But it’s not like their 18MP pictures are grand either, seems you have to resize them down to a 15MP equivalent size to get them to be sharp at all, just like how you have to resize the 1080P videos to make them look decent. Viewing a full 1080P video is chaos, I’ve never seen such fake looking VHS tape looking mess in my life. It’s just constantly so flat and ‘fake’ looking until you resize and the details get a bit better.

So hm, any chance that the new Nikon coming in late 2010 (with 1080P) may be better? It’s supposed to have options like Noise Reduction in video mode, plus tons of things. I’m thinking about selling my T2i just for these new revolutionary features it has, but overall, I still feel stuck in the awful realm of DSLR video; it’s really a waste of money and time it seems. My hope seems to rely in the fact that Red Ones are rentable in $500 camera, zeiss lens, and equipment packages for a day; extremely cheap. Just, Red is very complex in the menu system and options it seems, not exactly beginner equipment.

I mean, at the end of the day, camera’s should be good, we should have extremely cheap, basic cameras that have outstanding 1080P footage, yet have cheap old bodies and limited options that keep the prices down. We should have a market where filmmakers can be given more of a chance than having to conform to $20,000 budgets just for cameras alone.

Also on older cameras that use CRT viewfinders, using zebras take the variables out of an old and knackered viewfinder. If I’m using someone elses camera that has been around the block a few times I will always use zebras to help confirm what I am seeing.

I find Zebras useful for the reasons Philip outlined and also as a way of normalizing exposure in fast paced documentary shooting under a wide variety of conditions. For example, yesterday I was shooting with an EX1R on a silver-painted rooftop during blazingly bright day. Once I set exposure with the HD monitor, the zebras allowed me to maintain this exposure consistently without having to rely on my eyes’ interpretation of the LCD on the camera (I probably had pupils the size of pinpricks) or constantly looking at the monitor which I had given to the director.

Another technique for those who find zebras annoying – available on some broadcast cameras – is to set the zebras to a tight range, say 70 to 71%. The zebras will typically appear as a small donut of stripes on the subject’s cheek and this can be used as a reference when it isn’t practical to constantly check a quality monitor.

On cameras that lack this feature I’m often turning zebras on and off unless the lighting is consistent. I used to use 100% zebras as a rule, but now I find I can spot overexposure without them and some picture profiles begin to render color strangely before the top of the curve anyway so I find myself exposing to stay clear of that effect as well.