Epic M and X Data Sheet

[Phil Holland]

**updated 04.18.2014



Red Quick Reference Guide (RQRG for short)
I have compiled the bulk of these data sheets and some other useful operational notes into a PDF. After seeing my Data Sheets end up in rental houses out here in LA I was inspired to make something a bit more robust for new and seasoned Red shooters.

This PDF is suitable for printing at 300dpi on standard 8.5x11 paper in landscape orientation with space for binding. So you can print it out, bind it up, and toss a copy into your kit. (or email it to renter!)

This document is free and can be freely distributed, but is not for commercial resale use.

It is currently 52MB. Here is the permanent download link:
http://www.artbyphil.com/temp/redQuickReferenceGuide/RedQuickReferenceGuide.pdf

table of contents:
page 1 - Epic Data Sheet
page 2 - Scarlet Data Sheet
page 3 - Red Format Key
page 4 - Red MX Relative Crop Factors
page 5 - REDCODE RAW Primer
page 6 - RedMag Record Time
page 7 - Red MX Crop Factors
page 8 - Common Motion Picture Aspect Ratios
page 9 - Crop Factors, Dimensions, and Diagonals
page 10 - Notes on Infrared Protection
page 11 - Powering the Epic and Scarlet
page 12 - Black Shading and Operating Temperature
page 13 - Monitoring Overview and LEMO Operation Notes
page 14 - Audio, Timecode, and Genlock
page 15 - F-Stop & ISO Reference & Flicker Free Shutter Speeds

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After speaking to a few Epic owners and shooters at NAB 2012 who liked what I put together with the "Scarlet X Data Sheet", I've decided to upload and maintain an Epic M and X Data Sheet. I'll update this once we get the official Dragon specs in Q3/Q4 2012.

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Red Epic M & X Data Sheet
This data sheet was designed to be a quick reference card for the Epic (both M and X) equipped with the Mysterium X sensor. If you would like to see the Scarlet version it can be found here: Scarlet X Data Sheet

- Download 2k Version - Download 5k Version

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Red Format Key
This is a key to the different Red capture formats. It contains the format name, max fps, resolution, and aspect ratio. I've included both Epic and Scarlet information on the same key; hopefully useful to those using Epic and Scarlet in A/B cam situations.

- Download 2k Version - Download 5k Version

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Red Mysterium X Relative Crop Factors
This graphic sets the "relative crop factor" at 5K or 4K. The purpose is to assist the shooter on choosing their desired focal lengths when changing formats to produce a similar field of view from their main recording format. An example: You've decided on renting a 32mm prime lens for a shoot, but know you want to shoot some overcranked 2K material to match the approximate field of view. With this chart you can see that you would also want to rent a 16mm lens to produce the similar FOV and feel of 32mm at 4K.

- Download 2k Version - Download 5k Version

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RedMag Record Times
This graphic displays the recording times of all currently available recording formats and available RedMag capacities. I've listed the common production RedCode compression ratios from 3:1-12:1. Take note that the 48GB RedMag is designed for the current Scarlet X and it's max data rates. Currently we don't know how it performs on Epic.

- Download 2k Version - Download 5k Version

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Red Mysterium X Crop Factors and Common Aspect Ratios
The following three graphics pertain to framing.

This graphic shows the cropping effect of the different recording formats on a sample image:

Taking that concept a bit further we can see the effect of the different formats and crops on the field of view:

This graphic shows common motion picture aspect ratios and how they can be extracted from the full frame of the 1.9:1 aspect ratio of the Mysterium X sensor through vertical and horizontal cropping.

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General Usage Notes:


Notes on Black Shading from this thread

Proper Black Shading Technique
1) Attach the Red Body Cap to your lens mount and secure the cap with the locking collar on the mount.
2) Place your camera in a dark place or cover your camera with opaque fabric. Do not cover the vents.
3) Power up the camera. A/C Power is preferred. Black shading currently takes over 20 minutes.
4) Wait for the camera to come up to operating temperature. Usually takes 10 to 15 minutes.
5) Set your shutter speed to suite the project that you are shooting.
6) Begin your Black Shading Calibration.

After it completes you may want to verify things are okay. Leave the Red Body Cap on and crank the ISO up to 12800 and make sure your focus assist tools are turned off. What you are looking for is an even black field. If for some reason it is not, likely light has some how leaked in.

My recommendation is to blackshade:
1) upgrading to new firmware
2) big ambient temperature changes
3) long exposure times (longer than ~1/15th sec)
4) very short exposure times (shorter than around ~1/1000th)
5) beginning of a project
6) as often as you feel like

Remember to black shade at default after long/short exposure black shade when your finished.

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RedVolt, RedBrick, and General Battery Consumption

- RedVolt (30Wh) provide about 30-35 minutes of operation time. *
- RedBricks (140Wh) provide around 2.25 hours of operation time. *

* tests done with the 5.0 LCD Touch and Side Handle attached.

What we can take from this is that you get about a bit over 1 minute per 1 watt-hour on battery power. **

**Red has stated that "power management will be coming to the firmware" in the future which should only improve battery life. Also to note, that RedVolt XL batteries (90Wh) are on their way to be used in the QuadVolt Module.

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Camera Temperature Guidelines and Warnings

The camera will shut down for temperature reasons. Below is the behavior you should get when reaching high temperatures.
At 72c the temperature display will turn yellow
At 74c it turns orange
At 75c the user speed is overridden and fan goes to max speed. Even if recording.
At 76c the temp display will turn red. Although max fan speed usually prevents getting there.
At 77c if you are recording, the record will be stopped
At 83c the camera will shutdown

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Neutral Density Filtration/IR Contamination

The Mysterium-X Sensor is sensitive to the Infrared Spectrum. Using stronger densities of ND may produce a magenta cast to the image. IR Contamination usually presents it's self around ND 0.9 (3 stops) and stronger.

To combat this in camera using filters there's one of 3 methods to explore:

1. Use Hot Mirror/IRND Combo Filters such as the Tiffen's, which produce the best "straight out of camera color".
2. Use IRND Filters. Made by Tiffen, Schneider, and others. This will likely need to be white balanced to present the correct color.
3. Use Regular ND filters with the addition of a Hot Mirror in the front of the stack.

It is important not to stack Hot Mirror/IRND Combo filters. If stacking more NDs in conjunction with a Hot Mirror or Hot Mirror/IRND Combo Filter put those NDs behind the Hot Mirror in the chain. Circular Polarizers should be added behind the Hot Mirror as well as it can help mitigate internal filter reflections.

Another option is the use of the Motion Mount as this calibrates itself and features IR Cut straight on the device. Currently the Motion Mount is actually one of (if not the) best ways to get great color off of Mysterium-X Sensors.

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Cheers,

Phil

 

[Petri Teittinen]

Thank you, much appreciated!

 

[Martin Weiss]

Worthy a sticky. Thank you, Phil.

 

[Stephen Williams]

How does this 'Crop factor' actually help anyone on a day to day basis?
You have an Epic @5k and a RPP with 35mm written on it, which is what it is, it's not a 45.5mm lens on the camera it's a 35mm lens!.

 

[Andy White]

Phil - nice idea

Watched your Scarlet thread expand from it's humble beginnings - so this might be a good first point of contact for potential/new Epic owners.

Don't forget to add 5KAna in too

 

[Phil Holland]

Thank you guys.

How does this 'Crop factor' actually help anyone on a day to day basis?
You have an Epic @5k and a RPP with 35mm written on it, which is what it is, it's not a 45.5mm lens on the camera it's a 35mm lens!.

Yes, it is a 35mm lens. However, as you "crop in" with different formats (5k, 4k, 3k, 2k, etc) you are changing how much the sensor sees. Meaning the field of view is different.

Let's say you were shooting with that RPP 35mm at 5k. Yielding an effective field of view of a 45.5mm compared to the FF35 equivalent. You like this focal length and how it looks when shooting your scene, but you want to cut smoothly with some 300fps 2k material and you don't want to setup a new camera position. In this scenario you could use a 14mm prime that would yield a 45.36mm field of view at 2k and you would have an approximate match between your two shots. Meaning a similar frame. If you used that same 35mm RPP at 2k you would be punched into 113.4mm, which would be a much tighter shot.

Beyond that type of shot, this the chart is very useful for Visual Effect purposes and shoots.

 

[keith morton]

Thanks Phil!

 

[Stephen Williams]

What is the point in relating to Still ftame photography? surely the reference for Cinema should be Acedamy frame which has been used in cinematography for 100 years or S35 which has been common for the last 20 years.

When I shot stills with a Hasselblad I knew a standard lens is a 90mm, when shooting S16 then it's a 15mm. Different image size is nothing new & FF35 or vista vision has never been a a standard for motion pictures.

At some point people have to learn what lenses they need, if you call up a rental house and ask for a Cooke 100mm lens that's what you will get! It does not matter if your shooting S16mm or 5K on an Epic, you will get EXACTLY the same lens!

BTW I don't believe a 14mm 2k crop will cut convincingly with 5k shot on a 35mm lens, the drop in resoloution is huge, I own an Epic......You would do better not to try to match the angle of view as you need to hide the resoloution drop! YMMV

Thank you guys.



Yes, it is a 35mm lens. However, as you "crop in" with different formats (5k, 4k, 3k, 2k, etc) you are changing how much the sensor sees. Meaning the field of view is different.

Let's say you were shooting with that RPP 35mm at 5k. Yielding an effective field of view of a 45.5mm compared to the FF35 equivalent. You like this focal length and how it looks when shooting your scene, but you want to cut smoothly with some 300fps 2k material and you don't want to setup a new camera position. In this scenario you could use a 14mm prime that would yield a 45.36mm field of view at 2k and you would have an approximate match between your two shots. Meaning a similar frame. If you used that same 35mm RPP at 2k you would be punched into 113.4mm, which would be a much tighter shot.

Beyond that type of shot, this the chart is very useful for Visual Effect purposes and shoots.

 

[Phil Holland]

You get the same lens, but not the same image in frame. While one shot may work for you at 100mm on 5k with Epic on say the edge of a pier overlooking the ocean, with that same 100mm lens on S16 you could find yourself in the ocean trying to get a similar frame.

I agree that people need to get familiar with what they are shooting to discover what they prefer when it comes to glass in general. A chart like this should make it easier for those coming from different formats.

Using FF35 as a starting point is fairly relative. It just gives you a place to start and reference from. I based this chart on this because on the Red camera road map a FF35 sensor will happen down the line (and likely be the largest type sensor in the current form factor of Epic/Scarlet). Initially I also created for Scarlet shooters coming from a certain FF35 DSLR to help them through that as well. Also helpful for those shooting timelapse work and matching plates. I've shot on VistaVision several times in the last decade and while it's not a popular format it has indeed been a standard in the motion picture industry. It doesn't happen often, but people still shoot VV today.

** edit, to add to that I was just informed that this chart has been useful for still shooters moving into the DSMC workflow when shooting both for still and motion purposes.

 

[Stephen Williams]

** edit, to add to that I was just informed that this chart has been useful for still shooters moving into the DSMC workflow when shooting both for still and motion purposes.

Thats it's only possible use, in any case when did a 35mm still shooter ever get 5120mm lens to compare with!

 

[Phil Holland]

Well yes, that's on the extreme side of things But not totally out of whack for natural wildlife shooters who overcrank on eagles and whatnot.

 

[Phil Holland]

Added:

Camera Temperature Guidelines and Warnings

The camera will shut down for temperature reasons. Below is the behavior you should get when reaching high temperatures.
At 72c the temperature display will turn yellow
At 74c it turns orange
At 75c the user speed is overridden and fan goes to max speed. Even if recording.
At 76c the temp display will turn red. Although max fan speed usually prevents getting there.
At 77c if you are recording, the record will be stopped
At 83c the camera will shutdown

 

[Peter Cote]

Hey Phil, I'd like to propose a minor modification to the max frame rates table.

If you dial it in manually you can shoot 303 FPS at 2K, 121 FPS at 5K WS. Maybe that's nit picky and could confuse people, so I'll leave it at your discretion as to whether or not it's worth adding.

Overall though it's great guide to refer to, I don't know how I missed it when it first popped up on the forum.

 

[Phil Holland]

Thanks Peter. I don't own an Epic (yet) and went with what I last knew was good info. After the newest firmware update I'll update the chart with new frame rates and other thingies.

 

[Phil Holland]

*update*

New firmware brings new frame rates. Added this "format key" to the first post:

Red Format Key
This is a key to the different Red capture formats. It contains the format name, max fps, resolution, and aspect ratio. I've included both Epic and Scarlet information on the same key; hopefully useful to those using Epic and Scarlet in A/B cam situations.

- Download 2k Version - Download 5k Version

I have also updated the Data Sheets to include the new frame rates and info.

 

[Jens Jakob Thorsen]

I think the 5K HD res is wrong...It must be 4800x2700 and you have 2K HD and 2 K WS confused...Maybe you should take an extra look and see if there are other mistakes ;-)
Thanks for the list, it is helpfull.

 

[Phil Holland]

Yep, got the word there were a few errors. I've fixed those now. Thanks.

 

[Mike Halper]

I'm confused by the frame rates in the 2 data sheets. There's discrepancies. For example, the top one says 4K HD is up to 160 fps, and the bottom one says only 120 fps. There's differences at 3K and 2K also. Did we lose fps capability in 3.2.8?

 

[Phil Holland]

Sorry about the confusion Mike. I've updated the data sheet with the correct information. There was no FPS loss in 3.2.8.

 

[Thomas Koch]

What ever happened to 120fps at 5K? Wasn't that the spec? I know i've never done it, but I thought it was what was planned.