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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

RED-One vs. Sony PDW700 Camcorder for TV "only" ??

Well, Jim, I'll just hope you'll take my word for it that I tried pretty darned hard to let them know what they'd be missing. Didn't work this time (so the RED collected dust for a while), but got the gig, got the ratings, an award, and the mortgage paid. We'll see if I can win them over to the good fight next time.
 
National geographic wouldn't let you shoot 24fps on the Varicam because they couldn't figure out the post. If you wanted to shoot 24p for recreations etc, you had to shoot film, and transfer to 29.97 tape. Seriously. Some battles you aren't going to win ;-)

Nick
 
We've had our wrists slapped at Nat Geo too (and for exactly what you mentioned Nick), but the deed was done and they went with it. There, at least, we've never hit a brick wall. The show they let us slide with with 24p varicam and hvx footage was, by the way, also the first show they did a full internal final cut pro edit on. That was another struggle... but they did finally play ball, and now you'll find more final cut suites at NGT than Avid. That was once unimaginable.
 
We have an order of 26 one-hour shows, shot 90% on Red. We drag and drop R3D files into PPro CS5, and never transcode anything but the final timeline (takes about 6-8 hours or so for one hour of timeline content - a commercial driven 44 minute "hour" would take even less). We have access to a Redrocket, and it's great and worth every penny, but necessary? Not really, not at all.

In the end you can transfer your final render to 1080i60 HDCAm Sr with reverse telecine, but if you actually shoot 1080i60 - bye bye European markets, and 1080i60 cannot be correctly displayed by plasmas/LCDs - only CRT monitors can actually display interlaced content as interlaced - most plasmas/lcds only actually display 1080p30 (N. America) or 1080p25 (Europe) derived from a 1080i60 or 1080i50 (PAL) containers. High end plasmas can also display 24p natively, but any can do pull-down and nicely show you 24p content - so 24p is the only way to be compatible with all regions.
 
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Tim Whitcomb said:
If you use a Red Rocket, transcodes will be slightly faster than realtime. They are only $3K now used in the RED STORE and I dont know how people work without them... look, you are shooting nature stuff. That footage can last a lifetime, versus commercial work etc.

Steve Gibby has made a career shooting Nature and will gladly advise you on the "smarts" of shooting 4K as it will FUTURE proof your work.

i.e 5 years from now when 4K is the standard, you can resell your library for more $ versus trying to upres Sony 1080P footage to 4K. The latter will be like upresing SD to HD... only worse.

FInally, there are some incredible M-X sensor bargains for sale on here in the for sale section that should render the difference moot.

Ketch Rossi has a couple kits for sale that the hours are so low, they are praticially new. Andrae Palmer has one that is less. AND Opitek among others are offering lower cost EVF options every month.

This is a big decision, but the M-X clearly has a lot more LIFE in it than a 700 purchase... upfront costs should not be your only consideration... cost of ownership and ROI are key... imho
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Thanks Tim,

And those are VERY good points. The future "is" important to me because, being a small company, we do not want a camera that is obsolete or produces unwanted footage 5 years from now. You are absolutely right in pointing that out, and it makes the decision rather obvious to me that the RED-One "continues" to be the only way for us to go.

I wish money wasn't such an object for us, but it is. Maybe another solution is to look for a good used RED package. I usually don't like to buy "used" primary cameras, but in this economy it might be the only solution for us.

Thanks again.

.
 
Don't forget RED one can shoot pre-record wich can be convenient for wild life shoot.

RED ONE 2k is a no go for me... 4k is not a waste and you still can reframe it in post if the beast pulls out of the bush in an other place as predicted...

Pat
 
George D. said:
And those are VERY good points. The future "is" important to me because, being a small company, we do not want a camera that is obsolete or produces unwanted footage 5 years from now.
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Then don't buy a camera that isn't even 1080P, because interlaced video origination is definitely going to become obsolete over time, and 720P isn't going to cut it either in the future.

Shoot 4K on the Red One if you really want to be covered for more than 5 years on your footage.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
Then don't buy a camera that isn't even 1080P, because interlaced video origination is definitely going to become obsolete over time, and 720P isn't going to cut it either in the future.

Shoot 4K on the Red One if you really want to be covered for more than 5 years on your footage.
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That's EXACTLY what I'm going to do. No use fighting it anymore. The RED-One and 4K is it. I'll just have to borrow the extra money I will need I guess...:wink5:

Want to loan me about $10,000.oo ?

.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
Not to stretch your budget further... but try to find an M-X Red One because if you are shooting macro work under tungsten, you need the higher ASA ratings of an M-X Red One and the cleaner look under 3200K.
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That's exactly what I was a thinkin'..;)

A Sony rep has given me an incredible deal on a Sony PDW700 (entire package less than a RED-One package by $3,000.oo), and I'm sorely tempted, but a little more money will mean our footage will last many, many more years coming from the Red. And, the Red will still be putting out good video 5 years from now too.

.
 
To put in my two cents, I have never regretted buying equipment, even if it was a budget stretch, even if I had to buy it used (carefully) and we have a documentary production house that has been in business 20 years. We have two Reds and one of them is turning into an Epic as soon as it can. The value of your library is very important and technology is moving too fast to take a chance of shooting material with no shelf life.

Buy a Red MX don't look back, even if you have to eat noodles for a while...
 
George D. said:
We can wait no longer for the Scarlet, so it is now a decision between the RED-One and the Sony PDW700 Camcorder.

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George D. said:
It is hard for me to believe the RED-One in 2K has better resolution than the Sony.

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George, ckeck this low budget wildlife documentary www.wildviewseries.org Was shot 90% on Red One (old sensor) mix 2k-4k and 4,5k. 120 and 24fps using still canon lenses (pl mount) and the red zoom 18-50. the version on the site is 720, but if you have any doubts I can mail you the Blu-Ray version in 1080p
 
Start all thought processes with acquisition and ending in delivery and the answer will become obvious. Go over every available scenario including times you want post cut ins, in depth color correction and various other things that will help your footage gain advantage. Now ask yourself the question again. It will become obvious which will give you a clear advantage.
 
Rob Gardner said:
To put in my two cents, I have never regretted buying equipment, even if it was a budget stretch, even if I had to buy it used (carefully) and we have a documentary production house that has been in business 20 years. We have two Reds and one of them is turning into an Epic as soon as it can. The value of your library is very important and technology is moving too fast to take a chance of shooting material with no shelf life.

Buy a Red MX don't look back, even if you have to eat noodles for a while...
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I agree 100%.

For us wildlife filmmakers the future is just as important as the present. Our footage MUST endure time if at all possible. And, the RED-One gives us more of a chance of that happening.

Thanks for your input.

.
 
Christian Munoz D said:
George, ckeck this low budget wildlife documentary www.wildviewseries.org Was shot 90% on Red One (old sensor) mix 2k-4k and 4,5k. 120 and 24fps using still canon lenses (pl mount) and the red zoom 18-50. the version on the site is 720, but if you have any doubts I can mail you the Blu-Ray version in 1080p
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Very, very nice. I wish I'd worked on that one myself....;)

Thanks for sharing, and a RED-One "IS" in our near future.

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