RED Feature Shot In 2k

I just did a day on a documentary feature that is 3/4 shot and is shooting 2k 2:1. Rec 709 Is there any reason to shoot a feature in 2k. Won't 2k look a little soft on a big screen.

Am I missing something? Is there an advantage?

Is there any cost saving except for using 16mm lens and maybe fewer hard drives?

Mik Cribben/ owner/RED 929
NYC/Miami
212-929-7728

Mik Cribben wrote:

>> ... Is there any reason to shoot a feature in 2k. Won't 2k look a little soft on a big screen.

class="style17" >>Am I missing something? Is there an advantage?

Opinions are like....well, you know the joke.... but...my opinion: no, yes,no, no, no.

Mark H. Weingartner
LA-based VFX DP/Supervisor

There is a reason to shoot a Feature in say uncompressed 2K like on the Phantom or D21 but not on Red. If you wanted to shoot the whole movie at 70fps+ then that would make sense. If your gonna lug 30lbs around wouldn't you rather record the best you could get?

Red 2K 2:1 loses the most amount of information. Compare 400mb/min vs 600mb/min in 2K 16:9. That translates into loss of sharpness at the end of the day or on the day.

Good luck,

Dane Brehm
Cinema Data Tech / IA600 DIT
Somewhere in Hollywood

One thing to consider and think about 2k is not 2k but 1.4k I believe, all fuzzy math applies again. Also, most 16mm lenses are relatively soft, unless you’re working with the newer Arri lenses or some of the newer digital primes coming to the market.

Overall though you would save on hard drive space and processing 10:1 instead of 20:1 processing time. Again though, at that point just shoot with an hvx200.

Jim Matlosz
dp, la, ca

>>my opinion:
>>no, yes,no, no, no.

I'd agree with Mark; however : are you shooting on drives or CF? obviously longer run time on a given CF card, which may appeal to the doc style you are shooting.

Are you doing lots of high speed work?

2k w/ S16 lenses will give you longer DOF for a given frame size & f/stop, so again, depending on the shooting conditions this may be desirable for documentary work. Plus it makes your 135mm lens feel more like a 250mm lens.

You mentioned a big screen, is that the main audience, or DVD/SDTV?

I'd never shoot anything intentionally @ 2k unless I had to for frame rate, I'm just trying to guess at what they might be thinking.

Sean Porter
Cinematographer
(425) 753 0386
www.seanporterdp.com

Sean Porter wrote :

>>"2k w/ S16 lenses will give you longer DOF for a given frame size & f/stop, so again, depending on the >>shooting conditions this may be desirable for documentary work."

Longer DOF can be a life saver in Doc work. I've been shooting inside San Quentin for about 2 years now, mostly on the HPX2000, and I would trade a slightly softer image with "sharp" focus for blown focus with 35mm DOF when the unrepeatable happens any day of the week.

Jesse Dana
DP|Producer
SF|LA
www.jessedana.com
www.trustcommunity.org
925.876.0891

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