Review RED Scarlet and Epic
It’s been a little while since I have written a blog post so I think I will start off the week with my recent experiences with the new RED cameras. Previously on Siren Films blog, I have posted photos and video on the new Sonim XP5520 commercial shoot we did back in April. The RED Epic and Scarlet are two definitely powerful cameras and deserve all the press that they have been given over the last 6 month. In addition to having a full 13 dynamic stops of latitude, The Epic now allows users to shoot in an HDRx mode, shooting video as HDR photographic images. The camera is limited to a 1/60 shutter speed but exposes two images at once, eliminating the hot whites and the underexposed darks in traditional cinematography. These cameras also shoot in native 23.98 frame rate and moving up to a total of 300fps which is only allowed in 2K resolutions. Finally the biggest wow factor from these cameras is to shoot in 5K cinemascope aspect ratio. Filming 5K is beyond amazing, giving you the ability to down res and punch in on selected shots that would break up in 1920 HD or the ancient antiquated standard definition. The only drawback is without the RED ROCKET cards, you will be facing render/transcoding times as long as a week before you start shooting. Either way, shooting EPIC is definitely Epic in every-way possible, gaining a true 35 mm film aesthetic.
