A controversial Komodo topic - Footage and DP's

[Joesef o.]

So here's a controversial topic I will bring up...

My belief is, we are not going to see many clips of proper cinematography footage for a while from this camera. In the sense of full scenes, expertly lit with actors, sets, and quality control, I feel we will not get this anytime soon. My reasons are as follows:

1) I believe the shear price point of the komodo lends itself to being purchased by less than experienced and less quality level "DPs" than with other camera systems. This is an easy buy in to the RED name on the cheap, and it's become quite popular of a buz with younger filmmakers. Younger filmmakers and amateur filmmakers don't really shoot the best footage....

2) Lot's of productions are just shut down or scaled to limited options, so having a normal set with proper gaffer, lighting, set design, and actors is going to be hard to come by for months...

3) A rush to get footage "out" has put pressure to just show footage from the komodo, but unfortunately just turning on a camera and shooting really doesn't show off its quality. The few guys that have the komodo in there hands have put out some lack luster images so far, and I feel its just from pressure of the community wanting to see something. In that rush, they get cat videos, random shots of airplanes, overly crushed post images, ect...

4) Because of price point some buyers of this camera might not really be into traditional cinematography. They might be more ENG, Corporate, Documentary, Live show, or fly on the wall people who are tempted. This means that their idea of a good cinematic image will differ greatly than that of say someone who loves traditional quality scripted fictional movie making. A difference in opinion with these people are always a battle online. Between the people who shoot a sit-down interview in a semi-uncontrolled environment with maybe 1 or 2 lights and think the shots look "amazing", and then those who go the extra mile to control every aspect, get everything perfect, have higher understanding of quality light, better tools, better skills...


I feel like this is going to hurt the komodo's name for the first half of the year its out. Which worries me, I've seen this happen many times before with other camera systems, it's a phenomenon thats unforutnate but true for many GOOD quality cameras that are priced in the prosumer level.

This sucks because I don't want it to tarnish the name of the camera or its actual capabilities. I do believe this camera is A-Camera level quality, and can fully support a feature film production rigged out. I would love to see it fully adopted as an A camera, instead of thinking it's not possible. I used to be a RED owner for many years with a few systems, I left camera owning all together for a while, then I eventually bought an Arri system. Everyone in the cinematography community on larger sets seems to love shitting on RED. Arri has a reputation that is second to none, so to battle side by side with a relatively new company that pushes tech like RED... and well you get this snobbery. I do love my Arri color science and quality of image, however I have shot and seen AMAZING footage from RED systems just the same.

I write this in hopes that any of you that do get this camera, step up your game a bit and post some better than average footage. There's nothing wrong with pushing your abilities harder and take more care of your image quality. To the students and younger or less experienced that will buy it, please take your time and learn your craft and study what makes an image a good one. I also feel like people will argue about this camera a lot in where it "belongs".

I personally see this as a stripped down A-camera. Not a "B or crash cam". Time will tell how others handle their workflows. Once I get my hands on mine, I will not post cat videos or random shots of things, I'll keep those to myself, when I do post it will be from controlled situations or properly colored and managed footage to SHOW OFF the cameras abilities and let it stand out as a good system.


Now go ahead and chew me out, but I've been doing this my whole life and see this time and time again when new digital systems comes out.

 

[Mark Phelan]

I understand what you're getting at, but consider how things have changed so rapidly in the past ten years. I don't think we've seen such a sea-change in all of the industry. The "traditional" cinematography is a very small part of the pie now. Last week I shot an episode of Building Off The Grid using an iPhone and a GoPro. So "proper" cinematography might have to start rethinking itself or it could become a buggy whip. It's all in the mix. Horses for courses.

The world has changed. And therein is the point. This is a moving target. I was discussing not long ago how wonderful it is to have so many lighting options and how much better lighting has become since the '80s. The little Apurture light is a great example.

And pandemics have forever changed the movie theater. When was the last time you even went to a movie?

I mentioned to Michael Cioni a couple months ago about how wonderful his Workflow From Home series is for Frame.io and how it was pure genius to create a global pandemic for their marketing. ;-)

Not chewing you out at all, just making a few observations. We are living the changes and it's a wonderful time for us to use any and all tools at our disposal. Komodo could slay Dragons. And it might. Makes me wonder what DSMC3 and future versions will look like.

 

[Bob Gundu]

Shooting a camera in a controlled environment will always look fantastic. But that’s the problem, any camera can look amazing, even mobile phones. The camera will speak for itself when it’s out. It won’t be long. Plus the camera has already been used on big productions. Those projects will be out soon enough.

 

[Han Vogen]

I say let the camera stand on its own merits. As cameras evolve the expectations evolve. The more forgiving a camera the smaller the crew needed to run it. This cuts cost. I envision this camera as a run n gun capable setup. I might be proven wrong. No one ever complains when filming with a Canon in less than perfect lighting. The less work needed to get the shot the better. That’s why features such as AF are being added to Komodo. And honestly, that AF is going to need to be good... Dam good, or else what’s the point?
Komodo is not some fragile child that needs your protection. It’s a tool... and it has to perform. And perform well under less than ideal conditions. Everything extra that is required to get a good image is an additional cost that needs to be factored in.

 

[Joesef o.]

I say let the camera stand on its own merits. As cameras evolve the expectations evolve. The more forgiving a camera the smaller the crew needed to run it. This cuts cost. I envision this camera as a run n gun capable setup. I might be proven wrong. No one ever complains when filming with a Canon in less than perfect lighting. The less work needed to get the shot the better. That’s why features such as AF are being added to Komodo. And honestly, that AF is going to need to be good... Dam good, or else what’s the point?
Komodo is not some fragile child that needs your protection. It’s a tool... and it has to perform. And perform well under less than ideal conditions. Everything extra that is required to get a good image is an additional cost that needs to be factored in.

And thats where I COMPLETELY disagree. I own 2 Alexa XR/XT systems, these cameras are not more forgiving at all. Neither is a RED Gemini which I use a lot too because the company I work with a lot owns one... I do NOT believe in the less work needed to get the shot the better. This is my point I made. This is 2 completely different mindsets talking about the same camera.

Me as a cinematographer who ONLY shoots scripted fiction work which goes on TV or major streaming services (some traditional theatrical releases too) I don't agree at all. Auto Focus is a joke for any real traditional tv or film shoots, first there's no point in our line of work , second our lenses don't support that anyway. We all use real cinema PL lenses which have no auto focus features, we have artistic control over the focus, including how smooth it focuses how and when to transition from subject to subject, how to feather and track when subjects move... It's an art from and a serious job, one of the most important on set.

So yeah, you've made my point clearly. You are the kind of guy that see is from the prosumor standpoint, which totally doesn't align at all with someone who comes from my background.

So in the end all that it will lead to is arguing and backand forth. Seen it a thousand times.

 

[Phil Holland]

I won't chew you out, but I'm happy to respond perhaps mostly pertaining to myself or my own pov.

1.

Also, I'm 40 and don't classify as a young filmmaker sadly anymore. Dammit. Miss my 13 year old self suddenly.

2. This is actually rather true. What led to me posting an R3D of myself, well lit, properly exposed, and all that was primarily due to two cancellations of Hair/MUA, Talent, and our location physically being closed the week of me receiving the camera. Production is barely burping right now and the pandemic is still here. But fear not, I'm working on that.

3. Ouch. *tears* Keep in mind all the peeps are of a variety of skill sets and shooting styles. Commercial, Doc, Lifestyle, etc. You're going to get an even larger variety of footage as more cameras get out there. There's been good and bad, but I think it's more revealing when you see the good in this case. It's also the simple reason I didn't start shooting squirrels in my back yard a couple weeks ago. That first sample R3D I provided was shot at 3am in my home, 5 light setup. 2X1 Gemini through a 4x4 Matthews silk was key. Exposed accurately to 18% Gray.

4. I'm certainly experimenting with a variety of rigs for a variety of shooting styles, but I am mainly in the cinema and weirder worlds game and that's my primary focus with this tool.

Auto Focus is a joke for any real traditional tv or film shoots, first there's no point in our line of work , second our lenses don't support that anyway. We all use real cinema PL lenses which have no auto focus features, we have artistic control over the focus, including how smooth it focuses how and when to transition from subject to subject, how to feather and track when subjects move... It's an art from and a serious job, one of the most important on set.

Generally I am more of tactile focus pulling sort of fellow, in fact I prefer that over electronic focus systems even for the reasons you mention. But auto focus is just another tool. A tool that slowly but surely is making it's way onto higher end sets:
https://prestoncinema.com/
https://www.fdtimes.com/2018/01/29/gods-of-focus-speak2/


I'll be posting more shortly. The biggest hurdles for me are mainly due to the pandemic here in LA and a smidgen of time related issues as I am actually doing things.

 

[Jason Henne]

I think the major issue is that a lot of people, like the OP, want this camera to be able to produce an image on par with a 20k red, and Jarred is doing his best to temper expectations without hurting sales. You can use any camera as an A cam if you like and to the OP's point an iPhone in the hands of a skilled DP with proper lighting is going to look better than an Arri Mini LF in un-skilled hands. That being said, these people who received these cameras are not average joes who shouldn't be considered un-skilled, I think they all would consider themselves cinematographers who want to produce high quality images. Which leads us to this point in the camera's life where we've had about 20 clips from various sources, and none of them have really been impressive, or at least on-par with expectations, which I believe is the motivation for the OPs post. He;s saying do not judge the camera until it can have the benefit of full lighting and crew. BUT unfortunately I believe that's not how most will end up using this camera. This camera is coming at a time when the lines of PRO-sumer and pro-fessional are being blurred. Kinefinity, Z-cam, Sigma, and the name that probably gets looked down on the most here, BLACKMAGIC, is leading that change. John Brawley has been shooting the HULU show, The Great, with a combination of URSA mini g2s and Arri cameras and nobody has said anything about it taking away from the cinematography. Oddly enough, that Blackmagic Ursa g2, is right at that $6000 price point, just like the Komodo and when I asked on the group livestream if any of the current komodo holders would be willing to compare the image created by the KOMODO to the BLACKMAGIC POCKET 6K I was met with a chuckle and a WHY?, which surprised me a little. So... I don't think it's an argument but a real discussion that people don't want to have about the image short-comings of the Komodo based on what we've seen so far and that's difficult to do when people want something to live up to the expectations or brand loyalty that they've built up, similar to trying to have a real conversation with someone who is steadfast in their religious faith.

 

[Michael Tiemann]

I will add two Komodos to my three DSMC2 cameras (Monstro and 2x Helium) the minute the Hydrogen discount window opens up. Why? I have all the slo-mo I need. What I really need are cameras that are quieter that I can move closer to talent during recording sessions without compromising audio due to fan noise. Komodo solves that problem, and it solves it for the lenses that I already have (especially Tokina 11-20). What's not to like?

 

[Spencer Weaver]

I love the komdo as a baby RED. I love it as a novelty. I love is as a RED "GoPro". I love it as a small little box of magic. I love it as an affordable RED entry point. I love it as a RED .R3D machine!....R3D is what makes it so appealing to me over something like a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. And I love the global shutter!!!

But I don't for a second have lofty expectations that this is or somehow needs to be DSMC3. And I'm not asking it to be the silver bullet for everything.

I imagine Komodo, in many ways, will help usher in the newer tech coming in DSMC3. Indeed, sometimes I wonder if this komdo is somehow related to a terrible lizard we have not yet met...

 

[Joesef o.]

I won't chew you out, but I'm happy to respond perhaps mostly pertaining to myself or my own pov.

1.


Also, I'm 40 and don't classify as a young filmmaker sadly anymore. Dammit. Miss my 13 year old self suddenly.

2. This is actually rather true. What led to me posting an R3D of myself, well lit, properly exposed, and all that was primarily due to two cancellations of Hair/MUA, Talent, and our location physically being closed the week of me receiving the camera. Production is barely burping right now and the pandemic is still here. But fear not, I'm working on that.

3. Ouch. *tears* Keep in mind all the peeps are of a variety of skill sets and shooting styles. Commercial, Doc, Lifestyle, etc. You're going to get an even larger variety of footage as more cameras get out there. There's been good and bad, but I think it's more revealing when you see the good in this case. It's also the simple reason I didn't start shooting squirrels in my back yard a couple weeks ago. That first sample R3D I provided was shot at 3am in my home, 5 light setup. 2X1 Gemini through a 4x4 Matthews silk was key. Exposed accurately to 18% Gray.

4. I'm certainly experimenting with a variety of rigs for a variety of shooting styles, but I am mainly in the cinema and weirder worlds game and that's my primary focus with this tool.




Generally I am more of tactile focus pulling sort of fellow, in fact I prefer that over electronic focus systems even for the reasons you mention. But auto focus is just another tool. A tool that slowly but surely is making it's way onto higher end sets:
https://prestoncinema.com/
https://www.fdtimes.com/2018/01/29/gods-of-focus-speak2/


I'll be posting more shortly. The biggest hurdles for me are mainly due to the pandemic here in LA and a smidgen of time related issues as I am actually doing things.

So as we speak Phil, you're footage is the only footage I've been able to check out properly, downloaded the R3D's and quickly did my own investigation into the footage. In my opinion, yours is the only test shot that's actually given me any kind of look into and under the hood of the komodo. Which I thank you for...

With that said, I think people might be taking my "young" comment a little more on the nose, I just mean less experienced with traditional cinematography and cinematography tests.

Also as someone else mentioned my point of this topic is to warn the people who are eyeing this camera as a serious cinematography camera, NOT to judge based on the first footage coming out of it right now. I see a LOT of negative comments about the Komodo on youtube clips of random shots that were posted. I see the camera in the hands up some that just did a horrible first impression of the camera and I'm trying to give reasoning for it.

I am on the list, hopefully I've made it to the ByeBye Blue model, I AM buying one, and I AM going to put it through some real cinematography tests, so I hope people dont jump to conclusions about Komodo before actual cinema shots are made, and not just cat videos lol.

 

[Joesef o.]

And lastly I still stand by AutoFocus being a Joke for any real cinematography. 16 years of being a DP, we don't have autofocus lenses, period. Arri Super Speeds, Masterprimes, Ultraprimes, Cooke Speeds Panchros, Cooke S4, S7, Panavision all series, Atlas anamorphic, the list of every major movie shot ever will have these lenses and more. NONE of which used autofocus. It's called a First AC or Focus puller, skilled art.

Autofocus isn't for real production use, it's a gimik for one man bands maybe? No clue, have no use, even on my stills photography cameras I pull my focus by hand and hardly use AF. I used to be a wildlife photographer many years ago, I shot on my Nikon F5 with Fuji Velvia ASA 50 positive slide film. I had a 300mm F2.8 lens I used to shoot birds with. By hand, no AF was built into that older lens. It's not "Needed". But anyway maybe I'm just acting like an old fart.

My stance is where it's at. AF is worthless in cinematography. However it will bring a lot of younger people wanting to use it and it will show with jerky bad focus movements, not to mention the lack of accuracy and control.


Bottom line. I want my Komoto so I can show it off in the best light possible. Pun intended

 

[Ash Worth]

Double edge sword of a RED release is that they are a work in progress, so you really never know what you are looking at, I imagine the footage currently is not good enough to release if someone like Holland has has the camera for a month and not released anything in depth. I've never understood the concept of all the effort staging RED cameras for photos but very little on what it is supposed to do?

Saying this and giving what limited footage I've seen I fully expect Komodo to be a very competent camera, exceptional for specific use cases, but not ground breaking or signiifcantly better than anything else out there in the price range, certainly not a game changer to use that overused and tacky descriptive.

 

[Nick Morrison]

I don't think anyone needs to panic.

RED is unusual, yes, in that they don't hand out their first 10 cameras to the likes of Roger Deakins.

Instead, they gave them to real users with different needs.

Ie what you are seeing then is real footage, shot by real people.

Not slick commercials that only shows the good, and never the bad.

Think about that - there's a confidence there we haven't quite seen before.

RED is almost daring these beta testers to "break" the camera and the sensor.

And I'll admit, I've been impressed by lots of the test footage, for reasons that aren't always obvious.

For example:

1) The global shutter is real.

2) The small body appears to work well (there's an intimacy to holding such a light weight camera)

3) The internal mic sounds better than expected

4) Fans appear to be quiet (we've heard no complaints so far).

5) The image looks GOOD - it's clean, the color is there, it's just very solid.

I'm not sure what there is to complain about, honestly...

 

[Curtis boggs]

#3, understand there has been some less then great footage posted.

But I can share this. I have posted a few things from jobs but are limited what I can post. But primarily bigger productions are shut down so I'm not really sure what you expect.
On top of that keep in mind people are doing what they can and I respect their effort.
I posted a video of footage I shot hand held in the afternoon at the ocean front in an effort to show what the camera can do right out of the box.
Now I didn't really think the images where bad and in fact shot back lit silhouette, into the sun, dark to show shadow noise etc. and show the sensor
capability quite well.

Most mid level productions are changing in a very big way. Crews are getting smaller etc as has been stated. I work shooting mostly commercials for agencies and small business.
This work is very different then big studio narrative or TV shoots. They all have their specialized skill sets and techniques so no single one should dominate any decision for Komodo.
On commercials under $100k I'm lucky if I get a focus puller. Better face the facts, the business is changing drastically and not for the better.

I shoot fashion and lifestyle with a specific style that Komodo lends it's self to. Very hand held and "free".
I used to shoot fashion and commercial stills on a 500c Hasselblad. Komodo feels just like my old Hassy and really feels good to me.
For lifestyle and fashion it's likely it'll be my A camera and the Iphone / Ipad Red control app with monitoring will make it great for smaller productions.

HOWEVER the fact Komodo does not have all the connections, the high frame rates and able to shoot prores proxy in camera, it'll never be a "big production" camera I feel.
One issue is the size and weight where a heavier camera can be an advantage hand held. But also bigger rigs where we need wireless video, wireless focus, CineTape etc,
the DSMC2 I think will still be king.

Cheers,

Curtis

 

[David Rasberry]

As far as Komodo's technical capabilities are concerned, it certainly will be able to produce images on par with its DSMC2 brethren. That is part of the reason for its existence. Dynamic range and color science will be very closely comparable with any of them except perhaps Monstro VV. Resolution is more than adequate for 4k deliveries.
Those properties are independent of the skills required of a cinematographer or colorist to make the most of the tool. Deep raw cameras like Reds, and the software tools that support them, take significant time to learn. They don't come with baked in looks or point and shoot automation options like typical prosumer video cameras in a similar price range as Komodo. The skills of the user will play a significant roll in what we see posted online.

That said, I'm seeing a distinct shift towards a new digital aesthetic, even in narrative dramas, moving away from traditional film aesthetics. The sensitivity and dynamic range of modern digital cinema cameras and the evolution of lighting allow minimalist augmentation of natural and practical light sources in a ways not practical with film. Grading and finishing are changing too.
I've been binging on Netflix's Ozarks, by any film aesthetic measure an ugly show. But the dark HDR aesthetic and unflattering color casts suit its subject matter, adding to the foreboding dramatic tension.
For that matter HDR reproduction itself is a technology that can produce stunningly crisp, beautiful, deep color imagery that is not film like at all.

 

[andrewhake]

So what?

 

[Curtis boggs]

As far as Komodo's technical capabilities are concerned, it certainly will be able to produce images on par with its DSMC2 brethren. That is part of the reason for its existence. Dynamic range and color science will be very closely comparable with any of them except perhaps Monstro VV. Resolution is more than adequate for 4k deliveries.
Those properties are independent of the skills required of a cinematographer or colorist to make the most of the tool. Deep raw cameras like Reds, and the software tools that support them, take significant time to learn. They don't come with baked in looks or point and shoot automation options like typical prosumer video cameras in a similar price range as Komodo. The skills of the user will play a significant roll in what we see posted online.

That said, I'm seeing a distinct shift towards a new digital aesthetic, even in narrative dramas, moving away from traditional film aesthetics. The sensitivity and dynamic range of modern digital cinema cameras and the evolution of lighting allow minimalist augmentation of natural and practical light sources in a ways not practical with film. Grading and finishing are changing too.
I've been binging on Netflix's Ozarks, by any film aesthetic measure an ugly show. But the dark HDR aesthetic and unflattering color casts suit its subject matter, adding to the foreboding dramatic tension.
For that matter HDR reproduction itself is a technology that can produce stunningly crisp, beautiful, deep color imagery that is not film like at all.

GREAT POST

 

[Adam D. Ouellette]

4) Because of price point some buyers of this camera might not really be into traditional cinematography. They might be more ENG, Corporate, Documentary, Live show, or fly on the wall people who are tempted. This means that their idea of a good cinematic image will differ greatly than that of say someone who loves traditional quality scripted fictional movie making. A difference in opinion with these people are always a battle online. Between the people who shoot a sit-down interview in a semi-uncontrolled environment with maybe 1 or 2 lights and think the shots look "amazing", and then those who go the extra mile to control every aspect, get everything perfect, have higher understanding of quality light, better tools, better skills...

Had to respond to this, so this is my first post.

Honestly I think its problematic for the exact opposite reason. Saying "traditional cinematography" produces better images is just wrong. A proficient DP can take images that rival a narrative fiction film any day...which is why I find the images I'm seeing a problem. Saying that you have to "wait till its proper lighting on a set" is kind of a moot point when there's millions of amazing docs out there that don't have a single light on them. Kind of demeans the genre. There's tons of cameras at lower price points that have superior images in these "less than ideal" settings. Why should we make exceptions? These are all just tools. This is dancing around the issue. The primary reason I pre-orderd the camera is because a lot of the companies I've worked with use the Helium and Gemini as their A cam. I was expecting the footage to at least match up to the Raven which has now been discontinued and I don't even see that so far. It's just not there. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the camera but I'm just underwhelmed. I get its a privilege to be in on the camera early....I just want to feel inspired by what I'm seeing. Every other RED cam has delivered that and so far not feeling that way. I want that. To be clear im not "tRaShInG ThE CaMeRa"....I just want good solid clips. Lets see what this baby can really do. More reason to keep posting clips and not feel discouraged.

There are absolutely scenarios in which auto focus is helpful in a professional environment. They are very specific scenarios.....but they exist. Its nice to have. Esp if this is your B cam and you're out in the woods tracking something... It doesn't make you "less" of a cinematographer. Its just a tool. This may not apply to you this does not make it invalid.


I know we're in a pandemic and things take time right now...guess we all just need to be patient. Ya'll love to talk an awful lot.

EDIT:

I did just watch Curtis's clips and that seems quite a bit better. There just needs to be more time for clips to be shot as others were saying.

 

[Phil Holland]

I don't think anyone needs to panic.

I always know where my towel is

You should have seen me when I discovered the internal mics. I accidentally left them on after testing line in audio and had a full blown phone conversation while rolling an early test. It's been forever and a day since I've used the scratch mics, but I did have that "huh. well that doesn't sound too shabby at all" moment.

 

[Björn Benckert]

What is the worry?

Nobody here is RED stockholders and very few will make money on renting out their Komodo as price is so low the rental rates it will pull is hardly worth the hassle of renting it out and it will likely be in way higher supply than demand like other similar priced cameras.

Just as rental houses today does not exactly make their big profits on renting out BMC pocket 6k cameras.

People shoot shit footage with all kinds of cameras but of course less so with a Arri XL or LF studio, as the skateboard kids and small team / low budget shoots are not reaching for that kind of camera.

And the market is drastically changing. Sure there will be productions that use the techno cranes, big dollies, expansive camera cars and truck load of lights for each shot. But thats simply a shrinking fraction of the market. Also I'm sure that in a very near future we will see quite high end series and features shot with a lot less lights and more agile cameras. Small onehand gimbals, small fast easy to fly drones etc. On top of that you have the wedding photographers, surfers, snowboarders, nature and documentary guys etc. Its not like there is only one request for large studio production type cameras, on the contrary. I think for any camera company to only aim for that market would not vice. I dont know who has the biggest turnaround, GoPro or Arri?

One thing I have seen many times over is that when DoP´s buy a camera, lenses and or other gear and try to get their stuff onto productions. Some producers simply don't want to work with them. As the producers at least for higher budget productions are not looking for a one stop shop. Where they can get a cameraman providing his own gear. They want a photographer that is working as a consultant, helping them gather the best possible tools for the job... Then if you stand there and say that this little komodo that you just happen to own is the best hammer for the job at hand, there is a big chance that they stop see you as a DP with great knowledge and instead look at you as a sales person that is just trying to promote your own merchandise.

Still Komodo is for sure a very capable camera, and if you got the talent and know how to work it, it will generate great images and what ever shit footage other people shoot with it should not have much impact on what you do with it. As mentioned above perfectly lit, exposed and shot imagery says very little about a camera and its qualities. To me its only when using a camera on or outside the edge of it capabilities its possible to fully understand what its capable of.

About autofocus, I worked on all kinds of productions. From skeleton crew stuff to seriously high end commercials music videos, series and features and to this date I got about 5000 productions under the belt in total. I can not remember a single one of those productions where there was not atleast one instance where a good intelligent autofocus would have been better option then having the best of focus pullers chasing focus by hand. Sure the AC´s work is an artform with creative focus and all that. But I seen plenty of of important takes being ruined from poor focusing where a good autofocus feature like something thats allready available on small Sony cameras and such would have saved the shot. As I see it autofocusing will likely be available in the next generation of cameras, not only from Red but Arri and all the rest. When that hits I'm sure even people doing the finest form of rehearsed drama with tape marks on the floor and full team etc will also use it occasionally. It will shortly also come good intelligent AF systems that can run any old lenses with external gears. There is plenty of such systems in development allready and the next generation sensors will likely, just as Komodo have a ship that makes it possible to chase focus from the pixel readings.

When viewing netflix 4k stuff on a big 4k projectorscreen its quite easy to see that even the most well shot series have focus issues that could easily be saved with the above. I for sure think that Cooke and all the other highend lens manufacturers will not miss the opportunity to adapt and sell yet another generation of lens lines with internal motors, focusing driving mounts etc. That will likely come shortly after the new AF sensors and of course the will also offer to take back that full set of Cooke Anas that you just bought and rehouse them into their new AF housings for a small fee...