Getting started

[Emiliano Ranzani]

Hi guys,

I'm kinda of new to this board, I did some posting in the footage section but nothing more.

What I'm going to ask has surely been covered before and I apologize for my laziness but at the moment I'm quiet busy shooting stuff.

Anyway, the point is that, because of recent events, I might be able to purchase a redone camera (I have the money, but I'm not sure I should buy it) - how much would it cost to get a fully functional kit (I know I can see the prices in the store, but I don't know which pieces would be the best and stuff)?

Plus, I cut my stuff with FINAL CUT PRO 6 on a MAC PRO Dual 2.5 gigahertz ( with only 1 GB of RAM at the moment, since, as an editor, I'm still doing a lot of SD stuff) - how should I renforce it in order to handle the footage?

Thank you my friends

 

[Shawn Booth]

As far as your system - you should bump your ram to 16 if possible. Also consider your storage options. If you can, get the fastest mac you can afford.

Camera - what are YOUR needs? What will you be shooting? For who? Will you rent the camera out?

Some have gotten what they need for something like $30K. Me, I spent close to $100K (with matte box/follow focus, filters, cases, etc., etc.).

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I disagree somewhat on the 16GB RAM. Sure, it's nice if you want that much, but it's overkill on that system. Dual 2.5GHz is a bit slow these days, but it will get you by until you're ready to upgrade to something more powerful. We should see new offerings that are quite a bit more powerful than the current crop of systems by the end of this year. For now, if it's in your budget, a new 3.2GHz 8-Core w/16GB would be great. But if you're upgrading, 4GB is minimum, 8GB is perfect. More than 8GB just lets you have several more applications open and you can be lazy about what you close down. RED Alert, REDCINE, Final Cut Studio, Photoshop, etc.. Are all 32bit applications and can't access more than about 3.6GB total RAM, in some cases no more than 2GB RAM each.

Other reinforcements to your system would be a good RAID and a good backup solution that can handle the data loads. This has been a huge topic here and there is no single option that makes sense for everyone. ..Same can be said about the various accessories you will want for a RED kit. You have to see what fits your intended use, workflow and budget.

Visit the FAQ -- a sticky in this forum. It has a description for several accessories, but some descriptions are outdated. You may also find that third-party accessories fit you better than some of the RED accessories.

 

[patrickortman]

Also, keep in mind:

Don't be too scared about the higher numbers here and in other places. The real number for you depends on what gear you already own.

Do you have a fast enough edit system? A good set of Nikon style still lenses? Matteboxes, filters, follow focus, hefty tripod and head? Then you're way ahead of the game.

My system from Red costs about $27K. And for me, that is absolutely everything I need once it's added to my arsenal of toys I've been using on film and HD jobs.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

I'm still putting my kit together, but my previous camera was a dvx100, so I'm pretty much starting from scratch.

I spent about $28k with RED, and another $10k on tripod, mattebox, software, etc. I suspect I'll be about $40k in by the end of the summer, and probably another $10k by 2009. So from my perspective, if starting from scratch, a limited but very workable kit will cost you about $50k.

 

[amrrahmy]

i dont know much about the equipment an accessory cost, but for your computer, i can pretty much calculate exactly what u need to get by,
although it depends on how u use it, a 1500$ pc converted to mac can run pretty much anything a little faster than a mac, but i would only suggest a mac if ur going for a fcs workflow.

basically, any computer with minimum requirements that would run all fcs functions, would work for all the other applications(not including new 3d applications that requires new video cards) that u can possibly need. but depending on how u want to use them, some stuff will really make u uncomfortably board and sick out of ur mind(but if it opens it will work and with some caution it wont crash),i'll give u some examples.

if ur doing ur own stuff, either a movie or a series, u can find ways to edit frame by frame and scene by scene, in that case u dont need allot of processing, ram, GPU, or disk space.(any added speed would only be there to make u more comfortable).

if ur doing someone else's work, and u only get the footage(ur not the one making the footage on set), then u need more ram to surf through all the content back and forth(allot, u'll need to set allot of parameters though the whole movie, and adjust allot of stuff to match), in that case u need a fast computer, fast doesn't mean more ram, or more disk space it means faster, intead of a 2GB 677 ram, u get 2GB 800 ram, u add speed not space, u can control ur space consumption so that whatever u have would be enough.
so for that setup, i would advice both fast ram and fast hard-drive, u can choose between raid and san,(san is faster at the moment), but u can compare prices and see what u can get.(again not space just speed, get one fast hard-drive to do all ur work, and then upload to a slow hard-drive with allot of space like a 500GB or 1TB hard-drives).

there are allot of other scenarios, but i think u should get the point by now, one more thing, for ur monitors, if ur going to buy monitors, i would advice to get a good monitor instead of two monitors and a preview monitor.
but it's usually faster to work with a monitor and preview on another(just two, one for ur application and one for instant preview).
my personal fastest setup for monitors(if i had the money) would be a 23" wacom cintiq, and the new hp/30bit monitor.
u can use the application on cintiq and preview on the hp monitor.

one more thing if ur working alone on a computer u cant use all the applications at the same time(u can but it wont be wise), so u wont need more than 4GB ram (for all 2008 applications), and remember that u need to divide the rams evenly, u cant stick a 2GB with a 4GB, or leave empty slots in ur system(u can but the system wont be stable and running with optimal configuration, and it'll be slower and wont use some of the ram).

getting a battery backup in ur system(if ur not using a laptop) wont cost u allot of money, so i would get one.

and if ur changing ur video card, i would advice u to get an nvidia card with cuda, that would come in handy with encodings starting next year.

 

[Emiliano Ranzani]

Thanks guys, much appreciated

Also, keep in mind:

Don't be too scared about the higher numbers here and in other places

Oh, I'm not scared dude: the amounts I've heard are pretty much what I was expecting (aside from Shawn's 100 grands, but ubi maior, minor cessat). $30-40k (or 20-26k in Euros, as I'm from Italy) for a beast like the redone are a pretty good deal, especially considering that, not too long ago, for the equivalent of this sum you could get a betacam camera (that, with all the respect, even in its prime wasn't offering what red does).