Newbie, Which setup to go with???

[Mark Pamatat]

Ok, Basically i am probably the biggest rookie on these forums when it comes to video. I have been a sound guy most of my life, just finished up at vancouver film school with the sound program last year, The past 8 months of my life has been a new obsession with photography and video. I recently just purchased a really nice photography rig, Nikon d700, with some of there top lenses as well as some really nice elinchrom lighting, with some green screens, and black / white drops etc. I have picked up on this very quickly, learned the camera really well, and have been getting some amazing shots done. Now playing around with my friends little dv recorder, digging into adobe after effects and the new final cut studio suite, i have been having a blast making funny little special effects and what not and just getting more and more into it to the point i just registered my business, started doing side work for people etc, expanding into weddings etc. etc.

Ok enough babbling, just wanted to give you a brief background. Now basically i have not cut corners in anyway for my equipment for the fact I plan on this being my future and i dont like to start small and work big, i like to know i have what i need to make incredible whatever (music, video, photography), and if it fails to come out great, well then thats my fault and i have to work on my skills and develop more.

So now here is my finally question. As far as a Red camera rig, for shooting music videos, wedding videos, doing side projects, independent films etc. Which system would you recommend. With a budget of say.. 25,000 dollars to buy gear. I was focused on a red one setup but i know ill quickly break 25,000 dollars on the budget, and now i see they have a 9700 dollar skarlet sensor that might be where i would like to start, maybe a really nice quality lense and some of the nicer accessories. Anyways anyones feedback would greatly be appreciated. I hate being the rookie And apologize for wasting anyones time.


Mark

 

[James Press]

G'day Mark,

If you've got the patience I'd definitely wait for Scarlet. But still don't expect to get much (any?) change from $25k, as you really need a (close to) top of the line MacPro (or PC) and RAID to do anything with your footage.

 

[Mark Pamatat]

G'day Mark,

If you've got the patience I'd definitely wait for Scarlet. But still don't expect to get much (any?) change from $25k, as you really need a (close to) top of the line MacPro (or PC) and RAID to do anything with your footage.

O my setup right now is fine for editing.. I have a new 8 core mac pro with 32 gigs of ram and dual 30 inch screens... Plus a full 5.1 surround dynaudio setup for my logic / protools HD rig for doing surround sound.. I have a 4 terabyte raid system setup currently now but i might also do an external Sata Raid setup to go along with it. I know high def uncompressed video will take tons of space.

 

[Ryan S]

Hey Mark, welcome to Reduser! You'll find lots of support here.

The nature of the Red One is that you can start with a pretty small rig, and expand as funds (and new bits and pieces) become available. However, if you plan to dive in with hiring yourself/your camera, you'll probably find 25K won't be sufficient.

I received my Red One almost a year ago, and it was the first "big" camera I had ever handled. I bought a VERY simple rig, so that I could learn and practice and experiment, but it still ended up costing me just over 30K. I did purchase 4 of the Red Drives (4 x $900) so you could probably save a bit by shooting to CF cards, but they have their limitations too.

There's also the non-Red bits to consider- Follow Focus, Matte Box, filters, a transmitter/receiver, a client/director's monitor. That's not to say you can't run your camera without these pieces, I did shoot a feature without any of them. However, you'll likely find a lot of jobs will expect you to have these pieces, which will drive up the cost of your package or cause you to have to rent.

Then there's editing. I did start off using a 2-year old macbook (not a Pro) and a small external drive. Again, doable, not ideal. As soon as it was in the cards, I got a Mac Pro.

(Also, I don't recommend trying to focus Nikon lenses by hand, for the entirety of a feature. It can be done, but it'll drive you to drink.)

As far as the Scarlet goes- until final specs are announced by Red, don't count on having a Scarlet of any make by any particular time. Specs and delivery dates change, count on it! (Credit: Jim)

I hope at least some of that info helps you out, I did just wake up. Feel free to keep asking questions, and read the forum as often as you can. You'll acquire a world of knowledge here.

Cheers!

*Edit* It does appear you have a fine editing setup! You will want to consider a good grading monitor at some point.

 

[Aiden K.]

You could always start off with JUST the basics to get the camera actually shooting.

RED ONE
A Lens
A Battery/Charger
A CF Reader/RED Drive (cables)
An LCD/EVF
XLR-MiniXLR cable
External Mic

Cost me less than 25k

Ive been shooting with that setup for over a year(?) now.

 

[Mark Pamatat]

You could always start off with JUST the basics to get the camera actually shooting.

RED ONE
A Lens
A Battery/Charger
A CF Reader/RED Drive (cables)
An LCD/EVF
XLR-MiniXLR cable
External Mic

Cost me less than 25k

Ive been shooting with that setup for over a year(?) now.

Ok so i guess i will have to grab the Red One body, I would like to get this setup within the next say 2-3 weeks at most. Then i guess when the skarlet stuff gets released or the epic setups, maybe ill go that route depending on how well everything is going.

Like i said with shooting i am very new to the video side of it. I was always more the post / sound guy so getting this camera to really learn as much as i can. The music video / car video thing i have my video guy shooting for me, but i will be right on his side taking notes and really learning so i can do my own stuff. My goal was to be able to start shooting for my buddies next spring project. I am hoping all the knowledge with photography helps the roll over to video.

 

[Ryan S]

Aiden is correct, that setup will get you going. However, I can't stress enough the value of additional batteries/media if you want to have a hope of being hired. Renting can eat up your profits in a real hurry. FWIW.

 

[Mark Pamatat]

Aiden is correct, that setup will get you going. However, I can't stress enough the value of additional batteries/media if you want to have a hope of being hired. Renting can eat up your profits in a real hurry. FWIW.

Yea the storage i know how much this stuff takes up.. its amazing. I will definitely invest in the better pieces.. If it ends up costing me more in the long run so be it.. I just want to get what i can get to get started then add more and more.. thats what i love about these cameras is the expandibility.

Not to mention the lighting i will need and what not to go with the camera.