Which AI video model followed a complex camera prompt best in this test?

On this single take, MiniMax H3 was the only model that hit all six beats of the camera move and kept the look of the start image. Gemini Omni Flash also hit all six beats, but it dissolved into a different, modern city on the way. One take per model is not a ranking, so test your own shot before you choose.

Do AI video models cut when you ask for one continuous shot?

Not in this test. Scene-cut detection found no hard cut in any of the 19 clips. Gemini Omni and Gemini Omni Flash still changed the scene inside the shot, with a gradual dissolve into a modern glass city.

Why did some models change the woman or the city in the start image?

The prompt asks for a long camera move through places the start image only hints at, so each model has to invent what the camera finds. Four runs moved the woman, who should stand still, and four left the world of the start image for modern towers, a castle city or daylight.

How much does a 10-second clip cost on these models?

At today's prices, the runs in this test cost from 33 credits with Runway Gen-3 to 1,012 credits with MiniMax H3, at the resolution each model used. Every model's price is in the table on this page.

Can I run the same comparison myself?

Yes. In Nodaro, connect one image and one Text node to several Generate Video nodes, choose a different model in each node, and run the workflow. Each node shows its price on its Run button before it runs.

AI video model comparison: 18 models, one prompt, one start frame

We gave 18 AI video models the same start image and the same 10-second camera move. See what each model did, beat by beat, with every clip and its price.

We gave 18 AI video models the same start image and the same prompt: one 10-second camera move through an impossible crystal city. On this take, only MiniMax H3 hit every beat of the move and kept the world of the start image. No model cut, but the models split on everything else: where the camera went, whether the woman stayed still, and what the city turned into.

Models: 18
Clips: 19
Clip length: 10 s
Start frame: 1
Beats checked: 6
Hard cuts: 0

The test

Every model got the same start image, the same prompt and a clip length of 10 seconds. Everything else stayed at each model's default, including the resolution and the sound. Each model made one take. Grok Imagine (I2V) made two takes, and this page shows both. We ran the test in September 2026.

The start frame: a woman in a white dress on a black platform inside a glass wall, a crystal city with upside-down buildings, a giant red moon and glowing blue whales — The start frame, made with GPT Image 2.

The start frame comes from our image comparison, where 15 image models drew the same scene. This is the prompt every video model received, word for word:

The motion prompt

The camera begins a slow cinematic push forward toward the woman and gradually accelerates, moving past her and out over the edge of the black mirrored platform. The woman remains standing at the edge, looking toward the impossible city. Strong wind catches her long white couture dress, sending the fabric flowing dramatically behind her. As the camera passes beside her, strong natural parallax reveals the enormous depth of the crystal city. The camera continues flying forward into the transparent crystal metropolis, passing between gigantic curved glass towers and beneath floating islands. Waterfalls flow upward from the islands while thousands of tiny city lights shimmer and reflect across the transparent architecture. Far below, enormous luminous blue whales slowly swim through the open night sky. One whale passes beneath the camera, its glowing body reflected across the glass structures above. Rain continues falling outside the crystal but stops against its transparent outer surface. Droplets slide across the crystal, bending and refracting the enormous crimson moon behind them. As the camera moves deeper into the city, reflections and refractions shift naturally across every glass surface, creating changing fragments of the woman, the red moon, the whales, and the surrounding architecture. The camera finally dives beneath a floating island and reveals the tiny upside-down human figure walking across its underside. One continuous camera movement. Strong natural parallax and dramatic changes in scale. Physically coherent motion throughout the shot. No cuts. No transitions. No teleportation. No morphing. No sudden camera jumps.

We checked every clip against six beats from the prompt, in order:

The camera pushes toward the woman and moves past her.
The woman stays standing at the edge.
The camera flies into the city, between the glass towers.
The camera passes beneath the floating islands.
A whale passes beneath the camera.
The camera dives under an island and reveals a figure walking upside down.

We also checked whether the clip keeps the world of the start image: the night, the red moon and the crystal city.

The start frame has no upside-down figure in it. A model that shows one at the end had to invent it.

What each model did

✓ means the clip does it, ~ means it does part of it, and ✗ means it does not. The models are in alphabetical order, not ranked.

Model	1	2	3	4	5	6	World	Credits
Bytedance Lite I2V	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	~	✓	63
Bytedance Pro Fast I2V	✗	✗	✗	✗	~	✗	~	99
Bytedance Pro I2V	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	193
Gemini Omni	✓	✓	✓	~	✓	✗	✗	495
Gemini Omni Flash	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	352
Grok Imagine (I2V), take A	~	✗	✗	~	✓	✓	✓	88
Grok Imagine (I2V), take B	✓	✓	✗	~	✓	~	✓	88
Grok Imagine Video 1.5	✓	✓	✗	✗	✓	✓	~	407
Hailuo 2.3 Pro	✓	✓	✗	~	✓	✗	~	220
Hailuo 2.3 Standard	✓	✓	~	✓	✓	~	~	143
Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro	✓	✗	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	231
Kling 2.6	✓	✗	✓	✓	~	✗	✗	303
MiniMax H3	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	1,012
Runway Gen-3	✓	✓	✗	~	✓	✗	✓	33
Seedance 2	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	~	✓	627
Seedance 2 Fast	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	~	✓	517
Seedance 2 Mini	~	✓	✗	~	✓	✗	✓	319
Seedance 2.5	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	770
Wan 3.0 Prime	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	✗	✗	693

Credits is today's price of the same run: a 10-second clip at the resolution the model used. Seedance 2, Seedance 2 Fast and Seedance 2 Mini charge in steps of 4, 8, 12 and 15 seconds, so a 10-second clip costs the 12-second price. Each model's page lists all of its prices.

The clips came out at each model's default resolution, from 736×400 to 2560×1440. Compare what each model did, not how sharp the picture is.

What we saw

Cuts

No hard cuts, but two scene swaps.

Scene-cut detection found no hard cut in any of the 19 clips. Gemini Omni and Gemini Omni Flash still swapped the crystal city for a modern glass city, in a dissolve between two and four seconds in.

The path

10 of 19 runs flew into the city.

MiniMax H3, Seedance 2, 2 Fast and 2.5, Bytedance Lite and Pro, both Kling models and both Gemini models flew between the towers. Eight runs never entered the city.

The woman

Four runs moved the woman who should stand still.

Kling 2.6 walked her down the walkway, and Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro flew her off the platform. Grok Imagine take A floated her down among the whales, and Bytedance Pro Fast walked her toward them.

The ending

Four runs invented a figure walking upside down.

MiniMax H3, Gemini Omni Flash, Grok Imagine Video 1.5 and Grok Imagine take A ended on it. Five more ended on a small figure the right way up: on top of an island, under a structure, or hanging from one.

The world

Four runs left the world of the start image.

Both Gemini models built a modern glass city. Wan 3.0 Prime flew out of the crystal to a castle city above the clouds, and Kling 2.6 turned the night into bright day.

Sound

12 of 19 clips came with sound.

The prompt says nothing about sound. Both Gemini models, the Grok models, Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro, MiniMax H3, the Seedance models and Wan 3.0 Prime added sound by default.

The whale was the easiest beat: in 17 of the 19 clips, a whale passes beneath the camera. The hardest part of the prompt was its last line, the dive under an island to a figure walking upside down.

Every clip

Each clip below is the model's original file, at its own resolution. A clip loads only when you press play. The picture before you play is the clip's last frame. The six frames under each clip show the camera's path, from 1.5 to 8.5 seconds, left to right and top to bottom.

Alibaba

Six frames from the Wan 3.0 Prime clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Wan 3.0 Prime1280×720 · with sound · 693 credits
Passes her, then leaves the crystal for a castle city above the clouds. The red moon shrinks to a small disc.

ByteDance

Six frames from the Bytedance Pro I2V clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Bytedance Pro I2V864×480 · no sound · 193 credits
A smooth, steady flight past her and into the city. It ends on a floating island against the moon, without the dive.

Six frames from the Seedance 2 clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Seedance 2864×496 · with sound · 627 credits
Follows the path into the city and under the islands, with a whale close below. It ends under a huge structure, where a tiny figure stands upright.

Six frames from the Seedance 2 Fast clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Seedance 2 Fast864×496 · with sound · 517 credits
Takes the same path as Seedance 2. It ends inside a structure lit by beams of light, where a tiny figure stands upright.

Six frames from the Seedance 2 Mini clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Seedance 2 Mini864×496 · with sound · 319 credits
The view changes early to ring-shaped platforms. The camera drifts among them with the whales and never enters the city.

Six frames from the Seedance 2.5 clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Seedance 2.5854×480 · with sound · 770 credits
A slow, steady flight past her and through the city, with whales below. It ends under an overhang, without the figure.

Google

Six frames from the Gemini Omni clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Gemini Omni1280×720 · with sound · 495 credits
The crystal city dissolves into modern glass skyscrapers about three seconds in. The camera passes her, and whales swim between the towers to the end.

Six frames from the Gemini Omni Flash clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Gemini Omni Flash1280×720 · with sound · 352 credits
Dissolves into a modern glass city about two seconds in, and still hits every beat. It ends under an island, on a figure walking upside down.

Kuaishou

Six frames from the Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro1920×1080 · with sound · 231 credits
A very fast flight, with streaks of light. The woman flies off the platform, and the clip ends on the red moon and the whales.

Six frames from the Kling 2.6 clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Kling 2.61920×1080 · no sound · 303 credits
The woman walks down the walkway. The camera flies into the city, the night turns into bright day, and the clip ends on a whale up close.

MiniMax

Six frames from the Hailuo 2.3 Pro clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Hailuo 2.3 Pro1364×768 · no sound · 220 credits
Passes her and drifts into mist among the whales. It ends beside a floating island.

Six frames from the Hailuo 2.3 Standard clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Hailuo 2.3 Standard1364×768 · no sound · 143 credits
Brighter and hazier than the start frame. It ends under an island, where a small figure hangs from it, head up.

Six frames from the MiniMax H3 clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — MiniMax H32560×1440 · with sound · 1,012 credits
Pushes past her, flies through the city and under the islands, and dives beneath one. It ends on a figure walking upside down beneath the island.

Runway

xAI

Six frames from the Grok Imagine (I2V), take A clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Grok Imagine (I2V), take A736×400 · with sound · 88 credits
The woman floats off the platform and down among the whales. It ends under a sheet of glass and falling water, on a figure walking upside down.

Six frames from the Grok Imagine (I2V), take B clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Grok Imagine (I2V), take B736×400 · with sound · 88 credits
Passes her and skims over the whales, outside the city. It ends under a cracked glass canopy, where a figure hangs from it, head up.

Six frames from the Grok Imagine Video 1.5 clip, in order from left to right and top to bottom — Grok Imagine Video 1.5736×400 · with sound · 407 credits
Passes her, then turns to the moon and the whales. It ends on a dark figure upside down against a clean red moon.

How we read the clips

We checked every clip frame by frame: at least 8 frames spread across each clip, and 24 frames across the few seconds where a beat was unclear. A beat counts as done when the clip shows it clearly, and as partly done when the clip shows a version of it. For example, a figure under an island that hangs the right way up is partly done.

Scene-cut detection measured how much each frame changes from the one before it. No clip had a change large enough to be a hard cut. A dissolve changes the picture gradually, so we found the two Gemini dissolves by watching.

This comparison is one take per model, on one start frame and one prompt. A second take can turn out differently, as the two Grok Imagine takes show. Read the table as what each model did with this shot, not as a ranking of the models.

Run the same test in Nodaro

You can run a comparison like this one on your own shot. Connect one image and one Text node to several Generate Video nodes. Choose a different model in each Generate Video node, set the same clip length, and run the workflow. Each node shows its price on its Run button before it runs. To compare image models first, do the same with Generate Image nodes.

18 AI video models, one shot: what each model did