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Shooting my first project on red dragon - Any Tips or tricks i should know

harjotsingh

harjotsingh

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Hey Guys,
So im shooting a little lifestyle shoot for a local brand on march 15th ish, and wanted to know what settings would be best. Im renting the dragon so i wont have enough time to really test out the settings and stuff so anything that helps.
I wanted a pretty flat low contrast look, i was thinking about using ultra contrast filter from tiffen. (probably the 1/4) or black pro mist.
also what lenses offer lower contrast.. the zeiss cp2 or the canon cine primes.
Im going to also experiment with my pentax 67 lenses and mamiya 645 glass. so yeah ill post how it goes on here..oh and some anamorphic lol
Thanks
 
harjotsingh said:
Hey Guys,
So im shooting a little lifestyle shoot for a local brand on march 15th ish, and wanted to know what settings would be best. Im renting the dragon so i wont have enough time to really test out the settings and stuff so anything that helps.
I wanted a pretty flat low contrast look, i was thinking about using ultra contrast filter from tiffen. (probably the 1/4) or black pro mist.
also what lenses offer lower contrast.. the zeiss cp2 or the canon cine primes.
Im going to also experiment with my pentax 67 lenses and mamiya 645 glass. so yeah ill post how it goes on here..oh and some anamorphic lol
Thanks
Click to expand...

Looking forward to hearing your experience.
 
What OLPF do you use?
If you use LLO or Standard, don't over expose. Start with 800 iso and look if you like the noise at full debayer. If it's ok try to push to 1250. Dragon has a lot DR if you treat it correctly.
Resolution is your friend, don't blur it to get a smoother picture, use the lights to have that low con look.

My 2 cents.

Pat
 
Not sure what's your rental house, but most places may let you come in and play around the day before, for a bit while in the prep room.

That said you're on the right track, at least from the way I like to shoot.

I've got a Dragon with a set of CP2s and and Tiffen ND Ultracon #1 (among others). I love the low con flat look (even though it can look cliche and very unpolished at times) and especially for the "lifestyle" type shoots.

Shoot some (if not all) overcranked, shoot through objects (branch, glass etc), make layers, use depth to your advantage and pay attention to your T/E temps. maybe preset a few black balance options. I usually keep: 1/48, 1/120, 1/200, 1/300 preset in camera all set to a specific key for a quick switch up.

-Paulius Kontijevas

www.pauliuskontijevas.com
 
harjotsingh said:
Hey Guys,
So im shooting a little lifestyle shoot for a local brand on march 15th ish, and wanted to know what settings would be best. Im renting the dragon so i wont have enough time to really test out the settings and stuff so anything that helps.
I wanted a pretty flat low contrast look, i was thinking about using ultra contrast filter from tiffen. (probably the 1/4) or black pro mist.
also what lenses offer lower contrast.. the zeiss cp2 or the canon cine primes.
Im going to also experiment with my pentax 67 lenses and mamiya 645 glass. so yeah ill post how it goes on here..oh and some anamorphic lol
Thanks
Click to expand...

Have you shot with the original Epic MX before? In that case it will probably feel the same just "better" :thumbsup:
Other than that, the difference will probably just be that the field of view for 6K is a bit wider than s35, so a 50mm on the old Epic MX will look wider on the Dragon.
If you shoot with the STH OLPF, the noise will be more apparent at ISO800. Although that noise is looking more pleasent and filmlike it might be a problem for some VFX. If shooting with the STH, remember to not underexpose the image, otherwise the "push" on gain in post will increase the noise. And in general, if shooting higher ISO, shoot at a lower compression.

I've not done rigorous tests between the CP.2 and the CN-Es, but my own set of CN-Es perform really well with the Dragon, especially since they cover 6K really nicely. Just remember that lenses like the CN-Es, Master Primes and so on are super sharp at T3.0 and up. I mean extreme. I would reckon that the Pentax and Mamiya would be sharp as hell as well. If going for a really sharp image, remember that the makeup needs to be super perfect and the makeup artist need to have experience with super high resolution. Otherwise, use some kind of soft filter, promist or something.

Yeah... and black balance. Always check the T/E status so they're in the green. It's the single most common issue with bad images.
 
Christoffer Glans said:
Yeah... and black balance. Always check the T/E status so they're in the green. It's the single most common issue with bad images.
Click to expand...

That, and underexposure due to using the monitor as an exposure guide, rather than actual exposure tools, such as histogram, GIO Scope, etc.
 
Nothing is going to improve your shoot more than planning, lighting, and blocking. Not to sound snarky, but if you already have experience using a Red camera, than your good there. It's the nice thing about Red, it always feels familiar. I recently shot and edited this fashion piece recently.

https://vimeo.com/155873735
 
Paulius Kontijevas said:
Not sure what's your rental house, but most places may let you come in and play around the day before, for a bit while in the prep room.

That said you're on the right track, at least from the way I like to shoot.

I've got a Dragon with a set of CP2s and and Tiffen ND Ultracon #1 (among others). I love the low con flat look (even though it can look cliche and very unpolished at times) and especially for the "lifestyle" type shoots.

Shoot some (if not all) overcranked, shoot through objects (branch, glass etc), make layers, use depth to your advantage and pay attention to your T/E temps. maybe preset a few black balance options. I usually keep: 1/48, 1/120, 1/200, 1/300 preset in camera all set to a specific key for a quick switch up.

-Paulius Kontijevas

www.pauliuskontijevas.com
Click to expand...

Im actually trying out ShareGrid.. ill see how it goes.
and cool i have a few prisms and diopters and stuff so differently on the same mid set.
And the black balance, being that you have a set im sure the glass color tint doesnt change but im to be changing glasses so i think black tint will probably be more important.
What i usually do with my red one mx is shoot a gray card every time i switch glass. And in grading just match it up.
Does the camera capture differently depending on black balance
 
Christoffer Glans said:
Have you shot with the original Epic MX before? In that case it will probably feel the same just "better" :thumbsup:
Other than that, the difference will probably just be that the field of view for 6K is a bit wider than s35, so a 50mm on the old Epic MX will look wider on the Dragon.
If you shoot with the STH OLPF, the noise will be more apparent at ISO800. Although that noise is looking more pleasent and filmlike it might be a problem for some VFX. If shooting with the STH, remember to not underexpose the image, otherwise the "push" on gain in post will increase the noise. And in general, if shooting higher ISO, shoot at a lower compression.

I've not done rigorous tests between the CP.2 and the CN-Es, but my own set of CN-Es perform really well with the Dragon, especially since they cover 6K really nicely. Just remember that lenses like the CN-Es, Master Primes and so on are super sharp at T3.0 and up. I mean extreme. I would reckon that the Pentax and Mamiya would be sharp as hell as well. If going for a really sharp image, remember that the makeup needs to be super perfect and the makeup artist need to have experience with super high resolution. Otherwise, use some kind of soft filter, promist or something.

Yeah... and black balance. Always check the T/E status so they're in the green. It's the single most common issue with bad images.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
ill be black shading when ever i change shutter speeds drastically.
 
Bob Gundu said:
Nothing is going to improve your shoot more than planning, lighting, and blocking. Not to sound snarky, but if you already have experience using a Red camera, than your good there. It's the nice thing about Red, it always feels familiar. I recently shot and edited this fashion piece recently.

https://vimeo.com/155873735
Click to expand...
Thanks! ill let you know how it turns out! that Commerical is amazing, did you use just a few focal lengths?
 
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