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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 :)

Stills on Red Scarlet for stop-motion

Cedric Larvoire

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Hi guys, I am starting production of a commercial that requires both live action and stop motion, we're using the scarlet for it.
I'm sure it's a dumb question, but is the Still mode activated yet in the new firmware? The S/M button on the Side Handle only gives me focus options. Is there a way to switch already?
Otherwise, does it mean we have to shoot video and export frames? That would be a pain :)

Thank you very much!
Cedric
 
No, stills mode is not enabled. RED officially recommend pulling stills from your video footage (as cumbersome as that sounds). You may be better off getting a cheap DSLR for the stopmotion stuff... It'd match fairly well with RED live-action 4k footage.
 
I recently did a test for that very situation.. I shot 5K at 8 fps, higher shutter speed, then pulled still from the files in Redcine.. worked very well.
 
Stills for scarlet?

Stills for scarlet?

I recently did a test for that very situation.. I shot 5K at 8 fps, higher shutter speed, then pulled still from the files in Redcine.. worked very well.
This feature will be added in one of the major updates, hopefully the next :sifone:
 
Actually, yeah, that's a fairly good point -- going 5k at 1fps with a 1/250 should work pretty well....can you put the timebase to 1fps too, so it stays on for 1 second rather than just being one frame?
 
Watch out for using DSL with electronic shutter as, canon and others do not have the precision to expose with the same shutter for a long sequence. look for "flicker problem stop motion DSLR" on google and you understand why you should use lenses that has manual iris control.
 
Bjorn make a good point. I have run into that issue with time lapse. Client never noticed with everything else going on in the frame but it was there.
 
Any problem with this using a canon lens on the Scarlet? I'm assuming the problem occurs when the camera is making minute adjustments to the aperture based on light levels it's sensing, and not caused by the lens itself.

But, when I assume, I often find out I assumed wrong soooooo...
 
Remap the record button to start recording at full press and stop it at release. Thats what i use mostly for stills, i think it should be a good solution for stop/motion work too. I hav'nt tried yet to map this on my REDMOTE, but i don't see a reason why it shouldn't work with that.
 
Remap the record button to start recording at full press and stop it at release. Thats what i use mostly for stills, i think it should be a good solution for stop/motion work too. I hav'nt tried yet to map this on my REDMOTE, but i don't see a reason why it shouldn't work with that.

That's a pretty good idea :) thanks, I'll try that!
 
You could build or purchase a start/stop switch as well to trigger the camera at 1fps.
 
Anyone know how RED plans to implement the motion stills function?
I'd like to press the "shutter"/record button and get one 5k still and then press motion and roll 24fsp 1/48th....
 
I think it has been all but abandoned... I seem to recall RED/Jarred saying that they're suggesting you pull stills from the 5k video stream as it's essentially the same thing (not really when you consider storage and battery-life). It'd be nice to have a stills mode -- I mean, I'd love for each REDvolt to last an hour+ in stills mode -- but I don't think it's gonna happen any time soon (if at all.)
 
No, stills mode is not enabled. RED officially recommend pulling stills from your video footage (as cumbersome as that sounds). You may be better off getting a cheap DSLR for the stopmotion stuff... It'd match fairly well with RED live-action 4k footage.


That is exactly what I've done with this animation project: Got myself a Canon D600 and then sold it on ebay.
 
The last word I remember is that Jarred said or implied that you would roll footage, and when you hit the shutter button, it would place a marker on a frame. Then you could just pull all marked frames (or move/add/delete markers) in RedCine-X. So you would be rolling footage, but easily be able to pull the intended stills.

Now, of course, this is from my memory, so take that as the dubious source it could be.

Also keep in mind that the rolling shutter provides some distinct disadvantages over other cameras; ever had flashes going off while recording footage? Easily end up with a percentage of the lines in the frame WHITE and the rest normal.
 
I shot a stop motion commercial not too long ago with my Scarlet. I actually kept it in 4K 24 fps, and would roll the camera about 1-2 seconds for each exposure.
I did a lot of research in stop motion and you actually use each "pose" for anywhere between 2-5 frames each.
https://vimeo.com/41755785
 
I think it has been all but abandoned... I seem to recall RED/Jarred saying that they're suggesting you pull stills from the 5k video stream as it's essentially the same thing (not really when you consider storage and battery-life). It'd be nice to have a stills mode -- I mean, I'd love for each REDvolt to last an hour+ in stills mode -- but I don't think it's gonna happen any time soon (if at all.)
HMMMM well then is it a DSMC? For me the dual function is key. Not to be a hump.....
 
It would be very disappointing if RED does not include this functionality. It was promised a while back and I do not see why it can't be introduced. If I can do it on my Bolex I would expect my Scarlet to be able to do it. I look forward to being able to take stills for stop-motion that can be activated by an external cable too. I would hope that you would have the option to record the images to a single .R3D file or as individual still files.
 
It would be very disappointing if RED does not include this functionality. It was promised a while back and I do not see why it can't be introduced. If I can do it on my Bolex I would expect my Scarlet to be able to do it. I look forward to being able to take stills for stop-motion that can be activated by an external cable too. I would hope that you would have the option to record the images to a single .R3D file or as individual still files.
Kinda what I'm hoping, direct access to a still file.
 
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