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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 :)

This Seals the DEAL on scarlet.

Shanon Fernald said:
I think you guys are getting worked up for no good reason.

Even shots of a guy shooting his baby look amazing to me:
http://vimeo.com/38675029

You could always sell your Scarlet and buy a GH3 coming out, lol.
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I wasnt talking about scarlet vs DSLRs, that is obvious from a mile away, I was talking about Scarlet vs Epic/RED One MX, and I'm in no way second guessing my order, on the contrary, best decision of my life.

That video of the baby is awesome btw haha
 
Carlos Reyes said:
I wasnt talking about scarlet vs DSLRs, that is obvious from a mile away, I was talking about Scarlet vs Epic/RED One MX, and I'm in no way second guessing my order, on the contrary, best decision of my life.

That video of the baby is awesome btw haha
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I think the Scarlet shot well...can look great. Stills glass or no. But the Epic usually shoots 5K, vs 4K for the Scarlet, and that can make a big difference when you are scaling down to 1080p. If you are shooting both Epic & Scarlet at 4K it's a fair fight, but at 5K...the Epic just has more resolution, that extra "oomph".

The Red One can do 4.5k so ironically it has a a bit of extra juice too. But the Scarlet SHOULD look just as good, and I'm assuming it's just the plethora of new owners testing it out that's lowering the bar right now.

The camera itself...is awesome.
 
James Mulholland said:
I recently seen a short film shot on a RED Scarlet with Nikon lenses and I'll be honest, nobody knew it was shot on RED until we were told. Everyone thought is was DSLR. Interesting though a few films later we seen one shot on RED MX with Nikons and everyone clearly knew it was shot on RED. I'm not hitting on the Scarlet, I love the image and the camera and I do think it shouldn't be compared to most DSLR's out there but I find it interesting that the specific film I seen was very DSLR imagish, Yet I've seen stuff on Vimeo that was Shot on Scarlet that clearly wasn't from a DSLR. I imagine it depends on the DP, Grade and possibly the export settings.
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It is interesting, I shot a short on a 5Dmk2 with a UltraContrast 2 filter, nikon primes stopped down to f5.6-8 and literally everyone thought it was shot on the alexa when they saw the rushes at 1080p.

and if you consider that price difference...

i honestly think the cinematography/ lighting, a higher f-stop, and a flat curve are ques for a lot of people. Which isn't a bad thing, the content shouldn't reflect the camera!
 
Seasons 7 & 8 of Criminal Minds shoots on Epic at 4K, ISO 800 and 8:1, which are Scarlet's default settings. This gives a very good example of the quality you can get out of Scarlet provided you take the care to light and compose properly.

Also, as I've mentioned several times before, Season 3 of Pretty Little Liars is shot on Scarlet. Turn the sound down if you can't stomach the content but pay attention to the cinematography.
 
Its so much more complicated than saying "learn lighting".

Its color balance on set design, art department, in wardrobe, in make up, the choice of talent, locations, the blocking and shot design..... THEN its the lighting, THEN its the Framing, THEN its the lens, THEN its the camera head. The camera head is the last part of the chain, and arguably the least important. if everything infront of it is right, pretty much any camera from an AF100 and up will look pretty great. Though, as a responsible DP, you choose the best tool you can afford. IF thats a 5D, then so be it, cause i'd rather have A+ talent, wardrobe, set, location and production design, than an epic with none of the mentioned attributes.

Case in point.

Jason Bell's Vanity Fair video of courtney love.

Amazing location, wardrobe, art direction, and a great eye and colorist ( redusers own Tom Wong).

Shot on 5D Would it have looked better on Epic? Yes a bit, but its 90% there with a 5D.
 
Brian Boyer said:
Also, as I've mentioned several times before, Season 3 of Pretty Little Liars is shot on Scarlet. Turn the sound down if you can't stomach the content but pay attention to the cinematography.
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I've just had a look and yes it's best turning the sound down ... lol ...

Do you know which brand of lenses were used for criminal minds or pretty little liars?
 
adam r said:
I've just had a look and yes it's best turning the sound down ... lol ...

Do you know which brand of lenses were used for criminal minds or pretty little liars?
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Unfortunately, I don't. But, if I'm not mistaken, someone who worked on the show posts on Reduser from time to time. I can't remember who it is but someone else might be able to point you in the right direction.
 
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Timur Civan said:
Its so much more complicated than saying "learn lighting".

Its color balance on set design, art department, in wardrobe, in make up, the choice of talent, locations, the blocking and shot design..... THEN its the lighting, THEN its the Framing, THEN its the lens, THEN its the camera head. The camera head is the last part of the chain, and arguably the least important. if everything infront of it is right, pretty much any camera from an AF100 and up will look pretty great. Though, as a responsible DP, you choose the best tool you can afford. IF thats a 5D, then so be it, cause i'd rather have A+ talent, wardrobe, set, location and production design, than an epic with none of the mentioned attributes.
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All very true, and you often see Scarlet footage suffering from a lack of all of these things in addition to poor lighting.

I was going to mention everything you did until I considered who many Scarlet owners are. They spent most of their money on the camera and its supporting equipment. Low budget, DIY, guerrilla filmmaking is still the order of the day.

Many would love to incorporate these things into their productions but can't afford it. And yes, many don't realize their importance or simply don't have the talent for them and can't find someone better who'll do it for free.

It seems that if you have all the things you mentioned and poor lighting, most of it is wasted.

If a person who calls him or herself a cinematographer can't be bothered with learning to light, how good are they going to be at integrating wardrobe, makeup, art direction or any of the other things you mentioned?

For a lot of people these days, cinematography means setting up in available light, pressing record, editing and grading with Magic Bullet Looks, relying on it to mask deficiencies in production.

Provided the story and acting are there, which would you say gives the low/no budget filmmaker the most mileage and the highest perceived production value:

Great lighting or great wardrobe?

Great lighting or great makeup?

Great lighting or great location?

Great lighting or great set design?
 
Timur Civan said:
Its so much more complicated than saying "learn lighting".

Its color balance on set design, art department, in wardrobe, in make up, the choice of talent, locations, the blocking and shot design..... THEN its the lighting, THEN its the Framing, THEN its the lens, THEN its the camera head. The camera head is the last part of the chain, and arguably the least important. if everything infront of it is right, pretty much any camera from an AF100 and up will look pretty great. Though, as a responsible DP, you choose the best tool you can afford. IF thats a 5D, then so be it, cause i'd rather have A+ talent, wardrobe, set, location and production design, than an epic with none of the mentioned attributes.
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Its genuinely sad that these VERY TRUE statements have to be made over and over on this forum, but alas, it is a forum for gear and its easy to forget that many people are probably delaying their personal productions for dragon rather than working on the other important aspects of their productions first.
 
Timur Civan said:
Its so much more complicated than saying "learn lighting".

Its color balance on set design, art department, in wardrobe, in make up, the choice of talent, locations, the blocking and shot design..... THEN its the lighting, THEN its the Framing, THEN its the lens, THEN its the camera head. The camera head is the last part of the chain, and arguably the least important. if everything infront of it is right, pretty much any camera from an AF100 and up will look pretty great. Though, as a responsible DP, you choose the best tool you can afford. IF thats a 5D, then so be it, cause i'd rather have A+ talent, wardrobe, set, location and production design, than an epic with none of the mentioned attributes.

Case in point.

Jason Bell's Vanity Fair video of courtney love.

Amazing location, wardrobe, art direction, and a great eye and colorist ( redusers own Tom Wong).

Shot on 5D Would it have looked better on Epic? Yes a bit, but its 90% there with a 5D.
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And perhaps most importantly, we're forgetting post. I remember seeing a premier screening The Bully Project (shot on the MKII) blown up at the LA Film Festival last year when it was first cut and thinking "Meh," then seeing it again this year after the Weinsteins dumped a truckload of money into its post and finally released it and was blown away at how great it looked. And I saw it blown up at a large Arclight screening, so anyone who claims upres'd 1080 isn't enough for the screens need only look at this or Black Swan​, Act of Valor, Iron Man 2, and other features that have shot scenes with the 5d/7d combinations successfully.

As you said, it could definitely look better, but the camera itself is but a small instrument in a much grander orchestra.
 
exactly!

Filmmaking is one of the few artforms where the "artist" (director? Writer? Dp? Editor? Which really is the most important?) is practically powerless if alone. A Choreographer is often a dancer and can perform by his or herself. ( Ahkram Khan, Phelippe De Coufle, Martha Graham etc...), The painter can paint by himself even if he doesn't have assistants, the Musician can now play instruments individually with Pro tools or make electronic music, but Film is still a team effort. Dont forget the team! The most talented striker in the world can't play soccer by himself!
 
adam r said:
I've just had a look and yes it's best turning the sound down ... lol ...

Do you know which brand of lenses were used for criminal minds or pretty little liars?
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Optimos for criminal minds.
 
Here's something I shot on Scarlet and shot a short BTS clip on the lighting on the 60D just to give an example (same ISO, same f stop, with technicolor flat style), and the DSLR couldn't handle it. If you light and expose properly you can easily make Scarlet look like Epic footage, even when shot in 3K like my video. In the end it's up to you and how you use it. Don't blame your images on the camera. After all, the camera only gives you what you give it.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?84072-Scarlet-in-space-Shoot-for-MUSE
 
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