Camera recommendations for live concert?

[Ryan Brown]

I've got a live concert shoot coming up, 3 cam shoot, 2 cams on cranes, inside venue that seats roughly 2000 people. I'm not sure what cameras are usually used in this scenario... any help here? What's the norm, or is there one? ENG style?

I plan on hiring owner/operators for two cams, and renting the third and operating that one myself. My initial thought was C300's all around, but I'm thinking 4k delivery may be something the client wants. I know we need good low light, long lens, and large media storage (or a good compression codec) so we're not constantly switching out cards.

Budget is somewhere around the 500 mark for each camera/operator. Concert lasts 3 hours, not rock so the lighting will not be all whacked out with strobes, etc.

Cheers

[Steve Sherrick]

What kind of look are you going for? Have you measured the light levels that will be used throughout the show? How are you handling audio? What NLE will be used for editing?

The rate seems low for gear and operator so that could dictate the gear used. Then again, people go out with Reds for that rate so you may be able to get a lot of bang for the buck.

There's a lot that goes into live shows. Getting proper coverage is important so communication amongst the crew is critical. Are the cameras moving (dolly, jib, etc)?

The more prep you can do the better the event will go.

[Ryan Brown]

Thanks Steve.

I'm going for a broadcast look, so I'm thinking 2/3" cams may work best for this. Audio is taken care of by the audio team. Cutting in FCP. I'm in L.A., and I think I can find 3 op's for the 500 range pretty easily. I could also easily get 3 RED cams out for this, but I don't think RED is the way to go... storage, offloading, etc, etc.

I used to do live shows many years ago, so I do know what's involved and how to get proper coverage. Client wants two cams on crane's, but I'm going to push for one crane, one CU and one for medium and various other coverage.

All that being said, still looking for cam recomendations

[Minu Park]

Don't forget Sony's F55, F5, FS7.

They have option for live.

[David W. Jones]

Might be able to get a flypack locally with cameras. That way you could just punch shots at the switcher, and record iso's for later.

[Ryan Brown]

Welp, after more research and putting out the word looking for 2/3" cams with no luck, I'm now leaning towards shooting 3 RED's for this. Is that crazy? I see people are using RED's for live stuff here and there (mumford and sons concert, lady gaga and tony bennett, etc).

I was hesitant just because I usually shoot RED with music videos and commercials, but the workflow seems like a bit much for a concert. Maybe if we shoot something like 2k at 7:1 I'll be able to keep a relatively high quality and not be burning through mags?

Any thoughts?

David, we're not streaming live, just making a concert DVD, so I don't think a flypack would be necessary... unless I'm mistaken about it's uses.

[David W. Jones]

You don't need to be streaming to use a fly pack. You would use it just like you would doing a live TV show. Director punching shots. All your communications with your camera people built it. That way you have an almost finished product when you leave.