Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Should I get Scarlet? (Scarlet for still camera?)

B

Beom Koh

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 12, 2010
Messages
55
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I am not sure what the Scarlet will be capable of... even there is spec...

These days, I am more working with photos (stills) then videos(motions)...

I currently own Canon 5D and was considering getting Cannon 1dx...

Will the Scarlet work for stills? (I guess I can use all my Canon lens with canon mount.. right?)

Also, I will be rarely taking motions too.. and I wished to use the "high-framerate" like Epic but.. I guess I won't be able to with Scarlet...

Any advice on this please?

Thanks!
 
The relevant specs are up. Go to http://www.red.com/products/scarlet and click on 'Tech Specs'

Yes, it will work for stills. Not ALL canon lenses will necessarily work. (EF should, EF-S may cause vignetting).

But if all you want is stills, the 1Dx or 5D (or 7D if you want an S-35 sensor like scarlet) is cheaper. The 1Dx will also have much better low-light capability -- if you care. those cameras are pretty much 4K stills. Plus you can shoot uncompressed raw photos on the canons. The raw of a scarlet is lossy-compressed using wavelet compression... Those cameras also offer a reasonable video capability (doesn't compare to the scarlet, but if you want life to be simple, you may discover you like dealing with .mov files a lot more than R3D.

you can do 120fps high framerate if you shoot at 1K (half HD). Don't forget how much light you're losing from higher framerates (faster shutter). So from 24fps (1/48) -> 120fps (1/240) you're losing about 2 and a half stops of light.
 
It all depends on how much you have to burn. Obviously it's a machine built for cinema, but the photography results are simply mind-blowing. Take a look at this for a result.


Jannard said:
Peter Lik shoots landscapes. Peter, Mick (his right hand) and I rented a room at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas with a balcony to try EPIC's hand at a "highly detailed shot". Stitching is a part of the landscape world, so this shot is stitched and graded just like a movie would be.

We also shot a Phase One 80MP back stitched. EPIC won. This shot did NOT use HDRx. It wasn't necessary. A 10' print of this shot will be shown at the Scarlet event. Peter's quote on EPIC is X-rated.

I learned a lot from Peter and Mick this late afternoon and the days to follow... he truly has knowledge and skills that justify the respect that his collectors have given him.

This jpeg does not do the final print justice. I'm quite sure many will comment on the print Nov. 3rd.

DSMC.

See post # 65.

Jim

Click to expand...
 
When I first heard of the DSMC concept which RED effectively started (the idea was around hypothetically for years) I was instantly hooked. I knew that this made so much sense (if I ignored cost). So the above statements are all pretty much spot on overall.

The 1DX has a bit more resolution and the same RAW frame rate for still photography (it's a nice video camera, too, but certainly not a movie camera, despite what DSLR fadsters think). The Scarlet-X has 14Mpx @12fps and the 1DX has 18Mpx @12fps. The 1DX is cheaper. For stills, DSLRs are probably better.

But the story doesn't end there. Oh, no. In fact, the Scarlet-X does what no DSLR can ever do: shoot in complete silence. In 5K. At 12fps. With no interruption to the display. And you don't need a blimp. I occasionally take photographs of theatre rehearsals and I'd love a Scarlet or Epic for that. However, the DSLR that I do have (D700) is perfectly adequate. If I did theatre work more often (and got paid more!) I'd buy a Scarlet for sure.

The only thing you really lose with the Scarlet is good AF. There's nothing you can do about that. Sony's DSLRs with pellicle mirrors are probably where RED might want to go in future, though. Sort of like Super-8 cameras (they used prisms, not mirrors).

BTW I have not seen a comparison between a RED camera and a DSLR yet. But I'd bet that the good DSLRs might have advantages (the best one would arguably be the D3X). Nevermind the digital MF cameras which are a class of their own.
 
Good point on noise Karim. I would add one other point though to defend the 1D, it's a FF35 chip. We don't know if Dragon will be larger than S35 but it's probably best to assume not lest you be disappointed.
 
Gavin Greenwalt said:
I would add one other point though to defend the 1D, it's a FF35 chip.
Click to expand...
True, but that to me isn't a huge deal. The main reason I got the D700 was not its FF sensor but its low-light capability. I might even go back to APS-C! 4-perf 35 is just as 'cinematic' as 8-perf. I don't get these 5DII fanatics (who have no knowledge of cinema history) who go on and on about shallow DOF as if it were the second-coming. I predict that 1DX stills will look better than Scarlet-X stills... but maybe there isn't much in it.
 
If your primary use is for stills, I would get the 1DX over the Scarlet and use the more advanced (vs the 5D) video features to do video work.
 
Karim D. Ghantous said:
True, but that to me isn't a huge deal. The main reason I got the D700 was not its FF sensor but its low-light capability.
Click to expand...

The two are pretty closely related though. Bigger sensor means more surface area and better sensitivity. One of the big selling points though for me and FF35 is that there are far better wide angle options. It's easier to find a great FF35 8mm Fish-eye than a S35 Fish eye.
 
Scarlet with Flash/Stobe lights

Scarlet with Flash/Stobe lights

Scarlet doesn't have a mechanical shutter right? This means it will not work with flash/strobes because it will register the flash as bands of light right?

For continuous lighting what is the shutter speed range one can set when shooting stills?
 
It can work with strobes its just that there is no trigger so its useless for live people or action - for still life it will work if you are patient.

You would just have to set your shutter speed slow enough to capture the start and end of the strobe flash within your frame duration. Something like s 1/24

You then let the camera roll, turn off modeling lights and fire off strobes manually several times. Then look thru the video stream for a frame where the flash is caught correctly.
 
Gavin Greenwalt said:
The two are pretty closely related though. Bigger sensor means more surface area and better sensitivity. One of the big selling points though for me and FF35 is that there are far better wide angle options. It's easier to find a great FF35 8mm Fish-eye than a S35 Fish eye.
Click to expand...
Good points for sure. When Leica released the M9, people were saying that they were happy that their wide-angles were no longer crippled. I may not need ultra-wides but some people do. BTW the D7000 is almost up to the D700's quality at ISO 6400. The shadows suffer a bit but it's not bad considering that it has more photosites in a smaller area.
 
I'm a Canon shooter and my primary reason for still shooting stills with them is due to the FF35 format. I will say I sold both of my 1Ds Mark IIIs earlier this year and kept the 5D Mark II. I'll probably be purchasing the 1DX, but I was still hoping for just a little more out of that camera for the price. I'd trade fps on that camera for resolution nearly every day of the week.

I'm very curious though how Scarlet X will effect my still work. There's certainly things you can do with it that you'll never be able to do with any of the current DSLRs. That potential excites me in an almost unhealthy way :)
 
Ok, Can I add another dimention without highjacking the original post.

How does the epic x compare, is it the same as the scarlet when it comes to stills. Are there any advantages to the epic stills wise?

Is that image shot by Peter lik of vegas taken on a scarlet?

Iam a stills shooter but feel the way forward is to do both.
 
Tony Warrilow said:
Ok, Can I add another dimention without highjacking the original post.

How does the epic x compare, is it the same as the scarlet when it comes to stills. Are there any advantages to the epic stills wise?

Is that image shot by Peter lik of vegas taken on a scarlet?

Iam a stills shooter but feel the way forward is to do both.
Click to expand...

It should be identical to the Epic at the same resolution and compression ratio. You can get more fps via the Epic at high resolution.
The image Peter Lik shot was on the Epic.
You are correct about moving forward :) Stills will never go away though. Motion market is growing like a fire in dry brush.
 
How does the epic x compare, is it the same as the scarlet when it comes to stills. Are there any advantages to the epic stills wise?
Click to expand...

The epic-x images will be EXACTLY the same quality as the scarlet images. The only advantage for stills with the epic is that you can shoot
a LOT more stills per second (if you want).....

(but read all the previous posts for many reasons why you shouldn't get a scarlet as your stills camera.... unless you're shooting
sports and want to make sure you get the 'shot')
 
Phil Holland said:
It should be identical to the Epic at the same resolution and compression ratio. You can get more fps via the Epic at high resolution.
The image Peter Lik shot was on the Epic.
You are correct about moving forward :) Stills will never go away though. Motion market is growing like a fire in dry brush.
Click to expand...

Ok what are those advantages? Funny coming at this thing from a stills photog point of view. It is kind of like I have pretty reasonable stills quality now and I want a camera that is both better in stills and motion. It appears that with the stills particularly it will be a lesser quality ie 14 mpxl as opposed to 21 mpxl. Not as good/quick focus. Am I correct.

I shoot a 1ds mark 3.
 
Can long exposures be done on the Scarlet? I need 30sec with a 2sec self timer or even better "bulb" with a cable release.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top