Nothing but problems on set of a Music video.

[BigLu]

First off I am a huge supporter of RED and the camera.
I love the RED ONE when its friendly.
experience
I have D.I.T., Camera operated, color corrected and work flowed for features, several music videos, and shorts.
So I am not a novice by any means.

How ever I was just KILLED on set using build 16.
This week and Last week.
I will talk about this weeks experience.

equipment
2 Red Cameras
music video

artist
2 Grammy award winning artist 11 grammys between the both of them.
Big time DP
His first time working with the RED camera.
So I did my best to make it as painless as possible.

But we experienced once problem after another, I have never had this many problems in such a short time on set.

A: cam fine with minimal problems things I was able to fix on the fly.
Until we plugged in the new remote stop cable by RED.
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
THAT SCREWED EVERYTHING UP! turn it into burst mode and took us multiple times re-boot re-restroing the setting and fudging with it to get it back on track. And then the power stayed stuck on DC while we only used batteries.

B: cam would not boot up more then half the time THIS WAS SO FRUSTRATING AND just horrible.
Then once we did get it to boot up we it would work for 30 seconds maybe less and then freeze show a picture but not allow us to do anything. Record or change menus.
I attempted multiple times to reinstall the Build 16.
And it never successfully found the install.
CF card and or SD card.
Had the rental company replace the camera ASAP.

Then with new camera threwout the day would give us multiple booting issues and would stay stuck in record mode when using CF cards.
The record button would not work and would not allow us to stop recording.
Our only choice to regain any control of the camera was to force boot it off.
And we lost that shot.
It was just a complete mess. Mostly In front of the DP.

He always kept his cool. Until we held up the shots.
So it was a matter of changing out the cameras back and fourth.
Restricting us to 1 camera often.


Like i said I love this camera But DAMN!!!
Im getting killed and to make matters worst we were in a location with no service so tech support was not an option.

Totally scrambling to stableize this.

[Fredrik Callinggard]

Im feeling you! Been there, done that and hopefully not doing it tomorrow


Fredrik Callinggard

[Dylan Macleod, CSC]

Once again...beta build on a professional set. NOT COOL!

Your brand new cable...on a professional set. Did you test it before you showed up? NOT COOL!

It is these kinds of things that KILLS all the rest of us who test our gear and don't use BETA builds on professional shoots.

STOP IT!

Dylan "still on build 15" Macleod
Cinematographer
Toronto, Canada
www.dylanmacleod.com

[Tai Wah Lim]

A: cam fine with minimal problems things I was able to fix on the fly.
Until we plugged in the new remote stop cable by RED.
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
THAT SCREWED EVERYTHING UP! turn it into burst mode and took us multiple times re-boot re-restroing the setting and fudging with it to get it back on track. And then the power stayed stuck on DC while we only used batteries.

BigLu, I share your frustration. Just check again at the Red Store and could not find the "new remote stop cable by RED". Are you sure you got this from RED or someone told you that the cable is from RED? Lim

[Gunleik Groven]

I feel for you- and as far as I read your post, you rented cams with build 16. That's odd...

Build 16 and workflow is currently a long way from 15 when it comes to stability. Reason for me to upgrade is basically that I have some time with more flexible shoots, and I need to familiarize myself with the build (and the bugs) for a number of reasons. So far it's been, interesting... But that's only because of the non-missioncritical nature of what I've been doing.

But things seem to be moving in the right direction, and there's a couple of key concepts in there that are very good and will make life easier.

The disability to safely downgrade, is not one of them...

[Raul Gonzo]

I too am sorry to hear your misfortune-
I could not find the remote you speak of from red.
I know that there was one in development from some 3rd party companies but I didn't know any were shipped.
Is red "certifying" 3rd party equipment? It would be good to have a list of what is "certified" and what isn't.

[Pawel Achtel]

cam fine with minimal problems things I was able to fix on the fly.
Until we plugged in the new remote stop cable by RED.
OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
THAT SCREWED EVERYTHING UP!

Can you elaborate about this "new remote stop cable"?

[Yannick Sadler]

I'm very sorry for you and hope everything goes well, but I agree with dmacleod, using a beta build on a production of that kind is a big NO-NO. I would also question the decision of the rental house to rent that kind of setup knowing the project you were doing.

Would you accept to rent a film camera it the rental house was saying to you: "We've got some cool new magazines for the camera. We don't know yet if they leak light. Do you want them on your set?". I think the answer is pretty obvious.

If you really need something from B16, at least have a B cam on the set with B15.

[BigLu]

I just found out that I should not have spoken about that.
That is my fault for not knowing.
And i apologize about the remote start stop cable.

I take full blame.

I MADE IT UP.

[Noah Kadner]

I just found out that I should not have spoken about that.
That is my fault for not knowing.
And i apologize about the remote start stop cable.

I take full blame.

I MADE IT UP.

whaaa?

-Noah