Red one and problems with wobble effect

[Alberto Saiz]

HI!

I'm a wildlife cameraman and im currently working in two projects with RED One. we use Nikon lenses (80-200, 300 and 500mm) and shoot in 4K,3K and 2K when high speed is needed. When we`re working with long lenses were facing a problem of wooble effect in the image.it start to happens when the heat of the atmosphere goes up, but i think that 18ºC its not so hot!
I know that some of you have worked with this camera in wild conditions in africa, alaska etc. Did you encounter this problem? any solutions?
I think it has to be because the rolling shutter and the CMOS but its going to be a serious problem for us in a lot of shots.
Thank you very much in advance!

[Kyle Presley]

It's not heat shimmer you're seeing?

[Charles Angus]

If the camera is motionless and the subject is motionless, I don't see how it could be CMOS wobble. Can you try that under the same cirumstances?

[Ed Watkins]

I've not experienced wobble on mine, unless you are talking about the normal wind or body vibration from shooting on a lens that long. The CMOS/ shutter should have no reason to be any different on a long tele than on a 'normal' shot.

I'm guessing what you are actually seeing (especially with the 300 and 500mm) is heat shimmer, and the fact that the RED's monitor and sensor is sharp enough to resolve it clearly.

Not only do long lenses have very shallow depths of field, but their biggest barrier to sharpness is the atmosphere. Even at reasonable distances, heat shimmer is highly magnified by long tele lenses. Long teles are subject to the same things that vex astronomers, which are called "seeing conditions."

Heat shimmer is magnified when you shoot with lenses starting at around 200mm. The shimmer is emitted by obvious things like tarmac, rock, and cement, but also by not so obvious strata like grass, sage brush, and even snow. The temperature doesn't have to be that great for it to occur, as it is caused by the reflected heat from the surface heating up the cooler air above it, causing it to rise in waves. Because of this, heat shimmer can actually be just as noticeable on a cold clear day with no wind as a raging hot summers day.

Nothing you can do to avoid it on long lenses, except for shooting earlier in the day, waiting for a cloudy day with less direct heat/sunlight, or hoping for a light breeze to disperse the effect.
Hope that helps.

[Alberto Saiz]

Thanks a lot for your quick answers. Yeah, I agree with you, its a heat issue, but we were surprised about the high sensitivity of the RED camera in these situations. Do you experienced this problem usually? How do you manage it, any solutions?
Any suggestions are welcome!

Thank you!

[James Brundige]

Shooting wildlife with a Canon 150-600, heat shimmer is the issue. Shoot early in the day, back off the zoom as things heat up. I can't see how the sensor type could have anything to do with this, unless you are getting some wind, which can vibrate a long lens. The rolling shutter will turn high frequency vibrations into wobble.

[Denis Buhot]

Moving from one world to the other one might explain your surprise. I personally feel the effect of heat shimmer much more perceivable in the Red evf than in the optical viewfinder of my still camera. Anyway, I shot yesterday crystal clear images of an eagle feeding its chick, 250m away, 800 mm. The same image was horrendous a couple of hours before...

[ericyoung]

Moving from one world to the other one might explain your surprise. I personally feel the effect of heat shimmer much more perceivable in the Red evf than in the optical viewfinder of my still camera. Anyway, I shot yesterday crystal clear images of an eagle feeding its chick, 250m away, 800 mm. The same image was horrendous a couple of hours before...

Probably just the bigger picture shows up the shimmer more noticeably.