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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 :)

Scarlet X as a docmentary tool - Behind the scenes + Frame Grabs.

M

Matt Johnston

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A few observations of using the Scarlet X in a seriously dusty, serious run and gun environment at 2 different rallies over the last 2 weeks. Posted a few grabs from a film I'm working on, and wrote an article.



http://mattjohnstonsfp.com/2012/03/12/red-scarlet-x-as-a-documentary-tool/


RED 4kHD grab.
Hirvonen.jpg


EDIT: Here is some video from the stills I originally posted:

 
Hah!

Last line:
"Overall = Totally worth it. Don’t be a giant wuss – Sell your FS100."

I've been struggling with this exact thing... Lately my FS100 has been really spoiling me since I don't think twice about shooting up to ISO3200, which is pretty unbelievably useful in situations where my lighting package just isn't quite big enough for the space or the stop I want. Also the 10hr batteries and 3hr SD cards have been giving me so much less to worry about on sets and in run and gun without an AC, not to mention I can fit everything I need for a day on the FS100 in a small backpack that in total weights about the same as days worth of just the batteries for Scarlet. I really want to just stop owning so many cameras and use my Scarlet for everything, but there seem to be some hurdles.
 
Hey Matt
Great report - Thanks! Dust . . . what a curse!
I'm interested in your comments about noise. I imagine your noise comments are driven by low lit indoor shots (as opposed to outdoor rally shots)? If so what WB are you using in these 'noisy' shots. Have you played around with keeping WB at 5000K and colouring your shot with a filter? Also noise can be a very subject perspective - it would be great if you could post a shot or two of what you are calling your 'noisiest' shots.
 
Thanks for the article Matt. It's an interesting read. Many of us doco makers were set on the Scarlet Fixed 2/3" which would have been much better for documentary work and now we are trying to adapt the Scarlet X for that use. Whilst the Scarlet X doesn't seem as well designed for doco (it's more optimised for indie narrative productions), as you say, it can be adapted, we we just need to bring our collective knowledge together to solve a few practical problems. The upside is we'll get better image quality than would have been possible with the Scarlet fixed. Some of the problems I see in adapting Scarlet X for documentary use in the place of a traditional video camera are:
1) ergonomics for hand-held operation
2) racking focus with the shallower depth of field of the s35mm sensor
3) covering a broad focal range on a large sensor (1 small 8x lens as was planned for the Scarlet fixed isn't possible anymore)
4) dealing with the Scarlet x's audio issues (non-standard wiring, lack of phantom power)
5) power and media for long takes for observational work
6) Keeping the camera kit small and light (eg 1 or two bags/backpacks)
7) ND and IR filtering
8) offloading times
9) media storage space

I faced several of these same issues using DSLRs too (eg erganomics, large sensor problems) but like you have become partial to DSLR's low-light performance. Some people are already starting to crack some of these problems. Shooting 2K or 3K could assist with 2), 3), 5) and 9). I'm hoping a usable variable NDIR will come out. I'm also keen to experiment with higher compression rates. I've just been shooting at 6:1 and below so far on commercial work to be safe but I'll do some tests.
 
Brian Iannone said:
Great post! One question though: why do you cover the RED logo? (http://mattjohnstonsfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/2012-03-09-17.20.19.jpg) :-)
Click to expand...

Yea. Let me say that I'm certainly not one of those people that thinks all of Mexico is "dangerous" and requires security. I'm not a big fan of nation stereotyping. Everyone down here is super friendly and nice.

That said. A number of times I was in bigtime crowds in some impoverished areas. One guy said "RED RED RED" which was cool - he just wanted to know about it. But then I thought it'd be best if I didn't advertise as much since I was rolling solo a lot with lots of drunk dudes around. One thing that is kinda cool, if you remove the lens, and with no side handle and LCD folded down. Nobody recognizes it as a camera if you're walking down a dark alley. It isnt immediately obvious what is it.

I usually keep WB at daylight or so. I will see if I can post a grab here. Internet is slow. I shot a lot at night, as rallies are like 3-4 days long 16+ hour days. So lots of low light too.

Shallow DOF isn't that big of a problem, I've trained myself to follow focus with cars and things pretty well now. I will say that I use the focus tools religiously though, especially the sharpening one. It's never turned off. I HATE going back to the 7D without any of those aids.

For ND I use Tiffen 77mm IRND's. The indie kit. So 4 filters in a belt pouch. All my lenses have step rings to 77mm. So It is really no big deal - except when I lose filters to rocks.
 
Matt Johnston said:
if you remove the lens, and with no side handle and LCD folded down. Nobody recognizes it as a camera if you're walking down a dark alley.
Click to expand...
and with the top handle I can easily calm down like 3-4 people alone, in the same dark alley;
not sure if camera will start after that :)
 
Did you use some kind of battery powered phantom power? What kind?
 
Bob Gundu said:
Same reason photographers do.

http://tinyurl.com/78klo6s
Click to expand...

Matt Johnston said:
Yea. Let me say that I'm certainly not one of those people that thinks all of Mexico is "dangerous" and requires security. I'm not a big fan of nation stereotyping. Everyone down here is super friendly and nice.

That said. A number of times I was in bigtime crowds in some impoverished areas. One guy said "RED RED RED" which was cool - he just wanted to know about it. But then I thought it'd be best if I didn't advertise as much since I was rolling solo a lot with lots of drunk dudes around. One thing that is kinda cool, if you remove the lens, and with no side handle and LCD folded down. Nobody recognizes it as a camera if you're walking down a dark alley. It isnt immediately obvious what is it.
Click to expand...

Okay, I see. :)
 
Matt Johnston said:
For ND I use Tiffen 77mm IRND's. The indie kit. So 4 filters in a belt pouch. All my lenses have step rings to 77mm. So It is really no big deal - except when I lose filters to rocks.
Click to expand...

Great write-up/review. Rallying seems like a blast, and challenge to cover.

I'm planning on purchasing the Tiffen Indie IRND kit as well. Glad to hear someone using them in harsh conditions and getting good results.
 
Thanks MATT, very nice article. You totally confirm my personal concerns about some issues around weather protection of Scarlet. I'm just wondering what is going to happen if some water leaks to the top "grill" ?
 
Matt Johnston said:
Yea. Let me say that I'm certainly not one of those people that thinks all of Mexico is "dangerous" and requires security. I'm not a big fan of nation stereotyping. Everyone down here is super friendly and nice.

That said. A number of times I was in bigtime crowds in some impoverished areas. One guy said "RED RED RED" which was cool - he just wanted to know about it. But then I thought it'd be best if I didn't advertise as much since I was rolling solo a lot with lots of drunk dudes around. One thing that is kinda cool, if you remove the lens, and with no side handle and LCD folded down. Nobody recognizes it as a camera if you're walking down a dark alley. It isnt immediately obvious what is it.

I usually keep WB at daylight or so. I will see if I can post a grab here. Internet is slow. I shot a lot at night, as rallies are like 3-4 days long 16+ hour days. So lots of low light too.

Shallow DOF isn't that big of a problem, I've trained myself to follow focus with cars and things pretty well now. I will say that I use the focus tools religiously though, especially the sharpening one. It's never turned off. I HATE going back to the 7D without any of those aids.

For ND I use Tiffen 77mm IRND's. The indie kit. So 4 filters in a belt pouch. All my lenses have step rings to 77mm. So It is really no big deal - except when I lose filters to rocks.
Click to expand...

Matt, which Tiffen IRNDs are you using? I couldn't find any Tiffen filters with IR porection. Is this the Tiffen set you are using? http://www.tiffen.com/displayproduct.html?tablename=filters&itemnum=W77INDNDKT
Do you find it difficult to swap out ND filters on the fly in an observational doco context? I prefer working with a variable ND but the ones I've used haven't been good enough for shooting 4K sharp and without colour abberations. Light Craft has a new one that looks promising. They are sending me one to test and review. I'll post results for those doco makers who are interested.
 
I found a location even worse!
I shot an industrial in a dust-making factory. I'm not kidding! They are actually making smaller than nano-meter dust particles meant for sharpening industrial knives and that sort of stuff. That is microscopic dust meant to cut into things. As if the dust wasn't enough, we obviously had to put the camera as close to a super hot oven as possible, and also give it a go in a room built to shake electronics into junk.
I'm happy to report that both camera and optics survived. We had to use a lot of time on protection and dust removing, but it did manage the task.

If I ever come across similar conditions in the future, I hope someone had built a underwater housing against dust (with opening for the lens) - which seems exactly what you could use as well if you're going to shoot more dust rallies.

Just a tip to the inventors out there ;)
 
Monte Casey said:
+1

How is this working out?
Click to expand...

I've had it in 2 downpours already. One time I covered it with a bag, one time I ran for the hills and pulled the brick just in case.

I'm less worried about water than I am dust honestly. Water doesn't usually hurt things unless there is tons of amps, or it is saltwater. Dust ruins switches, hinges, sensors, all sorts of crap.

I would be concerned on a water housing with overheating. I was essentially overheating with just a thin t-shirt wrapped around it. The thing gets HOT. Blows lots of hot air in my face.

I'm using these ND's http://www.filmtools.com/tiffen-77mm-indie-standard-irnd-kit-w77indstdkt.html
 
Hey Matt,
Great post and article! Just a couple of comments:
1. For the noise in low light situations, try Neat Video plugin. You have to consider that all DSLRs and most other cameras have loads of built in firmware noise suppression processing going on. And yes, it does deliver a great result in many cases right out of the camera. But with RAW, there is no internal suppression, but the Neat plugin does in incredible job and then you still retain the latitude of RAW and 4K resolution. In a few really low light situations we added a little sharpening back to the effected clips and especially delivered at 1080, looked fantastic! It's only a hundred bucks.
2. We are using the newest version of the Schneider variable ND filter with really good results. It is not cheap (about $350 on eBay), but really gets the job done quickly. Negatives: really big front profile so you can't use the lens hood which might suck in your situation. And a real bummer if a rock hits your $350 filter. But in less extreme conditions, it ROCKS!
Thanks again for sharing!
Cheers,
 
Cool vid and I love your kickstarter perks, great concepts. I wish I had a spare $8400 to throw your way, sounds like a blast. Goodluck with the campaign, I know these sites can be tough to crack at times, find your demographic and send em physical press kits.
 
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