4k camcorder matchable with RED

[Lukas Karalius]

Greetings,

Our director has recently proposed an idea of getting a sub 5k Eur camcorder that we could match without too much hassle with our Dragon 6k and MX Scarlets. The reason for the camcorder is for us to be able to catch the shots which we often can't get in time with the bulky Red setups. My main concern is that cameras like the SONY HXR-NX80I shoot in XAVC-S and that it would be impossible to match it with the Reds afterwards. I realise that this is a matter of testing, but it's quite a challenge in Lithuania, where the representatives of companies like Canon or Sony don't have any of the cameras in stock and thus refuse to ship them in for test purposes.

Has anyone tried this and could guide us towards the right direction?

 

[Mike P.]

I'm not sure about the HXR-NX80I specifically, but the Sony mirrorless (especially the latest 422 10bit ones), can be made to match quite well. Bare in mind, you won't be able to make it quite as good, but with a few tweaks in post, you can polish the Sony footage and simplify the Dragon footage, to meet somewhere around the MX.

If you're in a hurry, you can use Resolve Colour Space Transform, where you select the footage acquisition settings and a different output (e.g. S-Gam/S-Log3-to-RWG/Log3G10) and then treat all the footage the same. It isn't perfect (colour temp/tint/saturation usually need playing with), but it gets you in the ballpark.

Also, you might have better luck with the BMDPockets, which boot-up in seconds, are much less expensive than $5k Euro, and have raw/prores so can be pushed around quite a bit more than baked delivery codecs (like 264/265)... OH and prores can playback/edit a lot easier too.

 

[Zack Birlew]

If you're talking about a video camcorder, I really like using my Sony AX100 for Youtube type stuff, here's an example with my "Fatal Frame 5" gameplay video and there's a more static one with my final thoughts video too if you need more examples. Video cameras with 1/3", 2/3", 1" sensors could work with RED but it's going back to the old tactics of making video look like film, even with 4K options these days. Link to my video:

https://youtu.be/Li3UzANxmgc

Now, if you're talking about other Micro 4/3, S35 or even Full Frame sensor cameras, you have a wealth of options. My suggestion for a quick and easy solution would be the Fuji XT-3 or Fuji XT-4 as they use S35 sensors and have 10-bit video right off the bat and there's plenty of lens mount adapters for Canon EF, Nikon, etc. There are of course the Blackmagic Design Pocket series of cameras with RAW video, the Pocket 4K is an awesome choice and what we used on our first feature with a RED One MX that is in post production but that will be a Micro 4/3 sensor so you would have to factor in the additional expense of a speed booster to get S35 or FF coverage, although the right lens combination with Micro 4/3 can help hide its sub-S35 sensor size. The Pocket 6K would be the ideal match as it has a lot of resolution to match your Dragon 6K and is a S35 sensor camera with an EF mount, that is if Blackmagic Design cameras are available to you.

 

[Simon Dunne]

Why would the Komodo not work? The Sony HXR-NX80I is a little bulky in comparison!