SHOOTING A FEATURE with CANON 5D

I have a 135" 1080p projector in my theater room and I just threw up some compressed 5D footage and noticed some aliasing issues. Haven't had a chance to experiment past that yet.

Still plan on shooting on 5D for our feature unless the Scarlet FF35 magically appears before hand :D
 
subtleinspiration said:
I'm in no way saying the 5D is crap...I'm ultimately planning to get one at some point in the future. However, if its like the 7D, then it's true resolution is around 600 lines. The PAL XL1's resolution is 576 lines.

How do you know that the 5D will look any better on Blu-Ray than 28 Days Later?
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Oh boy here goes.

For starters the XL1 doesn't resolve 576 lines more like 420 lines or thereabouts. Blu-Ray resolves 1020 lines and is H.264 @ 36-40Mbits/s almost the same bit-rate as the 5D. Not much is lost converting to prores and outputting to the blu-ray spec.

How do I know? it's called vision mate. I've seen 28 days later on my 32" Bravia and I've seen my films.....there is no comparison it's like trying to compare a 75 model honda civic to a lotus elise.
 
Kholi said:
... If your budget is over 50 or 60K you should be shooting RED.

Not just for yourself, but for the people who invest TIME in your project. You owe them the best chance they have at their work shining and being seen...
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I don't see how the budget make any difference. "24" and "House" are probably a few million dollars an episode and they are moving to 5D Mark II cameras.
 
Shot a 30K feature in Europe. 80% Red (rental) 20% 5D(owned, for one moonlight scene and no permits scenes). With that kind of "microbudget" I'd go RED 1000%, especially with MX. 5D holds almost always good though. But I haven't seen it on a huge screen yet.
 
Tarkovsky said:
Maybe the result of this test will give us a better idea?
http://philipbloom.co.uk/2010/01/28/hd-dslrs-vs-film-this-time-the-gloves-are-off/#more-7546

Seriously I'm a BIG fan of DSLR, footages look real good on vimeo and my 42 inch LCD.
But I 'm not sure whether it's the same thing when you project it on a BIG screen.

If I'm making a feature with the 5D, I'll better make sure I do a film out test before I commit to it.
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Well I guess therein lies the difference theatrical vs. straight to DVD. I keep reading these posts and wondering how many people are actually going to have a theatrical release. The again 28 Days Later was a 42 million dollar theatrical release, and Paranormal Activity...well we all know that story. I guess the point is you can get lucky with any camera and a good story. I agree with Squig, when I watch my footage on 32" or bigger it looks amazing, now i gotta get over to NextWaveG's place :)
 
All I can add is that I watched JDS's "Depth of Phil" short (shot on the GH1) projected at the Alamo Drafthouse here in Austin, and it looked phenomenal. Seeing that put to rest any concerns (if I had them) that HDSLRs would be "good enough" for the big screen. It looked like it belonged up there, which is about the best I can say of any film, I think.

HDSLRs are more than "good enough" for the big screen. They may or may not be right for any given project depending on other factors.
 
squig said:
For starters the XL1 doesn't resolve 576 lines more like 420 lines or thereabouts.
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PAL or NTSC? PAL has higher vertical resolution than NTSC, which is where the 576 lines come from. It was a PAL XL1 that Boyle utilized.

StormFactory said:
I don't see how the budget make any difference. "24" and "House" are probably a few million dollars an episode and they are moving to 5D Mark II cameras.
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Definitely not as the primary camera, that's still higher end digital and 35mm film. And all we know about House is from a posting that carries no link and no additional information other than that it's going to be used. What if it's being used for background plates just like how it's being used in 24?
 
stephenmick said:
All I can add is that I watched JDS's "Depth of Phil" short (shot on the GH1) projected at the Alamo Drafthouse here in Austin, and it looked phenomenal.
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That's good to know. I'm hoping I can make it to a screening so I can check it out for myself as well.
 
There's one today at 4:15 and one Saturday at 1:15, both at Alamo South Lamar.

Check it out. There's a bunch of good shorts.
 
cinebuddy said:
Well I guess therein lies the difference theatrical vs. straight to DVD. I keep reading these posts and wondering how many people are actually going to have a theatrical release. The again 28 Days Later was a 42 million dollar theatrical release, and Paranormal Activity...well we all know that story. I guess the point is you can get lucky with any camera and a good story. I agree with Squig, when I watch my footage on 32" or bigger it looks amazing, now i gotta get over to NextWaveG's place :)
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come on over anytime :D

you do make a good point though. Our film will be a straight to DVD release. So in that scenario, is the 5D a better option?
 
Really, you need to at least rent the 5D and a small group of primes and go shoot with it yourself before making that decision. You may find that you don't want to spend the time fixing footage in post when the camera issues give you fits or that it's not conducive to your style of shooting.
 
subtleinspiration said:
Really, you need to at least rent the 5D and a small group of primes and go shoot with it yourself before making that decision. You may find that you don't want to spend the time fixing footage in post when the camera issues give you fits or that it's not conducive to your style of shooting.
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I already own a 5D and have been shooting with it for awhile now.

The budget of the film we are producing is $70-$100k. I'll have a chunk of that for gear and I would prefer to invest it in a good set of primes, more lighting gear, a good dolly & jib, good monitors, follow focus, etc. ...rather than look into shooting on a RED which I've never done and dump all the money in rentals or purchase.
 
Since you have experience with the 5D and not the Red, then it's probably a good idea to plan to shoot on the 5D, especially since your budget is only $100k.
 
NextWaveG said:
come on over anytime :D

you do make a good point though. Our film will be a straight to DVD release. So in that scenario, is the 5D a better option?
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I guess its a matter of how many non conducive shooting situations you can avoid with the 5d right? Hell I don't know lol! I'm no where close to shooting a feature, but a RED rental where I live is considered rape where I live. If I had a budget it'd would go to lights etc as well...I just think these are awesome tools that you can get'r done with. I'm really interested to see how I Didn't Come Here To Die comes out (shot on the GH1).
 
subtleinspiration said:
PAL or NTSC? PAL has higher vertical resolution than NTSC, which is where the 576 lines come from. It was a PAL XL1 that Boyle utilized.
24?
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My understanding is that 28 days later was shot in frame mode which significantly reduces resolution and gives a progressive frame look. Good glass would slightly increase resolution but I doubt very much that that camera would have been resolving more than 420 lines. But this is ancient history I sold my 75 civic a long time ago, it was good for it's time but the 5D is a lot sexier. I had a Sony TRV900 3CCD PAL camera with a about the same resolution as the the XL1s and I wouldn't use it to make home movies of my kids.
 
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