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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 :)

Good Red, Bad Red

Mark Toia

Mark Toia

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Just sharing some thoughts about our RED cameras.

We have just finished shooting quite a large TVC. 4 RED's used in total.

We Hired one build 15 camera out of New Zealand. Runs perfect. not a single fault.

Camera 2, build 16. GPO ports die, EVF dies, 1 in 5 codec playback errors, Camera turns off with dodgy battery plate, 2k Build 16 footage jumps and jerks on FCP time line.

Camera 3, Build 16, GPO ports die, EVF dies, 1 in 2 codec play back errors, Build 16 footage plays perfectly in FCP time line.

Camera 4, Build 16, Blue lines appear on all monitors, wont record, replace build, camera comes back to life for 5 minuets, then monitors all freeze on a frame mid record. This one goes back into it's box.

Hire another camera. Everything works perfectly. Not a single problem.

So my question to all is this. Who has got a rock solid RED and who hasn't.
It reminds me of when we bought 5 dual care G5's at once. 3 of them were pigs, crashing, freezing etc the other 2 were perfect.

Now, I'm not going to bag RED, Even though after this job was finished my client and most of the crew thinks they are a problem not were using.
The pictures I get from the cameras are too good to deny. Yet 2 good cameras in 5 cameras is a tough pill to swallow.

I have sent our camera back to RED. (awesome service which is another plus for RED)
But the question is this, Am I going to get another dog back or am I going to get back a bullet proof army tank.

It's going to take a lot for me to stop using RED CAMERAS. But guys if your reading this. Please find out why there a good, bad and ugly ones.

Still a believer!
 
I had a bad one when I first got it (2 out of 3 codec errors and problems booting) It turned out to be a simple hardware fix with a replacement CF module. That was all it was. I have shot a feature, commercial and rented out the camera for other projects and not gotten ONE SINGLE PROBLEM. I think there are a few bad boards in other REDs out there that havent been fixed.\

I have a "good" one!
 
My cam has generally worked very well. I have had some significant and noted B16 problems, and RED mailback support seems to be evasive, but I have used 1-3 REDS for a number of gigs, and wouldn't ever go back.

Most problems I see are due to not knowing the equipment.

The batteryplate issue is a pain that should be rectified, and that RED has stated here (but not to me in my support mails...) that is an aknowledged bug.

Has to be, though. As I have seen it on all the REDs I've used.

Post is working well. Have to explore the new options the next couple of weeks. Haven't had time to evolve my own workflow too much, as what I have had have worked (with some hickups that I have learned to work around) and because I've been on set 24/7 lately.
 
Han and Chewie solid as tanks, now on B15 and 16. Occasional reboot if false start, and a couple of audio faults, but that's it!!!
 
Hey Big T.. sorry you had some issues.. We work really hard to make sure things like you experienced dont happen, and work even harder to fix it when they do.
 
hi big t...
fortunately for me, mine has been a tank thru all the firmware upgrades. (knock on wood)... i have had a few issues with some of the cameras in my control. but nothing like what you describe. i have been working with big al from the lab sydney regarding issues picked up on "nothing men & the Knowing" sorting the pipe line, and B16 as we speak.... if your interested.. give me a call or contact me off list....

but i do agree with gunleik from norway... many issues i have been called into have been with technicians not knowing the camera well enough.

the cradle issue caused us problems.. wiring issues causing the camera to behave irradically, overheating, codec errors, etc. the cradle has now been replaced, and in the next few weeks will have engineered my own plates...

over at camera collective we have designed a red service for the cameras. if you need them check over and tested. dont hesitate...

hopefully your camera boys and girls get thru your issues and turn your cameras into tanks...

whatever you do,, dont shoot the dog!!!!!!!!
 
508's been solid as a rock. Sure, there has been a time or two that it didn't boot on the first time (under build 15), and there's been the LCD shear, but those are known Red idiosyncrasies for now. Otherwise, SOLID, incl. with Build 16 betas.
 
rodrigo@honeypictures.com said:
hi big t...
fortunately for me, mine has been a tank thru all the firmware upgrades. (knock on wood)... i have had a few issues with some of the cameras in my control. but nothing like what you describe. i have been working with big al from the lab sydney regarding issues picked up on "nothing men & the Knowing" sorting the pipe line, and B16 as we speak.... if your interested.. give me a call or contact me off list....

but i do agree with gunleik from norway... many issues i have been called into have been with technicians not knowing the camera well enough.

the cradle issue caused us problems.. wiring issues causing the camera to behave irradically, overheating, codec errors, etc. the cradle has now been replaced, and in the next few weeks will have engineered my own plates...

over at camera collective we have designed a red service for the cameras. if you need them check over and tested. dont hesitate...

hopefully your camera boys and girls get thru your issues and turn your cameras into tanks...

whatever you do,, dont shoot the dog!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks Rodrigo,

One thing we do is listen to RED and we do everything to the letter.
At the end of the day, How do you not operate or set it up properly.
Our settings are as standard, We shoot 25fps, We don't try anything funny or out of the box with it. I can't see how you can do things incorrectly without a notice coming up on screen. To me this camera is easier to use than a domestic video camera.

Id like to see how your battery plates end up though. We have had to alter ours to suit normal shooting conditions. but still are not very happy with it.

Hopefully all this will be behind us very very soon.
Its a good product minus the hiccups. I just want reliability is all.
 
Jarred Land said:
Hey Big T.. sorry you had some issues.. We work really hard to make sure things like you experienced dont happen, and work even harder to fix it when they do.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jarred.

I know you are all trying hard, but man when you get 3 cameras going south for the winter on set, a lot of people start standing around watching you trying to salvage the shoot day, cringing and starting to question the whole RED thing.

I'm a RED believer since you launched RED at NAB a couple of years ago. It's going to take a lot to change my feelings on the product. But this experience did shake me and my clients.

I'm only after the reliability. I'm already well impressed with the image quality.
 
Big T said:
Id like to see how your battery plates end up though. We have had to alter ours to suit normal shooting conditions. but still are not very happy with it.
Click to expand...

neither are we... email brent at brent@red.com and we will swap you out battery plates, it sounds like you got one of the old Funky ones.
 
Jarred Land said:
neither are we... email brent at brent@red.com and we will swap you out battery plates, it sounds like you got one of the old Funky ones.
Click to expand...

It was a replacement one. but thanks anyway. I'll annoy Brent again for another one.

cheers
 
Trust me.. its more annoying to have those janky things out there floating around than it is for you to bug us...
 
Big T,

Sounds frustrating for sure...

I own several RED One cameras and I've been running Build 16 v3.2.5 since it was released on all of them - and there have been absolutely no operational issues whatsoever.

Sorry to hear you're having problems. It's curious that you would have issues with the three cameras that were upgraded to Build 16. That seems to be the common denominator. On Cam 2, there were some sub-standard battery plates in the first batches, so perhaps you have one of them. Beyond that, do you know for sure that cameras 2, 3, and 4 were all upgraded to Build 15 v2.2.8 as per RED's directions, prior to receiving the Build 16 upgrades? If they weren't perhaps that is what's causing them to go wonky. Just a thought...

Not saying your guys did anything wrong in the upgrades to Build 16, but it seems highly unusual to have problems with all three Build 16 upgraded cameras. From what I've been reading there have been scattered individual camera issues with B16, with most of those being the first B16 versions, but I don't remember hearing about someone having multiple problems with multiple newly-upgraded to B16 cameras - especially v3.2.5. You didn't mention in your post what version of B16 those cameras were running. If it's not v3.2.5 you might try upgrading one of the cameras to B16 3.2.5 and see if that solves its problems. If it does, load v3.2.5 on the others and check them out. Be sure to do the re-black shading on all of them. Again, this is all assuming that B15 v2.2.8 was loaded into them before they were upgraded to B16, as per RED's upgrade to B16 instructions.

Hope you get that figured out...good luck mate
 
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