Hands on with Raven

[Erik Vanlenten]

http://www.newsshooter.com/2015/11/13/hands-on-with-the-red-raven/

 

[Kalechi Noel]

Ugh... The low light is a bit disappointing ... Although I should have expected it...

 

[Zeb B]

"Sadly I wasn’t able to run any tests or shoot on it, but it was good to get a sense of how it handles." Not sure what the point of the article was other than fluffy "First Look" click bait

 

[jordan levy]

Ugh... The low light is a bit disappointing ... Although I should have expected it...

but thats someone looking at a monitor, not even shooting. very badly reviewed.
i do see now that i might skip the canon primes, they are massive on that little thing!
more contax here i come!

 

[Cid J Salcido Uyarra]

Yea I mean you can't judge the Noise Floor just by looking at the Camera Monitor have to see it blown up.

Thats the problem with shooting 4K Cropped on Dragon is the Pixels are so small the noise and artifacts can become more apparent if your exposure isn't right. You need to shoot 5:1 or lower compression with a good chunk of light and low ASA to pull off a clean image. The Pixel pitch for Dragon was designed for 8K & 6K resolutions even though most productions shoot 5K lol.

Probably don't wanna go past 800 ASA

Just a did a job with two C300, I hate those things with a passion but people love them. Battery and card life go forever and it puts out a good image. Slo-Mo is 48fps at 720p which is a Joke but people use it anyways. Hopefully Raven can replace it. I mean you can't even put MagRolls on the CF Cards they're the worst.

Really glad to see Red making an affordable camera for smaller jobs that don't require super specs. Wish I could have taken a Raven to FunFunFun Fest to shoot some tests, I shot it on a F3 with Pix E5 Recorder 60fps and 90° shutter. Came out well but I would have had a better time with a Red Raven.

He does mention the Crop Taking some getting use to which is my worry about Raven. It would have cost too much to make a custom sensor thats a true S35 Sensor with larger Pixels to help out with Noise and Sharpness, Crop Factor. For Red's first stab at an affordable camera its pretty rad and it's gonna do well in the wild.

It is the best camera on the market that can shoot 120fps RAW which is a huge plus.

I think we have a fun camera to shoot on for the next years to come. Can't wait to see them roll out.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Is the heat sink of the Weapon/Rawen water and dust sealed like the one of the Epic?

 

[Akin A]

Ugh... The low light is a bit disappointing ... Although I should have expected it...

You can't accurately judge from that photo. Everything about that photo is awful.

1) It's a photo of a monitor, probably taken with a phone. The quality of the image is limited by the quality of the phone's camera, which is then limited by available light, which is then limited by the monitor's display.
2) The Raven settings are setup for disaster in that photo: 2K, RC 14:1, ISO 3200! Yuck!

 

[Daniel Reed]

2) The Raven settings are setup for disaster in that photo: 2K, RC 14:1, ISO 3200! Yuck!

The other parts that hurt my brain the most in this hands on "review":

3) $&%#'ing paragraph about Auto Focus

4) Suggesting raven users shoot w/ variable ND filters



I'm going to take a two hour shower now and hope i forget ever reading newsshooter

 

[Brian Merlen]

You can't accurately judge from that photo. Everything about that photo is awful.

1) It's a photo of a monitor, probably taken with a phone. The quality of the image is limited by the quality of the phone's camera, which is then limited by available light, which is then limited by the monitor's display.
2) The Raven settings are setup for disaster in that photo: 2K, RC 14:1, ISO 3200! Yuck!

then limited by compressing it and distributing it plus not thinking of A box in audio complaint, totally inept on product line up options

 

[Ben Scott]

I love the guys at Newsshooter and this really was just a hands on, and if didn't really pretend to be anything more. Considering the good work they do I think it is a bit much to start calling them inept. Enough people on Reduser have mentioned audio as a potential issue until all the expander a have been outed.

That said, if I were Red or CVP I'd probably have set the Raven to regular usage settings and had a lit scene setup.

No no idea what the noise floor is, but low light isn't the only mark of a good camera and Reds have always traditionally, if you'll pardon the expression, shined in the light. It has always been my experience that if you feed them light they can reward you with magic.

I doubt Raven is any different.

 

[Matthew Quinn]

i still like looking at the photos, looking forward to this camera

 

[Jae Solina]

Yea that was awesome seeing it on a tripod to see the scale of it. Its going to be perfect for traveling. Just wow!!

 

[Maik Müller]

Nice to see pictures of it.

About the article itself. Well, there are the typical mistakes that one without experience about all things RED would do. Yes, it hurts. But somehow it's understandable.

 

[jordan levy]

Nice to see pictures of it.

About the article itself. Well, there are the typical mistakes that one without experience about all things RED would do. Yes, it hurts. But somehow it's understandable.

exactly why im a bit nervous about all my director friends putting down deposits, a red camera really has to be setup right, its not like a 5d i tell them.
one thing i found interesting, i didnt even know it had any auto focus capabilities, that would be usuable to get an initial focus if you are shooting on your own, but does it work during shooting? and i wonder how you turn it on and off?
now i really DO want a side handle that has a focus wheel! and a exposure wheel, that you can lock

 

[Maik Müller]

exactly why im a bit nervous about all my director friends putting down deposits, a red camera really has to be setup right, its not like a 5d i tell them.

Hehe, yes, you have to throw away some stuff and start thinking differently here and there, especially all things about REAL unprocessed RAW-images.

one thing i found interesting, i didnt even know it had any auto focus capabilities, that would be usuable to get an initial focus if you are shooting on your own, but does it work during shooting? and i wonder how you turn it on and off?
now i really DO want a side handle that has a focus wheel! and a exposure wheel, that you can lock

The SH is the missing piece here, but we will see something soon.

AF is here for quite a while and has seen a lot of improvements. It's a contrast-based AF, think about a 5D in liveview, noticeable better than that by now. But Not comparable to a Canon DualPixel-Camera or newer Sony A7*.

Yes, it works for getting initial focus or even "on-demand" (press a button) while recording. You need to learn where it succeeds and where not, expect hunting. I wouldn't use it in continuous mode, but it's there. It helps to have more fps and shorter exposure-time (sharper images), it helps to not shoot wide-open, it works better on wider lenses, it helps if the subject doesn't move.

Cool thing is, you can use AF, electronic FollowFocus and the really great RackFocus-Feature (pre-set and call up to four focus-points) at the same time. Electronic lenses with internal motors have their benefits.

 

[jordan levy]

Hehe, yes, you have to throw away some stuff and start thinking differently here and there, especially all things about REAL unprocessed RAW-images.


The SH is the missing piece here, but we will see something soon.

AF is here for quite a while and has seen a lot of improvements. It's a contrast-based AF, think about a 5D in liveview, noticeable better than that by now. But Not comparable to a Canon DualPixel-Camera or newer Sony A7*.

Yes, it works for getting initial focus or even "on-demand" (press a button) while recording. You need to learn where it succeeds and where not, expect hunting. I wouldn't use it in continuous mode, but it's there. It helps to have more fps and shorter exposure-time (sharper images), it helps to not shoot wide-open, it works better on wider lenses, it helps if the subject doesn't move.

Cool thing is, you can use AF, electronic FollowFocus and the really great RackFocus-Feature (pre-set and call up to four focus-points) at the same time. Electronic lenses with internal motors have their benefits.

hmmm, interesting, red has had that already with ef mounts? never knew.
also the 5d does not have auto focus while recording, just before.

 

[Ben Graham]

I know Dan personally and he has lots of experience using REDs, like the some of the first reds in China at my rental house in 2008. What he has created with newshooter is very impressive and a great resource for many people.

 

[Scot Yount]

I know Dan personally and he has lots of experience using REDs, like the some of the first reds in China at my rental house in 2008. What he has created with newshooter is very impressive and a great resource for many people.

I agree. I know Matthew Allard and they are looking at cameras through a radically different "lens" than most people here. News is a very, very, very different production environment, and that is how Dan looks at cameras. Doesn't mean he is wrong. It just means he has different requirements, and quite frankly, RED doesn't make a camera (clearly they don't want to) that would excel in the kind of shit storms you find yourself in in news. I spent three decades living that life, and I can assure you that Dan knows what he is talking about.

 

[Scot Yount]

You can't accurately judge from that photo. Everything about that photo is awful.

1) It's a photo of a monitor, probably taken with a phone. The quality of the image is limited by the quality of the phone's camera, which is then limited by available light, which is then limited by the monitor's display.
2) The Raven settings are setup for disaster in that photo: 2K, RC 14:1, ISO 3200! Yuck!

Akin,
Just Curious. What makes you think those photos were made with a phone?

 

[Scot Yount]

You can't accurately judge from that photo. Everything about that photo is awful.

1) It's a photo of a monitor, probably taken with a phone. The quality of the image is limited by the quality of the phone's camera, which is then limited by available light, which is then limited by the monitor's display.
2) The Raven settings are setup for disaster in that photo: 2K, RC 14:1, ISO 3200! Yuck!

FWIW (not much really....) the metadata on this picture (there are much nicer pix in the article than this) shows that this photo was taken with a Sony A7s II, using this lens; Sony Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA.