5D mkii to Red Camera

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CuCu

New member
Sup guys im a director / editor and I have been using a 5d mkii for the last year and I have finally raised enough money for the red scarlet camera and afew other things. just wanted to ask you guys what do you guys think about the red camera ? I do music videos and me and my partner are blowing up and are receiving more and more business. i been lingering around afew directors on there sets for artist such as nikki minaj, justin bieber, chris brown, sean kingston, MMG, and every director has been using red cameras. So I wanted to get some advice from you guys about the red cameras.

These 2 Vids I did made it on BET 106 & Park and were shot with the 5dmkii also please leave feed back on my work... I have been editing and directing for 2 years, no school or anything. Just a hobby that im working into my craft.






 
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Shooting music videos on a Red seems a tad excessive. Are there any other production tools you need/want but don't have yet?
 
I would never buy another camera until you have a clear list of reasons why you hate the one you have.

Things I hate about the 5d that a Scarlet would 'cure'

lack of resolution
low res monitoring
narrow ungradable codec

but the scarlet is IMO

-less light sensitive
-a money pit
-heavy

none of those things may matter to you about either cam - make your own list
 
Aesthetically these look good. Joseph Kahn shoots a ton of his vids on the 5d mk III including the last Ciara video. I don't think you as a director/dp can go wrong with a Scarlet since you're already making money. It's gonna be a personal thing for you. I'd love to have a Scarlet just because they charge Epic rental prices where I live. Yo, bottom line...you know what cats expect to see on set so if that's gonna help you continue to make (more) dough, then pull the trigger.
 
CuCu said:
Sup guys im a director / editor and I have been using a 5d mkii for the last year and I have finally raised enough money for the red scarlet camera and afew other things. just wanted to ask you guys what do you guys think about the red camera ? I do music videos and me and my partner are blowing up and are receiving more and more business. i been lingering around afew directors on there sets for artist such as nikki minaj, justin bieber, chris brown, sean kingston, MMG, and every director has been using red cameras. So I wanted to get some advice from you guys about the red cameras.

These 2 Vids I did made it on BET 106 & Park and were shot with the 5dmkii also please leave feed back on my work... I have been editing and directing for 2 years, no school or anything. Just a hobby that im working into my craft.
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Came a long way from your first videos......
I think you have really grown as an editor and putting together projects.

While a Scarlet would be great I would first invest in lighting if you haven't already. This project was shot on a GH2 and all that was really used was cool lighting.


Red could have maybe gave the video a sharper res, but for Music Videos unless you're doing Green Screen I really do not think it's worth it. I would rather invest the extra money into lighting and lenses + of course a great dp.
Maybe you can try using the new Mark III as I know it is better than the Mark II.

Keep us updated
peace
 
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Are your clients willing to pay for the added time in post? Shooting red will add more post time, especially when it comes to the grade.
 
Gary Huff said:
Unless you have the budget for a Red Rock at least.
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A Red Rocket?

It depends, you can easily work native raw in CS6, without much of a problem. Obviously, it depends on the type of jobs you're doing - but live action with minimal effects is fine straight from R3D's - plus you can have RCX for first lights and then still carry on with non destructive (not baked in) colour grading.

It all depends on workflow, if you're after transcoding before editing then maybe a RR would be useful. But it seems the RR might EOL soon, as it was designed for Red files a long time ago and it's a very expensive beast!
 
Derek Chingwell said:
It depends, you can easily work native raw in CS6, without much of a problem.
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That's true. Working with it is not the problem...exporting it on the other hand...

Obviously, it depends on the type of jobs you're doing - but live action with minimal effects is fine straight from R3D's - plus you can have RCX for first lights and then still carry on with non destructive (not baked in) colour grading.
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Which then can take days (depending on length) of render time to get into a format that you give to your client for review.

It all depends on workflow, if you're after transcoding before editing then maybe a RR would be useful.
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You have to "transcode" at some point, either before or after. It makes no difference.

But it seems the RR might EOL soon, as it was designed for Red files a long time ago and it's a very expensive beast!
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Link?
 
I said 'seems' the RR might be EOL soon. As the Dragon is due and who knows what changes are being made to Redcode etc.

Just my view :)

By your replies, I take it you don't like shooting Red or using a Red workflow?
 
Derek Chingwell said:
I said 'seems' the RR might be EOL soon. As the Dragon is due and who knows what changes are being made to Redcode etc.

Just my view :)

By your replies, I take it you don't like shooting Red or using a Red workflow?
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I do not like working with Red or it's Files.
My opinion get the look in camera and be done.....
This business people want fast turn around and more work. Red slows you down on all fronts.

Honestly Canon with their Cinema line of cameras got it right...... Maybe not perfect but it will improve.
The only place I see RED really an option is if I am doing or working on a Movie where we have all of the resources and money, other than that I would say NO, especially for Music Videos!
 
You can use Canon glass on a Scarlet.

If you have to ask on a forum if you should get one; don't.

I haven't seen more disinformation especially on the post side of RED then on this forum (I'll guess from a lot of people who don't actually work with them on a regular basis).

Scarlet will blow away the 5D in every conceivable instance (including low-light) if you know how to shoot and post.
 
William_Robinette said:
You can use Canon glass on a Scarlet.

If you have to ask on a forum if you should get one; don't.

I haven't seen more disinformation especially on the post side of RED then on this forum (I'll guess from a lot of people who don't actually work with them on a regular basis).

Scarlet will blow away the 5D in every conceivable instance (including low-light) if you know how to shoot and post.
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I've done about 5 projects on Red, no way around post time. Unless you own a Red Rocket card at home which I don't then sooner or later it's a process you have to do. Also even if your NLE can support native files you still are going to have to convert sooner or later. Finally no one said 5d was better than Red, but for web videos Red is overkill in my honest opinion after working on at least 5 projects with it. From Red Epic to Scarlet.

Others may disagree.
 
William_Robinette said:
You can use Canon glass on a Scarlet.

If you have to ask on a forum if you should get one; don't.

I haven't seen more disinformation especially on the post side of RED then on this forum (I'll guess from a lot of people who don't actually work with them on a regular basis).

Scarlet will blow away the 5D in every conceivable instance (including low-light) if you know how to shoot and post.
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What is so "DIS-informationed" about rendering out your work if you do not own a Red-Rocket card? I've rendered out RED footage without one and it plain SUCKS to do. The OP came here to ask a question about what camera to buy and WE are giving our feelings about it.
Again, to the OP, look at buying a C300, or maybe an FS700 (I'm sure you would like the slo-mo for your type of work). The look of your work is already great coming from the dreaded 4.2.0 Mk2, oh my. Looks like most your work is destined for web delivery, so why of why do you need a Scarlet?

RED's are money pits. Especially the Scarlet. Hell, if you want a Scarlet, wait until next year when you can pick one up for $2500 Battle tested because there is no path for them to accept Dragon.
 
dustylense said:
RED's are money pits. Especially the Scarlet. Hell, if you want a Scarlet, wait until next year when you can pick one up for $2500 Battle tested because there is no path for them to accept Dragon.
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I'll agree whole-heartedly that they are money pits. You aren't getting a decent rig for under 25k and more like 35k to really have what you want.

But I've been shooting and cutting projects on RED for 5 years now and if you can't realize the benefits even if you are going to web, don't buy one. Simple as that. And if you can't make your money back in 12 months... don't buy one.
 
William_Robinette said:
I'll agree whole-heartedly that they are money pits. You aren't getting a decent rig for under 25k and more like 35k to really have what you want.

But I've been shooting and cutting projects on RED for 5 years now and if you can't realize the benefits even if you are going to web, don't buy one. Simple as that. And if you can't make your money back in 12 months... don't buy one.
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For sure. The money pit thing gets out of hand.
I think "most" understand the benefit and that being redcode. And of course you can proxy out to a recorder (actually master a 1080p out). But the other drawbacks speak volumes. Render out without Red Rocket, storage and the costs, archiving, and the size of the rig when all set up (compared to say a c300). It's just opening up a can of worms. SOme people like worms though. RED is just not for everyone.
 
Depends on length of project and amount of effects, I did a 7 minute video(from an hour and thirty minutes) recently with some heavy effects and it took me 2hrs to render from Davinci and 3hrs out of AE, grand total of 5hrs for a 7 minute video. May seem like a lot, but considering I only had to render my timeline in Premiere once and it took all of 40 mins, compared to have to transcode footage on ingest, render my timeline, and then go through post with similar render times with my old workflow. Now that I have worked it out this workflow is much better than my previous one with DSLR's and camcorders.

But it all comes down to you and your work style, much less about this camera fits all, or on the other hand this camera can never shot so and so, as it's up to the situation clients and your skills.

I'd save money on the red rocket and just buy a proper computer, because with one render times are no problem, especially if you know how to efficiently work with your material in post to avoid things that cause render times to jump unnecessarily. For instance my render times would jump drastically in AE for no reason but when I restart my comp they drop back down, most likely an issue I could sort without the restart but.. mah. I also found stacking effects causes a massive jump where if you do multiple passes the times are drastically less. I wonder how many who complain of reds post have worked with it themselves and recently? (on a decent computer)
 
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