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.

Big picture to small picture has always been my philosophy.

I found out about this wonderful grant from Ann Kaneko my mentor at Armed With A Camera. You can read more about her here.

It’s called the Durfee Artist Resources Completion grant. They can give up to $3,500 in completion funds if you can qualify for the following:

1.) You have venue to screen/display your work (AWC fellows show in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in May, 2010)
2.) You are over 18 and not a student.
3.) You are a resident of California.

Hopefully, they will consider me for a grant! We’ll keep our fingers crossed eh?

Later today, I’m gonna post about 5D versus RED.

Okay. So like any other independent filmmaker out there, I’ve tested a gamut of video formats and they all have their pros and their cons.

But I don’t want to get into a giant blog post about the pros and cons of all of them, cause I don’t have time and I want to edit So just benefits of R3D. Last time, I posted about specific problems of post production workflow with R3D. Well, it’s more of an obstacle/annoyance than problem.

OKAY OKAY benefits of shooting on RED. I got sidetrack with my doppleganger picture on facebook.

1.) Ability to use 16mm and 35mm gauge Lenses. (KEEP IN MIND, if you use 16mm you can only shoot at 2K resolution instead of 35mm at 4K. So you get the depth of field of 16 and 35mm without shooting on film. Also, the markings on the focus are accurate. RED allows you to do back focus but proceed with caution. Because you shouldn’t shift back focus without expert technicians. This is superior to the 35mm still lens adapters because all the focus marks are accurate and you are not just focusing off the monitor.

2.) 320 gig HD. At 4K resolution you can fit more than 3 hours of footage (depending on whether you shoot 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 50, or 59.94 fps). That means you most likely will not have to change your mag daily. So less time spend during the shoot prepping the camera.

3.) R3D format. I don’t exactly understand the full details of the math behind R3D format, but it is RAW. Which means that ASA, White balance… and et cetera are all metadata. This means that R3D reacts the same way as a RAW still photo. All that information can be adjusted in postproduction as if you made the decisions on set. (Of course, you still need an experienced Director of Photography to get the compositions and lighting that you want.)

4.) 4K resolution. It means, whenever I get the money, I can export 4K to a film printer and get a print of my movie that will feel like a 35mm film that went through a DI. It won’t have to feel like it was uprez’d to fit a 35mm image. (When I get the money. This process is approximately $250/min for the final 35mm print. But that’s not counting the color timing you go through for the export.)

5.) The offline edit is still in HD. I had to transcode to prorez and it took me a while. But I figured it out and I’m glad to be editing in HD still. This process is doable with other formats such as HD CAM SR. But my macbook pro did the trancoding and not an HD CAM deck. Which saved me $300/hr.

6.) It’s a cheap format to shoot on that gets you 35mm like resolution and quality.

I’m sure i’m forgetting things. But these are the reasons why shooting on the RED is beneficial to me.

So now, I have only 22 files to transcode out of 59. I know what you’re thinking. Can’t you just use the proxy files to edit? I could do that, but there are several disadvantages to editing with the proxy files.

1.) I cannot render any effects upon the proxy files. It’ll come back with an error saying the diskspace is too small

2.) I cannot output high def. You will instantly see the jagged edges of a poor anti-aliasing job on the proxy edit. In fact, if you look carefully you can tell even on the standard def output on a DVD.

3.) On my laptop it doesn’t play on in real time unless it’s in awful awful resolution. Which means that I miss certain clues about the composition and framing that prevents me from making good editing decisions.

So, I await the transcoding process. Maybe tomorrow, I will write about the benefits of shooting R3D.

The very last portrait is being uploaded as we speak. The last one is on the Stone Jade Temple in Rui An in the mountains. We were caught up in the middle of a Typhoon breaking over eastern China. So the cloud formations are absolutely amazing.

This morning, I woke up thinking that I was late for a film or some preproduction planning meeting. Unfortunately, I just have the lonely road of post production. So you all should email me at linqiu.com@gmail.com to keep me entertained or friend me on facebook at: lin qiu

Here are some pictures to prove it. It’s in Chinese

I have included some screen captures from all 3 days of the shoot for people to enjoy.

I’m a bit nervous this morning. I’m meeting the older couple and also the kids. Also very excited very excited to be officially one week out. Still lots to do! Get ready for pictures soon.

This is officially the first post for Better Than Blue. I’m starting this blog as a way of chronicling my experiences for the short film “Better Than Blue.”

I received a fellowship from Visual Communications a nonprofit media center in Los Angeles in August of 2009. With theirs and others’ support, I will be shooting my film January 16th-18th, 2010.

The first person who lent a helping hand was my sister, Virginia. She helped as a research assistant to scan and upload all the 80s pictures we had at our house.

I’m going to upload some location scout pictures.