Wedding DSMC with the RED Scarlet-X

[Jonathan Cape]

Does anyone have any experience with the Scarlet-X in a wedding? I'd love to hear your experiences, as I won't be able to make it to the REDucation Wedding Seminar in California...

Jon


p.s.
It would be awesome if RED offered their REDucation courses as a post-event video stream for purchase... It could be lower cost, as you can't ask questions and it would serve as an extra stream of revenue (e.g. creativelive.com).

 

[Jeffrey Loewe]

Does anyone have any experience with the Scarlet-X in a wedding? I'd love to hear your experiences, as I won't be able to make it to the REDucation Wedding Seminar in California...

Jon


p.s.
It would be awesome if RED offered their REDucation courses as a post-event video stream for purchase... It could be lower cost, as you can't ask questions and it would serve as an extra stream of revenue (e.g. creativelive.com).

I don't do it for a living, but I helped a friend shoot one, we both had Scarlets. We found you REALLY need to know your settings before hand. Where they were dancing was almost to dark to shoot. This is really the only place it struggled.

 

[Maik Müller]

DSMC isn't fully there on Scarlet, its limited too much (for my taste).

If you shoot normal 4k motion its more a thing of luck to get frames without too much blur to get them through as still, if there is action in the scene you're quickly lost. So unless you shoot motion with higher shutter-speed (and get that strobing) you'll not be really save on the still-side. EPIC is different here, you can shoot higher fps with it or the HDRx-setting can be used for stills, because you get a x-frame with shorter exposure for every frame in the a-track.

But you can still do great work with Scarlet on a wedding i think. Use the S/M-switch to switch between a 5k-still-mode and 4k-motion, cover some of the highlights with additional stills and get the motion with 4k. Try different shutter-speeds, to see whats a good compromise for you. You could also play around with adding blur in post, to be able to shoot with faster shutter...

Honestly, i wouldn't want to cover a wedding with just one Scarlet and responsible for motion and stills.

 

[Jonathan Cape]

Yeah it's always good to find other Scarlet users who have done this kind of thing. It's definitely a more run and gun scenario than most productions... Currently I use DSLRs for productions and weddings, but we are taking the plunge into Scarlet and I know that the complexity only goes up when you are dealing with cropped sensors for high frame rates as well as storage and battery concerns. Thanks!

 

[Jonathan Cape]

But you can still do great work with Scarlet on a wedding i think. Use the S/M-switch to switch between a 5k-still-mode and 4k-motion, cover some of the highlights with additional stills and get the motion with 4k. Try different shutter-speeds, to see whats a good compromise for you. You could also play around with adding blur in post, to be able to shoot with faster shutter...

Honestly, i wouldn't want to cover a wedding with just one Scarlet and responsible for motion and stills.

Yeah that is very true, we're definitely aiming for at least 2 Scarlets, but your points on the resolution issues and motion blur is a great point. That is a issue that we'll have to deal with, or just supplement our team with DSLRs for photos - as much as I hate the flash strobes (that's a whole other topic)...

Thanks!

 

[Louis Maddalena]

I don't do them for a living, but I do one every once in a while....

This one was shot on RED.

http://vimeo.com/52036998

It wasn't that bad, very limited issues. A few shots were 5D Mark II.

 

[Matthew B]

With my shooting style, the Fan Noise would be a killer for me during the ceremony and "speaking parts" of the reception - it would be an unfair distraction to the client. If you were shooting in a back room with a long lens, then not a big deal.

It would be fine for preparation vignettes, etc.

If you get a good shoulder or handle grip rig, it isn't much different than shooting with a GL2/vx2000...

 

[Enrique Blein]

After an 8 hour shoot you'll be begging for a Rebel T4i !!! I'd never go for it, given my back ache condition

 

[Jonathan Cape]

I don't do them for a living, but I do one every once in a while....

This one was shot on RED.

http://vimeo.com/52036998

It wasn't that bad, very limited issues. A few shots were 5D Mark II.

Cool, nice work! Knowing how heavy that camera is, I know stabile moving shots are tough. Was it just you or did you have a team with you shooting?

By the way, I have to say I particularly like the tasteful motion graphics.

 

[Jonathan Cape]

With my shooting style, the Fan Noise would be a killer for me during the ceremony and "speaking parts" of the reception - it would be an unfair distraction to the client. If you were shooting in a back room with a long lens, then not a big deal.

It would be fine for preparation vignettes, etc.

If you get a good shoulder or handle grip rig, it isn't much different than shooting with a GL2/vx2000...

Yeah, the fan noise is a huge point... Having fan noise during long durations might be an issue depending on the venue. I can also see the weight being more difficult, but it's no different than ENG shoulder cams 10 years ago, or the HVX200, that was pretty close in weight. Guess it's time to wear some weighted gloves all day

 

[Louis Maddalena]

Cool, nice work! Knowing how heavy that camera is, I know stabile moving shots are tough. Was it just you or did you have a team with you shooting?

By the way, I have to say I particularly like the tasteful motion graphics.

My friend and I do them together occasionally for friends and family...

Glad you liked the motion graphics my friend did the last edit for that and added the motion graphics as well. Check out his reel at www.paulimperio.com

 

[Ben Coleman]

Does anyone have any experience with the Scarlet-X in a wedding? I'd love to hear your experiences, as I won't be able to make it to the REDucation Wedding Seminar in California...

Jon


p.s.
It would be awesome if RED offered their REDucation courses as a post-event video stream for purchase... It could be lower cost, as you can't ask questions and it would serve as an extra stream of revenue (e.g. creativelive.com).

Yup, done a good half dozen with one. It was more of a C camera though behind 2 7d's. Battery life is a big problem since it chews thru batteries. The fan noise isn't too bad when you are recording, going to standby can be slightly distracting. Also add to that the storage space required you have a hard time recording a long event on it without large SSD's. On the flip side, I love the images that come from it. They look so much more natural than the 7d images. We do have some issues with the footage in post but I'm not sure that isn't just the fact that our Mac Pro is aging.

While I still love the Scarlet, I don't find it quite the best camera for events. I will keep it for controlled shoots but I think we are going to pick up something like an FS100/700 for the live events.

 

[dean lee]

I shoot weddings for a living.. I do around 25 every year and shoot with 7ds and mkiii. I bought a scarlet for other things but I probably will take it with me just for fun. I was wondering are you capturing on 4k....?