Microfilmmaker Magazine

Description

One of the greatest things that filmmakers of all ilk search for is the ability to make films that look more and more beautiful. For the low-budget filmmaker, the true look of film is an illusive one that connotes polish and money far beyond our means. Because it's become the holy grail for many of us, and because most sub-$10K cameras are designed for event shooters as opposed to filmmakers, numerous companies have put a lot of effort into helping us achieve this look through a variety of non-camera means: from 35mm adapters, to special plugins, to expensive boutique image treatment processes, to actually laying digital footage onto film and then re-recording it. With RED's brash owner and founder Jim Jannard rising to the fore in 2006 with a sub $50K pro-rig featuring a Super 35mm size digital sensor called the REDOne, he quickly became the one to watch when the cameras started shipping and becoming a part of the Indiewood and Hollywood landscape. As such, in 2008, we were all salivating when he announced the fact that he would be creating a digital camera with a 16mm size sensor that could do up to 150 fps at 3K RAW at the jaw-dropping price of only $3K. (Long time readers of the magazine, undoubtedly read my fan boy lustings after the camera after seeing the mockup and stats at that year's NAB.) While it wasn't quite the 35mm size sensor we'd all love, here was a man who was going to bring amazing digital cinema quality to the masses! However, when RED tried to double up their production schedule with the proposed simultaneous release a much higher priced Epic (which was clearly targeted at a Hollywood that wanted a camera that can't be readily afforded by the unwashed masses), the production problems of both cameras suddenly stonewalled the release, even as it began to boost the projected street price of both cameras. Originally slated for a Q2 2009 release, if the first betas of either camera sees the light of day before Q2 2011, I will personally be shocked. (And, with the gradual price growth, if the Scarlet is priced less than $10K by the time it's actually released, I will be surprised.) With a microbudget filmmaking public now believing that a camera with native film-like recording was possible yet an inability from RED to deliver to that demographic, Canon stumbled into a happy accident. As a last minute decision, they chose to equip a $5K full frame digital SLR camera with the ability to shoot 1080P HD video. The film-like depth of field this 5D Mark II camera was able to capture due to its full 35mm sensor immediately made it a runaway success with low-budget filmmakers. When Canon's sales of the camera blew past their wildest expectations, they began to really tweak things to make it even more attractive to filmmakers, like adding true 24P mode to the camera. While they didn't augment the firmware for the 5D Mark II to allow it to shoot at variable frame rates beside 24P and 30P, they did release the later 7D and Rebel T2i, each of which had the ability to shoot 720P at 60 fps, in addition to 1080P at 24 fps.

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