Scarlet for weddings?

[Daniel Christensen]

Has it been done before? Dumb question, I'm sure it has. More like, is it practical? Weddings in 4K? Seems legit to me, but I may be biased. What are the pros, cons of shooting weddings with a Scarlet? What configuration is best? Handheld, shoulder, tripod? Is the size too intrusive to get your subjects acting natural? Just curious, because I would love to have a RED camera, and what better way to pay for than getting paid to make wedding films?

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

From what I have seen, I would happily use it as a still camera. I'd set it to 5K and shoot up to the maximum allowable frame rate of 12fps. It might require a monopod if used with a zoom, such as a 70-200mm. Due to its near-silent operation, you could use it pretty much anywhere, anytime - even at the altar. No click-click to distract anyone. I would have to see results at up to 3200 ISO and compare them to, say, a Leica M9 or NEX-7.

And from what I have read, workflow [for motion] is not as complicated as one might think.

 

[Viet Mac]

Yea, I used it on one of my friends wedding a few weeks ago. I like shooting it hand held mostly with a few shots on a glidecam hd-4000. Here is a link to the video: https://vimeo.com/67856468 mostly scarlet with a few shots from canon 60D.

 

[Chris Lowe]

Yea, I used it on one of my friends wedding a few weeks ago. I like shooting it hand held mostly with a few shots on a glidecam hd-4000. Here is a link to the video: https://vimeo.com/67856468 mostly scarlet with a few shots from canon 60D.

Awesome job. Those 360 shots are killer. Great coverage of actual wedding. Really dig the shot at 2:11.

 

[George Tsai]

Tonaci has done couple weddings on the Epic http://tonacitran.com/tag/red-epic-wedding/

 

[David W. Jones]

I am not a professional wedding videographer, but I did shoot one not to long ago as a favor. My thoughts... No way in hell I would attempt to cover a wedding with a single camera, Scarlet or not. I used 5 cameras to cover this wedding shooting and delivering at 1080.

 

[Maik Müller]

Scarlet for wedding, yes... But remember a few things, the camera is heavier than a DSLR, it consumes a lot of power and the 4k/raw-footage needs space.

That means, you need batteries and redmags, a laptop with big hard-drives to unload footage during pauses. You also will need a shoulder-rig or at least a monopod, add a portable tripod and slider to the bag. And hell, yes, if you can grab a second camera somehow, than do it. A assistant who can handle the data wrangling and maybe hold a light or reflector here and there would also a nice addition.

Two more thoughts, EPIC would be nicer, because you can really go into DSMC with that, while with Scarlet you shoot 4k-motion and hope for some frames without blur. MöVI would be nice for sure. Hehe. Ok, i should quit here.

Shoot 4k, with higher compression if you need space (not everything is important enough to be shot in 6:1), don't lower the resolution unless you need more fps. Make presets to quickliy switch between 4k@24, a slowmo-preset and maybe one for 5k-stills.

And then there is audio... Get at least one small portable recorder, which you can place in front of people in addition to a mike on the camera (for reference). Also think about getting the Fan-upgrade for your camera.

 

[Ces Peynetti]

I've been using my Scarlet for the past 7 - 10 wedding's I've done, but I've been using it along with a couple of Mark IIIs until I can get my hands on at least a second Scarlet (I'm very close!). Once I do, I'm going full 4K. I usually cover my weddings with 3 to 4 cameras, but I know I could do it with 2.

I will tell you this, it's not easy at first, but definitely not impossible. If your goal is to shoot 4K, some will argue that the 1DC might be better suited for this type of gig, but I wouldn't be so sure about that. Shooting RAW during a wedding day can really be to your advantage in post. My biggest hurdle so far has been battery life, but thats mostly due to me being stubborn and not getting myself a RED Brick setup instead of REDvolts, though I bought a Quad Charger recently and with that I haven't had an issue for the past couple of weddings I've done.

Using my Scarlet in these situations has taught me so much about the camera, and if you are someone who does Same Day Edits, you might want to check out this blog post I wrote a couple of months ago.

My favorite set-up is using a 561 bhdv Manfrotto monopod. I use that 90% of the time. I'll use a tripod during the ceremony and toasts, and a small Kessler Cineslider if I see a good opportunity to do Slide shots. I may use a Steadicam here and there, though I rarely do. I'd be very interested in testing something like a Movi in a wedding environment though!

Here is another 4K Wedding short film I did:

https://vimeo.com/63447608

 

[Daniel Christensen]

If I get a Scarlet, I'm definitely getting Dragon, so I get some higher framerates and the new color science, DR, etc. which I think will be much better for all my uses, and hopefully it will pay itself off in little to no time. What I'm thinking is maybe one Scarlet on a tripod, one on the shoulder, and one small rig (side handle and 5 in. touch?). I'll have to start with one camera, and work my way up.

 

[Stephen Matthews]

I did a favor for a friend and covered his with my scarlet by myself minimal kit bordering on the moronic, and managed to produce a video they were ecstatic with while still enjoying myself at the wedding.

My youtube compression setting suck as I was attempting a 4k upload which I'm not seasoned in yet, plus the video was shot almost exclusively at 18:1 compression, not recommended but the only way I could pull it off, oh and it's handheld so yeah it's shaky should have brought my monopod but ah well my friends are happy and that's all that matters to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pyHh2MHpj8