Future Epic user questions.

[william howell]

Hello all...

first off... let me say that i know the people on this board are the who's who of the camera industry... and... i am honored to be in such company.

I, however, am a nobody..

There has been recent talk at my work (a computer research facility) to procure a Red Epic... and since i am the Multimedia specialist... it will be my job to operate the camera and edit the footage.

so.. for the last 2 weeks... i've spent night and day reading up on everything about this camera... every question i have has been answered, usually by a thread on this forum... and i have absolutely no doubt that whatever issue may occur, the users of this forum will go out of their way to help me quickly resolve any problem that may arise.

i currently shoot with Sony, Pentax and Canon products.. the 5dmiii being my workhorse.

It's my job to document our research.. sometimes for scientific observation purposes... sometimes for fund raising purposes... in a roundabout way, i've had to learn how to make short films... research sells, and the more captivating still images and video i can grab.... the better the results in our never ending quest for funding.... however... in order to capture still images, i've usually got to switch cameras... or... switch from movie mode to still image mode.. but... in doing so... i'm making a compromise... the still images are needed for print... and the video... well.. i've missed some historical moments shooting stills... and... it's not a good feeling when that happens.

i am, needless to say, about to explode with anticipation for the dragon sensor... one sensor that does it all... at the same time... i REALLY hope that we can get one when it's released.

I work in FCP X... i also use CS 6, but more for photoshop and after effects for timelapse projects..

assuming that we procure a few red rocket cards... storage space might be my biggest hurdle...

I understand about file sizes, and the massive amount of data that the epic (much less the dragon) will record... and that is my biggest concern...

there are quite a few instances where I've had to record for 15-20 minutes... and only need to keep 30 seconds of footage... until now, i've just had to set my in and out points while "capturing" the media, and then i've been good to go. Do Red video files work that way upon import?

in other words... can i just snag what i need out of a shot off of a redmag and trash the unusable stuff?

or better yet... can i edit right off the redmags? or is the data transfer too slow?

i would never edit off of a cf card... and i'm pretty sure that the answer is the same for Redmags... but... hey... i have no idea about red's technology.... and.... well... that's why i'm here.. to ask the stupid questions.

most of the footage i shoot is archived, so... data management is my main concern...

I'm SUPER excited to finally get to work with an industry level camera... and i'm sure i'll have a multitude of questions to ask in the coming months/years...

anyways...

thanks for any info.

billy


edit*** also... we shoot in a controlled environment most of the time... but... have been known to take our gear out in 100 + degree houston heat... to the top of arctic mountains... and deep into the jungles of central america... we use kessler cranes, dollies, and cinesliders... and have a ikan shoulder mount rig.... a flowpod steadycam... I've not really ever been concerned with exposing the cameras to such intensely different environments... and am fully aware that we'll have to calibrate the Red for when we do extreme environment changes... but... are there special housings we'll need to go to these places and shoot?

what red accessories are ABSOLUTELY necessary to your workflow? handles? monitors?... I'm assuming the Epic Pro collection on the website is where we'll start, in terms of purchasing... but... the modular design makes me really uneasy in terms of knowing what i'll need..

 

[Mark Phelan]

Billy,

First, welcome. You are in good company for at one point, every single one of us was new to RED. The great thing about this forum is the diversity of talent and scope of individuals here. You'll quickly learn who's who. As for editing off of the redmag, yes you "can" do it, although you won't want to. Better to take the footage into Redcine (RCX) and pull what you need from your shot there. Simple as can be and free too. RCX that is. But your idea is certainly possible, just not the safest methodology, i.e. no backup. Better to dump the shot onto your drive, edit from there, then trash what you don't need. Simple.

Oh, one more thing. My name is Nobody. (old inside joke from the long lost "I am error" thread.)

 

[jimhare]

Hey Billy,

Again, welcome! You are now part of the best community in the world. Red users look out for each other, without conceit, judgement or malice. Just a simple desire to be there for each other. Very Zen isn't it?

Don't let the file sizes daunt you. Hard drives are dead cheap and getting bigger all the time. For $100 you can dump 10-20 full SSDs worth of footage. That's a lot.


If saving space is required for some reason, yes, you can trip R3Ds in Red Cine X. After you have your in/out points, just use the export setting for TRIM R3D and select a location. At this point, if you're sure the rest is garbage, you can trash the original.

Since you are still working with an R3D, just fewer frames, you aren't limiting yourself in any way. The only difference is you no longer have access to the rest of the clip.

Again, I don't think it's worth the trouble. Depending on how much you intend to shoot you might only save $200 by the end of the year in additional drives, but you could spend hours and hours going over your data and worse yet, probably trash something you later with you had access to.


So congrats on your new life with Red. You will find that it changes your life and opens doors left and right. For me it was the single smartest thing I ever did in my professional life.

All the best,

Jim Hare
Sydney Australia

 

[william howell]

thanks for the info guys... i honestly cannot wait to join the club... every thing i read... every video i watch... everything... it's basically pointing me down the red road... my coworkers are so sick of hearing about me raving about this camera...

one of the problems that we face in the computer science world is that some projects require the camera to be on for a long time... with nothing happening...

then... once code is debugged, hydrolic pumps kick in, thrusters ignite, network errors clear, etc... whatever you are supposed to be filming comes to life... thereby making it impossible to actually time many of the shots... when i first started, i'd get bored and start snapping photos.. then the action would start... and my impatience cost me one or two important shots..

more importantly... we're talking about long stretches of video that i'll never use... so... having the flexibility of editing down what i need on ingesting is important...

from what i read last night, the latest build of the camera os allows you to "pre record" 20 seconds before you press the record button... that is definitely a feature that i'll use... and will probably negate any future worries i have in regards to long, unusable video.