We are proud to announce the arrival of our RED Scarlet-X SN#634 aka HEXTALL. Over the coming months will will be building the
package to fit everyone’s needs, whether you want PL, EOS, run and gun, or strictly studio. We will have you covered. Were have packages for indies to student budgets and everything in between. If you like what you hear please follow this link. www.visualcinema.com/rentals/cameras/
So, its beens a few days after the release of scarlet form RED. And there’s quite a mix of reactions from the crowd. Almost as if the company owes their fans a different camera? Whether you like the new Scarlet (I love it) or you hate that you can’t shoot on a 2/3rd at 3k for 7k. It’s not your decision to make the camera. It’s only your decision to buy the camera or not. There’s always that new 20k DSLR form Canon…..
If your still wondering if its worth a buy or where do you place yourself in buying a RED, whether its a REDone MX, Scarlet-X or the mighty EPIC. Their all s35 sensors so Lets compare.
First lets give out the specs of the REDone MX, the ultimate work horse Cinema camera ever made. This is a camera that is still standing the test of time. Even after the EPIC release, the REDone is still at the top of any rental house’s arsenal. First we had the Mysterium sensor that had around 11 stops of Dynamic Range. And was a great sensor; now we have the Mysterium-X in the REDone, and well god damn…. it’s good. Around 13.5 stops of Dynamic Range. The REDone is also a 12bit. With the least amount of compression, REDcode 42 is 7:1 compression of the REDraw data flow. Shooting at 4k or 4.5K, the REDone can do 1-30fps. At 3k, 1-60fps. 2k 1-120fps. All can be shot on RED cf cards, SSD’s, drives, and if you can still find them, REDrams. Weight of the camera is 10 pounds. Not a bad choice at all.
Now lets look at the Scarlet-X specs, and what I think the REDone’s future replacement. Same MX sensor, and also eligible for Dragon sensor upgrade in 2012. This is why I think the Scarlet is the replacement of REDone, because the scarlet can AS OF RIGHT NOW upgrade to the Dragon sensor. Unless that changes, the REDone’s days will soon be numbered. But lets stay on topic, the Scarlet is 16bit and has compression of a high 12:1 to the lowest 3:1. Frames rates, 5k 1-12fps. 4k HD 1-30fps. 3k 1-48fps. 1080p 1-60fps. And 1k 1-120fps. The scarlet also shoots in HDR (18 stops of DR) so just divide the frame rate I listed above and that’s what you get. All this data can shoot to only the SSD. Some might be saying why? If I can put the compression at 12:1 can’t I shoot to CF cards or my old drive? The answer is NO. No because RED is looking forward with the media technology and does not want you to have any media failure while shooting. Weight of the camera is 5 pounds.
Lastly the most epic camera ever made in digital cinema. The EPIC. Lets jump right in to frame rates, the best part. 5k and 4.5k at 1-120fps. 4k 1-150fps. 3k 1-200fps. 2k 1-300fps!!! Do your simple math of frame rates for HDR. And that’s the biggest difference from the Scarlet-X, well besides the cool name. The Epic has the same compression as Scarlet-X, and weighs the same. But is the most powerful of the three. You can also go from 16bit to 12 bit to match REDone, if your using one as a B camera.
Well, now lets make our choice. If you want 4.5k, or your used to the size and weight of the REDone, (I like the weight and wish that the DSMC can get that big soon) REDone is a good start, if not EPIC. If you want to build up to a EPIC, get a Scarlet-X. Everything is compatible with these two DSMC cameras. If you got the money and you want the best get the EPIC. You will not regret it. As for me, I got the Scarlet. Only because I want to build up to a EPIC. Now, I haven’t seen any footage of the Scarlet or never shot on the Scarlet….. I shot on the EPIC and fell in love with it. So was this a good idea or a bad idea? We’re find out when RED calls me. But I’m thinking great idea just based on RED’s track record.
The indie world is full of them, student films… you gotta to have them. Music videos are always seeming to have the 7D/5D as first choice. But have you ever wondered why ever vimeo video looked nice compared to what you just shot? Well here’s 5 basic tips.
Tip 1. Know your ISO/ASA settings. The 5D/7D official ISO is 160. Now that does not mean you have to shoot at 160 all the time, that just means your camera will preform best at this ISO. I usually just shoot at 320 as my default. Because the camera shoots best in values of 160 ISO, and we know if you want an extra stop of light you double the ISO; i.e. 160 to 320 to 640 to 1280 to 2400. Everything between these your actually pushing/pulling these “Real” ISOs. You have 3 ISO’s which are 100, 160, and 200. The canon is using the 160 ISO for these 3 settings, but it’s pushing the 160 a 1/3 stop to make it 200 and pulling the 160 a 1/3 stop back to make it 100. Which means your adding gain to get 200 ISO and vise versa. After some camera tests, I shoot at these ISO’s 160 for EXT. day. 320 for INT. 800 EXT. night.
Tip 2. Lighting… Yes the 5D/7D is great in low light when you look through a 3″ LCD but when you look at it on a monitor bigger then 15″ it starts to get noticeable noise. “But why does it look so good on vimeo or youtube?” Because of web compression. This is a basic tip, NO MATTER HOW SENSITIVE YOUR CAMERA IS TO LIGHT, YOU STILL HAVE TO LIGHT. It’s that simple. Really…. Natural light is cute and all but you still need to shape it in order to make it look good, whether it’s adding light or taking away light, an image needs shape.
Tip 3. Know your post options before you shoot. You need to know if your gonna do color correction or not before you shoot. And by that I mean a little or a lot of color correction. This amount is determined by your budget.
Tip 4. Picture settings… This is probably the part I hate most with the 7D. Mostly cause you can’t get “your LOOK” in camera unless you kill your DR. And if your someone who’s grown a custom to shooting on the RED; like me, your gonna hate the DR of the DSLR’s. You need to shoot as flat as possible on these DSLR’s. Your picture settings needs to be something like this as follows. Shoot Neutral, never standard. Sharpness, contrast and saturation should all be at the lowest settings. color tone should be at normal. You can also download here the highly suggested Technicolor “CineStyle” picture setting which as of right now gives the best DR for Color Correction. Better in DR then Super Flat mode.
Tip 5. Sensor. All sensors have some form of Rolling Shutter, Skew, Partial Exposure and Smear. With the DSLR’s, Rolling Shutter has a much higher risk of Jello effect in hand held. A shoulder rig is always gonna be better then physically being “hand held.” Your gonna skew with slightly faster then normal pans. Every CMOS camera does it, but the DSLR is very noticeable. Partial Exposure, will always happen with these cameras when there is a flash going off. Hooray for all you wedding videographers who going DSLR. All in all, do your own testing and know your personal limits before shooting. That is the best tip you can get.
Well I think that covered the basics you should know before grabbing a DSLR. Till next time, happy shooting.
I approached Glidetrack for a low cost high quilaty slider that works with cameras like the RED one MX or ARRI Alexa, so they said they can base an XD off the HD’s Hybrids design and to try out this Prototype and give them a little report of how it handles. And it’s here, the Glide Track XD Hybrid slider. When I first opened the package for the slider, I noticed some things that needed to be done before I could put a camera on it. First thing I did was permanently mount an extra O’Connor 100mm Bowl to the bottom, I had lying around. Not having that is just crazy. No one shooting on RED/Alexa or any rig over 20lbs, would mount the slider on a tripod head. Because your just adding weight/shift variables to the whole setup. Also in the lowest high hat mode the bowl still clears the ground. Which is a great plus. Next what I did was make sure I could mount mini C-stands on each side to support the weight travel. Remember the whole purpose of slider is to move the track fast and more efficient then a dolly. Add get into small to reach places a dolly can’t go. So “Punky” C-stands are the only way to go, using tripods on each takes too much room and gets really annoying if you move with the camera trying to dodge the tripod legs on both sides. Installing Cardellis on both sides for the c-stands, makes mounting them anywhere you need depending on the setup. Saves time and money. So we got the Glide Track mounted on the O’Connor 35A sticks (best sticks ever) in the center, and on each side with “punky” C-Stand support. Now we just mount our head and camera and your be saying Michael Bay every time you slide. The Glidetrack’s Slider performance rivals the kesier slider and in some ways better. for one it has a wide base for when you wanna do low angle sliders. And you have these little feet to balance or adjust in height in high hat mode. Two, your using a bearing movement instead of a belt for movement. Three probably the biggest, is that the ball mount on the top is wider and makes just a little more easier to rebalanced the head. Disadvantages I see is that how big my case for the slider is, it’s about 80 pounds i total. It’s like carrying around a silent cat slider for 1/8 the costs. Also you need to maintain the bearings a lot. And lighter rigs, is a little over kill for the XD. But as the Glide Track XD Hybrid Slider’s final veridic, Michael Bay good, Woody Allen bad.
Tripods….. no matter what camera you own, without the proper support every shot will look like, well there’s no way to describe it then shit. So you want a nice tripod, who doesn’t? But you just dropped all your cash into your camera/lenses? What should you do? Buy the first Manfrotto you see at B&H? Well, no. That’s the last thing you should be thinking. I know your saying, “well I can’t afford a O’Connor.” Actually, yes. Yes you can. If you know what and where to look. So this is how I got a 5k tripod setup for under 1k. First look for used. A used O’Connor is the safest tripod to buy. It could be that O’Connor was the inventor of the Fluid Head and they last forever, if maintained. And if you dump the money into a New O’Connor, you better be maintaining it. Now, what’s the best bang for the buck tripod head? Well for t tripod heads, its the O’Connor 50 head. A little history of the head, the O’Connor 1030 is the O’Connor 50′s replacement in the product line. So compare the 50 and 50D to the 1030 when you start looking for Heads. My 50 Head is strong, robust and if been serviced ($500 bucks from O’Connor) silky smooth as any 5k head (i.e. 1030 is $5,908). Now what about sticks, well if you can find it. The best sticks ever is the O’Connor 35A sticks. And when I say the BEST, just imagine someone behind whispering “the best.” Also, because that it’s a one man job to raise or lower the sticks. Wait What? Yeah you heard me, there’s a trigger you press with your thumbs to unlock ALL the legs then lift or lower, release the trigger and boom…. locked, stocked and shoot. there’s also trigger’s on each leg if you need to it independently. So lets do the total so far, my O’Connor 50 with 35A sticks and case was $600 bucks. Add in new O’Connor spreaders “on order,” $450 making the total $1,050. Luckily my head was serviced before I bought it. But then again, no one gives better Head then O’Connor…