[mfm-list]What do you think of RED?

[Adam Wilt]

> A friend and I are establishing a small production company

It does seem to be the thing to do these days, doesn't it?  :-)

> I would really like to hear from any one who has had an opportunity  
> to use the Red Camera or work with video from it.

I helped on one shoot with Jim Mathers last year, and I have some  
clips on my MacBook Pro that I fiddle with now and then.

> Is it worth the money?

$17,500 for the camera head is the cheapest you'll get that sort of  
resolution (realistically, around 2.5k) for. Figure on a basic  
shooting kit running around $30k, or up to $100k+ with good glass.  
You'll need a 1st AC / focus puller on your shoots due to narrow DoF  
with the 35mm-sized sensor, too.

The primary question is: what do you plan to shoot with it? It's a  
really nice digital cine cam, and it's great for greenscreen, but it  
makes a lousy run'n'gun docco cam, news cam, event cam, skateboard  
cam, etc.

> Is it reliable?

Nobody knows, yet. Personally, I'm concerned with the flakey mini- 
BNCs <http://www.adamwilt.com/ProductionStills/RED%20test%201/ 
large-10.html?dark>, but the RED folks have blown me off. I figure on  
building a bolt-on transition panel with real BNCs and relocated,  
normal-sized XLRs if we wind up using REDs.

> Is it as good as the hype

Not possible. Doesn't improve your sex life, fill your cups with mead  
and your vaults with gold, drive the stormclouds away, solve the  
Middle East's problems, etc. It just makes pictures.

It shoots a nice 4K image with 35mm depth of field and about 2.5k of  
resolution (remember, it's a 4k Bayer-mask single sensor). At 2K, you  
get higher frame rates, but the image is about a 1.3K image, roughly  
as sharp as good DVCPROHD, but not as crisp as an F900, HPX3000, or  
even a PMW-EX1. Raw-mode recording is very nice (but watch out for  
deBayering time; the first release of REDCINE apparently takes  
forever and a day) and Graeme's REDCODE is a very efficient codec.

In mid-September, I and the data wrangler were unimpressed with noise  
levels, dynamic range, and highlight handling, but that camera (#30),  
like the rest of the first 100, is due for recall and replacement  
with versions that supposedly improve on all these factors.

Adam Wilt / filmmaker / Mountain View CA USA