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EPIC & Nikon Still Lens Tests - light weight for run & gun

Johnny Friday

Johnny Friday

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So recently shot some tests finally using my Nikon Lens....in particular the Nikon 18-200 which is one of my all time favorite lenses on my DSLR....it just never comes off expect for some really wide or really long shots which are not that often.

I realize this may cause some pain for myself, but here goes. The mount provided by Jacek at OptiTek is much like the same mount the "ProLok" that is currently made for the RED ONE at: http://www.optitek.org/nikon-prolock.php

Changing PL to Nikon Mount: the nikon mount for the EPIC is far easier to adapt/change on the EPIC, than the RED ONE mount swap. With only 4 screws and no protruding screws or "things" falling from the PL mount or the Nikon mount....it is about a 30-45 second change over compared to the 5 minute swap on the RED ONE. The mount is SIMPLE and better it just WORKS ! If it has not been to RED and approved yet, then i expect it will be soon. I'll take the chance for now of removing the four screws and screwing on the Nikon mount since i looked at it before i did this and as perviously stated, it is much faster and SAFER to change this mount than on the RED ONE...there are NO electronics and nothing that interferes with the sensor or anything on the EPIC body. It is very mechanical and just a dumb mount.

Ok....as for images.....everyone has their likes and dislikes. But i'm very impressed with the variety of Nikon lenses i have chosen for RED ONE and EPIC both underwater and shooting topside. This combination really takes Epic to the extreme allowing for a compact and SUPER LIGHT-WEIGHT setup. A great run and gun or natural history camera.

I took the camera for a test run while we had some nice surf in southern Baja on the East Cape at 9 Palms. Shot footage at 24fps @ 5k, 2.4:1 & redcodes of 12:1 to 16:1. Finally i graded the footage in RCX using redgamma and redcolor and did this very quickly with a transcode out to prores 422HQ where a made a final grade using the 3 way color wheel and a bit of sharpening. All and all a rather quick grade with no particular attention paid to the fine details. From there, i transcoded out to H264 at the best setting i could using Matrox MXO2's quick encoder for compression. a ten minute encode at 1920x1080 at 20mb/sec file settings only took about 1.2 to 1.

I'll have to go out again and get some additional footage and apply more attention to the details, but this camera is delivery far more than i expected and in fact surpasses the RED ONE ability---i CAN'T explain why---but the signal is just crisper and cleaner.

Shots range from 24fps up to 120fps and a few in-between.

Frame Grabs before grade from RCX: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redcineunderwater/sets/72157627064303251/

Link to Vimeo Video: http://vimeo.com/26856692



Let the rain fall now.......
 
John,

Thanks for posting the images, the film and the results you had with the Optitek mount. I know the mount is a dumb mount but does it have Iris control?

Any stills of the mount on the EPIC?


Nice to see Nikon Glass on an EPIC.

@2:18 and @5:30 some of the water seems to blow out to pink. Is that the glass or overexposure?

Nice images.

David
 
Other than saving space on the SSD(s) was there a reason you shot such a compressed RC?
I would've loved to see some of that water at 5:1 or 7:1. I think I spotted a touch of vignetting on that lens in the upper right but was a little hard to tell.

Looks nice. thanks for sharing.

Jason
 
David: yes, the mount has IRIS control for G lenses.....so any digital lenses YES, you have IRIS control
Here's a still of the EPIC with Nikon mount (attached)

as for the blown out to Pink....likely the case of my poor color correcting skills where i possibly masked off the sand using color/luminence to see if i could get richer colors....I could not achieve that on MOST shots with waves and removed those filters--or so i thought...maybe on one or two shots i missed them.

Dan:
As for ANYONE that is planning to shoot Nikon Glass and has an EPIC in hands....you probably know the wait for Nikon mount is going to be way down the list......that was according to a post from Jarred not long ago. I believe priority is the Cannon Mount, then who knows when they'll have a Nikon mount...but yes, i'm waiting with baited breath as well. BUT, I won't let it stop me from shooting my Nikon Glass and using what is available today. I'm equally impressed by what i can resolve image wise from Nikon glass as much as i am of the light-weight setup for EFG shooting...i think i have the weight down to my fully loaded EPIC around 9 or so lbs....give or take a bit. But it's a feather and easy to run and gun in a Natural History Doc style shoot.

Jason:
At 5K 2.4: 1 you are limited to begin at 12:1 compression. I chose to shoot 12:1 all the way up to 16:1 to see if i saw any OBVIOUS artifacting. I was impressed to get what i did out of the images at those compression rates. I did not shoot just to save space...wanted to see if the images were usable at 16:1...and answer is yes. I'll shoot next some lower compression rates as well as higher to see where i find the image breaking apart as well as how much i can get out of more image quality to allow me to dig into more post w/out any negative effects.
 

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Thanks Johnny,

Would you be willing to share the cost of the mount?

David
 
Thanks Johnny,

Just wanted a ballpark.

Thanks again for posting.

David
 
Jason Diamond said:
I think I spotted a touch of vignetting on that lens in the upper right but was a little hard to tell.

Looks nice. thanks for sharing.

Jason
Click to expand...
I forgot to address this...Yes, vignetting actually at both corners....but this was either due to the fact i did not zoom in enough...the crop factor was approximately 1.3 or sightly more on the Nikon 18-200....and i don't believe i could see this very well on the 5" touchscreen LCD...had to put my head under a towel while shooting outdoors even with a hood on the LCD. Really need an EVF for outdoor shooting. BUt yes, on many of the images if i did not zoom in enough, you can see it on both corners.
 
I'll buy this. I'll want it the day our EPIC is delivered!

Price... the RED ONE version is $750, and the EPIC is a much simpler four-bolt design, so I'm *guessing* the price will be similar or (shock! horror!) cheaper.

Since, unlike with RED ONE, there's no back focus / collimation / lens data cable issues with EPIC mounts, I imagine (???) that any dumb mount that doesn't use the RED mount electrical contacts won't need any kind of approval from RED? Has RED pronounced on this yet?

Mike
 
Mike 'Fireman' Ross said:
Since, unlike with RED ONE, there's no back focus / collimation / lens data cable issues with EPIC mounts, I imagine (???) that any dumb mount that doesn't use the RED mount electrical contacts won't need any kind of approval from RED? Has RED pronounced on this yet?

Mike
Click to expand...

I'll buy your logic on this Mike, but I think the answer now is NO....RED has not given their approval of the mount yet...but given it's even SIMPLER than the last mount....one would assume it's a no brainer. But not sure if a mount has been sent to RED yet. that is between OptiTek and RED at the moment and i'll assume both are rather busy....but the time should come that this is given some priority by both parties.
 
I have been in discussions with Jakek to approve the mount. Frankly I am shocked that the mount is already in the wild being used on customers cameras. I guess our negotiations just ended.

Regardless of a possible voided camera warranty and other implications... I'm glad you seem to be happy with the mount Johnny.... the Video looks great.
 
Please do not personalize this. Jarred is mad busy now- he just announced new line of accs. I understand. I also know that Red has to take care of their own products first- I would. He has been very responsive to my inquiries BTW....
 
Jarred,
was given the mount for fitting puroses and evaluation for housing...and after seeing how simple it was and four screws...no wiring to detach -- purely mechanical....took it upon my own to mount and shoot it. For the life of me i can see no reason RED would not approve this mount as simple as it is. in fact simpler than the nikon mount on my red one. I suppose i did jump the gun though...apologies.
 
John.. RED is deep in my blood... hell, its the last 3 letters of my name. I am going to take everything personal. You definitely are stuck in the middle of this... but you posted many times above that you knew that you posting this info was probably the wrong thing to do.. so coming off like you are just an innocent bystander isn't going to fly.

Really though, you did not harm us at all so I am not upset with you at all... but you just gave Jacek a really bad day.

We have been down this road before and it hasn't ended up well. I have never seen the mount yet so I can't tell you what the ramifications are...yet. But anything that can harm the camera in any way is gonna void the warranty.

And don't think this stems from us trying to stop competition.. there are hundreds of manufactures now making approved RED products that we don't charge for or make any money off of and are very proud of... but they have the courtesy of getting approved first and making sure there is nothing that could go wrong.. and trust me, 80% of the time a manufacture sends us stuff to approve.. we find something that needs fixing.. be it mechanical interference, grounding issues, a future change in design that could render their product a brick... etc. etc. etc., That is the way it is supposed to work.
 
I want my 3 hour roll back button!

....yes, red is certainly deep in my blood as well since 2007. Nothing but admiration and respect across the board. I stand firm that i'll take this across the chin if you think in any way this mount has screwed my camera...in fact i can attest that after you see it you'll laugh hou simple...ok, i get it about other manufacturers....Point taken. But blame is definitely on my part here...Jacek did ask me NOT to post or use until certified. I jumped the gun and could not hold off on it any longer.....my fault 101%......Jacek is on me as well for this. But again, he did not blow it....I Did.
 
This seems to have taken a slightly controversial turn, which is sad.

Jarred, your post implies (but doesn't unambiguously state) that, for the EPIC, even simple mechanical entirely dumb mounts require some kind of RED approval process. For the avoidance of doubt, can you confirm that? Or were you talking about approving the Optitek mount for sale in the RED Store, which I believe was rumored at one point? (obviously I don't expect you to comment on private business matters)

That would come as a slight surprise to me, as the EPIC mount appears to have been engineered (very well engineered!) from the start to be mechanically extremely simple to produce and change. Unlike the RED ONE, there aren't even any internal bolts; you can change the mount with the cap installed so there isn't even any risk of damage to the OLPF.

Electrical accessories, like electronic mounts and rear modules, absolutely I would see why you would want to check those out first. But the mount... provided it's made dimensionally accurate, to your published specs and drawings, that's different... what can go wrong with a dumb mount that would require approval, given that there are no back focus issues?

Mike
 
Mike.....i think point i see Jarred making here is that he's already seen enough screw ups in the past and that anything can happen with a third party manufacturer. Even though this is a simple mechanical mount.....Build quality and RED Specs for the mount are to be taken into account. So i totally get it. As for the mount itself, i can only hope Jacek will get the chance to show it to Jarred. Jacek did ask me to hold off on doing anything with the mount other than using it for measurements and specs for my housing....i have to admit after seeing it and how simple it was i jumped the gun....was too much like xmas eve and having to wait till the morning to open gifts. That said, Jacek really is innocent in this and hope he has the chance to get to RED soon to make the case here. I'm hopeful that Jarred will find that the mount meets RED's approval. At the same time i guess i screwed my warranty, but i stand by holding Jacek innocent here. And the mount is certainly a nice piece of kit.
 
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