» Posts Tagged ‘redscarlet’
So Many New Camera Tests it's Hard to Keep Track: Phantom Miro, RED SCARLET, Sony F3, and Canon C300
We’re trying to share more actual shorts and not just camera tests here, as a difference of one stop in dynamic range from one camera to the next is not going to make or break your narrative or doc. From DSLRs costing hundreds to 4K cameras costing tens of thousands, there is a great camera out there for your budget. Still, one question all filmmakers will be asked is, “what do you want to shoot on?” and so it’s still handy to keep tabs on what’s available. Here are several new tests of some of the latest large-sensor imagers: More »
Subzero temperatures. Sunlight filtering through an afternoon forest onto bright white snow. Actors wearing shiny silver outfits, running from direct sunlight to shadows. No neutral density filters and no polarizing filters. No bounce cards and no lights. No tripod. Collectively, all of this makes for some of the worst conditions you could use a camera in. On top of this, it wasn’t even my project, so I was essentially filming a behind-the-scenes featurette with no ability to direct the actors. This was not a project from which to produce a great reel; it was simply a way to put a camera and a new set of lenses to a (freezing) test. With all of those disclaimers, if you care to see the footage, here it is. More »
JAG35 at NAB 2012: a $1300 Wireless Follow Focus, Friction Follow Focus, RED Rig, and Slider
JAG35 makes one of the cheapest wireless follow focuses in existence. Now they’ve improved upon their design and made the entire system much more durable. They also are introducing a clever follow focus that is friction based for newer lenses, but doesn’t have to be mounted to the side like many other friction-based follow focuses. I talked with Jehu Garcia from JAG35 and he introduced those products, as well as a custom RED Scarlet/Epic rig and a new slider they are developing. More »
Welcome to the world of public camera testing, Jim. The wild west camera shootout that Jim and Co. were planning to have at RED Studios Hollywood on June 4th has been cancelled. It seems all of the “grief” that he’s been getting over the situation isn’t worth the trouble, and he and RED “have better things to do.” Surprisingly, Steve Weiss entered REDUser forum territory to explain the choices that had been made for the Zacuto camera test, and the fact that RED had been offered many times to come to the shootout, manage their own RED Epic, and control the post-production method used for that camera. More »
The Canon 5D Mark III, Canon C300, and RED SCARLET Shoot a Nighttime Bike Race Side-by-Side
Remember when video cameras had sensors that were one third of an inch? It was damn hard to shoot anything at night. But now there are a million cameras (well, not a million, but a bunch) with Super35-size sensors. So while you can actually get a decent exposure while shooting a bike race at night now, not all sensors are created equal. Here’s the Canon 5D Mark III, Canon C300, and RED SCARLET filming the same bike race. The first pass of the video has no key (so you don’t know which is which), and then they show you the second time around: More »
Pay-Per-View…Or not. It seems that Mr. Jannard has a bone to pick with the people at Zacuto, and he wants the world to see in 4K. He’s unhappy with the tests (I couldn’t see the newest test at NAB thanks to technical difficulties) since the final output for all of the camera shootouts thus far has been 2K, and it levels the playing field for those cameras that can’t shoot above 1080p. With more and more theaters moving to 4K projectors, it is important to at least consider if 4K should start to be included in the near future. Unsatisfied with anyone else who does camera testing, Jim has decided to do his own camera test in 2K and 4K and is inviting other camera manufacturers to RED Studios in Hollywood on June 4th. More »
It’s been announced – the long awaited successor to the MX sensor, Dragon, is finally getting some specs and a release date. Upgrades for Epic will cost $6,000 and begin late this year, while the Scarlet upgrades won’t be until 2013 with a price TBD. Jim slightly broke his rules – announcing specs for something that isn’t shipping yet – but it’s still fun to see what those guys at RED are coming up with. I just came from the REDUser event where the 4K portrait finalists had their films displayed on multiple 4K TVs all at once – my favorite being the Panasonic 152″ behemoth, which isn’t even at NAB – only RED had it at their event. More »
DP Timur Civan, who lensed my RED SCARLET test short and now has a SCARLET of his own, has done an apples-to-apples comparison with two of the top similarly-priced Super35 motion picture cameras currently on the market: the Sony F3 and the RED SCARLET. Timur has the luxury of owning both — and some flawless Cooke Panchro primes — and has set up a nice skin tone and still life test. Here it is: More »
RED makes an excellent custom laser-cut EPIC case for $600 (pictured). However, the same wheeled case — a Pelican 1510, which is the maximum allowable size for carrying onto an airplane — is just $150. It’s certainly nice to have a custom foam insert in your case for maximum camera/accessory security, but if you don’t feel like spending $450 on a foam insert, here’s how to create your own — using RED’s own custom-cut materials, which come with the original camera and accessory packaging. It may go without saying, but this post will only be of interest to folks who have a RED DSMC or are thinking of buying one. More »
RED always seems to be a topic of conversation in the independent film world, even if their prices have been steadily rising over the years. They’ve always been quick to add modules or accessories, but many professionals have found that system to be a pain, and many argue that to get the camera to do anything, you’ve got to buy a ton of accessories that only RED makes. That modular system is unique in the film world, however, because it allows RED to make a device like the Meizler module – a module that provides a tremendous amount of functionality in a small package. More »
As noted previously, RED has a new color science and gamma curve for their RAW-shooting cameras: REDgamma3 and REDcolor3. The new color science comes with a new camera firmware — version 3.0.0, which is a release build (not beta) for both EPIC and SCARLET — and there’s a new version of REDCINE-X as well. RED’s Jim Jannard explained the color science updates with the following — note that if you’re doing a full grade, your gamma setting will still be REDlogfilm, but you should expect to employ the new color science alongside that gamma curve: More »
The good and bad thing about RED cameras is, more so than most, they’re always getting better. RED fanboys espouse the free updates as “getting a new camera in a software update” whereas RED haters call the cameras “always in beta.” The truth is somewhere in the middle, but even taking into account the usual hype on REDUSER, it’s worth noting a few things coming down the line from Jim Jannard, et al. The first is a $10K home/grading suite projector that is 4K and 3D (one or the other, or both at the same time?), and the other is REDgamma3 and REDcolor3, which will be a color science update for both the cameras and REDCINE-X. More »
James Drake from Denver-based RED rental house 5K Insight gave Dave Dugdale of Learning DSLR Video a hands-on with the RED EPIC camera, and the two videos are an excellent introduction to the RED DSMC system. They’re included below, but first, two things every RED EPIC/SCARLET owner should be aware of: More »
RED Workflow: How to Get REDCINE-X and Premiere Pro Working Together Seamlessly
One thing I’ve been wondering about since getting a RED was what I was going to do about workflow. REDCINE-X Pro is a really nice (and free) color grading application. But you’re not going to do secondary color correction or really complicated masking/keying in it (yet). So how does one use it in conjunction with a NLE? Do you render out files, take them and edit them in Premiere Pro, and then color correct files that you’ve already rendered? Don’t you sort of lose the whole idea of a RAW workflow by doing that? Turns out there’s a better way. More »
I mentioned previously that I’d shot a micro-short to test out the RED SCARLET, and here it is. To put the camera through its paces, we wanted to use it in a real-world setting instead of shooting charts in a studio — but we also didn’t have the time or budget to put together a “real” short. What we set out to make (and what we ended up with) is something more than a series of test shots, and something less than a proper short. This was a no-budget, quick production on which everyone donated their time. Let me know what you think! More »
Sebastian at Cinema5D has released a short film shot on his Canon-mount SCARLET, and some very nice video overviews to go with it. Since you can’t get your hands on a RED camera at a normal camera shop — they only sell direct — these video overviews are very helpful. Here’s the short, which was shot in 3 hours on the Canon 24-70mm f2.8L lens (more details on the shoot here) and graded in DaVinci Resolve: More »
Phil Holland (who gave us some very handy RED crop factor and data rate sheets) shot the following tests on his Al Canon-mount RED SCARLET. Graded in REDCINE-X Pro and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, the tests include low light and 3K/48FPS tests. If you have a high-resolution monitor, you can even view them in 4K resolution (select “Original” if you’ve got the screen real estate): More »
It’s January 1st, and that means that the price of a RED camera has gone up. While I’ve noted this previously for anyone who was thinking about ordering one, there’s a second set of RED components that are getting a price increase: accessories. However, due partially to the fact that some of their planned accessories didn’t ship before the calendar flipped to the new year, RED has extended the date for when accessories will increase in price to March 1st. In the list below, the yellow prices should already be in effect, whereas the green “new” prices won’t go into effect until March. More »
With all the hype surrounding 4K acquisition, I was surprised to hear that David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would be the first large-scale end-to-end 4K digital cinema release. Previous films captured at 4K were posted and distributed at 2K… which kind of defeats the purpose. In my quest to find a 4K theater to see GWTDT, I got a response from Sony’s Digital Cinema Twitter account, yet because I’ve been catching holiday films with my family (including young ones) I haven’t yet had a chance to see the film yet (it seems I’m not the only one in this situation). Regardless, I wanted to share a very interesting article about the film’s 4K workflow by Light Iron’s Michael Cioni, which includes this interesting nugget on Fincher’s approach to reframing in post (his framing chart is pictured): More »
I shared my first impressions of SCARLET-X #00072 but hadn’t yet had a chance to put the camera through its paces properly. I wanted to do a real-world shoot instead of a simple test, so I sketched out a one-page scenario and got together with DP Timur Civan, co-director Raafi Rivero, and actor Harlan Short to put together a rooftop short. Because of holiday commitments it might take us a bit of time to put together, so in the meantime here are some brief thoughts and images from the shoot: More »
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