Black Shading:A look under the hood

[Elsie N]

Not doubting your words Elsie but is this the case even just after you boot the camera up from cold? (ie. overnight)

if so what temp did you BS at?

No, I do get the temp warning when I first boot up. And even though the camera boots faster, I still get the red, yellow, green T progression at boot up. Probably takes a couple of minutes before the camera is ready to shoot.

And while I once advocated (for the Epic) shooting a bit to get the temp up to about 70 degrees on the E side, I now just let the camera warm up to RED's suggested 65 degrees before doing the blackshade.

No reason, I guess I just got lazy (or maybe it's because the warranty on the new sensor and boards is only 90 days and I don't want the log file to record any deviation from good practices '-)

That potential financial fix-it hit is the downside to being a camera owner, rather than a renter.

 

[Elsie N]

Great, so, what about the idea of putting a bit more flash memory in there so it can hold enough calibrations for most/all permutations of shutter angle and temp and making the BS part of the FW update process so most of us never have to think about it ever again?

Not sure if that was addressed to me or David, but I'll give an answer from my perspective.

I understand why one in your position (camera is a tool that I don't need to become intimate with... just don't slow me down) would want that.

But for me, that just adds one more layer of complexity and in my mind at least, layer upon layer of complexity can up the risk of failure. As a renter, you can just go get another camera. For me, that means I'm down to one camera and everything moves slower.

And because I use my cameras frequently, that little amount of time needed to get the blackshade done (as I stated earlier, I only blackshade after a firmware install) isn't a problem for me. But we are talking two different people with different ways of using a camera. So I understand what you want and if your approach is doable in a separate firmware, then that's o.k. with me. If it becomes part of the main software, then I'd rather not see that implemented because of how it may affect my own cameras.

 

[Elsie N]

Well, the 4 slots were part of a FW update, a flash memory upgrade might be needed but beyond that I doubt putting an auto BS in as part of the FW upgrade process would require a rewrite of the base software.

And think about it. This would be the removal of a layer of complexity not an addition.

Personally I find the idea of a RED cheerleader espousing the benefits of not having layer upon layer of complexity a little amusing.

Those two things are not mutually exclusive, so I don't get the joke. '-)

I guess we'll just have to disagree on layers of complexity thing. And I've been advocating for an even more simplistic version of firmware, (for the reasons stated in my last post) for those of us who do not try to use every bell and whistle the camera has, just because it's there. Call it a barebones Indie version.

 

[David Battistella]

Ivan,

I did notice yesterday that with the172 degree shutter black shading I could go to 72 degrees without getting the yellow e+. I ended up doing a black shading at 22 degrees and that covered me from 11 degrees to 72 degrees. Without any e+ warnings.

The dragon does black shade a heck of a lot quicker than the MX did. It's easily less than a third the time which is manageable.

I do notice that the boot time on dragon seems a bit longer. It's probably crept up to around 20-25 seconds.

cheers,

battistella

 

[Elsie N]

I keep a lot of black shading calibration maps on a 48GB SSD. I find it easier to load then from there than redo them all the time.

The current Dragon Beta FW build allows us to store a full 4 Calibration maps along with a fifth one which is Factory default.

I like this feature, It means you can plan to have Cal maps ready for a shoot.

IE: you film normally at 24FPS 172.8 degree shutter and you want to stop and do a Timelapse shot over lunch. Load up the 1FPS 172degree map (in about ten seconds compared to doing a full sensor calibration) and you are set to go.

...

...

Cheers
Battistella

Can't believe I'm saying this:

Normally I'm against more and more features, but I've come to believe that Dragon firmware is a long way from becoming dangerously over-complex. Now I'm thinking they should allow access to stored-in-camera blackshades via either frame rate or shutter speed... or maybe cross-referenced between both.

Something like the advanced button on the touchscreen under color temp. Just going there and choosing the light conditions as they change is a real timesaver.

I think the camera could be taught to recognize the conditions of each blackshade and automatically bring up the one(s) that fit those conditions (when asked) so the operator can choose from the touchscreen which blackshade they want to use for the framerate or shutter speed they change to.

Personally I may never use that feature as doing one blackshade has been working for me so far. But like the advanced button under the color temp, it could turn out to be useful in dramatically changing light conditions or frame rates.