Epic for Animation?

[Scott Crawley]

It would seem that Epic would be a real workhorse shooting animation. Without a mechanical shutter, it should be able to handle a tremendous shot volume at a lower rate of failure.

Does anyone know of an animation studio currently employing Epic, and if so, how it is working out?

 

[Manuel Wenger]

As of now i think there is no firmware which supports single frame shooting on Epic, but this might just be a question of time.

 

[Scott Crawley]

OK, thanks.

 

[Ryan Lalonde]

Someone asked this before and I never understood why you would want to shoot animation on EPIC....You could purchase 10 5d's for the price of one epic. You would get higher quality from the 5D since your working with stills and you would be working in RAW, I see really no benefit to using an EPIC for stop motion animation.

That being said, the SCARLET is going to be unreal for stop motion. Cheap, RAW, A TON OF DOF, a fixed lens so now worrying about a dust spec ruining a day of animation. It's going to be my go-to camera for animation hands down. If someone makes a tiny simple 3D Rig for 3D stop motion with the scarlet, it's going to dominate the field.

*I have worked on multiple seasons of a stop motion television series, tv pilots, commercials, short films and just about anything using stop motion animation as both a camera assistant and DOP.

 

[Scott Crawley]

Thanks for your perspective. Sorry if it was asked before. My search turned up nada.

I'm curious why you say that 5D stills would be better than Epic stills, and aren't they both shooting RAW? The quality of Epic stills has yet to be determined I guess, since it hasn't been enabled yet.

The 10:1 ratio is important. Without the mechanical shutter it may be possible that Epic could outlast your 10 5D's. It would have to, to be worthwhile in regard to cost. That is, unless there are other benefits to be had.

I can see why Scarlet might be a better choice than Epic... If a 2K finish is enough for you.

How is DOF an issue on a stage? With enough light (and maybe air conditioning) you should be able to get as much DOF as you like with either system.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

Someone asked this before and I never understood why you would want to shoot animation on EPIC....You could purchase 10 5d's for the price of one epic. You would get higher quality from the 5D since your working with stills and you would be working in RAW, I see really no benefit to using an EPIC for stop motion animation.

That being said, the SCARLET is going to be unreal for stop motion. Cheap, RAW, A TON OF DOF, a fixed lens so now worrying about a dust spec ruining a day of animation. It's going to be my go-to camera for animation hands down. If someone makes a tiny simple 3D Rig for 3D stop motion with the scarlet, it's going to dominate the field.

*I have worked on multiple seasons of a stop motion television series, tv pilots, commercials, short films and just about anything using stop motion animation as both a camera assistant and DOP.

Epic>5D Mark II ???
wake up ryan....

 

[Denizhan Nacar]

)

 

[Brent J. Craig]

Epic>5D Mark II ???
wake up ryan....

The arrow that points to the right is Greater Than, I suspect you were going for the opposite meaning and trying to chastise Ryan for saying a 5D was Greater Than an Epic for animation.

Epics are great for a lot of things, but 13.8 Megapixels < 21 Megapixels. The arrow that points to the left means Less Than.

You can still be a fanboy while acknowledging basic math. Animation has pretty simple requirements: a camera that can shoot single frames in a decent resolution. You don't need 120fps, you don't need SSD recording or 1080p video output. You can actually buy 29 (twenty-nine) Canon 5Ds for the price of an Epic M.

If I was running an animation studio and needed to buy some cameras today, would I buy a 14MP camera for $58K that can't shoot single frames yet, or a 21MP camera for @1999 that can?

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

The arrow that points to the right is Greater Than, I suspect you were going for the opposite meaning and trying to chastise Ryan for saying a 5D was Greater Than an Epic for animation.

Epics are great for a lot of things, but 13.8 Megapixels < 21 Megapixels. The arrow that points to the left means Less Than.

You can still be a fanboy while acknowledging basic math. Animation has pretty simple requirements: a camera that can shoot single frames in a decent resolution. You don't need 120fps, you don't need SSD recording or 1080p video output. You can actually buy 29 (twenty-nine) Canon 5Ds for the price of an Epic M.

If I was running an animation studio and needed to buy some cameras today, would I buy a 14MP camera for $58K that can't shoot single frames yet, or a 21MP camera for @1999 that can?

im on your side buddy..5D&7D is best for animation or stop motion.

 

[Daniel Dols]

Really wondering about the shutter though. Those things really die quickly, relatively speaking. Even if it's not the Epic, mirrorless camera's should be a very nice thing for Animation uses.

 

[Brent J. Craig]

Really wondering about the shutter though. Those things really die quickly, relatively speaking. Even if it's not the Epic, mirrorless camera's should be a very nice thing for Animation uses.

The 5D's shutter is designed for 150,000 cycles - that is 6250 seconds at 24fps, or 104 minutes. Yes, you would wear out a bunch of 5Ds shooting an animated film, but at $1999 each you just build that into the budget.

 

[Scott Crawley]

You can actually buy 29 (twenty-nine) Canon 5Ds for the price of an Epic M.

Good point. I guess I was thinking too far ahead.

 

[Ryan Lalonde]

The arrow that points to the right is Greater Than, I suspect you were going for the opposite meaning and trying to chastise Ryan for saying a 5D was Greater Than an Epic for animation.

Epics are great for a lot of things, but 13.8 Megapixels < 21 Megapixels. The arrow that points to the left means Less Than.

You can still be a fanboy while acknowledging basic math. Animation has pretty simple requirements: a camera that can shoot single frames in a decent resolution. You don't need 120fps, you don't need SSD recording or 1080p video output. You can actually buy 29 (twenty-nine) Canon 5Ds for the price of an Epic M.

If I was running an animation studio and needed to buy some cameras today, would I buy a 14MP camera for $58K that can't shoot single frames yet, or a 21MP camera for @1999 that can?

Yes, that what's what I'm trying to point out. (I actually just sold my 5D last week to make way for an EPIC).

@ Daniel They don't die as quickly as you would think, I've see plenty of bodies including REBELS, D90s, 60Ds, 7D, 5D's go 1-2 years working almost everyday. A lot of the time the camera dies before the shutter goes, and if the shutter does go it's not a huge issue to get fixed.

The 5D and EPIC are completely different beasts. The EPIC is not designed for still pictures, and the 5D is not designed for motion or pulling photographs from motion. Though I would like to hear why you think an EPIC would be great for animation as I shoot it a lot and if I can utilize it that would be great.

If there is a way for the scarlet to be wired to a computer instead of SSDs and run off AC (don't see this being a problem) I will buy one on NOV.3 no questions asked in addition to an EPIC!

PS Brent I had the pleasure of using some of your gear a few weeks back working on a low budget commercial. cheers!