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Red epic vs 5d mark 2

gdeusthewhizkid

gdeusthewhizkid

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 14, 2008
753
41
NY|NJ
hey,

I got asked to do a music video for a independent artist this weekend. I own a 5d mark 2 with various lenses but he's asking for slow motion and mtv quality. I will be able to rent a red epic camera for a whole day for very cheap. My only concern is editing the footage. I think I can get great results from my mark 2 but I heard red footage you need a adapter to connect it to my mac pro. and the footage is pretty huge also. I have a 1st edition mac pro with a few terrabytes of hard drive space and editing on fcpx. Is that enough. The mac pro specs are in my signature..
 
Hmmm Ive used both in production and its not even fair to place the Canon against an EPIC.
Maybe against my personal Scarlet if you add EPICs frame rate capability (EPIC can do 4K@120plus fps vs my Scarlet 1K@120fps).
Same at 4K level as far as color science goes.
The Canon is HD and frameless as far as comparing cameras go.
But I have seen and experience great work in music videos with the Canon MK2/MK3.
Oh and MTV quality dont require 4K res cameras.
Just needs a creative mind :)
Ive edited 4K RED MX/Scarlet/EPIC files on a 2008 Uni MBP using FCPX/Avid(AMA) so not sure if you should worry about a Mac Pro.
Of note you will need an SSD RED MAG reader for the RED SSD drives.
Ask the rental guys to throw it in for free, I do when I rent mine :)
 
I would go for the Epic any day.

The 5D is a great camera but the Epic is built with video in mind. I have just finished my third video on the Epic and I fall in love more and more with the camera each time. The image is very crisp but it’s so much more than that. The DR and colour science is just worlds better than the 5D and with options like focus peaking and zebras recording video is a breeze.

In terms of editing your Mac Pro should do great. I edit on a 2009 Mac Pro and it works fine with the only bottleneck being the hard drive read and write speed from the 2TB external (FW800) drive I had my first copy of the rushes on.

Looking forward to trying out the dragon next!
 
gdeusthewhizkid said:
hey,

I got asked to do a music video for a independent artist this weekend. I own a 5d mark 2 with various lenses but he's asking for slow motion and mtv quality. I will be able to rent a red epic camera for a whole day for very cheap. My only concern is editing the footage. I think I can get great results from my mark 2 but I heard red footage you need a adapter to connect it to my mac pro. and the footage is pretty huge also. I have a 1st edition mac pro with a few terrabytes of hard drive space and editing on fcpx. Is that enough. The mac pro specs are in my signature..
Click to expand...

Can't you simply edit in FCPX using proxy media? I can't see the reason to edit the 4K in real time unless you have a 4K monitor. You have to down scale it just to see it. So if you edit the lower res Prores files your older Mac would be fine. Then rendering will take hours but it can work while you sleep.

One bit of advice, if you need the camera for one day, rent it for two days and play with it yourself the first day, run the footage through your workflow. Learn it on your own then shoot the real footage on day two.
 
acearchie said:
I would go for the Epic any day.

The 5D is a great camera but the Epic is built with video in mind. I have just finished my third video on the Epic and I fall in love more and more with the camera each time. The image is very crisp but it’s so much more than that. The DR and colour science is just worlds better than the 5D and with options like focus peaking and zebras recording video is a breeze.

In terms of editing your Mac Pro should do great. I edit on a 2009 Mac Pro and it works fine with the only bottleneck being the hard drive read and write speed from the 2TB external (FW800) drive I had my first copy of the rushes on.

Looking forward to trying out the dragon next!
Click to expand...

you rent or own one? I saw your 300 vid. I love the epic...
 
acearchie said:
I would go for the Epic any day.

The 5D is a great camera but the Epic is built with video in mind. I have just finished my third video on the Epic and I fall in love more and more with the camera each time. The image is very crisp but it’s so much more than that. The DR and colour science is just worlds better than the 5D and with options like focus peaking and zebras recording video is a breeze.

In terms of editing your Mac Pro should do great. I edit on a 2009 Mac Pro and it works fine with the only bottleneck being the hard drive read and write speed from the 2TB external (FW800) drive I had my first copy of the rushes on.

Looking forward to trying out the dragon next!
Click to expand...
how is the scarlet ?
 
gdeusthewhizkid said:
how is the scarlet ?
Click to expand...


As in comparison to the EPIC?

Simply the same camera except for 5K@24fps and 4K@150fps for EPIC, 4K@24fps and 1K@120fps.

The workflow is the same, the gear attachments and the works is matched.
I love mine even more since I got in on the Battle Tested versions sold last Oct 2012. Saved a ton almost 5K for the body alone :)
My past experience are Canon XL-1, Sony BetaSp/XDCAM and RED MX.
I worked with an EPIC and Scarlet on a few projects and honestly its the same camera at EPIC base level.
 
gdeusthewhizkid said:
you rent or own one? I saw your 300 vid. I love the epic...
Click to expand...

Always rent. Not even thinking about owning yet.

That video is very old. My new stuff is much better! I will be sure to share it when it’s released.

mBox said:
I worked with an EPIC and Scarlet on a few projects and honestly its the same camera at EPIC base level.
Click to expand...

I think that’s the killer thing. I’ve contemplated a Scarlet for a few projects but clients always mention Slow-Mo as the ‘In’ thing.

I’d love to save to some money and go with the Scarlet but I just know that the Epic can pretty much handle anything I throw at it and that’s what makes me even more excited for the Dragon!

What made you want to buy/rent the Scarlet? I am aware that renting is a bit different in the US if that is where you are based.
 
acearchie said:
Always rent. Not even thinking about owning yet.

That video is very old. My new stuff is much better! I will be sure to share it when it’s released.



I think that’s the killer thing. I’ve contemplated a Scarlet for a few projects but clients always mention Slow-Mo as the ‘In’ thing.

I’d love to save to some money and go with the Scarlet but I just know that the Epic can pretty much handle anything I throw at it and that’s what makes me even more excited for the Dragon!

What made you want to buy/rent the Scarlet? I am aware that renting is a bit different in the US if that is where you are based.
Click to expand...

the client wanted the same thing.. smooth slow motion.. and he didn't want the dslr look....
 
handsome pete said:
What's the "DSLR look?"


Also, I agree with what Chris posted above. If you haven't used the camera, definitely rent it a day early to get comfortable with it.
Click to expand...

From my experience DSLR look is super shallow depth of field, lack of sharpness, rolling shutter, minimal slow motion and lack of dynamic range.

Clients do ask for the DSLR look when wanting a more guerrilla or low budget shoot so they still have their uses. I’m trying to circumvent using DSLRs so I got a BMPCC as my B cam alongside the Epic on the last video I shot.
 
acearchie said:
From my experience DSLR look is super shallow depth of field, lack of sharpness, rolling shutter, minimal slow motion and lack of dynamic range.

Clients do ask for the DSLR look when wanting a more guerrilla or low budget shoot so they still have their uses. I’m trying to circumvent using DSLRs so I got a BMPCC as my B cam alongside the Epic on the last video I shot.
Click to expand...

After I thought about it, I figured it was probably the depth of field thing. But that's entirely user based.
 
Blackmagic: The only company that seems to be doing it right (i.e. standard 2.5inch hot-swappable ssd... instead of exclusive, excessively expensive accessories)

I still love my 5d2, but I'm supremely disappointed in Canon for loafing about after accidentally antagonizing an entire industry.
 
Fandongo said:
I still love my 5d2, but I'm supremely disappointed in Canon for loafing about after accidentally antagonizing an entire industry.
Click to expand...

They haven’t have you played around with a C100/C300/C500? They are just keen to have both a professional video market and a consumer video market.

If anyone it’s Nikon that missed out on a big opportunity.
 
mBox said:
Even though Im RED biased (being an owner and long time user), I am very impressed with this piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gAq_eN1ks

This was shot with the BM Pocket Cam.

BTS here:

http://frankglencairn.wordpress.com...-a-short-with-the-bmc-pocket-and-much-coffee/

So really it all depends on how you approach a project.
Click to expand...

For me grading had such a strong role in this project. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=136A4pDXqs0)

What I have learned from my brief time shooting with it is that the colour science is spot on and it really shines in resolve.

Now I just need a graphics card that can handle Resolve 10 and I might have to pick one up!
 
what's more important the memory or the video card upgrade.. I currently have 4 gigs of memory on my machine..
 
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