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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 :)

First Epic shoot...

Jannard said:
That is correct. There are a ton of things we all would like... even things no other camera does. But there is only so much you can do in a matchbox. We had one guy come to the studio and say "wow, this is really cool! Any way to make it lighter?" I chuckled. Thought to myself... sure, we could make it a 1080P camera.

Jim
Click to expand...

Soooooo..... We can't pay you extra for you to put in another lemo to run the 5inch and bomb at the same time? or a splitter between the two perhaps..?

No shit! You've made the best camera in the world. If we can never run the two together at the same time due to engineering limitations without the need of having to buy another module... then so be it. I'm happy still :).
 
Mark Toia said:
Soooooo..... We can't pay you extra for you to put in another lemo to run the 5inch and bomb at the same time? or a splitter between the two perhaps..?

No shit! You've made the best camera in the world. If we can never run the two together at the same time due to engineering limitations without the need of having to buy another module... then so be it. I'm happy still :).
Click to expand...

The problem with a splitter is the two (LCD and EVF) are different resolutions. It may be possible sometime in the future if we can match up them up. That's the limitation.

Jim
 
I can live with that.

I'm so looking forward to using these things on our film. So much so that we cannot shoot what we want without them. We have modeled the entire shoot around the smallish nature of these cameras. Devised in house work flows that lets us edit, grade all in real time. RED EPIC is the only choice moving forward for us. As everything else is going backwards or is to big and heavy.
There is no f%#king way I'm shooting a movie on 1080p camera that spits out h264's or shooting something that shoots half the resolution and weighs more than a RED ONE.

EPIC wins.

cheers
 
How much will the Pro I/O module really weigh? I wouldn't guess it would add too much weight, especially in the context of an overall rig or setup and this is all much ado over nothing (no offense Mark) ......
 
Agreed. If every option fit on the brain it wouldn't be modular, it would be the RED One! :001_tongue:

Seriously though, everyone is going to have a different priority. If it's not a second monitor/EVF port it's going to be audio, or HD-SDI etc. etc.
 
Jannard said:
We had one guy come to the studio and say "wow, this is really cool! Any way to make it lighter?" I chuckled. Thought to myself... sure, we could make it a 1080P camera.

Jim
Click to expand...

This would be the best that RED will ever do just because of a fact that some of the main RED competitors coming up soon with a lightweight 1080p camera

(rumors told me here in München today (26, Feb, 2011) that ARRI is making a small and lightweight 1080p/2K camera

with a kind of project code named Alexander the Great), Alexa's successor,

a very small camera that could be used even for shooting in narrow places like a submarine (Das Boot by Jost Vacano).

It could be possible that a mock up will appear at NAB...!!!???

Also miniaturisation is a top priority at the moment for any of RED competitors...
 
Sanjin,

Even though I understand where you are coming from in regards to competition, Red has repeatedly stated that they will never do a 1080p camera. No way, no how. 1080p is not "pro" according to Red. I would have to agree with them. Red is a pro camera company, as they have stated on numerous occasions.

Cheers!
(sorry for the thread being jacked Christopher, I for one would really like to know how the shoot goes, ps. HUGE fan of your work)
 
AnthonyFlores said:
How much will the Pro I/O module really weigh? I wouldn't guess it would add too much weight, especially in the context of an overall rig or setup and this is all much ado over nothing (no offense Mark) ......
Click to expand...

No Offense taken :)
My end result is a small EPIC package with barley anything hanging off it.
Modules are probably a long way off. and if there was a module, it's just extended the Camera another 2" to 3" long just for the sake of getting another Lemo port. And all of sudden you now have a heavier, longer camera. Still a great camera. But not as small as hoped for.

I'm just hoping I can punch audio directly into the EPIC brain as well without a module.. Fingers crossed for that to.
 

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Mark Toia said:
Modules are probably a long way off. and if there was a module, it's just extended the Camera another 2" to 3" long just for the sake of getting another Lemo port. And all of sudden you now have a heavier, longer camera. Still a great camera. But not as small as hoped for.
Click to expand...

Mark, if you look at the side SSD module it is pretty thin, probably less than half an inch. RED packs the SSD drive, customizable buttons, record button and a EVF/LCD lemo port in there. If RED makes a rear module with just an extra lemo port I bet they could get it extremely thin.

RED could also come out with a slightly larger side SSD module with two lemo ports, a different side handle with a lemo port, etc. That is the beauty of this modular camera! Keep in mind the brain itself does not have a single EVF/LCD lemo port.
 
Mark Toia said:
I'm just hoping I can punch audio directly into the EPIC brain as well without a module.. Fingers crossed for that to.
Click to expand...
You can Mark. There's two 3.5mm jacks on the front face of the Epic, one on either side of the fan intake.

HTH!

Cheers from Tokyo,

Paul :)
 
Jannard said:
We had one guy come to the studio and say "wow, this is really cool! Any way to make it lighter?" I chuckled. Thought to myself... sure, we could make it a 1080P camera.
Click to expand...

I think the camera is great the size/weight it is. I'm definitely not one of the "lighter is better" people. Doing a lot of handheld myself, I prefer a certain amount of mass on my shoulder. If fact, I look forward to adding a few modules on the back for an extra pound or two.

I can't stand how light and flimsy 5Ds are. I think the Epic strikes a good balance between a "feature" size camera system, but still having that DSLR-kind of profile. The Epic-M feels like it's built like a tank. Super solid. And I'm in love with the titanium mount.
 
I'm going to be working as the DIT on Probst's shoot tomorrow and I'm looking forward to working with the Epic at last.

Is there any preferred method of contacting Red for Epic tech support incase there's any issues we can't resolve on set?

Thanks.

[EDIT] Got it covered by Red Team.
 
Back from my first Epic-M shoot and have a few things to share.

First off, contrary to popular belief, I didn't approach the Epic with pessimism or a skeptic's eye. Rather I was very hopeful that the camera would deliver all the incredible qualities and features as have been detailed here on these boards. So even with these not-fully-enabled Epic-Ms, I was definitely curious how the camera would preform and if it would live up to my expectations.

I think it's fair to say that I've (probably painfully) established that I don't blow smoke up anyone's ass and I speak my mind. And in speaking my mind, I can honestly say I am blown away by this camera. My hope has always been that my pet peeves with the Red One would be addressed in the Epic. They were and then some.

This job was probably a good candidate to try the camera out on because unfortunately, the production and artist couldn't get it together and I had much time to explore the camera and talk with Nate from RED who came down and brought several extra goodies that helped my day go smoother.

My first, immediate favorite part of the camera? The touch-screen control/menu structure. Having every form of data and setting control nearly instantaneous at your beck and call made for changes to happen literally in the blink of an eye was a real surprise. We shot many takes at 24fps for playback, but then they would want to switch to 60fls for a slow mo pass... With the touchscreen I think I surprised the director and AD when I reset the camera speed, shutter setting AND compression setting in about 6 seconds. NO exaggeration.

5K 60fps, no sensor crop, no need to change a lens, better compression ratio than Redcode 42 at 24fps 4K! I just kept nodding to myself thinking, this camera fucking rocks!

I learned much more of the menu structure and was in control of every parameter very quickly on and in no time it was like I had been shooting with the camera for years. It's just so easy to navigate to the settings controls you want once you learn ALL of the MANY different touch-screen areas that bring up different menu controls. Nate kept pointing out more and more, and I was progressively more and more pleased.

Now I don't know if it's primarily from of having the 1080p monitoring on set and on the on-board monitor, but I do think the Epics use of the MX chip is heightened. It has a super clean image, nicely rendered smooth image and the 5K files CJ was transcoding looked awesome (Even with the lack-luster shoot we were unfortunately having!)

All I can say is I wanna buy one now and REALLY look forward to the next few months when all of the additional accessories, modules and third-party support hardware becomes available.

Red team, my hat is off to you. You've outdone yourselves and truly delivered a game-changing piece of technology.
 
I have to add, not just Chris was impressed with the camera, but every single person on the crew. The size of the camera, the image and especially the 10 second boot-up time was severely enjoyed by everyone!

The SSD mags feel solid, though could probably use a safety latch of some sort to secure them for vehicle mounts. I didn't time it, but it was much faster than offloading a drive.

The touchscreen is pretty cool and seems completely necessary. I hadn't planned on getting one with my Epic, but now I'll need to reconsider. We didn't have a RedMote for our Epic, but Nate brought a demo unit with him. As a DIT, having a RedMote is going to be fairly life changing for Red jobs. All of a sudden I don't need to race to camera, hurdling over agency/crew/entourage/AC's/etc. I can change and monitor settings from anywhere. Just f*cking awesome.

We had no extra modules, but didn't feel hampered down by it at all. The BNC is a little of a snug fit, and when the rig is fully built, it's not the easiest to get to. The Pro I/O will certainly help a lot with this.

I was very curious about the rocket's handling of the footage, because I had heard nothing about it. The build of RCX that I had, had some sporadic issues playing back the footage but rendered out very quickly, close if not equal to the 4k speeds.

The footage itself was pretty spectacular. I hadn't really come across any Epic footage I've been blown away with yet, but being able to play around and color Chris' footage made me an instant fan. I'm not sure how to articulate it, but the Epic seems to make better use out of the MX sensor. The color science perhaps or a new curve? Not sure, but it just looked beautiful.

The Epic is certainly not finished, but I have no doubt that this is going to be a truly great camera with incredible functionality and well thought out interfaces. It's really impressive and if it can do half of what the specs say, reliably... then it's going to dominate every aspect of this industry.

Now the only problem is going back to the MX, which is going to feel like reliving a previous decade. Nostalgic but eh... ready for the new stuff. ;)

Thanks.

-CJ
 
I am glad you guys got a chance to use EPIC... thanks for the post.

Jim
 
Mark Pugh said:
So glad you're so happy, Christopher, and thanks for the post. Just checking- what's the resolution of the onboard monitor?
Click to expand...

I'm told it is also showing 1080.... All I can see is it looked awesome.
 
fucken fantastic that you guys had a great shoot!!! i am telling you this thing is so amazing...

spread the word!!!!
 
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