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  • 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 :)

First Time Using Epic for Stills

Cody Cuellar

Cody Cuellar

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I wrote up a little blog about my experiences shooting motion for stills for the first time. It was a really interesting learning experience, but I really seemed to struggle with figuring out the focus! The blog can be read HERE.

I seemed to not be able to manage suspending the epic in one hand and trying to move the autofocus square around on the touch screen, so I switched to manual and had the hardest time every telling if anything was in focus or not. The focus confirm box didn't seem to be of much help either as it would just blip yellow here and there. Upon reviewing the footage I was often a few inches in front or behind the subject when I wanted to pull the stills - which obviously in video isn't a big deal, but for a photo, it has to be dead-on. Any tips to using the focus controls, or is shooting stopped down the best method? I guess an f2.8-3.5 wasn't the best choice!
 
Utilizing the focus check tools will greatly increase your abilities when manually focusing, especially at wider apertures.
 
Years ago, I got to the point in still photography where I could frame and shoot (for my level of skill), the perfect shot...but something was missing! I finally realized what was missing was, there was nothing happening in the shot! I was so frustrated that I finally gave up still photography. I sold my camera and forgot about it. Then, ten years later, I heard about video. I bought a video camera, and started shooting everything in sight. One day, I sat down to watch some of this footage. I got motion sickness so badly, that I had to turn the viewer off and go to sleep! It took me another few years before I realized maybe I could learn to use this thing, this video camera, and went to film school. What I learned from all this is, a video camera captures a story, a stills camera captures a moment in that story.
 
@Phil - The focus check tools are good for setting up the shot, or using to assist when pulling your own focus in video - but once the model is moving around and you are moving the camera around, it just seems so difficult to really lock the focus on to the inch. The edge enhancement is ball-park at best for me, especially on the little 5" monitor, and it would be terribly annoying shooting everything with edge only on. Are people shooting stills doing manual focus or autofocus, and how much can you really trust the confirm square? Mine seemed rather finnicky, and I was in a really well-lit environment. Maybe using my TV-logic 5" or upgrading to the 7" touchscreen would be helpful....
 
Cody,
I agree, the touch screen 'edge' and 'focus' aids are very vague. It is much easier to use them at f1.4 because the DOF zone is so shallow and you and see it more clearly move as you turn the focus ring.
When I shoot at f5.6 it is really hard to gauge where the 'sharp zone' is. And when things are moving in a run and gun situation, it is even harder.

I have also urged Red to have a DSLR like focus mode : That is when you half press the button to first open the lens all the way, focus wide open ( easier to do ) and then put the aperture back to where it was before.
I shoot for the sharpest images I can possibly get, so I'm hyper critical of nailing focus and I often shoot between f5.6 and f8 to maximize sharpness, hard to see clearly.
Another thing I have asked for is a 'focus fine tune' mode, where the cameras attempts to so very small adjustments when you know it is already close to perfect.
I also discussed more advanced tracking focus modes with them. The method needs to image track the box to the image as you move the camera away or the subject moves a little. I'm hoping for refinements but Red has a priority list and a small staff, so I understand.
 
Cody Cuellar said:
I wrote up a little blog about my experiences shooting motion for stills for the first time. It was a really interesting learning experience, but I really seemed to struggle with figuring out the focus! The blog can be read HERE.

I seemed to not be able to manage suspending the epic in one hand and trying to move the autofocus square around on the touch screen, so I switched to manual and had the hardest time every telling if anything was in focus or not. The focus confirm box didn't seem to be of much help either as it would just blip yellow here and there. Upon reviewing the footage I was often a few inches in front or behind the subject when I wanted to pull the stills - which obviously in video isn't a big deal, but for a photo, it has to be dead-on. Any tips to using the focus controls, or is shooting stopped down the best method? I guess an f2.8-3.5 wasn't the best choice!
Click to expand...

Only way we make this work is with an assistant camera (a really good one), a remote HD monitor, and a Preston system. Then it works - fabulously.
 
My suggestion is get rid of any autofocus lens. stick to cine primes.. bottom line is that hand held shooting needs to be done with wide/deep dof or you need to get on sticks. You can not compare holding an epic with an 85 mm prime to holding a nikon with an 85 or even 135.. Its just not a possibility because of the focal length on a motion platform. You can get way with an 85 if you have a great shoulder mount and unfortunately all the shoulder mounts for epic suck imho.. and thats because of epics form factor. The camera is too small to balance on your shoulder and be able to hand hold the body with your right hand, and hold lens with left hand while camera is on right shoulder.. Its too small and thus the body is always too far forwards and the weight does not land on your shoulder, it lands on your fore arms and thats why the mounts you see are designed to be supported by two arms, not your shoulder.. Form factor of the Alexa is superior for hand held work.. so sick to a 35mm lens or wider.
 
Paul, I have not picked up a still camera since i got my epics. and i have lots of full page magazine editorial full page multi page layouts in fashion magazines and advertisements to back up the claim.. I will admit however that shooting verticals on Epic is more of a challenge due the frame being very narrow when turned vertical and I lose 1/3 of the sensor to achieve a standard 35mm full frame ratio, however the quality is still completely adequate for 350 dpi magazines. And hand held is not comfortable due to weight.. If i want to hand hold a 135mm f2.0 lens vertical, ill happily take the dslr! otherwise a monopod would be required at the least.. but you can not beat shooting hdrx mode so you have 2 shutterspeeds and ill take 24fps or 48fps any day over a dslr 3 to 5 fps. I also prefer using RCX to "find the stills shot" much more so than Light Room or capture one
 
Sure. But try shooting a timelapse where you need an exposure longer than one second :-) Or try shooting stock on a street - especially out here where security paranoid over-zealous guards will move you on as soon as a tripod appears.

All my stills go to Corbis, which means putting a lot of treatment into them on the off-chance they will be accepted. Given the lower rates of stock commissions and lower prices these days I'm rapidly backing out of the market. In one year I've put twice the Red Epic clips up on Corbis Motion than I ever did into Corbis stills, and they sell for much higher premiums.
 
I actually just bought the Canon FD mount and have been using my SLR glass, since I usually like to shoot Film as my secondary camera anyway. I did learn a lot from my last photoshoot, and will probably be using a tripod or monopod next time with manual focus lenses, but that little touch screen is still so hard to judge focus with! Stopping down will be my fix, but I also will be much more comfortable directing the model next time to maximise good frames, and using the "push record, release stop" function of the user keys on the SSD module I will be able to do more of a "burst mode" shooting per pose rather than just fire-hosing the whole setup haha! It's all in the practice and getting comfortable with it, but I must admit, it's a very exciting new way of doing still capture and really is going to be the future in my opinion! Especially as cameras get smaller and lighter, and DSLR bodies can handle the resolution and processing power of the Epic and beyond - which is likely right around the corner....
 
Hey Cody! If you ever are having problems with focus I know a great 1st AC who can help you out ;) hahaha and do you know what's up with that music video? I've been dying to see how it came out!!!!!!!!
 
Hey Cody,

I shoot A LOT of stills with my Epic and I always use manual focus....I saw you used the canon 24-70....tricky lens on the epic for manual focusing. You might be better off with a prime lens...It also helps to rack focus back and forth if you are in difficult situations where you cant judge from your screen...pick a higher frame rate of lets say 30/40/50 fps and focus the lens through a certain focus distance area, lets say 2-6 meters back and fort...so you know there will have to be some frames where your subject will definitely be in focus later on when you pick the frames you want to work with in RedCine. A lot of the time it really just comes down to what lenses you use and practice....especially if you come from a stills photography background...auto focus systems on DSLRS are so reliable these days, I hardly know any fashion or studio guys who don't use it so we've become quite spoilt. but a little practice and picking a lens with a comfortable focus ring will help a lot.
 
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