + a Gemini is going to make the most sense vs going to 2 Komodo's (Alongside a currently owned venerable Dragon). I was wondering if anyone who has experience shooting Gemini & the pre-release Komodos has any insight to offer on low-light performance between the two?

Or even a view on low-light performance of Komodo vs Helium or Dragon, which I could then extrapolate from?

 

[Joesef o.]

I would think the best thing to do is once someone releases R3D files of any night time / low lit footage, you'll be able to see for yourself whats acceptable or not noise wise. I know personally that low light noise levels seem to differ greatly upon the way a scene was lit. If there is a subject lit, but the rest of the frame / background isn't, usually you get away with much higher ISO settings that seem more clean. However in an overall frame where nothing is lit at all, say a dark room with before sunrise light coming in from a small window... that might look much more noisy at the same ISO settings.

Simply bumping up the ISO of an R3D file doesn't show you much with a properly lit scene. The blacks wont get as noisy the same way if it was a dark scene, so keep that in mind.

Anyway, eventually someone will have a simple low light r3D file posted, and you'll be able to tell, you honestly can NEVER go by youtube or compressed video clips. The compression for these videos always hides or exaggerates things and isn't a fair way to see how well the low-light performance is.

 

[Joesef o.]

Also, just remember that some people have vastly different personal views on whats acceptable for noise levels. To some, blacks have to be completely solid with nothing at all, and to others they might find totally normal and acceptable the blacks being visibly noisy but the lit subject clean... It's best to visually check for yourself to see whats acceptable for you, vs someone elses idea of acceptable noise levels for lowlight use.

 

[Bob Gundu]

I think you’ll find the noise level similar to dragon on the Komodo. Gemini is still King if you want cleaner low Light footage.

 

[Mohammed Almedfa]

Awesome - thanks for the thoughts guys!