CropperCapture[70]The App Store and Google Play Store are rife with apps aimed at providing helpful tools for filmmakers. Some of these apps are truly useful -- apps like Shot Designer and pCAM and Cine Meter II -- while others really aren't. For users of RED cameras, there has never really been an app specifically designed to aid with the operating of these cameras. Until now, that is. Last week, RED released their REDTools App for the iOS platform, and it includes a number of tools for RED cinematographers, including depth of field calculation, recording time calculation, crop factor calculation, and more.

The REDTools app comes with 6 distinct tools aimed at providing camera and sensor-specific information for users of RED cameras. Each of these tools are able to calculate for both the Mysterium-X  and DRAGON sensors and make comparisons to traditional film formats like s35, s16, and Academy. Here are the tools, and a brief description of each.

CROP FACTOR: Visualizing crop factors and lens focal length.
RECORDING TIME: Estimating maximum recording time based on storage space and project settings
FLICKER-FREE: Identifying safe flicker-free frame rate and shutter speed combinations under pulsed lighting
DEPTH OF FIELD: Calculating how lens settings affect depth of field
EXPOSURE: Seeing how project settings and ND filters influence exposure
PANNING SPEED: Finding a suggested panning rate to minimize judder and strobing

REDTools

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Of course, these are the same interactive tools that RED offers on their website, but having them in app form makes a whole lot of sense, as you don't always have access to a computer or the internet when you're on set. Currently, the app is only available on the iOS platform, although a press release about the app (which is actually from last September) mentions that an Android version is also in the works.

The REDTools App is free and can be downloaded right now from the App Store.

Links:

redcinematographycameraappiosappstore
Cinematography & Cameras