Focusing, or Image Sharpness, using Canon stills and LCD screen.

[Scott Summers]

Red cameras all film as a crop.

I mean, they crop more and more as you lower resolution, but yeah, check out that thread on the subject.

[Pete Barden]

That's good to know the Red One has pre-roll. Fingers crossed on that one. What I meant about the 2k recording not resolving as well as the 2k crop was that when you record in 2k mode the picture is softer than if you shoot in 4k mode and then crop to 2k in post. Sorry I might not have phrased that very well. I did some tests yesterday and saw how clear the difference is between them. I was hoping to do all these tests before I left Bristol, but I sat about for over four months waiting for my Scarlet and then two days before I had to leave for the field it turned up so now I'm stuck on an island with no post houses! Fortunately I now have internet.

I had a read through Phil's post but I don't think it mentioned what I was hoping to do. Do you mean that if you filmed in 4k that in the EVF you would see the full 4k image but just in the centre there would be frame guides for the 2k? What I was suggesting was that you film in 4K, but that in the EVF you have an option to see only a 2K crop of the 4k recording that fills the entire viewfinder. Because of the long lens work for wildlife the depth of field can be ridiculously shallow sometimes so for critical focus we'd really need to see the 2k crop full screen in the EVF.

[ericyoung]

That's good to know the Red One has pre-roll. Fingers crossed on that one. What I meant about the 2k recording not resolving as well as the 2k crop was that when you record in 2k mode the picture is softer than if you shoot in 4k mode and then crop to 2k in post. Sorry I might not have phrased that very well. I did some tests yesterday and saw how clear the difference is between them. I was hoping to do all these tests before I left Bristol, but I sat about for over four months waiting for my Scarlet and then two days before I had to leave for the field it turned up so now I'm stuck on an island with no post houses! Fortunately I now have internet.

I had a read through Phil's post but I don't think it mentioned what I was hoping to do. Do you mean that if you filmed in 4k that in the EVF you would see the full 4k image but just in the centre there would be frame guides for the 2k? What I was suggesting was that you film in 4K, but that in the EVF you have an option to see only a 2K crop of the 4k recording that fills the entire viewfinder. Because of the long lens work for wildlife the depth of field can be ridiculously shallow sometimes so for critical focus we'd really need to see the 2k crop full screen in the EVF.

Try the latest Redcine-X PRO:
https://www.red.com/support/all/down...elease_history

Although Redcine-X still works, Red have moved onto developing the PRO version, and haven't updated Redcine-X non-Pro for quite a while.

All the Red cameras shoot lower resolutions as a crop from the full sensor. So when Scarlet records 2K that is a 2K centre crop of the sensor, and you will see the 2K framing filling the LCD/EVF. Ie 2K recording is in theory EXACTLY the same as a 2K crop from 4K/3K, and the resolution/sharpness should be EXACTLY the same. So why you are seeing a difference in your tests is uncertain. Are you viewing frames at full best debayer at actual size? Can you post some examples?

[Jeffrey Loewe]

That lens could be the problem. I got rid of it and most of my focusing problems went away.

[Pete Barden]

I've just ordered a second hand Canon 500mm F4.5L this evening. I'm hoping it will deliver better results and to be fair I was pushing the 100-400 by shooting mostly at 800mm with a 2x extender. It was never going to be that sharp. I think I'll try the 500mm and then if I need to go longer use a 1.4x extender.

Yes, I downloaded Redcine-X Pro thanks. I'm going to try and get to grips with it over the next few days.

That's weird. I just went to export the 2k and 4k stills as examples, but now viewing them in Redcine-Pro X they look identical. I'm not sure what the reason was, but when I viewed them in the old version of Redcine the 2k was a lot softer. I'm guessing it was user error. Am I going mad or did I not read that cropping from 4K to 2K in post gives you a sharper image than recording 2k in camera?

[ericyoung]

...That's weird. I just went to export the 2k and 4k stills as examples, but now viewing them in Redcine-Pro X they look identical. I'm not sure what the reason was, but when I viewed them in the old version of Redcine the 2k was a lot softer. I'm guessing it was user error. Am I going mad or did I not read that cropping from 4K to 2K in post gives you a sharper image than recording 2k in camera?

SCALING from 4K (or 3K) to 2K (or 1080p) in post gives you a sharper image than recording 2K in camera.

[Joel Mielle]

The Canon 24-70mm lens is an ok lens for DSLR work but a terrible lens for Scarlet. It works ok in the 50 to 70 mm range but anything wider will be very very soft, get a cheaper f1.8 28mm Canon lens if budget is an issue.

[Jacek Zakowicz]

The Canon 24-70mm lens is an ok lens for DSLR work but a terrible lens for Scarlet. It works ok in the 50 to 70 mm range but anything wider will be very very soft, get a cheaper f1.8 28mm Canon lens if budget is an issue.

How is it OK for 22 MPix DSLR but not for 15MPix Scarlet? Can you explain that?

[Joel Mielle]

How is it OK for 22 MPix DSLR but not for 15MPix Scarlet? Can you explain that?

It's not ok for a 22M DSLR Photo camera, but it's ok for a cropped 1080P DSLR video camera (just). (Can't comment on 5D III as haven't tested yet) Throw it on a 4K Scarlet and you can really see the softness as compared to a prime Canon lens. For 4K footage you need something more than just ok otherwise you're almost back to DSLR quality for a much bigger investment. Once you own a Scarlet you can't really skimp on Good lenses and good filters if you want that "WOW" image you see at the cinemas.

[Mike P.]

It's not ok for a 22M DSLR Photo camera, but it's ok for a cropped 1080P DSLR video camera (just). (Can't comment on 5D III as haven't tested yet) Throw it on a 4K Scarlet and you can really see the softness as compared to a prime Canon lens. For 4K footage you need something more than just ok otherwise you're almost back to DSLR quality for a much bigger investment. Once you own a Scarlet you can't really skimp on Good lenses and good filters if you want that "WOW" image you see at the cinemas.

I think he meant, how could this exact same lens take perfectly acceptable 22mp+ still images on a DSLR, but then on the 14mp Scarlet it's not sharp enough (Scarlet is, after all, taking twenty-four ~9mp frames a second [14mp is 5k only]). It's sound logic, unless the DSLR is doing some aggressive sharpening/correction in-camera that the Scarlet is not doing (which is possible.)