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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Colored Pixels, Much Noise

J

Jordy Vandeput

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Hey Everyone,

I'm new to the RED ecosystem, but unfortunately already got a bad experience so far. I ordered a Gemini in September and finally received it about 3 weeks ago.
I already noticed that the camera was producing more noise than I expected (I worked with the RED before I bought one). At first I thought it was my fault and tried multiple black shadings, upgraded the firmware, testing various settings, etcetera.

Unfortunately nothing gave better results, until I noticed green, red and blue pixels popping up. Then I knew something was wrong and I contacted RED immediately. This was on Monday the 17th. On Friday I received an email back with a modified version of CINE-X. This would help me get rid of those colored pixels.

Now I'm pretty sure that a $20k camera should not have this issue and that I wouldn't need to run my shots through an extra software. They also mentioned the noise seemed to be odd, but got no further assistance about that.

I've been booking in a lot of projects in December, with a lot of luck I had the Gemini in the beginning of the month, but so far the RED has been laying in the rack as it's just unusable.

At this point I don't really know what to do and I'm afraid that the support is gonna take long. I'd probably gonna have to send the camera back and wait some more weeks.

So yeah, I was wondering if anyone else had such an issue with the Gemini? I've quickly made 2 shots which can be downloaded here: https://www.jottacloud.com/s/134a9dc015520ce4d9fb47e69e425c0f4a3.
One is in LL at 3200 ISO and the other at 800 ISO.

Any feedback is welcome. Are there other things than black shading I can do to reduce that noise and get rid of the colored pixels?

Thank you in advance!
 
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- That "800" clip is, like, 2 stops underexposed. It's more like 3200...
- Didn't see no pixels popping.
- Why is the "Project Time Base = 60" and the "Record Frame Rate = 48"?
- Why not 5K FF?
 
Šabović Adis;1836453 said:
- That "800" clip is, like, 2 stops underexposed. It's more like 3200...
Click to expand...

You are being generous. The specular highlights off the wire rimmed glasses don't really pop until ISO 4000-5000.

Jordy, thanks for posting R3D media, without which no proper analysis can be done.

And, just in time for its one year anniversary, I should point out that a year ago I posted a very special LUT that can brings GIO-scope functionality into the post suite:

https://manifoldrecording.com/2017/12/20/gio_lut/

Of course it is better to use the GIO scope on set when shooting to evaluate exposure. But it can also be useful after the fact to analyze R3D files and learn how to expose better the next time. Please check out the video linked from the above (and like it if it helps!).
 
Hey guys, thanks for the reply. I've been a bit too fast with the first demo shots and made some setting mistakes.

Here are new ones, shot at 5K FF with a fresh new black shading. There's a variation in 800 ISO and 1600 ISO. Plus one shot with the lens cap on at 800 ISO: https://www.jottacloud.com/s/134b0dd2604dbd24d63ad05beb0d0db951c
The colored pixels have been confirmed by RED themselves, and they can be seen. Definitely if you pause the video you will find a few.

Furthermore, shooting underexposed shouldn't give you this amount of noise in the shadows. I've shot with the Gemini before I got my own and I was just comparing some clips. I'm pretty sure there's either something wrong with the camera or a setting I do not know about yet.
 
Hi Jordy, I´ve got the same problem with my Gemini. I noticed it a few days after buying the camera and reported it directly to RED and my reseller. After more than two months of no reaction, I got a special Redcine-X software, too. But I have to work with the files in Davinci Resolve and other programms directly. So it´s very strange to buy a camera for over 25K and there isn´t a normal picture without pixel errors. I need an IN-CAMERA-SOLUTION, not a longer workflow!!! And REDs last answer to me was to wait if Blackmagic takes the future SDK in the future to get rid of these pixels?!

That´s very bad. I have to work with this camera since October 2018. And I can´t use it seriously. What should I say to my clients???
I´m very very unhappy with this situation!!
 
I got some great news from RED, I'm able to send my Gemini back for investigation. Hopefully it will help. I'll keep you all updated.
 
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