Comments on: Red Camera, nothing but hype

By: Phil Parmet

Phil Parmet — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:44:15 +0000

I don’t see anyone talking about the real life problems of shooting with a CMOS camera such as the RED. The films I shoot have lots of gun fire, lighting, strobing police car lights. How do you deal with these kinds of situations with these camera. I want to hear some ideas. Partial frame exposure and gunfire appearing above or below the barrel of a machine gun are not acceptable.

By: Talon

Talon — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:10:57 +0000

This is all very interesting banter to read through.. some for, some against.

I am looking into the purchase of a RED ONE for making my own productions and after reading this chain I’m left with the impression that it is the camera that would suit me the best.

I have never used one before but I have heard lots about them..

I do not make high end, feature movies in hollywood. I make surf movies around the globe. I’m looking for a camera with increased resolution from my current kit and also variable frames rates (up to 250 fps) for shooting slomo sequences.

I have been stuck in the world of video for so long that it’s been hard to achieve the quality of shots with depth of field that I have desired on the budgets around me. I have been using a Canon 7D with OK results, it has some over heating issue (especially in the tropics when using the video function continuously) but see the RED as a step up and hope to have a higher resolution, more options with frame rates and lenses and all within a budget that won’t cost me an arm and a leg. I’m happy to have 2k 4:4:4.. sounds good to me.

Do I have to buy direct from RED.com or are there other places to purchase?

By: Inopportune

Inopportune — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:28:51 +0000

Let me tell you that they boast great prices, but when you try to talk to anybody at the company, they are the most arrogant people I have ever talked to. I have the Red One camera, and they severely messed something up and all the wanted to do was just replace the issue and not even reimburse in any other way — they sold me a used piece as being new, this is ILLEGAL. They threatened legal action against me when I called them to try to find out why one of my Red parts had been used when they sold it to me as being new. Great products, terrible people working for the company…

By: Nick Narciso

Nick Narciso — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:03:18 +0000

One word: CULT.

I refuse to even THINK of ever shooting in ‘Red’ if ever given the opportunity. I also refuse to ever kiss Jim Jannard’s asshole like the Red Followers’ do in the forums..

Get real.

By: F. Ray Murmon

F. Ray Murmon — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:11:45 +0000

“Technology for technology sake, always leads to tears.”

True.

By: JamieG

JamieG — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:22:34 +0000

Hello Jason,
I never said it was a BAD camera. It is an amazing camera. I am just trying to make a point that, with all this noise and hype, people seem to forget that the camera is a very small part of the over all end-game of making content. 2K is it for DCI cinema, and will be for some time. The current RED is all you really need in terms of quality.
I am also trying to point out that Canon/Nikon will be making cameras in the very near future that wil compete. People should be open minded. We don;t all need a Ferrari to go down the street to get a bottle of milk.
The RED1 is not a 4K camera in a Film 4K sense. I do think that Epic in the larger 6k (bayer) sensor is needed for a 4K result. I am just not convinced we need 4K results.
Technology for technology sake, always leads to tears.
James

By: Jason Sinclair

Jason Sinclair — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:50:58 +0000

You have two angles that confuse each other.

Red is the best production ready camera available now for its budget range. This includes usability, modularity and quality. You can argue all the final details you want but no Sony, Canon or whatever comes even close. It would be good if these other companies could use their technical expertise and advanced knowledge centers to produce better cameras. In fact the competition is well welcomed. Unfortunately these large companies are still interested in the lazy way of limiting the market. Meanwhile red Cam co. keep inovating.

We heard all the nervous nellies such as yourself say that the red wasn’t achievable but Red went ahaed and created a first gen system that blows everything out of the water in its budget range.

Now, We are looking at second gen; the epic and scarlet. Red will improve 10 fold and their roadmap shows amazing progress.

I hate the cult following of Red as well but cannot doubt this camera system is brilliant.

At thee end of the day, the public want an image and pay a certain price which the producer has to engage with which in turn runs the industry.

So I for one am glad there are a lot on this industry who are not following this trend because they are slowly being weeded through economic forces and that leaves opening for those of us that are progressive.

Secondly,

By: Howard

Howard — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:06:57 +0000

The RED CAMERA is 2:5K when shooting in
1.78:1 but only 1:8K when shooting scope.
I don’t care what the director thinks but the
CHE epic is 1:8K NOT 4K as implied !!

The industry has become a Kool-Aid drinking cult !
What they call 2K is in fact 1K what they call
4K DI is in fact 2K.
They even refer to Blu-Ray as 2K !!
We all know BD is 1080 that is only 80 lines
about 1K.
Now if you loaned $2000 to a friend and then
they came to repay you with $1080 telling you
that 80 bucks above one grand is the same as two grand would you buy that ??
But that is the logic of the K rez cult !!
The terms I now use are
scientific / Hype
so I would describe so-called 2K Digital Intermediate as
1K scientific/2K Hype

http://www.howardsimonmarks.com

By: Hans

Hans — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:47:54 +0000

James, I know for a fact that some recent films shot in Australia on RED had ‘issues’. It was not once the fault of the camera (build 16 at the time) but the lack of experience of the tech crew that caused issues on set and later in post.

Until you actually go out and use the thing in real world situations instead of just relaying stories you’ve heard you’re argument is as useful as that film scanner you were going to build.

Bear in mind that no one is doing what RED are attempting. It’s early days for what looks like a revolution in affordability and insane resolution options. If you don’t like it, fine…. but stop bitching about something you have limited or second hand knowledge of. It’s just poor form.

By: JamieG

JamieG — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:25:52 +0000

Stan,
Yes I am not a camera person, I am a post production TECH person. I work with people who deal with the files from the RED and the problems of trying to make it work, as in to archive the final desired result. These epeople have been working with uncompressed and very reliable workflows based on mega expensive kit.

The price of the kit, to them, is not an issue. not something that effects them. It is the files and the workflow that effects them. The fact is, the RED workflow does work, but as a pro, it is not as ideal as some work flows based on the expensive kit..

I am sorry you consider me ignorant to point this out.

The RED, for what it is, band for buck, leads the industry. It explains why it is selling so well and is being used on countless productions.

But like anything, it has its issues. As a Pro, you should understand the strengths and weaknesses of your tools as to be able to utilise them as best they can.

James