The opportunity to see a group of local freelancers and entrepreneurs coming together to make such an incredibly professional product was extremely valuable — technology has democratized and accelerated the independent film and music community to a degree I hadn’t realized. I was brought on because I had access to some special locations (most of the aerial and forest shots are near some family property in the San Juans) and so I could shoot a little behind-the-scenes video of the production. Go ahead and check out that video below.

The above contains video shot by me as well as production stills by both myself and the director, Matt Daniels of ThinkLab. Matt edited it, since I was taking forever.

We had two RED Ones to shoot with, which is rare to find anywhere, really. With careful lens selection, this allowed for some really great multi-angle shots without change in continuity or video quality. For instance, we had Marshall, the drummer of the band, wading in the water in extremely low light (torchlight). One camera was shooting handheld, up close with a wide angle, and the other was about 30 feet away, with a longer lens in a more stationary position. It allows the director and editor to work freely with the scene without worrying about continuity errors, and can also drastically cut down on the time a poor drummer has to be standing in freezing cold water at midnight.

Lastly, the all-digital process makes for such a streamlined workflow that, if we didn’t have to catch a ferry, we could have had a rough cut put together the next day — a huge benefit when you’re working directly with a client, as we were with the band. As one might imagine, this can lead to sloppy productions put together without the caution and care that comes with working in a valuable medium like film — and some people assume that because it’s possible, it’s expected. But that’s as far from the truth as the idea that a film medium guarantees a quality end result. Digital cinema tools simplify the workflow, but they don’t simplify the product.

The helicopter you see is owned and operated by AerialPan Imaging’s founder, Tabb Firchau. I subjected him to a brief interview:

So the camera on the heli is a Panasonic HVX, which accounts for the difference in texture and tone you see in the video. I noticed a similar effect while watching Planet Earth; the Varicams they used for much of the series weren’t able to be used under water, so they used some sort of smaller Sony (I believe) camera for those sequences. The video quality isn’t as high, but the Sony and HVX are far more light and compact than a Varicam or RED One — handy in those underground caverns, or when you need to fly it at 50MPH over water in an RC helicopter.

I was struck by the amount of specialized gear used by both Tabb and the RED operators (Mike Prevette on heli and DP Michael Ragen). Jury-rigged solutions for missing or broken parts, custom fast-charging battery packs, and the lenses… oh, the lenses. And of course, it was interesting seeing the familiar forest and beach we were tramping around on metamorphose into the evocative landscape of the video.

It’s amazing how democratized high quality stuff like this has come, with the advent of (relatively) affordable HD cameras like the RED and pro editing and effects software that can be brought with you to the field. Thanks, crew — it was a fun and interesting look at the soft underbelly of cinematic production.

Of course, it’s not necessarily the case that whoever made this video intended to equate the cameras in any way (the objective, aside from filming women in the dark, is unclear). But if they did, let’s look at this objectively.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5981422&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Here we have three great cameras. One a micro four-thirds compact, one a full-frame pro DSLR, and one a professional digital cinema camera (two years old, for the record). You can take video under similar circumstances, but unless you’re prepared to put in the work to make each video look as good as it should, it’s a useless comparison. Putting a video on the web, even to a high-quality video site like Vimeo, is not the way to compare three cameras.

The 5D mk II records directly to h.264; this is a perfectly good codec for distributing video, as it is highly efficient, but the way the video data is stored and streamed makes it messy when editing and lossy in color correcting. The GH1 uses high-bitrate AVCHD but apparently wraps the 24p mode in 60i, which is something I’ve had to deal with and it’s a pain in the ass. Lastly, both cameras use a recombination method for producing the final image, illustrated here. This leads to strange artifacting and Moire effects.

The Red One (to say nothing of its upcoming replacements) records to a proprietary high-bitrate, high-color-depth RAW format, using as many pixels you want from the sensor and not recombining at all. This produces an enormous, highly detailed, and very flat-looking image which can be manipulated as much as a RAW image from your DSLR. It’s made for actually making movies, real movies, and is high-res enough that they can apply special effects directly, which normally require a higher resolution than the editing footage.

But when you take a few seconds of footage at a time, in situations with really bad lighting, and then resize the whole thing down to a web-streaming 720×480 file, you lose all the details that might have set any apart. I’d say that any differences you notice in this video are the result of chance or the lens.

I’m not advocating getting a Red over getting a 5D mk II or GH1, they’re three different cameras that happen to shoot video and beyond that they’re incomparable. I personally would love to have all three, and I’d value what they did in different circumstances. The 5D’s full-frame sensor makes it easier to use and set up in the dark than either a Red or GH1; the GH1′s compact size makes it an easy carry-around; both are much more convenient to use than a Red, which weighs a huge amount and requires thousands and thousands in extra gear to shoot right. And if I had to pick one, I’d get the 5D, since I’m primarily a still photographer and if I did need to shoot something serious, a careful cinematographer would be able to avoid the 5D’s weaknesses pretty well.

So that’s about 500 more words than needed to be said on this, but these comparisons persist after so long that I feel I have to just engrave it on the internet that they’re not admissible evidence, and the whole idea of a comparison is silly anyway.

Red One, Canon 5D Mk II, and Panasonic Lumix GH1 Footage Comparison from marty meyer on Vimeo.

A videographer, Marty Meyer, shot a short video using the Red One, the Canon 5D Mark II, and the Panasonic GH1. The resulting music-/test-/sad girl in the rain-video is quite nice even if you can’t really tell the difference among the three cameras.

However, I do like watching ladies walk around in black dresses.

via PDNPulse

Of note is the disclosure of 2K speeds up to 350fps on the larger sensors, 250fps on the smaller, and the pricing of the “complete” Scarlet with a fixed lens at $3750, which is pretty reasonable.

It’s another one of those “huge images stacked on top of each other” announcements so click on through to see everything.

(I’ve re-encoded and split them for your convenience, the JPEG quality is pretty bad though. The originals are at Jim’s post.)
(and thanks for the tip, dude)

For the last couple weeks, Jim Jannard of RED Camera has been teasing everybody on the REDuser forums with vague promises and outrageous claims of revolutionizing the industry. Skepticism would be the natural response, but after the original RED One camera turned the industry on its head in 2007, people learned that the company said what they meant and made what they said. Early adopters knew they were getting in the ground floor of something that would not only change the industry but likely completely metamorphose once things got underway. As it turns out, they were right, and RED’s announcement today represents the ideal of the RED camera system made reality. What does today’s bombshell mean for the hi-def video industry, and what does it mean for you and me?

Unprecedented

Let’s make one thing absolutely clear: these cameras represent much more than a black eye for Sony, Panavision, and any other player in the digital cinema game. To be honest, they already had a black eye from the RED One, and the original announcement of the Epic and Scarlet gave them a fat lip and a bloody nose as well. The announcement of this completely modular, low-cost, incredibly high-performance camera and accessory suite is nothing short of a knockout punch, a hardware haymaker which even some big names may not be able to withstand. This is not conjecture, it is as close to a statement of fact as can be made before the actual cameras are tested against the competition. The stated costs, capabilities, and resolutions of the RED sensor set and accessory/lens selection utterly outgun everything else on the market by a huge margin.

I’m not an insider on the subject of digital cinematography, but the difference at least in resolution should be plain enough to anyone who can count. These new sensors do not simply outstrip those in digital cinema competitors, which are still working to create a 4K camera to match RED’s, but also stack up against the most high-end medium format still cameras. Leaf’s newest and most advanced sensor, for instance, is 56mm wide, twice as wide as the RED One sensor but exactly the size of the second-largest Monstro sensor. That means that under the right conditions, a RED setup using a Monstro 645 will be shooting the equivalent of a medium-format digital photo from a $40,000 DSLR — fifty times a second. And this is to Redcode Raw, which has excellent color depth and dynamic range as well. The difference between that and capable but far more expensive cameras like the Genesis and Origin (from Panavision and Arri/Dalsa, respectively) is insane — and remember, we’re not even talking about the biggest sensor RED has. The absurd 28K Monstro 617 (not available until 2010, but we’ve seen how RED keeps their promises) will entail an aspect ratio wider than the ridiculous 2.76:1 used for films like Ben-Hur, which honestly seems a bit much; how left-to-right data pulling will work on a sensor that wide is something baffling even the experts.

Price and performance

The most frequent criticism of the RED system is the pricing scheme: sure, you could buy the “brain” or central unit for $17,500, but once lenses, rails, tripod heads, and everything else were taken into account, you’re looking at at least $60-70k for a real cinema setup. True that! But why don’t you try to price a comparable setup for its competitors? I think you’ll find that many of these cameras actually cannot be bought by a prospective cinematographer, and renting one costs at least $3-4k per day. Being able to buy a 6000-pixel-wide sensor for $12,000 and outfit it for another $40,000 is, in this business, an unprecedented bargain (if you don’t count RED One). It’s also worth mentioning that these increases aren’t comparable to the megapixel differences between, say, point-and-shoots and DSLRs. This is a change in order of magnitude, not an incremental improvement.

Many will ask, what is the purpose of such an insane resolution? Well, that’s a whole discussion in itself, but the world is increasing in resolution all over the place: 2K and 4K projectors will likely be standard in a few years and source video will have to be double that for producing special effects and so on. Right now the size and bitrate of the footage prevents easy direct editing, and this announcement exacerbates that issue, but filmmakers have dealt with that for a long time and they’ll deal with it now. More pixels is better these days, and this is a lot more pixels.

Let us not forget

And what of current RED users? Their prized, and still extremely well-specced RED Ones have just been completely obsoleted. Are they getting left out in the cold? I asked my friend, cinematographer Michael Ragen and owner of RED One #343. After assessing the announcement’s effect on the industry as “they shattered the hopes and dreams of every other camera maker in the world,” he mentions that as a RED One owner, the most enticing deal is for him to trade in his camera for $17,500 off of any Epic “brain.” That means that his camera has had zero depreciation, except for any accessories which may be incompatible with the new system, something which I don’t think has been determined yet. There are other deals: he qualifies for reduced pricing on a Scarlet body or new sensor as well.

Apart from the revolutionary nature of the sensors RED is putting out, the entire modular hardware suite they’ve created is absolutely stunning. As you can see in their announcement, you can practically stick a lens on a brain and you’ve got a working Scarlet shooting 3K, or you can put together dozens of custom parts to have a weather-sealed, multiple-lens monster setup with more rails than Amtrak. As a cinematographer this has to be exciting, as, like putting together your own PC, you only buy the parts you need or want. The compatibility with Nikon, Camera, PL, Mamiya, Alpa mounts and more means your lens selection is essentially unlimited.

But what does it mean for Joe the Plumber? (sorry)

I know what you’re asking: is there anything for you and me, the poor consumers and enthusiasts who don’t feel like taking out a loan to get the best gear out there? Well, the lowest-end device available appears to be the Scarlet all-in-one, the price for which isn’t available, but which we can safely guesstimate at somewhere between $3500 and $4000. That’s not exactly home video material, and of course 3K Redcode footage isn’t exactly iMovie material either. We may see something accessible come down the line, but the fact is RED was never meant to be a consumer camera company — even the Scarlet has always been intended as a professional camera, for handheld shots, small mounts, and so on. Unfortunately, that makes you and me into mere spectators of this momentous event — except for the fact that I may get to play with one later.

It should also be mentioned that the RED setups don’t serve every purpose; for example, they will only shoot up to 120fps, or far less for the larger sensors. This means that other digital cinema cameras like the PhantomHD will remain indispensable, so Panavision isn’t entirely rained out, and of course although the RED may have out-sensored Canon, Nikon, and even Hasselblad’s DSLRs, those cameras still have a far better form factor and infrastructure for still shots, so they’re not going anywhere either.

Damn

There’s a lot left unsaid, but this post is already far longer than it probably needed to be, so I’ll leave the rest of the commentary and discussion to those who know better (7500 reading the forum this very second). Let me restate, though, that this announcement really does live up to the hype that preceded it. RED already had the digital cinema industry sweating, and now every camera maker in the world will, trust me, be calling emergency meetings to determine the feasibility of even trying to compete. It’s a wonderful time to be in the business folks, with history being made as we watch. And somehow I doubt this is the last RED has to offer.

Update: Jannard has posted a clarification: the Scarlet system will be more restricted format-wise (video and audio) than the RED One and Epic. The Epic will be less restricted than the RED One. I guess something had to go to fit the Scarlet into a smaller package.

This, my friends, is a camera. Jim Janard over at Red has begun telling the world about his new modular camera system with its Mysterium-X sensor. There are a few upgrade paths for those who already own a RED ONE, the older generation including upgrading to the new sensor, trade in RED ONE for the price of an EPIC, or receive a sensor upgrade some time in the future. If the RED ONE costs $17,000 expect this one to be slightly more.


The kit can be used one of two ways – as a full-bore video camera like the original Scarlet or a DSLR. You take off most of the pieces of the video camera, for example, and then reconfigure them to make an SLR. Devin has been following these guys so I’ll let him tell you about it this afternoon but here are the images in all their glory.

Since RED is in the process of revamping the prosumer-level Scarlet, knowledge of Redcode and the workflow may actually be relevant to some of us peons soon.

We’ve been hearing whispers about Scarlet for a few months now, and today she’s made her first appearance.

Scarlet is the code name of Red’s “professional pocket camera”, and that’s all we’ve known about it until today. Now, however, we know that it’s a fairly small digital still and video camera that can shoot up to 3k resolution, which is roughly three times the resolution of 1080p, meaning this could be considered a digital cinema camera.

It has many accessories already, and can be outfitted with a number of rail options. It supports dual simultaneous CF cards, USB 2.0, Firewire 800, and HDMI. Oh, and it looks insane.

No word on pricing yet (guesses are it’ll be under $3,000), but it should come in well under the $14k Red One from last year that everyone loves.

This is rad.

Take one Movie Stuff Workprinter XP. Now add a Red One. You now have an ultra-high-def Super 8 telecine system.

What does that mean for you non camera geeks? It means it’s a way of transferring analog Super 8 films into perfect, high-rez digital archives.

Why anyone would need that kind of quality from Super 8 remains to be seen, but this is a very awesome proof of concept.

Hit the jump to see our friend Mike and his Red in action. Why? Just because camera nerds love those photos.

Red One and Super 8mm at last! [On Super 8mm blog]

[photopress:2270242220_ab9b3dfd57.jpg,full,center]

Part of Macworld next month will be a thing called the Final Cut Pro group, just for you video guys. And we’ve been tracking rumors that there will be a special surprise on the 16th. We’ve done some digging, and we’re fairly sure that this surprise has something to do with the Red One camera and Final Cut’s integration with Redcode.

In reality it’ll be an update to the Final Cut Studio suite with native Redcode support, as well as support for third party video cards (yes, including nVidia).

For those not in the uber-geeky look, Redcode is the name of Red’s editing workflow software. Since the Red One can shoot at up to 4k, there needs to be a way to edit by proxy, as editing RAW 4k footage would be a task for even the largest grids out there. Redcode allows you to edit within Final Cut at a much lower resolution, and translates the edits to the final cut, if you’ll forgive the phrasing.

There’s also a possibility it’s related to Red’s new “pocket professional” HD camera, code named Scarlet. Rumor has that Scarlet would debut at NAB, but if working with Apple is going well, there’s a possibility that it will be shown off to pros at Macworld.

There will be a few other surprises, but these are the things the Red users have been salivating over, and we hope this really is what all the fuss is over.

A friend of mine was meeting up with this very generous and notable film maker who’d just received his, and I asked if I could tag along and get some shots. And that’s what we did.

They’re not the best shots, my digicam was in the trunk of my car, but I did have my Ocean, which took these. I can now tell you that the camera is not vaporware. And it’s not a “camcorder” as some are calling it: this thing weighs more than you’d think. It’s heavy, but that’s because it does so much.

I’m not going to go into all the stuff it can and can’t do, we’ve been over all that before. But just look at the photos and drool, friends. This ultra-high-def machine kicks much assery.

So what comes in the box from Red? [HD for Indies]

Besides just the cool footage, Red announced availability of a full set of Prime lenses including a 15mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm and an awesome 85mm lenses. These were unknown before NAB and sent many a film nerd within the gargantuan booth scrambling for their credit cards.

Speaking of the booth, it’s huge. It’s larger than my last apartment, and has a line stretching around the corner to get in. And there are spiderbots. The spiderbots can be autonomous and move on their own accord. They’re built out of Red parts just ‘cuz, and they’re rad.

There are four cameras in the booth, in various configurations. The Red’s strength, besides it’s 4,000+ lines of resolution, is that it’s modular. You purchase the main body and add the parts you’ll use, meaning you don’t buy bulk you won’t.

What’s really interesting about Red at NAB though is the partnership it’s announced with Apple. Using Final Cut Studio 2 and Red’s own Redcode, a filmmaker can shoot and edit in 4k raw. That’s awesome.

Even more awesome is the announcement that Red will continue to take reservations, though there might be a wait until those registering today get their cameras. But judging by the line, the nerds, and the self-sustaining hype, that’s all good.

Red’s Prime Lenses [Red.com]

While items taken included many computers, drives, monitors, prototypes (including our “shiny” aluminum IBC prototype), ID files and our Scratch system… it appears that the thieves did NOT get any sensors, sensor information or our primary “Frankenstein” shooting camera. It took all the RED troops coming back in to put all the pieces together. We will resume shooting and testing tomorrow. This would be the easiest piece to identify as stolen.

The prototype in the quote is the one in the photo above. This is good news as the heart of the Red One is the super-precise Mysterium sensor, which remains in Red’s possession. Red is working with local police to find the culprit, and we’ll keep you updated here.

Theft Update [DVX User]

Not mere criminals, the felons didn’t make away with only typical, easy-to-fence HD gear, but with paperwork and perhaps hardware related to the Red One camera. Jannard is quick to point out that this won’t set back development and deployment of the camera at all. Nonetheless, he’s offering a $100k reward for information leading to the apprehension of the thieving parties. Anyone with information should contact Red.

There is a possibility that this snatch and grab is in response to Red posting the first incredible public screen grab of footage taken from a Red One camera at its ideal 4k resolution. The photo, linked below (caution: HUGE download, even for broadband connections) makes pores seem like craters and vaporous particles like floating balloons.

If the digital cinema footage (which should be posted next week) is anywhere near in quality to what we see here, which Red’s been promising all along, then it could indeed be the catalyst for some serious OMFG freaking-out on the part of current HD camera manufacturers. The news that they’re still not done optimizing the sensor (according to the tech team) makes this even more likely, and, potentially, even more frightening to Red’s competitors.

Stay tuned here to see how this turns out, as it could change how we see movies in the future – good or bad.

There was a break-in at the RED offices [DVX User]

First Public 4k Mysterium Frame Grab [Red dot com]

For those not in-the-know, the Red One is the first camera by Red, the digital video company founded by Oakley’s creator James Jannard. What makes the Red so amazing is that Jannard, being an optical aficionado, has engineered a digital cinema camera that can equal 35MM film in quality, is completely modular so it can be customized on a whim, and costs substantially less than cameras of lower quality. His aim is to turn the digital cinema industry on it’s ear, and it’s possible he’s done just that.

The camera is the first at sub-$100k that can shoot 4k video (4520 x 2540 pixels) at 60 frames a second. That’s 11 Megapixels. Word on the wires is that James Cameron has already ordered three of them. You can reserve yours now for $1000 at red.com. I love this thing, it’s got great specs, and looks like what Megatron in the new Transformers film should look like.

Red One [Red]