Black Shade Weapon Discussion

[Jason George]

Manual black shade calibration cleaned up the issues- seems to be cleaner than "auto" .
i feel that saving manual calibrations might be the ticket for optimal quality.
Thanks.

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

Thank you for your insights Jason!

 

[Michael Lindsay]

... when we got our CF weapon a couple of months back we ran a quick Auto v Manual test in a studio scenario. We ran 4 different exposure/shutter settings for manual BB and an Auto. We then shot at lots of different common frame rates (picking the closest manual and doing a auto version)

Auto was cleaner across the board and we have run that way since (apart from extreme situations)...

Will look again later in the week to see if a mistake was made.

M

 

[Gene Sung]

I’m new to Red with DSMC2 and have a few black shade questions

1) So let’s say that start of day, I did a manual Cal Map at 1/48 (24 fps), 1/120 (60 fps) and 1/60 (60 fps in low light). So for most shots I hit the “Apply” button for my new 1/48 Cal Map. When I switch to 60fps 1/120 shutter speed, I have to go back into the Calibration menu and “APPLY” the 1/120 Cal Map I made. Then when I switch back to 24fps 1/48, I have to remember to “APPLY” the 1/48 Cal Map.

Is this correct?

What if you forget to switch back to the correct Cal Map when shutter speed changes? Is this disaster?

2) I see there’s a default “Factory” Cal Map. Is this even useful since it seems like many people do a custom Black Shade at various times in the day.

3) Auto Black Shade sounds awesome, except the camera says it can take up to 1 HOUR which is an eternity on set. So is Auto Black Shade practical on a shoot due to the massive time penalty?

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

I’m new to Red with DSMC2 and have a few black shade questions

1) So let’s say that start of day, I did a manual Cal Map at 1/48 (24 fps), 1/120 (60 fps) and 1/60 (60 fps in low light). So for most shots I hit the “Apply” button for my new 1/48 Cal Map. When I switch to 60fps 1/120 shutter speed, I have to go back into the Calibration menu and “APPLY” the 1/120 Cal Map I made. Then when I switch back to 24fps 1/48, I have to remember to “APPLY” the 1/48 Cal Map.

Is this correct?

What if you forget to switch back to the correct Cal Map when shutter speed changes? Is this disaster?

2) I see there’s a default “Factory” Cal Map. Is this even useful since it seems like many people do a custom Black Shade at various times in the day.

3) Auto Black Shade sounds awesome, except the camera says it can take up to 1 HOUR which is an eternity on set. So is Auto Black Shade practical on a shoot due to the massive time penalty?

1. That is correct. On MX, it used to take 5 minutes in between each one which was unbearable. But luckily, on dragon, the whole process takes less than 30 seconds from start to finish. If you forget to change Calibration Maps, it's not a disaster, but you will notice that your image is noisier than it would be otherwise. Are you familiar with the T/E indicators? The "E" stands for exposure, which is what you are changing when you change your shutter speed. If that is green, you are good to shoot. If it's yellow, then you should probably change your Blackshade Calibration. If it's red, I would absolutely not shoot and definitely recalibrate.

2. You should never use the factory calibration as it will never be as effective as a manual Blackshade.

3. The Auto Blackshade feature is more for prep days then production days. Get the camera up to operating speed and let it sit for an hour while you test all your other accessories. Most camera preps last 1-5 hours. So that's plenty of time to run the Auto Blackshade. If you don't get a chance to prep your camera properly, then I would just manually Blackshade to the shutter speeds you know you will be using.

Hope that helps!