All Professionals...

[Shane Betts]

Thanks for this Jim. Great to see many of your "competitors" moving to 4k. Six years after Red.

Welcome to the party guys. Check in the bath to see if there's any booze left. And don't let the door hit ya on the arse on the way out.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Jim... man to man...

I understand that you are a hugely successful business man and its hard to take advice (from a person that has not hit the heights you have) Especially when you have creamed it in your past life...

But I have to say this... You need to stop selling to the already converted. and time to spend some money in the main stream and bring RED to the unaware, unknown and ill-informed into the fold. Time for RED to hit the mainstream... Don't you think.

I watched a guy one day stand in a street in the middle of New York years ago and asked if anyone had heard of Billabong.... (researcher) 1 in 150 said yes, then he said have you heard of SONY... 100% siad yes... Nike, 100% said yes.... etc etc etc...

I hope I'm not over steeping the line. But a few well placed messages in mainstream and direct media... will most certainly get your more brand and product aware, I think all us working pros are already aware...

In my lousy 20 years working solid in the advertising world, I've seen silly things convert big companies into to mammoth ones.

But you already knew that.

Actually forget I siad any of that.... Sounds silly me telling a billionaire how to market his business.

Moving on


PS: I feel far from being a victim.

Just placing our 1st ads now...

Jim

He he, wait to see what is coming out of our first movie "RAPE of a BEAUTY...


Couple of hints:

SERIES OF SHOTS - EXT. COLOSSEUM PHOTOSHOOT - ROME - DAY



KETCH
(to the Models)
Okay, as I explained to you girls, the reason why we don’t have any flashes is because I will not be taking pictures today, but actually filming your every move, at 120 frames per second, then I’ll extract the still images I want out of the video stream. So, don’t stop after each pose, just continuously move and give me new poses, you are now no longer just Models, you are Actresses!

....


Sorry I can't share anything more, but I will soon...


Jim, we love not only what RED stands for, but we Love you and your team for what YOU stand for, hope this never changes!!

 

[Michael Markowski]

I have read many of your posts Ketch and not only do you have a way with the film, but you also have a way with the ladies. We can learn a lot from you

 

[Björn Benckert]

Things don't always work out. Onward and upward.

Bloom with a Lumix = huge interest in his blogs.
Bloom with an epic = just another DOP using a top grade camera, and that does not generate so many clicks on blogs...

I belive it takes more than beautiful portraits to make it in one of the categories above.

 

[Andrae Palmer]

Just about the time you have settled into your favorite 1080P camera and think all is well in the world... you look up and discover that 1080P is an obsolete format. Seemingly overnight (if you haven't really been paying attention). 4K (or greater) acquisition and 4K delivery are here. Up-rezzing 5 times is really not a good option.

The clues have been there for quite awhile... even since 2005 when Arri posted that 2K film scans weren't enough... and encouraged 4K scans.

Technology is moving at a high rate of speed. Everything seems to be going obsolete before your eyes. One month there is an announcement of the new Canon cinema C300. 4 months later it is the C500. 1080P just went to 4K. You barely had time to settle in.

There are many 4K cameras that just got announced. Great news for the industry! Which one should I buy/use? What about workflow? Options... choices.

One thing for sure... if you are a Professional, you have to pay attention. That is part of the definition.

We applaud all the new developments. Everything is getting better. It is just getting more complex and expensive as a result.

RED differentiates itself by trying to make it a bit easier. Buy into the system and upgrade your way along as the future unfolds. Upgrade what you need when you want. Sensors, recording media, batteries, monitoring and workflow.

And you can't go wrong shooting RAW. It never goes obsolete. New color science discoveries always apply to RAW. You aren't trapped. Recording to an RGB codec is as obsolete as 1080P.

We anticipated this new world of technology as it relates to image capture. We designed our program around the concept of "everything can and will be made better". Starting with REDCODE RAW and sensor advancement.

We believe in more resolution at every step. We believe in more dynamic range with every upgrade. We believe in higher frame rate options. We believe in smaller packages...

And we believe that our customers should be our long-lasting friends... not our victims.

Jim

Glad I made my investment six years ago. Don't regret any of my decisions... business as only grown and I'm not worried about the pace of technology. I look forward to change rather than apprehensive about what's next around the corner. Thank you for the firmware updates that make the camera only better and better. Just a few weeks ago we had the new color science and now with Build 3.0.6 I put my canon lens on the camera and the Auto Focus is so much faster and works a lot better in low contrast areas.

 

[Mark Toia]

I don't even think you need to market yourself. Just keep doing the amazing things you have been doing, and the world will eventually find out.

Reputation only gets you so far in life Im afraid.

 

[Antonio Scarlata]

CHURCH!

 

[Stephen Mick]

A big, fat, huge +1 to this.

 

[William Sorensen]

So much of marketing and advertising is about distorting and spinning the truth... or downright lying. I'm looking at my EPIC right now. It is potential and potent. You haven't fooled or mislead us. You've got to show those who make the bottom line the only measure that being committed to a dream and helping others achieve theirs is a far better goal. You are one amazing visionary. I started with RED #324. You've been re-inventing my perception of the marketplace ever since. Thanks doesn't quite cover it.

 

[SeanBrown]

Love this.. Also make it sound like I can trade in my 5.0 touch for a 9inch.. I know thats not the case but would be great to (upgrade) that way

 

[Webster Miller]

I come from the medium format stills world and I understand the value of a 16bit RAW workflow. The Obsolescence Obsolete concept to the workflow is pretty much unheard of (in any industry). This will make the value of everything that I do that much greater because everything that I do will have a much greater life span.

As far as marketing goes, Mark T. said it, everyone needs to market. RED is no exception. There are many market segments, such as still photographers, who do not know who RED is or what RED has to offer.

I am excited by the creative direction that my Scarlet is allowing me to go.

Webster

Just about the time you have settled into your favorite 1080P camera and think all is well in the world... you look up and discover that 1080P is an obsolete format. Seemingly overnight (if you haven't really been paying attention). 4K (or greater) acquisition and 4K delivery are here. Up-rezzing 5 times is really not a good option.

The clues have been there for quite awhile... even since 2005 when Arri posted that 2K film scans weren't enough... and encouraged 4K scans.

Technology is moving at a high rate of speed. Everything seems to be going obsolete before your eyes. One month there is an announcement of the new Canon cinema C300. 4 months later it is the C500. 1080P just went to 4K. You barely had time to settle in.

There are many 4K cameras that just got announced. Great news for the industry! Which one should I buy/use? What about workflow? Options... choices.

One thing for sure... if you are a Professional, you have to pay attention. That is part of the definition.

We applaud all the new developments. Everything is getting better. It is just getting more complex and expensive as a result.

RED differentiates itself by trying to make it a bit easier. Buy into the system and upgrade your way along as the future unfolds. Upgrade what you need when you want. Sensors, recording media, batteries, monitoring and workflow.

And you can't go wrong shooting RAW. It never goes obsolete. New color science discoveries always apply to RAW. You aren't trapped. Recording to an RGB codec is as obsolete as 1080P.

We anticipated this new world of technology as it relates to image capture. We designed our program around the concept of "everything can and will be made better". Starting with REDCODE RAW and sensor advancement.

We believe in more resolution at every step. We believe in more dynamic range with every upgrade. We believe in higher frame rate options. We believe in smaller packages...

And we believe that our customers should be our long-lasting friends... not our victims.

Jim

 

[Patrick Grossien]

I have my best work on SD. I can't even take decent stills for promo work. Since I went RED, I left my best work only to come back to it years later, this time with an "EPIC" approach. I figure I've got 5 years at world class quality. Maybe 10.

Will, I feel with you. I have a lot of pretty work intensive commercial and art work on SD... partially because it's just "old", but also because it just looks so videoish, I won't share it anymore! It looks "ok" as in terms of feel, but it's just nothing I feel I can stand proud next to in terms of image quality. . . it's different with my old photography works. Those I still except as part of me ! On to new footage!

Shoot images that will last!

 

[Peter Lyons Collister ASC]

Certain people, and certain companies have changed things along the way for us DOPs. Arri with the rotating mirror reflex on its Arri 2A, Kodak with the constant evolution of film stocks, Panavision in the early 70's with the Panaflex, and I will now include Jim and the Red Team with the 4K Epic, the pricing, and the modularity...allowing both indie features and giant studio tent poles to be photographed and shown on giant IMAX screens.


It begs the question...what is next? It is an exciting time

 

[Antonio Forjaz]

Jim,

That was really well said.

Don't let RED ever die.

Best

Antonio

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

It begs the question...what is next? It is an exciting time

Always difficult to predict the future... Most technological watchdogs and "experts" get it wrong more than they get it right. But those at the forefront of an evolutionary wave -- RED, Apple, etc.. are in that unique position where they can influence or even mold that future somewhat.

My own and not so humble prediction of what comes next is something that is going to prove very difficult, even impossible, for most camera and video hardware companies. We are on the cusp of a rapid development phase with imaging technology, something that will move at a whirlwind pace compared to even the progress over the past few years. Something not unlike the massive ramp-up in MHz and CPU processing power we witnessed in the '90s where Moore's Law was at one point denounced by Intel and kicked to the curb as they were not doubling anything every 18 months, but rather quadrupling CPU speed and computational power at 9 month intervals through the Pentium-II and Pentium-III vs. AMD Athlon "arms race". Dragon is a prelude to this development and I think over the next few years, we are going to see a massive push in resolution, sensitivity, frame rates, etc... Those who are buying into Programs where they need to purchase a new camera every 6 to 10 months, just to try and stay current are in for a world of hurt. RED is taking this with a modular, upgradeable approach, where we can pace ourselves and continue along with the same system as painlessly as possible.

6K acquisition is coming, I'm sure 8K isn't far behind, then 12K, etc.. What about exhibition? We're seeing the signs of that too. Look at RED's upcoming laser projector. If not for their raster-generation system (whether it's a DMD or LCOS or something else), which seems to hold the resolution limit at 4K (for now), the ability is already there to show generate two simultaneous 4K images worth of pixels at 60Hz. In other words, the system can probably be upgraded by replacing the raster generation with an 8K DMD or whatever and we can suddenly do 8K from the same projector. No reason that can't be continued and pushed further that that too.

Look at our mobile devices and the ~300+ ppi displays out there now. The technology exists to cram HD on a postage-stamp-sized OLED display -- shown at CES and now available in the OLED BOMB EVF. What's to stop someone from applying that same tech to make a 30" 800 megapixel desktop monitor? Computers/ GPUs aren't powerful enough to drive such a thing. But that's only an issue for the moment.

Pixels, at least those identifiable by the human eye, will one day be a thing of the past.

 

[Luis Caffesse]

I'm not worried about the pace of technology. I look forward to change rather than apprehensive about what's next around the corner.

That hits the nail on the head, Andrae.
I used to wring my hands about upcoming tech... when the right time to buy was... how quickly would my investment leave me in the dustbin of camera history.
Now not only do I not worry as much, I look forward to it. The updates and upgrades can't come fast enough.

180 degree difference.
Less stress... more excitement... and more focus on the work itself.

It's a great time to be shooting.

 

[Will Keir]

It's possible SSD tech might take us where we want to go. No moving parts, old Nintendo games still work today.

Storage is something I wish red would solve since the resolution and file sizes are going up. LTO6 coming out this year will do 8TB compressed per tape. but even that's sounding like not enough. we need something as reliable as film for long term storage and archival and we need it like yesterday. LTO8 is due out in 2016, that will be 32TB but the way red is going I think file sizes might have doubled again by then.


Spinning harddisks are not a reliable way to archive anything

 

[Antonio Ribeiro]

After NAB I never felt more secure with choosing Red.

I agree. It's my first RED and I am happy I bought into a system that keeps on getting amazing updates. Nice film by the way. Do you have any photos of the making of? Cheers,

Antonio

 

[Will Keir]

(to the Models)
Okay, as I explained to you girls, the reason why we don’t have any flashes is because I will not be taking pictures today, but actually filming your every move, at 120 frames per second, then I’ll extract the still images I want out of the video stream. So, don’t stop after each pose, just continuously move and give me new poses, you are now no longer just Models, you are Actresses!

I am already have success with this approach, plus you can turn your camera vertical at 5kFF or 5kws and the width or height I should say, of the picture is a dream with 18mm PLs.

It's also great for shooting people that are difficult to shoot. Babies, animals, insects etc... Even models, it encourages naturalism. I make it a point to stay away from "posed" shots but at times it's almost like an instinct because it's been done for so long. Some people are drawn to that, most aren't. I've always felt that activities or coversations while shooting bring out something special or unique about a person and you can capture them in their element.

I have some funny examples, but I'll save those for another place with a cold beer.

 

[N.D. Paolo]

...Spinning harddisks are not a reliable way to archive anything

Spinning discs are fine for storage even if it doesn't start up after 20 yrs-
simply send failed disk to recovery service and transfer data to new disk.
Way cheaper, but you'll likely transfer to newer disk yourself and not need old one anyway.

As far as I have seen from 25 year old drives, data doesn't magicly disappear from platters.
if normally maintained at room temp. I gave up on tape backup with Sony 2GB compressed DAT
and Tapedisk back in the early 90's. All my data is fine baked in my old drive platters, like old LP's.

Not to derail or argue needlessly, but I find this arguement
perpetuated more by Tape companies for profit GAUGING...

- - - - - - - - - - -

On the topic of future, once we get to:

Personal OLED multimedia glasses at 4K and beyond with integrated data services
and social networking-
the next generation's Sony Walkman/Apple iPod...
I find little need for projection & audio systems either.

People could communally watch movies with friends internationally on-demand
once released online directly from the content creator online, in real-time.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/21/study-shows-more-people-watch-tv-on-tablets-than-computers/

Hopefully, this means more money to the content creators...