Daniel Kunz
Well-known member
I read alot of threads about this whole DSMC trend and how you should sell your DSLR.
There are alot of Reasons (some which are pretty important) that you should consider before selling your 'ol DSLR
here are 15 that came to my mind when thinking about MY photography needs. Remember your needs might be very different.
1. Weight
the Scarlet or Epic weigh so much in comparison to a 5DmkII when loaded with the grip, SSD, RedVolt, EVF and lens
that you would only want to work with it on a tripod. I can assure you that even the 5D with the 24-70 gets heavy after 6 hours of holding it.
2. Size
load up everything you need to shoot stills on your Scarlet and you will look like an alien at every wedding, at every photoshoot your going with it. People will litterally not be able to concentrate on doing their job, or will stand and stare.
3. Aspect Ratio
The Scarlet shoots 5K... but at an aspectratio of 1.89/1 That's cool if your shooting landscapes or something in that aspect ratio. But for Magazines for Advertising you mostly need something closer to 3/2 or even 4/3 so that you can make a portrait crop out of a landscape picture.
4. Resolution
Same as aspect ratio. once you would crop in to get a Squared aspect ratio or even a portrait crop you loose enourmous amounts of pixels. 2700x2700 doesn't sound like much does it?
̶5̶.̶ ̶F̶i̶l̶e̶s̶i̶z̶e̶
̶I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶q̶u̶e̶n̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶x̶t̶r̶a̶c̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶a̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶H̶a̶r̶d̶d̶i̶s̶k̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶f̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶r̶a̶p̶i̶d̶l̶y̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶R̶A̶W̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶5̶D̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶w̶e̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶3̶8̶0̶ ̶P̶i̶c̶t̶u̶r̶e̶s̶/̶h̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶9̶G̶B̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶D̶a̶t̶a̶.̶ ̶I̶m̶a̶g̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶s̶e̶q̶u̶e̶n̶c̶e̶s̶.̶ ̶I̶m̶a̶g̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶c̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶a̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶D̶a̶t̶a̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶e̶l̶d̶.̶
6. Batteries
I can shoot about 2500 RAW pictures with 1 small Canon LP-E6 that costs 10$ on ebay. I have 4 of them constantly with me on every shoot. That makes 2-3 Batteries for 1 Wedding. Amazing. The battery-life of the scarlet will be at about 1-2 hours of "on-time" probably less when recording etc.
7. Cards/SSD
DSLRS use SD or CF for Data. Ultra-Cheap. they are small and don't take much space in your bag. the RED SSD's are simply overpriced rehoused SSD's with a firmware that makes them "unique" to RED.
8. Functionality
I know that Scarlet will add features with time and upgrades, but there are alot of basic features that are simply missing. Bracketing? DOF preview? TTL-Flashes, Bulb, 1/8000,
̶9̶.̶ ̶I̶S̶O̶
̶E̶v̶e̶r̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶y̶s̶t̶e̶r̶i̶u̶m̶-̶x̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶k̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶g̶h̶-̶I̶S̶O̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶.̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶5̶D̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶g̶o̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶e̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶l̶a̶s̶h̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶a̶m̶a̶z̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶H̶i̶g̶h̶-̶I̶S̶O̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶s̶.̶ ̶O̶r̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶s̶p̶o̶r̶t̶s̶.̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶o̶s̶u̶r̶e̶s̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶y̶ ̶u̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶I̶S̶O̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶3̶2̶0̶0̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶R̶e̶s̶u̶l̶t̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶n̶t̶.̶
10. Handling
Canon (and Nikons even more) are made for your hands. they hold up pretty well to any size of hands, their buttons are layed out perfectly for quick acess of ALL the functions you need for working fast and efficiently. I know SCARLET DSMC-Grip has buttons and wheels, but never as many as a Nikon or a Canon. I'm not saying that >Buttons are allways better. But once you get used to the "shortcuts" it gets natural. It's like working in Photoshop with a Keyboard for shortcuts instead of using the Menu-dropdown for everything you do. Touchscreens are cool, but buttons are faster.
11. Price
I don't want to say that the SCARLET isn't well priced, but for a Stills-Camera it's just to expensive to use it in alot of situations that you dared to use your DSLR. You'll be alot more cautious, carefull and scared to use it for fear of it dropping, breaking or something else
12. Redundancy
If your camera fails to work at some time (like a RED sometime does, ask Bloom) it would be alot harder to find the same camera near where you are shooting. Almost everyone and their Mom has a DSLR these days. I bet you know at least 3 People that live around you that have the same or similar DSLR than you have.
And my 5D never quit on me yet and i used it for 3 years now. and shot probably 250K pictures with it. No faulty mirrorbox, no hangups, no bugs, nothing. It "just works". praise the lord for that. I'd hate to miss 1-2 hours of a wedding because my camera isn't booting or doesn't get the settings right, or misses frames.
13. Autofocus.
The SCARLET has contrast-detect autofocus. thats neat for checking focus and so forth. but for most of the work i do i need ultrafast Phase-detect autofocus. ever used a Prime 50/85mm lens with 1.2 or 1.4? if you keep hunting for focus you'll miss the shot.
14. EVF
Even the best RED-Bomb-EVF doesn't compare to a Pentaprism and a mirror-box. Your eyes have more Dynamic range and sharpness than any EVF or monitor. and they don't have latency. so if you have a trained eye you'll be able to anticipate the perfect moment. Though i'll admit that sometimes it's good to know how the sensor will record the image. And since your probably recording sequences with the SCARLET youll have that "moment" recorded anyway. so much for a trained eye.
15. File handling.
I can't open up R3D's in Adobe Lightroom or Aperture and that makes handling the pictures a hassle. It's a big step backward if you have to go through all your pictures slowly. etc.
16. Sensor Size
Shooting stills may also require different DOF characteristics, with a FF35 sensor you get much less DOF than with a APS-H, APS-C etc... If you want to extract stills from a motion stream (that is at least 24fps) you may have to crop down to 4K (APS-C) or even to 3K for HDRx, wich changes your lens characteristics and your DOF and your resolution by alot.
ANYWAY. that's just my point of view, and i won't be selling any 5DmkII yet. Feel free to sell yours, but don't expect to shoot the same amount of "pictures" as before.
You will probably not take your SCARLET on vacation, you won't take it for a casual stroll in the woods, you probably won't use it for "simple" stuff that you used your DSLR before.
And that's not the purpeous of a new camera isn't it? I have found that using a Sony NEX 5N even improved my shooting since i took it almost everywhere because of it's size.
There are alot of Reasons (some which are pretty important) that you should consider before selling your 'ol DSLR
here are 15 that came to my mind when thinking about MY photography needs. Remember your needs might be very different.
1. Weight
the Scarlet or Epic weigh so much in comparison to a 5DmkII when loaded with the grip, SSD, RedVolt, EVF and lens
that you would only want to work with it on a tripod. I can assure you that even the 5D with the 24-70 gets heavy after 6 hours of holding it.
2. Size
load up everything you need to shoot stills on your Scarlet and you will look like an alien at every wedding, at every photoshoot your going with it. People will litterally not be able to concentrate on doing their job, or will stand and stare.
3. Aspect Ratio
The Scarlet shoots 5K... but at an aspectratio of 1.89/1 That's cool if your shooting landscapes or something in that aspect ratio. But for Magazines for Advertising you mostly need something closer to 3/2 or even 4/3 so that you can make a portrait crop out of a landscape picture.
4. Resolution
Same as aspect ratio. once you would crop in to get a Squared aspect ratio or even a portrait crop you loose enourmous amounts of pixels. 2700x2700 doesn't sound like much does it?
̶5̶.̶ ̶F̶i̶l̶e̶s̶i̶z̶e̶
̶I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶q̶u̶e̶n̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶x̶t̶r̶a̶c̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶a̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶H̶a̶r̶d̶d̶i̶s̶k̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶f̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶r̶a̶p̶i̶d̶l̶y̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶R̶A̶W̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶5̶D̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶w̶e̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶3̶8̶0̶ ̶P̶i̶c̶t̶u̶r̶e̶s̶/̶h̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶9̶G̶B̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶D̶a̶t̶a̶.̶ ̶I̶m̶a̶g̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶s̶e̶q̶u̶e̶n̶c̶e̶s̶.̶ ̶I̶m̶a̶g̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶c̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶a̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶D̶a̶t̶a̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶e̶l̶d̶.̶
6. Batteries
I can shoot about 2500 RAW pictures with 1 small Canon LP-E6 that costs 10$ on ebay. I have 4 of them constantly with me on every shoot. That makes 2-3 Batteries for 1 Wedding. Amazing. The battery-life of the scarlet will be at about 1-2 hours of "on-time" probably less when recording etc.
7. Cards/SSD
DSLRS use SD or CF for Data. Ultra-Cheap. they are small and don't take much space in your bag. the RED SSD's are simply overpriced rehoused SSD's with a firmware that makes them "unique" to RED.
8. Functionality
I know that Scarlet will add features with time and upgrades, but there are alot of basic features that are simply missing. Bracketing? DOF preview? TTL-Flashes, Bulb, 1/8000,
̶9̶.̶ ̶I̶S̶O̶
̶E̶v̶e̶r̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶y̶s̶t̶e̶r̶i̶u̶m̶-̶x̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶k̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶g̶h̶-̶I̶S̶O̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶.̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶5̶D̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶g̶o̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶e̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶l̶a̶s̶h̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶a̶m̶a̶z̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶H̶i̶g̶h̶-̶I̶S̶O̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶s̶.̶ ̶O̶r̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶s̶p̶o̶r̶t̶s̶.̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶o̶s̶u̶r̶e̶s̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶y̶ ̶u̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶I̶S̶O̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶3̶2̶0̶0̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶R̶e̶s̶u̶l̶t̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶n̶t̶.̶
10. Handling
Canon (and Nikons even more) are made for your hands. they hold up pretty well to any size of hands, their buttons are layed out perfectly for quick acess of ALL the functions you need for working fast and efficiently. I know SCARLET DSMC-Grip has buttons and wheels, but never as many as a Nikon or a Canon. I'm not saying that >Buttons are allways better. But once you get used to the "shortcuts" it gets natural. It's like working in Photoshop with a Keyboard for shortcuts instead of using the Menu-dropdown for everything you do. Touchscreens are cool, but buttons are faster.
11. Price
I don't want to say that the SCARLET isn't well priced, but for a Stills-Camera it's just to expensive to use it in alot of situations that you dared to use your DSLR. You'll be alot more cautious, carefull and scared to use it for fear of it dropping, breaking or something else
12. Redundancy
If your camera fails to work at some time (like a RED sometime does, ask Bloom) it would be alot harder to find the same camera near where you are shooting. Almost everyone and their Mom has a DSLR these days. I bet you know at least 3 People that live around you that have the same or similar DSLR than you have.
And my 5D never quit on me yet and i used it for 3 years now. and shot probably 250K pictures with it. No faulty mirrorbox, no hangups, no bugs, nothing. It "just works". praise the lord for that. I'd hate to miss 1-2 hours of a wedding because my camera isn't booting or doesn't get the settings right, or misses frames.
13. Autofocus.
The SCARLET has contrast-detect autofocus. thats neat for checking focus and so forth. but for most of the work i do i need ultrafast Phase-detect autofocus. ever used a Prime 50/85mm lens with 1.2 or 1.4? if you keep hunting for focus you'll miss the shot.
14. EVF
Even the best RED-Bomb-EVF doesn't compare to a Pentaprism and a mirror-box. Your eyes have more Dynamic range and sharpness than any EVF or monitor. and they don't have latency. so if you have a trained eye you'll be able to anticipate the perfect moment. Though i'll admit that sometimes it's good to know how the sensor will record the image. And since your probably recording sequences with the SCARLET youll have that "moment" recorded anyway. so much for a trained eye.
15. File handling.
I can't open up R3D's in Adobe Lightroom or Aperture and that makes handling the pictures a hassle. It's a big step backward if you have to go through all your pictures slowly. etc.
16. Sensor Size
Shooting stills may also require different DOF characteristics, with a FF35 sensor you get much less DOF than with a APS-H, APS-C etc... If you want to extract stills from a motion stream (that is at least 24fps) you may have to crop down to 4K (APS-C) or even to 3K for HDRx, wich changes your lens characteristics and your DOF and your resolution by alot.
ANYWAY. that's just my point of view, and i won't be selling any 5DmkII yet. Feel free to sell yours, but don't expect to shoot the same amount of "pictures" as before.
You will probably not take your SCARLET on vacation, you won't take it for a casual stroll in the woods, you probably won't use it for "simple" stuff that you used your DSLR before.
And that's not the purpeous of a new camera isn't it? I have found that using a Sony NEX 5N even improved my shooting since i took it almost everywhere because of it's size.
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