DSLR as B-cam for the RED?

[Stephen Whitehead]

Hello, I have a question. I have been producing a Doc which was shot on the RED in eastern Europe. I may need to go back and shoot some pick-ups on the cheap with-out a full crew. I was considering using a 5D or 7D to do this. I have seen footage from both the DSLR's and the RED ofcourse, each with their own look. But I have never cut them together. For a documentary do you think the DSLR's would make an acceptable "b-cam" for pick-up shots?

[Toby Angwin]

If your final format is TV, even HD then yes. If you are doing a film out, not so sure.

 

The main thing is to get your depth of field right. A mate just did pickups for his RED shot short on 7D and while they looked pretty good, the much shallower focus made the shots stand out when it was projected.

 

Cheers,

 

Toby

[John-Erling Holmenes Fredriksen]

Hello, I have a question. I have been producing a Doc which was shot on the RED in eastern Europe. I may need to go back and shoot some pick-ups on the cheap with-out a full crew. I was considering using a 5D or 7D to do this. I have seen footage from both the DSLR's and the RED ofcourse, each with their own look. But I have never cut them together. For a documentary do you think the DSLR's would make an acceptable "b-cam" for pick-up shots?

 

I would be concerned about sharpness. HDSLR is very noticeably softer than RED, as the resolution is nowhere near that of RED, actually not even 1920x1080. I can easily see the difference in sharpness right away, even on my MacBook Pro screen. As for depth of field, they should not be too dissimilar. Of course, the RED will have a greater latitude, but you can probably work around that with careful exposure, and maybe tweaking some extra contrast into your RED-material, while not grading the 7D too much. Also, if you're doing handheld stuff, make sure you get a good handheld rig for the 7D, otherwise it will be very shaky and jelloish. You need weight and a good config to hold it the way you like, as well as an external monitor for those off angles where you'll have trouble watching the screen or using a viewfinder.

 

If resolution is not too critical for your project, then yes, I think you could make it work. As long as you expose very carefully. Do some tests maybe?

[John Brawley]

Hello, I have a question. I have been producing a Doc which was shot on the RED in eastern Europe. I may need to go back and shoot some pick-ups on the cheap with-out a full crew. I was considering using a 5D or 7D to do this. I have seen footage from both the DSLR's and the RED ofcourse, each with their own look. But I have never cut them together. For a documentary do you think the DSLR's would make an acceptable "b-cam" for pick-up shots?

 

 

I'm shooting a series at the moment and we've sometimes used 5ds as c and d cameras within scenes shot RED. By and large you can get them pretty close in the grade, although it usually means bringing down the RED footage from it's full potential. And you will all of sudden notice just how softish or lower res the 5d is compared to RED.

 

But if there's no other way you can get it pretty close, as long as you put up with all the other 5d operational baggage.

 

jb