RED Komodo-X

[Han Vogen]

Idk, maybe I’m in the minority, but I am actually hoping for a smaller Komodo. Part of the appeal of Komodo was a high quality cinema camera in a small package. I sense Red is losing the script.

 

[Les Hillis]

I think going smaller than Komodo is possible, but not without losing some basic functionality and making it an extreme special-use 'camera', to the point of making it questionable whether it would even be worth making or buying.

And even so, if it was, at an extreme, just a video-head type set up, with a lens mount, sensor, battery and nothing but wi-fi control/monitoring and wireless video transmission to a separate recorder, I don't think there's a hell of a lot there you could cut out if you still want to use a decent sensor (and cooling) and interchangeable lenses.

Just my opinion.

Must admit though I've always dreamt of a really small and simplified RED camera with nothing but a stop-start button, 24/25fps, recording media and a battery, with mounting holes on the top or side for a parallax viewfinder, preset to a native ISO and RC level. Whenever I think about it though, I come to the conclusion that there wouldn't really be any benefit, factoring in how functionality doesn't always translate directly into size or weight or cost savings.

 

[Brian Timmons]

I think going smaller than Komodo is possible, but not without losing some basic functionality and making it an extreme special-use 'camera', to the point of making it questionable whether it would even be worth making or buying.

And even so, if it was, at an extreme, just a video-head type set up, with a lens mount, sensor, battery and nothing but wi-fi control/monitoring and wireless video transmission to a separate recorder, I don't think there's a hell of a lot there you could cut out if you still want to use a decent sensor (and cooling) and interchangeable lenses.

Just my opinion.

Must admit though I've always dreamt of a really small and simplified RED camera with nothing but a stop-start button, 24/25fps, recording media and a battery, with mounting holes on the top or side for a parallax viewfinder, preset to a native ISO and RC level. Whenever I think about it though, I come to the conclusion that there wouldn't really be any benefit, factoring in how functionality doesn't always translate directly into size or weight or cost savings.

If one considers the Sony FX 30 and the popularity it has in certain large and growing parts of the market, I can definitely see the potential for a smaller even lower end RED.
Whether it would be part of the Komodo line would be a different matter. It could be a perfect starter product and means of exponentially growing RED's base.

EDIT: I just realized Les that we've gone back and forth on this type of low end RED camera in the past.

Anyway, back to Komodo X.


Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

 

[Les Hillis]

lol, yeah, my opinion on that hasn't changed.

And no, the Komodo-X isn't going to appeal to everyone.

Always good to hear your opinons and perspectives though Brian.

 

[Phil Holland]

The ping pong chatter on social is sub-$10K by about $5 bucks.

 

[Phil Holland]

And now that more pieces are present, I highly suspect this body has Phantom Power and that module teased was likely audio related, but that's a maybe there for a bit.

 

[Nick Vera]

No internal evnd? Idk, I think by now this needs to be a standard. I think this would have been a huge upgrade by itself for Komodo X.


I mean Kinefinity(the copy cat RED company) has it in their FF cameras, they're not that much bigger and the flange distance is extremely shallow. They make an E-mount adapter for their cameras.

RF has also been proven to be able to house internal ND with the C70 . If the camera needs to be slightly taller, then by all means .

I'm sure a good amount of folks are going to upgrade. Just think internal RF mount e-nd would have been a major game changer. Maybe Komodo 2

 

[Tobi Rupp]

No internal evnd? Idk, I think by now this needs to be a standard. I think this would have been a huge upgrade by itself for Komodo X.


I mean Kinefinity(the copy cat RED company) has it in their FF cameras, they're not that much bigger and the flange distance is extremely shallow. They make an E-mount adapter for their cameras.

RF has also been proven to be able to house internal ND with the C70 . If the camera needs to be slightly taller, then by all means .

I'm sure a good amount of folks are going to upgrade. Just think internal RF mount e-nd would have been a major game changer. Maybe Komodo 2

I guess we will see very soon a RED RF - PL-Mount with some kind of build in ND option and we are all good to go........

 

[NathanHenneton]

So it's a 10K$ camera but....

S35 with internal ND
RF TO PL -> Adapter 3K$
RF TO EF -> Adapter 3K$

Wanna speedboost ?
RF TO EF or PL Speedboost -> Adapter Metabone Locking EF Speedbooster 2K$ + Mattebox + ND

Wanna use RF Glass ?
Mattebox + ND or Front ND solution.

Wanna use B4 mount for like sports event and use high frame rates ?
RF to EF Adapter with ND Filter + EF to B4 Lens and huge marge of error for parfocal.

If you use 100% S35 PL mount then yeah "you good to go" with a 3K Ad-on. If you play with Cinemod and PL lenses you are in for a lot of money vs camera body cost.

I wish this to be a lot easier.

Internal ND are among things that when you get them, you can't go back to not having them. It's like having a car or bigger home ;-).

 

[Mendes Nabil]

The record button on the front is exactly where the shutter is on Hasselblad and Mamiya medium format cameras, i now understand that #RZ67 hashtag..
Meaning Zach Braff knows something about Komodo-X..



And now that i think about it, those two dolphins clips in Bigsur might have been shot on Komodo-X :

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjG2l5tghMO/
+
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmNlao2Admg/

I remember telling to myself that something was different about those, especially the first one, a cinematic quality i haven't seen from modern digital cameras..

@Jarred, if you are around, please let us know

 

[Phil Holland]

but....

RF to PL is $1500 USD and that also gets you /i Data. And there are vastly less expensive RF to PL adapters if you want to go that route.

Don't know the price on the RF to PL eND though, but we know it's coming relatively soon from that chatter. We'll assume $1K or so above the RF to PL for now, could be more or less, but again there are numerous other solutions if you want that route. The granularity of the eND is real appeal and it's tied to the camera's firmware. Other solutions though can be motorized and such.

Outside of rear of lens ND convivence, as I've mentioned before for a long while now, invest in a good set of 4x5.65 filters and they will likely last your entire career if well maintained. Same applies as a matte box is pretty much a fundamental tool for professional work, though you may not use it on every shoot. Those range from sub-$100-$8,000 for a big boy box, which you ideally wouldn't use with such a small camera.

Screw-In filters or for the daring, Screw-In VND solutions, are fairly inexpensive.

Though I agree that's a lot of steps, most won't ever touch a B4 lens in their career. There's other glass I'd approach before that.

People really overthink ND in my opinion. There's many internal solutions with 2, 4, and 6 stops and that's literally three filters. A standard cinema kit is 1-6 stops. Going hard into brightness, 1-8 stops. Most work is done between 2-4 stops in my experience spanning nearly 3 decades. If starting out, grab a 0.6, 0.9, and 1.2 and that will work for most practical scenarios and build from there. Been ages since I've use a 1/2 stop ND, but that is useful when you find it so.

 

[Les Hillis]

If it's $10k, selling a Komodo for $3-4k would get you the Konodo-X for less than the old DSMC1-2 upgrade prices. Congrats to those who can get in on that.

 

[NathanHenneton]

Hey Phil,

I'm talking about adapter with ND wheels or EVND 1.5usd + 1K for END... I said 3K so I'm not far off, especially if you need to buy a 300$ riser to mount your monitor afterwards or whatever accessory you might need as well.

I own a Bright-tangerine mattebox and a set of good IRND, that's not the problem.

It's convinience and speed, any of my AC or DP friends will tell you the same story. Less time managing a mattebox / filter reflections / ND swap = more time caring about what's in the frame.

And as for Doc style shooting, I don't carry a mattebox anymore unless I use a single diffusion filter. I'll will change camera systems if I need to.

Camera get moved around, you going inside/outside quickly capturing moments. While yeah you can put a .9ND and open/close your lens, you know it's not ideal for consistency and you still have more point of faillure because you have a mattebox carryng heavy glass at the end of your lens.

As for B4 lens it's still what high speed shooters that I know use for doing slow mo work at the 24H of Lemans with Phantom : efficiency / speed / reach, and with the latest ones it damns work well with very little CA.

24H of lemans is usually 200-500fps, extremely rare 1000fps, it could be RED territory especially with the size of the new codecs.

While you think people "overthink ND", I think RED underestimate by a LOT the amount of camera they would sell if this Komodo X had built-in NDs.

Arri, Sony, Canon, DJI, Blackmagic does it and different price points that's a hard fact.

It's a 10K "small size cinema camera" with a super efficient compressed RAW codec, it's not necesserely meant for bigger crews and the pace of production is increasingly speeding.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

My concern is power. . . and not power to the camera. . . power to the accessories.

With our two Komodos, we are using the original $150 Titla V-mount adapter. That thing is amazing (unlike a few others, we have had zero issues with either of ours at all). It sports two 14.8 Lemo outputs, two D-tap outputs, and even a 5.3V USB output. As it happens, we are using all but one of those outputs on our "big rig."

If the Komodo-X sports an additional legitimate stop of dynamic range, I'd be very interested, but power is my concern. As a straight filmmaker, I have no interest in higher frame rates.

Stephen

 

[Vince Robitaille]

While you think people "overthink ND", I think RED underestimate by a LOT the amount of camera they would sell if this Komodo X had built-in NDs.



I, for one, had it at the very top of my wishlist-- and somewhat assumed that it was a given like many others.

 

[Han Vogen]

Yeah, gotta agree, built in eVND would have been next level. I think most of us do not want to add extra modules and adapters to the camera. That makes it larger and heavier… more difficult to transport, setup and breakdown. All this cost time and money. I’m sure some will upgrade… those that prioritize high frame rates. But many more would have jumped if Komodo X had internal eVND imo. I’ll wait for Komodo Mk2.

 

[TYLER STOOKSBURY]

For me, this seems like a logical upgrade.

Im doing Automotive and Documentary work and the Frame Rate options would be something that would elevate parts of my work. Im really interested to see where the frame rates for 5k and 4k land as well. V-Raptor is a little out of the budget for my typical clients and the Global Shutter for automotive is something that would be hard to give up.

 

[Josef Gatti]

I don’t mind eVND as a front module or as part of the mount but what might be a problem is the fact that I rock both EF and PL quite often. Buying 2x mounts with eVND each would be a significant expense, snd a super inefficient use of cash. For what it’s worth I do agree that internal ND should be a given on a camera like this in 2023.

 

[Nick Vera]

I guess we will see very soon a RED RF - PL-Mount with some kind of build in ND option and we are all good to go........

Not necessarily, I also use EF mount, M mount, focal extenders, focal reducers, etc. I don't just use PL. In fact for most of my traveling work, I never use PL

 

[Vince Robitaille]

Not necessarily, I also use EF mount, M mount, focal extenders, focal reducers, etc. I don't just use PL. In fact for most of my traveling work, I never use PL

And a good chunk on newer lenses are/will be LPL.