Gray frames on LEXAR cards!!

[Sean Sweeney]

Hey everyone,

We were doing some camera tests for a feature and we've had a really strange bug crop up. During a slow motion test, the proxies for that file have gray frames. The R3D shows pauses where the gray frames are - the gray frames themselves are only visible in the proxies.

When I searched this issue earlier, I noticed someone mentioning it happening with the hard drives as a result of vibrations. What's strange is that we were on flash cards.

The flash cards the rental house gave us are Lexar Professional UDMA cards, 16GB 300X speed. Is it possible that since these are not RED flash cards (despite having the same manufacturer) that they would have caused the gray frames?

Here is what we were shooting when the bugs came up:

2K 16:9, 48fps
320 ISO, 5600K
REDcode 36 to LEXAR pro flash cards.

Again, has anyone experienced any problems with the Lexar cards - I've been working with RED media for the last year and have never had these gray frames - RED team, do you have any thoughts on the issue?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Brian Broz]

Lexar 16GB 300x cards are not approved (or fast enough) for Red. You need to use the RED 16GB cards with an upgraded CF module.
Some resolutions and framerates may work with the Lexar 16GB, but not worth the risk imho.

As you may know, you can use Lexar 8GB 200x UDMA cards without issue, at least in my experience. If recording 4K you have to decide if you'd rather shoot 2:1/RC36 or 16:9/RC28

So to shoot to 16GB you need RED Cards and an upgraded CF module.

Hope that helps.


BBroz

 

[Sean Sweeney]

Hey Brian,

That's what I figured. The rental house has been trying to rent these cards out because they don't want to spend the extra on the RED cards. We'll be going with trusted RED media.

Thanks.

 

[Tom Mitchell]

If they had given me non red cards i would have given them a dirty look and handed them back

 

[adam shell]

Same problem with the Lexar cards on a shoot last month. Shooting 4k 2:1 @ 25fps all three Lexar cards in the hire kit suffered from grey frames. On one particular clip it dropped 28 consecutive frames!

Not worth the risk in my opinion

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I'm still confused as to how people can even record greater than 2K to any of these cards. Any of the cameras and Lexar 16GB cards I've ever tried together are all limited to 2K.

Anyone renting out non-RED media (other than the approved Lexar 8GB cards) is doing themselves, the camera and the community a huge disservice. I have to question the professionalism of any "rental house" that is sending these Lexar 16GB cards out the door. Sure, the RED cards are 3X the price of the Lexar 16GB's, but they actually work and will still pay for themselves in a few weeks of rentals.

 

[Sean Sweeney]

I'm still confused as to how people can even record greater than 2K to any of these cards. Any of the cameras and Lexar 16GB cards I've ever tried together are all limited to 2K.

Anyone renting out non-RED media (other than the approved Lexar 8GB cards) is doing themselves, the camera and the community a huge disservice. I have to question the professionalism of any "rental house" that is sending these Lexar 16GB cards out the door. Sure, the RED cards are 3X the price of the Lexar 16GB's, but they actually work and will still pay for themselves in a few weeks of rentals.

I wholeheartedly agree. I'm not sure what everyone's experience has been, but the 16 gig cards have been a particularly big problem here in Montreal. Many owners / rental companies take the stance that Lexar cards are 'good enough' and it's indicative of a problem in certain segments of the RED community where people aren't willing to invest in a proper kit, and offer all sorts of excuses for sub-standard gear.

If you are renting your gear on a professional level, it is your responsibility to provide something that will stand up to the rigors of a professional work environment. If it works 98% of the time, that's not good enough. If you're spending upwards of $30,000 for a RED kit, for the love of god spend a few grand more and get some RED 16 gig flash cards.

The RED's had enough issues with all the rumors flying around about its performance - no need to add to the "RED-stigma" by offering shoddy service to boot. It's a great camera that deserves equally great customer service from the owners / renters. Time to step it up guys.

 

[Alex Carr]

I've found that the Lexar 16GB cards work for 4k, ie: they have all the same functions as the 8Gb Red Cards. However I've never shot anything on them, only tests. And the max Frame Rate in 3k is like 30fps.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

"However I've never shot anything on them, only tests. And the max Frame Rate in 3k is like 30fps."

:head_explode:​