Photoshoot Questions

[Michael Thompson]

I am still new with the Red Epic-M and was looking for some recommendations on how I should setup the camera for a photoshoot. It made sense to me to shoot at a high fps rate such as 60-96 with a shutter of 1/250 or higher in 5k at 5:1. I am hearing elsewhere that a low fps such as 8 or 12 is better with a standard 1/48 or 1/96 shutter in 5k 2:1. Would love some comments.

 

[Christopher Barrett]

Michael,

For stills I would shoot 5k FullFrame at the lowest compression setting RC 3:1. Also, I would lower the ISO to 400 if you're in a controlled studio and can ensure no hilights are clipped. The sensor is natively balanced to daylight and shooting with HMI or Daylight Kinos will give you the cleanest image. Tungsten can work too, but def lower the ISO and make sure you have plenty light.

Now, If you're shooting only for stills then there is absolutly no reason to shoot a high frame rate. I would stay at 24fps or even drop to 12fps. As for shutter speed, I have done portraits at 1/96th and there was motion blur with a moving subject. I'd recommend at least 1/120 and preferably higher. Do some tests with shutter speed, lighting and subject motion to dial in your settings.

Lastly, you'll need to sharpen the images more than you would with a stills camera. Most still cameras apply quite a bit of sharpening in camera (even to RAW files). The RED does no sharpening and may feel a bit soft initially.

Good Luck!

 

[Michael Thompson]

Thanks alot!

 

[Michael Markowski]

Thanks Christopher for the information.

-mike

 

[Andy Roberts]

Michael, just reiterating what Christopher said... the shutter speed is critical for getting sharp images. Don't feel the need to have any sort of connection between the FPS and the shutter. 12FPS is still a ton of frames to choose from for a photoshoot. The tricky part is doing both motion and still simultaneously. That is what HDRx is good for.