Shooting proper stills / videos at the same time

[paul ross jones]

Has anyone done this? It's been a dream of mine (as an advertising photographer) watching the progress of red cameras from the very start with promises of a real stills/video solution from Red.

I know the stills usually need a far higher shutter speed to freeze a image, and that will give a juddered look to the video.
But can the small shutter angle be delt with in post with motion blur added? I know theres a compromise in either the stills of the video, but there are times I am asked to shoot both, and besides making some kind of Frankenstein 3d rig with a stills and video camera, I cant figure out the best way to do this.

If the raptors file is suitable for a still with a higher shutter speed ( I am testing next week to find out exactly) , what would be a workflow on set for individual image section as I shoot? On stills shoots I use capture one tethered and within 2 sec we have images up on screen that can be tagged. How could the same be done with video, is a reordered 1080/4k compressed feed captured as I shoot?


Thanks for any options on this.

paul

 

[Phil Holland]

Raptor at the moment doesn't flag/mark stills during roll, but that I could see coming in a future firmware update. In practice nearly nobody I know even uses the still workflow that way. Mainly they roll and then either in REDCINE-X PRO or any other program you place a marker on your shot timeline then export from there.

Personally I like REDCINE-X Pro for this as I use it two ways. One, I export the REDCODE RAW R3D Snapshot, and two I will also export a 16-bit TIF that I can whip into Photoshop/Camera Raw/Lightroom.

I'd say you'll need to experiment for yourself in regards to shutter speed/angle. I've ran things both ways and there's a lot of considerations. You can even shoot in high speed which uses the higher shutter speed, you get slow mo, and you can speed it up in post.

You can do dual record if you want to export a quick prores video, but I'd personally just use the REDCODE RAW and go from there. Roll through your shoot and mark your selects, export, edit, win.

 

[Mike P.]

You're right that motion blur/shutter is the issue. Yes, you can add motion blur in post, but getting it right is hit & miss and it also takes forever to render.

I'd argue that cutting the difference (and/or relying on IS to make the shutter drag less apparent if it's handheld) is probably your best bet and typically more than adequate... As in, instead of going with motions 1/48th or stills 1/250th, you do 1/96th~1/125th. It'll be staccato in motion, but not *that* noticeable/distracting (for non-narrative), but it's also be fast enough for most types of photography. Also because it's motion you can usually track through a shot/clip until you find a clean frame.

Conversely, HDRX might work wonders as it captures it's additional stops by upping shutter -- so if you're shooting the motion at 180deg (1/48th) on Track A and go +2 on Track X, the HDRX track will be 45deg (1/192). Granted it'll be two stops darker, but with stills you can noise reduce the hell outta them quickly/easily and they still look fine (plus you'll be capturing more highlights). Can't do HDRx in DSMC3 though.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

Every situation is unique. That said, Mike's notes are a great start. I have found a moving camera and moving subject the trickiest to manage. Shooting at 60fps for a 23.98/24 or 29.97/30fps video deliverable will add processing time, but that can often be done near the end of post. With a 90° shutter (1/240th at 60fps) most of your stills should be sharp. Yes, there may be some judder even after processing, but, depending on the content, it might not be noticeable. With Raptor you could potentially go to 120FPS with a 180° shutter (1/240th) to keep the stills sharp and simply plan for a proper frame blending pass to turn 120fps into 24 or 30fps after creative editorial.

When using HDRx on DSMC2 bodies I take track A as close to clip as I dare and then "print down" as needed so the video looks as desired - this is sometimes as easy as just dropping the ISO in RCP-X. If the stills are a little underexposed, there are, as Mike notes, lots of tools for doctoring them up. YMMV.

Cheers - #19

 

[paul ross jones]

You're right that motion blur/shutter is the issue. Yes, you can add motion blur in post, but getting it right is hit & miss and it also takes forever to render.

I'd argue that cutting the difference (and/or relying on IS to make the shutter drag less apparent if it's handheld) is probably your best bet and typically more than adequate... As in, instead of going with motions 1/48th or stills 1/250th, you do 1/96th~1/125th. It'll be staccato in motion, but not *that* noticeable/distracting (for non-narrative), but it's also be fast enough for most types of photography. Also because it's motion you can usually track through a shot/clip until you find a clean frame.

Conversely, HDRX might work wonders as it captures it's additional stops by upping shutter -- so if you're shooting the motion at 180deg (1/48th) on Track A and go +2 on Track X, the HDRX track will be 45deg (1/192). Granted it'll be two stops darker, but with stills you can noise reduce the hell outta them quickly/easily and they still look fine (plus you'll be capturing more highlights). Can't do HDRx in DSMC3 though.

hi mike, yes, I saw the HDR feature and wondered if this could be a partial solution.

Paul