Damian Horan
Active member
Was wondering if Red has discussed a firmware upgrade that would allow the Weapon 8K Helium and Epic-W 8K Helium to shoot 4K ProRes 4444 XQ? The new 8K Helium cameras appear to be incredible, but the one major flaw I see in them is the significant crop factor the cameras have when shooting less than 6K but having the ability to record 4K ProRes 4444 XQ off the full 8K frame would drastically help eliminate that major design flaw.
Right now the industry standard is still 2K, although obviously any time now the industry standard will be 4K so it is great to have the ability to shoot these high resolutions. Nonetheless, I've found it is very difficult to convince too many producers to even shoot 6K right now, so I just can't imagine there are going to be many non-studio productions that will have the desire or even ability to shoot in 8K. Thus that means that if you can convince a project to shoot 6K on the Helium sensor you will be dealing with a 1.12x crop factor on a Super 35mm frame, which isn't bad, but nonetheless pretty annoying to have a crop factor at 6K. If you can only convince a production to shoot in 5K (which I've found most low budget features prefer to shoot on if not even 4K) you are now dealing with a 1.35x crop factor, which is pretty significant. If you are working in TV and can only convince the production to shoot 4K (which again is basically the industry standard) you are dealing with a 1.69x crop factor, which is really unusable. So in basic terms it seems like the 8K Helium Sensor basically does not function at industry standard resolution, which seems like a shame for such an incredible camera.
Yes you can record 4K ProRes 422, but I think any colorist would tell you that this is not a professional finishing codec. If there was a firmware upgrade that allowed ProRes 4444 XQ (like the Alexa) recording off the 8K sensor, that would be a huge game changer, as the camera would be able to shoot 8K if a project could afford it, but for the 90% of projects that can't afford or don't have the desire to shoot 8K, you would still have a professional finishing codec for the industry standard of 4K without having to deal with significant crop factors.
Again not bashing the 8K Helium sensor, as it is truly amazing what Red is offering now, and it is completely amazing to have such a future proof camera. Nonetheless, it seems like for the most part the crop factor makes the 8K Helium sensor a less than ideal camera for most shoots (at least for the next 1-2 years or until storage and post processing power catches up to this resolution capability).
Thoughts? Am I off-base here? I really want to get the Helium 8K, but after delving into it, it just seems so impractical and limited unfortunately.
Right now the industry standard is still 2K, although obviously any time now the industry standard will be 4K so it is great to have the ability to shoot these high resolutions. Nonetheless, I've found it is very difficult to convince too many producers to even shoot 6K right now, so I just can't imagine there are going to be many non-studio productions that will have the desire or even ability to shoot in 8K. Thus that means that if you can convince a project to shoot 6K on the Helium sensor you will be dealing with a 1.12x crop factor on a Super 35mm frame, which isn't bad, but nonetheless pretty annoying to have a crop factor at 6K. If you can only convince a production to shoot in 5K (which I've found most low budget features prefer to shoot on if not even 4K) you are now dealing with a 1.35x crop factor, which is pretty significant. If you are working in TV and can only convince the production to shoot 4K (which again is basically the industry standard) you are dealing with a 1.69x crop factor, which is really unusable. So in basic terms it seems like the 8K Helium Sensor basically does not function at industry standard resolution, which seems like a shame for such an incredible camera.
Yes you can record 4K ProRes 422, but I think any colorist would tell you that this is not a professional finishing codec. If there was a firmware upgrade that allowed ProRes 4444 XQ (like the Alexa) recording off the 8K sensor, that would be a huge game changer, as the camera would be able to shoot 8K if a project could afford it, but for the 90% of projects that can't afford or don't have the desire to shoot 8K, you would still have a professional finishing codec for the industry standard of 4K without having to deal with significant crop factors.
Again not bashing the 8K Helium sensor, as it is truly amazing what Red is offering now, and it is completely amazing to have such a future proof camera. Nonetheless, it seems like for the most part the crop factor makes the 8K Helium sensor a less than ideal camera for most shoots (at least for the next 1-2 years or until storage and post processing power catches up to this resolution capability).
Thoughts? Am I off-base here? I really want to get the Helium 8K, but after delving into it, it just seems so impractical and limited unfortunately.
