SHOOTING A FEATURE with CANON 5D

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whizzkid

Active member
Hi Everyone,

What are your thoughts about the 5D for shooting a feature with intent for theatrical release?

Does it have enough resolution to do so? Plus with the new 24p firmware update blowing it up to 35mm will not be a problem anymore.

Much appreciated!
 
If you are competent enough to tell a good story with characters people care about I promise you the 5D will not be your limitation.

But from a camera operators stand point there is no way I would want to shoot a feature on one.
 
We are talking about a micro low budget feature here ($500k - $1M). If I can save money in the format that I'm shooting then why not shoot it with the 5D? I can at least save 20G's for camera dep't if we don't shoot with the RED
 
whizzkid said:
We are talking about a micro low budget feature here ($500k - $1M). If I can save money in the format that I'm shooting then why not shoot it with the 5D? I can at least save 20G's for camera dep't if we don't shoot with the RED
Click to expand...

If you're in that ballpark then I would say you should just buy one and go out with your cinematographer and director and test it. Shoot shoot shot.. screen on the big screen. You could even transfer some to film. If it's a no go, you'll sell it fast and lose a couple hundred bucks.
 
For that budget, hell I'd shoot your film with my 5D... I'll even throw in my redrock rig ;)
 
The difference between 500k-1mil is huge. I think you should wait until you nail down your budget or at least have a better idea of what you're working with before you commit. If it's 1million, I don't see a problem with "splurging" on RED, but if it's 500k, man that 20k RED budget is starting to look a lot more expensive....

or is it?

If you're going to shoot with a 5D, you have to get the body, lenses, no less amount of support than you would've gotten when shooting RED. To purchase a full-on production-ready 5D kit would cost you no less than about $15k the way I see it.

$2500 on body
~$10k on 6 L lenses, in any combination of primes and zooms. This is not unreasonable since they're about $1500 a pop.
You're already up to $12.5k before silly stuff like an external monitor, follow focus, rails, etc. If you can rent a RED package at $20k, I think the 7 grand difference is worth it on a $500k budget.

Then again you could also rent the 5D and lenses. Just gotta do the math and weigh pros against cons like any other decision you have to make.
 
Buy at least two 5D Mark II bodies and a couple primes like the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.8. That's all you need to get things going.

Then you rent all of your expensive glass. An $1,800 70-200 2.8L IS will only run you about $35 bucks for Friday to Monday rental. Similar rental prices for other great lenses as well.

You can go with a RED but then you are doing "film production" instead of "photography" and a big difference is, when you rent from still camera houses, it is a much simpler and less expensive process than renting from film and production houses.

Keep that in mind
 
meauounji said:
The difference between 500k-1mil is huge. I think you should wait until you nail down your budget or at least have a better idea of what you're working with before you commit. If it's 1million, I don't see a problem with "splurging" on RED, but if it's 500k, man that 20k RED budget is starting to look a lot more expensive....

or is it?

If you're going to shoot with a 5D, you have to get the body, lenses, no less amount of support than you would've gotten when shooting RED. To purchase a full-on production-ready 5D kit would cost you no less than about $15k the way I see it.

$2500 on body
~$10k on 6 L lenses, in any combination of primes and zooms. This is not unreasonable since they're about $1500 a pop.
You're already up to $12.5k before silly stuff like an external monitor, follow focus, rails, etc. If you can rent a RED package at $20k, I think the 7 grand difference is worth it on a $500k budget.

Then again you could also rent the 5D and lenses. Just gotta do the math and weigh pros against cons like any other decision you have to make.
Click to expand...


I thought about that... buying one CANON 5D cinema ready set up but renting camera B.

Has anyone heard of a feature with theatrical release that was shot on 5D?

Thank you all!
 
whizzkid said:
We are talking about a micro low budget feature here ($500k - $1M). If I can save money in the format that I'm shooting then why not shoot it with the 5D? I can at least save 20G's for camera dep't if we don't shoot with the RED
Click to expand...


If your budget is half million to 1 million then why are you bothering with the 5D. If you have a camera "dept" ( Btw, do those still exist? Some will get that ). Do them a favor and get them something that will match the budget.

A RED..................

Since your spending that much money, here is what I suggest.

Of course; Assuming you have spent a good solid year plus working the script and fine tuning your story...

Buy a RED package at the best price you can. Have your "camera dept" learn it, and when the production is done, sell it for 10% less than you paid.


When you do that, you're Red package will have only cost you 4 to 5K after you resell it. That's cheap to have a RED for many months to shoot your " Feature " with.

Doing this any other way, at your budget level ( half a million to a million dollars ) is not being a good producer in my opinion.



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PappasArts said:
If your budget is half million to 1 million then why are you bothering with the 5D. If you have a camera "dept" ( Btw, do those still exist? Some will get that ). Do them a favor and get them something that will match the budget.

A RED..................

Since your spending that much money, here is what I suggest.

Of course; Assuming you have spent a good solid year plus working the script and fine tuning your story...

Buy a RED package at the best price you can. Have your "camera dept" learn it, and when the production is done, sell it for 10% less than you paid.


When you do that, you're Red package will have only cost you 4 to 5K after you resell it. That's cheap to have a RED for many months to shoot your " Feature " with.

Doing this any other way, at your budget level ( half a million to a million dollars ) is not being a good producer in my opinion.
Click to expand...


Yup, couldn't agree more, and I have a 5d and 7d.
 
We're looking at shooting a feature on the 5D MkII on a $100k budget. As much as I'd love to shoot on RED, can't say we have enough to budget for it.
 
NextWaveG said:
We're looking at shooting a feature on the 5D MkII on a $100k budget. As much as I'd love to shoot on RED, can't say we have enough to budget for it.
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5D makes a lot more sense on a 100k or below budget, I think.

If you go to the RED store and get basically everything, you end up with about a $50k getup that's totally production ready, lens, battery, monitoring, rails... everything they sell. That's a really good deal, IMO for what it is: a theatrically proven (Academy proven, even) system that will not put any kind of appreciable limitations on your artistic sensibilities. That's half your budget on a 100k flick, but 500k? That's 10%. 1 mil? 5%! That's not bad, the way I see it.

RE: resell your RED back out after the production and get most your money back is a great idea, whoever said that.
 
meauounji said:
~$10k on 6 L lenses, in any combination of primes and zooms. This is not unreasonable since they're about $1500 a pop.
You're already up to $12.5k before silly stuff like an external monitor, follow focus, rails, etc. If you can rent a RED package at $20k, I think the 7 grand difference is worth it on a $500k budget.
Click to expand...
This feature was shot last year with a Cinealta camera, part of it only with a trivial zoom lens:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1414486/

The budget was US $1,500,000.00.
 
We just did a production with RED, the camera needs alot of light for it to shine. So in that situation, it means big lights, more crew, hiring generators. With 5D there is a possibility of getting smaller lights,less crew, no generators. And more $$ for production design which is ultimately plays a big part in making a film look good. We are now considering 5D or any camera with better low light specs over the current RED, for the next film.
 
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