Got to work with the ever popular RED ONE camera or whatever its called, and we really put it to the test. The shoot was a commercial client that needed some Steadicam work, and in particular extreme low angle Steadicam cam stuff. Stuff we probably should have used a skateboard and a GoPro for, but I digress. Ok, lets get to the rig. We had the Red One camera, and since it was mounted on a Steadicam we didn't have a viewfinder, so we used a Decimator down conversion box to allow the HD signal for the SD onboard monitor. Lets just say that the device wasn't perfect, and production had to stop down several times to trouble shoot why the video signal was no reaching the monitor.
NOTE: Let me say this, I am in South Florida and the heat could be a factor in why some of the equipment was failing in the field. The Red camera we used is not the newest model out, and the heat buildup was substantial. The camera got really hot.
Ok, the lens we used was a gorgeous copy of the Cooke 18mm T2 prime. Great lens; however, the client may have wanted to go even wider, but thats what we had. The lens focuses down to 9". About half of the shots were extreme low angle which means the Steadicam sled had to be flipped 180 degrees vertical to shoot upside down to get the lens as close to the ground as possible. This means the image was also recorded to hard drive upside down, but thats not a problem for any modern post house to flip over with a single keystroke in edit.
The Steadicam / Red One rig was also fitted with a wireless focus system as well as a wireless video transmitter so the producer and the client were able to watch a reference monitor of the shoot in real time. The Red One has two record buttons. One on the back under the menu display and another secondary record button on the side of the camera. With the camera slung upside down it really took 3 people to operate the camera. A Steadicam operator, a Focus puller, and a 2nd AC to press record. Well the record button on the back of the camera failed or got stuck or something about 3/4 of the way through the shoot day. The camera will probably have to be serviced, but it did "fix itself" sometime when we were loading out at the end of the day. Not cool in my opinion.
Here's the bottom line, great camera, fun to work with, but its obvious the Red company is young aand there are alot of bugs to still be worked out in these low ser. number early models. The Decimator Box failed several times. The main record button didn't work for a large portion of the day, and alot of the time was spent trouble shooting the camera. I would try to keep clients away from shooting on the Red Camera for now until I became more familiar with trouble shooting the camera, and or the Red Camera irons out alot of the bugs. I'm certainly not hating on the camera, but when you have high paying clients sitting under a tent in the South Florida heat wondering why we aren't shooting, its not a good thing.
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NOTE: Let me say this, I am in South Florida and the heat could be a factor in why some of the equipment was failing in the field. The Red camera we used is not the newest model out, and the heat buildup was substantial. The camera got really hot.
Ok, the lens we used was a gorgeous copy of the Cooke 18mm T2 prime. Great lens; however, the client may have wanted to go even wider, but thats what we had. The lens focuses down to 9". About half of the shots were extreme low angle which means the Steadicam sled had to be flipped 180 degrees vertical to shoot upside down to get the lens as close to the ground as possible. This means the image was also recorded to hard drive upside down, but thats not a problem for any modern post house to flip over with a single keystroke in edit.
The Steadicam / Red One rig was also fitted with a wireless focus system as well as a wireless video transmitter so the producer and the client were able to watch a reference monitor of the shoot in real time. The Red One has two record buttons. One on the back under the menu display and another secondary record button on the side of the camera. With the camera slung upside down it really took 3 people to operate the camera. A Steadicam operator, a Focus puller, and a 2nd AC to press record. Well the record button on the back of the camera failed or got stuck or something about 3/4 of the way through the shoot day. The camera will probably have to be serviced, but it did "fix itself" sometime when we were loading out at the end of the day. Not cool in my opinion.
Here's the bottom line, great camera, fun to work with, but its obvious the Red company is young aand there are alot of bugs to still be worked out in these low ser. number early models. The Decimator Box failed several times. The main record button didn't work for a large portion of the day, and alot of the time was spent trouble shooting the camera. I would try to keep clients away from shooting on the Red Camera for now until I became more familiar with trouble shooting the camera, and or the Red Camera irons out alot of the bugs. I'm certainly not hating on the camera, but when you have high paying clients sitting under a tent in the South Florida heat wondering why we aren't shooting, its not a good thing.
Follow me on Youtube and Twitter
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