RED Scarlet for ENG work?

[John Pappas]

Not sure if this a dumb question or not...but is there any way to focus besides manually with a red1 or scarlet? If you are running and gunning/eng sometimes you don't have the time to make sure your focus is perfect manually. Also, sometimes you would need an external monitor to focus really well. If you have a focus puller you have time between each shot. The work I do I don't.

I currently have an hpx170 and although I don't use full auto focus all that much, it is a handy option in certain circumstances and having a focus assist is really nice when I have a couple seconds to use it. Most of the time I"m in manual and then hit the focus button when I need if I'm in a rush and then it goes back to manual.

Question is, how do people focus quickly with a scarlet/red one?

[David W. Jones]

I don't shoot with a Red in these situations, I'll use an ENG cam.

[Stuart English]

As the RED ONE was not intended in any way shape or form for ENG use, that only makes sense.

I believe that the new cameras though are well suited to on-shoulder, run-and-gun type operation.

[John Pappas]

So the scarlet will have auto focus capabilities? No ND Filters I suppose. What about a b4 lens connection? To be able to have servo zoom is handy sometimes but not as essential as nd or auto focus.

[Stuart English]

So the scarlet will have auto focus capabilities? No ND Filters I suppose. What about a b4 lens connection? To be able to have servo zoom is handy sometimes but not as essential as nd or auto focus.

Yes it will.

But I'm puzzled. Tell me of a professional ENG camera that has auto-focus?

[Roberto B]

Yes it will.

But I'm puzzled. Tell me of a professional ENG camera that has auto-focus?

scarlet?

autofocus on both 2/3" models? or just on the 8x fixed?

[Mike Shugrue]

This is a great idea. Kudos to you for doing this.

[Quentin Brown]

Yes it will.

But I'm puzzled. Tell me of a professional ENG camera that has auto-focus?

I suppose you could say the Sony PMW EX1, EX3, and the Z series and Panasonic's equivalents. They may be more cross over semipro cameras but they get used a hell of a lot in broadcast - especially ob docs where often producers, researchers or directors shoot a lot of the material these days. Really at the price point of the scarlet this is the market they are going to be touching on whether they are aiming for it or not. But you have a point about the higher end true ENG cameras, autofocus not normally present there.

I really get that what Red are offering is amazing at any price and double so because of the price, but my sense is that the cameras remain mostly targeted at the high end cinematography and film world rather than broadcast or that that is where they are coming at it from. For a film cinematographer the Scarlet will just about blow their minds.

I imagine a full scarlet rig with a zoom lens, pro IO module, battery module and shoulder rig will significantly undercut the price of a regular pro broadcast HD EFP/ENG cam like the PMW-350L by a factor of 2 or more. From what I've heard the imagery from an EX1 or EX3 is pretty close to something like the 350L and is considered acceptable for generating 100% of a programs content for broadcast by the BBC. An EX1 or EX3 is a lot closer to the scarlet in price point (especially bearing in mind you would need some extra modules in the package to get you a viewfinder, full size xlrs, genlock and a shoulder brace and on board mic). A lot of people coming to a new camera will look at it in comparison to other cameras at it's price point so invariably the scarlet gets compared to the likes of the HVX's and EX1's. At this level it's not quite so black and white. For most working in broadcast anything above 1080P isn't going to get used, certainly not by clients or in transmission anyway - so there goes a major feature of the Scarlet. If users want to shoot in Red RGB scaled 1080 mode they will presumably need to set the look in camera as it will get baked in to some degree. On the EX1 and most broadcast cameras there are numerous handy switches and controls for direct control of all the baked in settings like white balance and gain so they can be accessed quickly in breaking news type situations, so far these are not shown as being present in any form - modular or otherwise, for the Scarlet. The few programmable buttons revealed so far would not cover these as you would need them for switching between iris, focus and zoom control on the lens ring during shooting. Then there are lenses - sure you could buy a 2/3" brain, a B4 mount adapter and a broadcast zoom lens (and from Gibby's reports suffer some soft imagery due to the extra glass involved) - but the lens in the Scarlet fixed is only 8X. I know it will be a very high quality 8x with all the resolution needed to look pin sharp throughout at 3K (fatastic for filmmakers wanting to shoot 3K), but it is only 8X. Many broadcast ENG lenses, including the one packaged with the EX1 and EX3 come in at 14X and have a built in switch in 2x extender. This gives the user great flexibility in fast breaking news situations or on ob docs and reality shows. These versatile lenses usually come as part of the package with these ENG cameras too so count them in the cost. There are also many other little operational features that have slowly sprung up in these sorts of cameras that are specifically targeted at the run and gun ENG style shooter which may or may not make their way onto the scarlet (haven't seen many in the specs released so far). The most important feature for ENG use would probably be interlace mode. Despite the move to LCD and plasma screens by consumers (which are natively progressive display devices) all broadcasters that I know of broadcast interlaced material - even the few who have taken up the HD mantle (well certainly the BBC anyway). Although there may be ways around this and it may only be a perceived problem producers and others in big TV news gathering organisations will not see 1080i and may just simply discount the Scarlet for their quick turnaround production needs.

Perhaps one could shoot 1080@60p for USA or 1080@ 50P for UK and get it to playback/output in realtime from the edit as an interlaced 30 or 25 frames per second? Even so I think a lot of execs would need to see it for themselves to be convinced. 1080i as a spec in camera however and they wouldn't give it a second glance.

So to my mind if you are shooting only for broadcast news and run and gun stuff it is not so straightforward a choice as to whether to buy a Scarlet or not. Other cameras may just be slightly better suited to the job.

This has been the dilemma in my mind as I have imagined myself focusing on ob docs for the future.

The main attraction of the Scarlet for me is it's ability to excel in other forms of acquisition. If I want to shoot a drama for someone or for that matter do any other kind of work apart from ENG style then it would enable that big time. So don't get me wrong, I love the Scarlet specs I've seen so far, I love the price and am very likely to get one as my one and only camera, all of the above points have just been a sticking point in my mind due to my imagined direction in terms of the main type of scenarios I'm likely to shoot.



Disclaimer. I may have got some things wrong, above, don't take my views as being totally correct or authoritative views of an industry insider. I may come across as thinking I am, but I'm not really. I did a TV broadcasting degree some time ago where I did live multicam studio work, ENG, EFP and just about everything else then worked for a while as a one man video department for a multimedia company but haven't worked in the industry for a while so that limited experience and snippets from the net as I plan my re-entry into the field are where I get my knowledge from. I would appreciate the perspective of a seasoned pro like Gibby or someone working wholly in ENG or ob docs on my opinions expressed above.

[Quentin Brown]

By the way Steve Gibby, thanks once again for your informative posts sharing your workflows with us on this forum. They have gone some way to allaying my fears.

Also the point about Avid workflow integration is a good one too, but I'm sure Red will be on top of that, they are nearly there already and that's with 4K R3D's!.

[Milan Nikolic]

Thanks Gibby!