Okay. As promised. Here’s my two cents about 5D versus RED. I’ve allowed comments. Feel free to discuss
5D/7D:
(pros)
1.) Cheap
2.) Good (enough) picture quality @ 1080p
3.) Light-weight
(cons)
1.) awful sound inputs
2.) it shoots compressed H.264 codec
3.) it looks bad in low light (3200+ ASA).
RED
(pros)
1.) RAW codec
2.) 4K resolution
(cons)
1.) over heats in hot weather
2.) like a 35mm bulky motion camera
3.) takes a minute to power on
4.) drains batteries quickly
Let me start by saying this. No camera is the be all end all (except maybe an IMAX). And technology will always find an update or innovation to something that was impossible just yesterday. So the first thing is to keep up with technology. Some people like to follow leads as soon as they become available to stay ahead. I like to keep those people around me so when they get excited and find out, I also find out 
So that being said, 5D/7D/1D will have their uses as well as RED. I have had experience with two shorts shot and a feature on the RED and a few shorts on Canon cameras. The 1D is a new camera that just came out claiming sensitivity in low light situations. I have not tested this camera so I cannot comment on its workflow.
The workflow of the RED is much like that of a standard film shoot. Which means that you can pretty much have a crew that hasn’t worked together jump right into a RED shoot without much prep work. ACs, Gaffers, Grips, and the sound crew all work pretty much seamlessly with the camera. The tradeoff is speed and cost. RED is the cheapest you can get to a format that will translate back to 35mm film print without much quality loss.
That one sentence covered the pros. The RED is most problematic when it overheats. Shooting in LA in the summer with no air conditioning (for sound) can do it. There are onboard fans that turn off when the camera is in recording mode. When it’s overheating, the fans keep running. So it’s a pain for sound. Also, a good DP friend told me of his awful experience with the camera leaving color streaks in the picture from overheating. Powering on and off is such a long process that it’s easier to just keep the camera on and unplug all the accessories (like video output and monitors). But that means you’ve got to have plenty of fresh batteries to keep it charged. Usually a 3-4 battery rotation will give you enough turn around. And well… you can never put the RED in nooks and crannies that you can with a Canon 5/7/1D.
Here’s a list of big budget motion pictures shot on the RED. So this is not just the independent filmmaker’s tool. Some bigger budget studios are doing this as well. RED is a very good format when you are shooting features with plans to distribute in HD.
5D and 7D workflows are pretty much identical. With the exception that if you shoot 24p mode in 5D you will have to do a pull down later in an NLE.
If you shoot with 5D or 7D you have to be ready to record sound on a separate system. Fostex, Sounddevices, Nagra, DAT… anything. The quality of sound recorded on the camera is pure poo.
So in terms of workflow, if you are doing something longer than 15 minutes, means you will be doing a lot of syncing. Or maybe you have an assistant editor doing all the syncing for you. Wouldn’t that be a grand idea? But I digress.
So as DSLRs go, 5D/7Ds are not bad for motion pictures. They are incredibly light weight and can be mounted with focus assist. The problem is that the monitor on the camera is too small to accurately pull focus. But when the 5D is in recording mode, the camera can only video out in standard definition. Similarly, on the 5D once you start recording you cannot adjust aperture exposure. This meant a little more fiddling around with the lighting and aperture before you shoot. This was changed in the 7D. I am not sure if the 5D received this software upgrade yet.
These cameras are cheap. The 1D is around $6k. The 7D and DD are around $1.7k – $2.5k respectively. The 5D is a full 35mm frame camera. The 7D is not. It is APS-C sensor which is about 2/3 the size of the 5D sensor. The smaller sensor means that your 35mm still lenses will be cropped. So a 50mm almost becomes an 85mm. And the 5D and 7D are not good in low light situations. According to Canon, the 1D is supposedly amazing.
[Vimeo 7152063]
Here is a short film shot on the 1D. It doesn’t make sense narratively. But the pictures are pretty good.
The other visual problem with CMOS cameras is the rolling shutter effect. CMOS sensors capture the frame pixels at a time instead of a whole frame. So when you have fast scrolling straight lines across the frame, it seems like the straight lines in the frame all bend.
Here is an example from art history. This is Jacques-Henri Lartigue’s example of a rolling shutter.
Lastly, the Canon cameras shoot on H.264 compressed codec, which means your color spectrum and motion are compressed. Now, blu-ray uses H.264 codec. So one can make the case that if your final distribution output never goes beyond Blu-ray, you could shoot only on the Canon DSLR. I think that is fair. However, editing will be a lot easier if you transcode to something else while you’re mastering. I use Final Cut Pro just because it’s the indie filmmaker’s choice format. I think most filmmakers my generation grew up with Final Cut. I have used Media Pro 100 and Adobe Premiere as well as a little Avid, but Final Cut is something that is pretty near to me.
I believe the Canon DSLRs are a good format to go if you are planning on the web as your distribution format.
There are a few things I want to say, they have little to do DLSR versus RED. Blu-ray is an intermediary format. It will not stay long. This is why Apple’s DVD Studio Pro does not have support for Blu-ray yet. And all the new macs do not come with blu-ray burners. The way of physical media as entertainment is going away fast with new forms of streaming such as netflix and hulu. If you look at the music industry as a trend for the film industry, more and more server based database options are being offered to the user. This means having all your songs on a server that you can access with web 2.0 at any time.
Soon, most of the films that go straight to DVD will go straight to streaming. It is already happening on Netflix. Once faster internet speeds become the standard, you will see the decline of physical media for your average consumer. Since netflix, streaming video and HD format wars, I have significantly reduce my DVD purchases. That is the caviat I leave for my last sentence on Canon DSLRs. Yes, they are good to shoot if you’re planning on web distribution. But 1080p is already available for youtube and vimeo. Others will follow. Soon, 2K will be the standard. And then I will have a write a whole new article.
Posted by lammermyre 
