Architecture Shoot...5D over Scarlet for the most part.

[Michael Jarvis]

I love my Scarlet and would not trade it for the world. Recently I had an architecture shoot and was forced to use the 5D on 90% of the shoot. The crop sensor on the Scarlet was just not enough to cover the room. The 5D had just enough wide coverage at 16mm to get everything in frame. I had my entire RED rig out and ready to go. I had to shed a tear realizing that it would not cut it for that sort of shoot. Of coarse the RED crushes the 5D on a lot of levels. In this particular case I completely understood that there is a camera for every type of job. In a cinematic environment the RED will win every time. When I need to cover lots of footage in a very small amount of time and in a very tight environment, the 5D was just a better choice.


This comment was just to address the folks that have posted on here before about not selling your other cameras. Each of them has a place. The Scarlet is my primary camera and I am thrilled to have done business with RED. I plan on adding an Epic as soon as the Dragon comes out. It was just interesting to me that when push came to shove the crop sensor forced me to use the old rig.

Do you think RED will every release a feature that allows us to choose the cropped sensor or let us take advantage of the full sensor at any resolution? I know I could just buy some really low mm lens but it seems that this kind of innovation is well within the genius spectrum that RED could deliver in the near future. Ideas...

[Mike P.]

Was it for stills or video? At that wide, with video, it's one of the few scenarios where you couldn't really work around moire/aliasing.

No, RED will not release a firmware allowing you to use the full sensor (but at 4k resolution), it's beyond the scope of the hardware. You're better off hoping for 5k at 24p on Scarlet. As for Dragon, 6k will be slightly bigger than MX's 1.3x 5k, but 5k dragon will be slightly smaller than 1.3x, so you may want to continue to hold on to your 5D then as well.

[Nick Gardner]

I don't see how not having the right lens for the job is the cameras fault.

[KETCH ROSSi]

While Architecture does demand on both camera and lens, on the wide end, true architecture can only be done with Tilt Shift lenses only, as to remain absolutely loyal to the perspective and structure photographed.

On this end, if using a Full Frame camera, vs. a smaller Sensor camera, with the same lens, I can understand your frustration, fact is that you choose your tools based on what you do, but you can also make by with out them, get good results, but never GREAT.

Of course not al architecture demands super wide and or to be T/S lenses.

[Brad Webb]

true architecture can only be done with Tilt Shift lenses only

Why is that Ketch?

[Christopher Barrett]

You need Shift to allow you to compose while keeping the camera square, level and plumb. Architects don't like their buildings to lean! Perspective can be corrected later in Photoshop reasonably well, except that it still distorts the geometry of the architecture, often turning squares into rectangles. I have shot architecture with my Epic and the 17 TS-E but there are some circumstances where a wider lens is needed and there is nothing wider in a PC lens.

Here the Epic with a T/S lens gave me awesome dynamic range...



I do generally prefer my still camera for this work, though, as it is the perfect solution for architectural applications...



Cheers,
CB

[Brad Webb]

Very informative, thank you.

[Michael Jarvis]

In this particular situation it is not a case of "not having the right lens." I do have the right lens. I used it on the 5D and it was perfect. It was just a hair to shy to work with the red. 16mm in most cases will be fine. Its the cropping issue was caused me not to use the RED. That being said...I can always use more lens choices. But with the RED in such a small room, it requires a small lens. Thats why the 5D for this shoot was the way to go. Don't get me wrong, the RED is a superior camera in every other way. The field of view just made it not possible to use with a 16mm lens for Architecture work.

The tilt pan comment...absolutely. A must.

[rod bradley]

I think what people were trying to indicate is you had the right lens for a 5D (16mm) but a 16mm designed for a FF camera will only have a FOV that's the equivalent of about a 24-26mm lens on what you are calling the Scarlet's "cropped" sensor. If you used that same lens on a 7D, for example, you would've had the same problem with FOV. In this sense people are correct who suggest you didn't have the appropriate lens with a sufficient FOV on the Scarlet. And there is no way the Scarlet can overcome this, or the Epic either, except if the sensor were to be changed to a FF sensor. The Tokina 11-16 would've allowed you to do the job on the Scarlet for example. It's a good lens to have and very reasonable and comes in Canon mount.

[Bill Anderson]

You need Shift to allow you to compose while keeping the camera square, level and plumb. Architects don't like their buildings to lean! Perspective can be corrected later in Photoshop reasonably well, except that it still distorts the geometry of the architecture, often turning squares into rectangles. I have shot architecture with my Epic and the 17 TS-E but there are some circumstances where a wider lens is needed and there is nothing wider in a PC lens.

Here the Epic with a T/S lens gave me awesome dynamic range...




I do generally prefer my still camera for this work, though, as it is the perfect solution for architectural applications...



Cheers,
CB

It's interesting that you should use this image to illustrate the necessities of swings and tilts in architecture photography.... The horizontals appear askew somewhat giving the impression that the room is off plumb, the chairs look like they are about to roll out of frame right.