36 hours with the Komodo

[Nick Morrison]

Right, so i think in my past i have not seen anywhere as many stills from any camera as from Komodo. Surely he can post some links to his footage from Komodo (graded and not graded). It is a “moving picture” camera after all.

I dunno, maybe he's busy? He owes us nothing. People have things to do. He did a lot already, far as I'm concerned.

He shot some test footage. He graded it. He posted stills. And he did a write up. I mean, that's already quite a bit.

I'm happy to just say thanks, but that's just me.

 

[Dominik Muench]

Great pics Juan ! would love to see some low light shots in those Tassy forests.

so i think in my past i have not seen anywhere as many stills from any camera as from Komodo. Surely he can post some links to his footage from Komodo (graded and not graded). It is a “moving picture” camera after all.

you might have to look closer. people have been using RED cameras very successfully for stills purposes for many years. starting with the RED ONE....have a look at Ivan Agertons work, many of his stills originate on the RED. Its definitely not just a moving picture camera, especially now with the global shutter.

 

[Bob Gundu]

Oh and I should add I’m a huge fan of Juan’s powergrades.

 

[Cliff Mello]

This is exciting. Great frames.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Juan is a great asset to have here on Reduser. Glad to see him provide these images. This is a really fun camera to shoot.

 

[Jiri Vrozina]

I am not interested in discussing Juan or anybody. I am mentioning the amount of stills i see on Komodo forum. I am sure it is no big deal to upload few clips in 2020.

 

[Bruce Allen]

I am not interested in discussing Juan or anybody. I am mentioning the amount of stills i see on Komodo forum. I am sure it is no big deal to upload few clips in 2020.

Yeah but then people get REALLY nasty, especially if the footage has anything that could even remotely be considered an "issue".

Much easier on the blood pressure just to post some nice stills, grade 'em tastefully and add a big filmic s-curve to make it saucy so you don't get people yelling at you about exposure or shadow noise or whatever

I remember Macgregor, Matt Uhry and I did an extensive test of the ol' GH4 back in the day on DVXUSER, before almost anyone else had the camera. We put it up against a Sony F35, which was probably a mistake.

We found a couple of issues with the GH4 highlight rolloff, etc. People were downright PISSED OFF that this camera they hadn't used (but had presumably preordered) wasn't perfect. Like they were SO ANGRY. They just were insulting us, they were insulting our model, they were insulting our test scene just because the highlights kinda looked like crap on the GH4 but not the F35 (which was the whole point of the test, to see what camera picture mode worked best).

I've never posted another because it sucked so much. Matt and I are too busy directing, or making decks or whatever. Mac is too busy, oh, you know shooting giant Lexus commercials or features starring Jesse Eisenberg now. Just don't need that stress in our lives.

It feels like the only reviews that get pages of praise are when the reviewer is bending the whole review to make people who are fans of a certain camera brand like them. That's just not me, man. And I don't think it's Juan either.

I bet the moment someone posts an honest Alexa vs KOMODO vs a7s vs R5 vs Venice vs BM12K comparison they'll get criticism and a whole lot of comments saying they shouldn't have tested while it was beta, or just nitpicking everything meanly.

So maybe Juan just wants to post some stills and pass on his enthusiasm and get folks encouraged.

Personally in the stills, I do see something special: Juan's eye as a colorist. Camera doesn't look particularly breathtaking (I am a DR snob, gimme $500/weekend Alexa rental any day) but that's fine! KOMODO will be good enough and great / the bestest / whatever for certain jobs.

So basically, I almost agree with you... it's more like I'm just sad that the forum is the way it is. I wish it were a place where people could post serious evaluations and everyone would go "BUDDY THANKS FOR DOING THAT, WHAT'S YOUR PAYPAL SO I CAN BUY YOU DINNER FOR ALL THE HOURS YOU SPENT DOING THAT?"

Bruce Allen
www.bruceallen.tv

 

[Mendes Nabil]

It's great to see how Komodo responds to a "film emulation" grade, Thank you Juan!

May i ask you how would you compare it to Arri Alexa (image quality wise)?
Of all Red cameras, i feel like Komodo is the closest to Arri even if i still need to run my own tests, would love to hear your thoughts on that..

 

[M Harvey]

I wish it were a place where people could post serious evaluations and everyone would go "BUDDY THANKS FOR DOING THAT, WHAT'S YOUR PAYPAL SO I CAN BUY YOU DINNER FOR ALL THE HOURS YOU SPENT DOING THAT?"[/url]

I'm with you on this-- let's all ask those burning questions and learn, but also show some gratitude! :thumbup:

 

[David Rasberry]

Right, so i think in my past i have not seen anywhere as many stills from any camera as from Komodo. Surely he can post some links to his footage from Komodo (graded and not graded). It is a “moving picture” camera after all.

There is no difference in a still frame snapshot and the moving images from Komodo, unlike any DSLR. You can see much more of Komodo's qualities from these stills than you would ever get from a Youtube compressed video. None of the exceptional fine color discrimination under mixed lighting comes through in subsampled 4:2:0 video.

 

[Jiri Vrozina]

There is no difference in a still frame snapshot and the moving images from Komodo, unlike any DSLR. You can see much more of Komodo's qualities from these stills than you would ever get from a Youtube compressed video. None of the exceptional fine color discrimination under mixed lighting comes through in subsampled 4:2:0 video.[/QUOT

I posted “ post some link to footage”....meaning ungraded original one... and graded one.
I am happy for you enjoying stills. Actually we could start “Photography Forum”, we have many stillS from Komodo now, we have a Library size of Vatican Archives now and growing. David, you could be a Photography Forum Moderator.

BTW i like these stills from Komodo but would be much better to have moving picture clips, pans, zooms to see what camera can do and how it handles change of light etc. My guess is, we should see that before Christmas when “Black Komodo” will be released to the rest of our Galaxy.

 

[Phil Holland]

No offense Jiri,

But perhaps check YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc. Lots and lots of footage out there now as well as cameras. Rand's been posting a ton of links. There's even been commercials shot at this point and delivered. Don't think any of the films being shot now have even finished, but there's BTS certainly being shared of that being done.

Juan is sharing his thoughts and grade. And he is indeed a very talented colorist as well as an asset to the filmmaking community.

I appreciate a jab here and there, but seriously man, take the trolling and crap attitude elsewhere. It's getting real old.

 

[rand thompson]

Phil,

Thanks for the "Shout Out'! :laugh::thumbup:

 

[Juan Melara]

Hey Jiri, since you've asked so politely I will shoot and edit some footage just for you. I need to grab the camera again for final checks, so I will shoot it then.

As for how it compares to the Alexa? In short, they're pretty close. They've got a very similar image feel in terms of noise level and the quality of the noise. Definitely feels more like grain than noise. Similar image sharpness and overall image texture. It has that soft almost low con look the Alexa has, but most cameras are like that now. It also handles point light sources in a similar way due to the new OLPF. I would say better than any other Red camera.

In terms of dynamic range, on the Alexa at ISO800 I'm seeing about 7.8 stops above middle gray and 7 stops on the Komodo. Roughly the same amount of stops below middle gray for both. Although that is harder to measure. But in the charts and real world comparison shots, I'm not seeing much if any difference. Checking out the charts made me go back and take another look at the P6K. At ISO800 I'm seeing 6.85 above middle gray. But it actually trumps both when highlight recovery is enabled as it holds 8.3 stops above middle gray. It is noisier in the shadows though, but cleaner than both when you bump up to the next ISO range.

Im still noticing the standard Red sensor push towards vibrant yellow when shooting spiky warm white light sources, but maybe less than other Red sensors? You can see what I mean in the helmet lights in Prometheus. Or pretty much anything by Fincher. Actually Fincher's work would look different without that push, so not necessarily a bad thing. The Alexa renders them closer to how they appear to the eye, as a slightly warm white. Apart from that, it matches Alexa colours pretty easily. And I don't think anyone could tell which is which.

I'll look at uploading some R3D stills.

 

[Nick Vera]

Love the halation effect you made Juan. Looks great. Are you going to be selling that soon?

 

[vincent kardasik]

Lovin' those stills Juan!

 

[Daymian Mejia]

Love that last night shot. Do you have the metadata for that one?

 

[Nathaniel Haban]

Love the halation effect you made Juan. Looks great. Are you going to be selling that soon?

Would be super interested in this as well. Didn't know if this was a post effect or combination of lens/filter, but the halation is gorgeous.

 

[Thomas Scott]

I'd love to know what lenses you used and if it was 6k 17:9 or 16:9, love the images!

 

[Daniel Pearson]

In terms of dynamic range, on the Alexa at ISO800 I'm seeing about 7.8 stops above middle gray and 7 stops on the Komodo. Roughly the same amount of stops below middle gray for both. Although that is harder to measure. But in the charts and real world comparison shots, I'm not seeing much if any difference. Checking out the charts made me go back and take another look at the P6K. At ISO800 I'm seeing 6.85 above middle gray. But it actually trumps both when highlight recovery is enabled as it holds 8.3 stops above middle gray. It is noisier in the shadows though, but cleaner than both when you bump up to the next ISO range.

Hi Juan,

How would you compare the Pocket 6k and Komodo generally as far as image quality? Bearing in mind we're talking a $4K vs $10K (AUD) camera. Interesting your comment about the excellent highlight recovery of the P6K.

Cheers.