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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 :)

EVF Differences

Patrick Tresch said:
I use the Weapon MG Dragon. Do you use the Woodencamera Modded version?
I don't have interference. The "good thing" is also that when battery gets low (less than 13V I think) the monitor gets a bit weird...
But no other complaint.

Pat
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Pat: Sorry took so long to get back to this thread. I tried just the stock BMD EVF. Maybe will give another try - IIRC I used one of those short, really thin wire BNC cables. Maybe need a little more robust shielding.
 
Oron Cohen said:
snip

RED as well as ARRI don't put XLR's as first priority as they are meant for motion picture work, all the sound guys I worked with ALWAYS record to an external recorder and need way more then 2 channels for sound.
Having said that, if you're making docs, sometimes you do need in camera audio, for that you have the new offHollywood module, but I can understand people who prefer to work with Canon/Sony/Panasonic for docs, they have a tradition of ENG gear and in some ways are more suited for that kind of work, there is no one camera fits all, but if there is, RED camera's with the switchable modules are the closest thing to it I think.
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I hear this all the time about RED not needing good on board audio because it is a "cinema" camera but in reality I think the vast majority of RED cameras are not used for a true "cinema" shoot. How many $20 million dollar plus budget movies are shot on Red in a year? I doubt if it is more than a few dozen. Seems like for anything below that level - good, direct on board audio would be useful and for most non-"cinema" shoots it is pretty essential because double system sound is generally more cumbersome and often simply a waste of valuable time synchronizing when it would be so much easier to have sync-sound.

I recently did a philanthropy project in Puerto Rico where I had to shoot mostly on my BMD Ursa Mini Pro because we were doing a lot of interviews and I simply couldn't trust my Epic-W with the V-lock I/O, due to the issues with the crappy 1/8" consumer connector and the possible "audio pop" issue. I didn't hear it on some of the field recording we did where audio wasn't so critical and I didn't have headphones on but I was spooked because I would see fairly regular spikes in the channel 3 and 4 indicators even though there wasn't anything plugged into them. I really wish RED would put a little more thought and effort into improving audio capability. It can't be that hard or expensive since BMD seems to due an excellent job of it even on their $3500 camera and even most of the $2K prosumer cameras from Sony, Canon, and Panasonic have better audio.

I hate to say it but it seems like calling it a "cinema" camera has been used too much to justify some longstanding shortcomings. Especially since it seems that the vast majority of RED camera owners are owner/operators that don't use them for major motion pictures. That may have been fine back in 2010/2011 when the Epic was about the only reasonably priced 4K option but these days there are so many good alternatives that have decent XLRs and audio controls.
 
Michael Hastings said:
I hear this all the time about RED not needing good on board audio because it is a "cinema" camera but in reality I think the vast majority of RED cameras are not used for a true "cinema" shoot. How many $20 million dollar plus budget movies are shot on Red in a year? I doubt if it is more than a few dozen. Seems like for anything below that level - good, direct on board audio would be useful and for most non-"cinema" shoots it is pretty essential because double system sound is generally more cumbersome and often simply a waste of valuable time synchronizing when it would be so much easier to have sync-sound.

I recently did a philanthropy project in Puerto Rico where I had to shoot mostly on my BMD Ursa Mini Pro because we were doing a lot of interviews and I simply couldn't trust my Epic-W with the V-lock I/O, due to the issues with the crappy 1/8" consumer connector and the possible "audio pop" issue. I didn't hear it on some of the field recording we did where audio wasn't so critical and I didn't have headphones on but I was spooked because I would see fairly regular spikes in the channel 3 and 4 indicators even though there wasn't anything plugged into them. I really wish RED would put a little more thought and effort into improving audio capability. It can't be that hard or expensive since BMD seems to due an excellent job of it even on their $3500 camera and even most of the $2K prosumer cameras from Sony, Canon, and Panasonic have better audio.

I hate to say it but it seems like calling it a "cinema" camera has been used too much to justify some longstanding shortcomings. Especially since it seems that the vast majority of RED camera owners are owner/operators that don't use them for major motion pictures. That may have been fine back in 2010/2011 when the Epic was about the only reasonably priced 4K option but these days there are so many good alternatives that have decent XLRs and audio controls.
Click to expand...

This deserves its own thread.

I sincerely hope this post is read, reread, and read again by RED (had to put the homophones to work).
I've been increasingly concerned with how audio is seemingly becoming less useful on newer RED cameras.
While the RED ONE had a rough start with audio (remember the original audio board issues?) RED really nipped that problem
with the free audio board upgrade and it made the camera quite viable for audio field recording.

I still work on a RED ONE MX and there are many times that I ended up recording audio in camera on both doc and narrative projects
and the results were always solid. No pops, hums, or buzz. Connections worked, levels usable, and pre amps decent. I also often have all 4 ports in use with 3-4 wireless mics and/or a shotgun mic.

I wonder about the change from 4 channels of mini XLR to 2 channels 1/8" connectors. Yes the audio module gives 2 Full size XLRs
but one also gives up 4 separate channels.

Agreed that a separate audio person is ideal but that is not always available on many lower budget; smaller crew productions which are becoming more common.

RED please consider more robust audio for your cameras with field recording in mind. It makes life on many productions much easier.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA
 
And why limit how we use the camera? I got my Epic-W nicely rigged out so I can use it for all types of shoots but the recent audio pop issue bit me on the ass and I have less trust in the camera now. I bought a Panasonic AU-EVA1 and likely will be using this camera more often. Plus it has build in ND. Still love my Epic-W, but damn, a mature product should not be introducing audio problems out of the blue. I am not going to record seperate audio, it's not the way I work.
 
Any one have a flicker issue with the Black Magic EVF on a Dragon? Ive seem a couple of mentions re: a flicker issue. THinking about getting one with the WC mod. Thanks.
 
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