How good is the auto black shade calibration on Weapon?

[Andrae Palmer]

I'm wondering how good the RED Weapon is for auto black calibrating ambient temperature changes. Has anyone been testing out the noise levels after calibrating the first time and then switching exposure and ambient temp environment? Do you still have to manually black calibrate for ambient temp changes? Basically wondering what are the likely scenarios where you would still need to do a manual calibration.

 

[Phil Holland]

I'm still testing, but Auto Black Shade gives you a massive shutter speed/shutter angle/exposure time range. You run the Auto Black Shade Calibration, which does take a bit of time. Then anytime you switch shutter speeds within the approximate 10 stop calibration range (1/8th-1/8000th) it will load the appropriate calibration from the Auto Black Shade. Takes about 5-7 seconds, maybe faster to switch.

Temperature I'm still testing, but I think it's primary focus is exposure time flexibility. And that's massive for those switching between high speed and standard speed recording.

 

[Andrae Palmer]

Thanks for your response Phil! Would love to hear the results of your testing when its completed.

 

[David Battistella]

I'm still testing, but Auto Black Shade gives you a massive shutter speed/shutter angle/exposure time range. You run the Auto Black Shade Calibration, which does take a bit of time. Then anytime you switch shutter speeds within the approximate 10 stop calibration range (1/8th-1/8000th) it will load the appropriate calibration from the Auto Black Shade. Takes about 5-7 seconds, maybe faster to switch.

Temperature I'm still testing, but I think it's primary focus is exposure time flexibility. And that's massive for those switching between high speed and standard speed recording.

How about in frame averaging mode?

 

[Matt Bass]

5-7 seconds is certainly an improvement when switching shutter speeed but in all honestly this should really be instantaneous like it is on nearly every camera on the market. I really hope RED can fix this in the future.

 

[Andrae Palmer]

Temperature I'm still testing, but I think it's primary focus is exposure time flexibility. And that's massive for those switching between high speed and standard speed recording.

Yeah wondering too if extreme temp variations beyond the recommended 30 degree fahrenheit range would affect the auto black calibration on Weapon.

 

[Phil Holland]

5-7 seconds is certainly an improvement when switching shutter speeed but in all honestly this should really be instantaneous like it is on nearly every camera on the market. I really hope RED can fix this in the future.

RED handles "this whole thing" a bit differently than other manufacturers mainly to get the most out of the image quality and sensor. Or more accurately, as much as possible. The Auto Black Shade is a big, massive improvement. You'll see in practice that when you switch shutter speeds and have just a few seconds before the CalMap fully loads that it's really "nothing".

I'm sure one day there will be improvements beyond what Weapon and Raven offer on this front, but the current improvement is very welcomed and much better than before.

 

[Mikael Lubtchansky]

Yes the calmap also takes 1-3 second to apply on Epic if you're just changing your exposure time... Noticed it does the same on weapon with autocalmaps and is not in any way a show stopper... Adjust shutter or framerate, hold on 2 seconds and you're good to hit record

 

[Matt Bass]

Calibration Mapping Weapon and High ISO

Calibration Mapping Weapon and High ISO

Has the new Calibration Mapping improved Higher ISO? I've heard the Weapon can shoot @ 5000ISO and similar to current Epic Dragon 1600 low noise levels. I shoot 2000ISO on my Epic Dragon with the LLOLPF with great success but to be able to shoot at 5000ISO would be incredible and a great selling point to those thinking about upgrading or buying a Weapon. Nobody is really talking about high Weapon ISO. And my experience with Arri cameras is that they have horrible noise past 1250/1600ISO(which none the Arri Mini lovers ever talk about) Have you tested the higher ISOs?

 

[Phil Holland]

Has the new Calibration Mapping improved Higher ISO? I've heard the Weapon can shoot @ 5000ISO and similar to current Epic Dragon 1600 low noise levels. I shoot 2000ISO on my Epic Dragon with the LLOLPF with great success but to be able to shoot at 5000ISO would be incredible and a great selling point to those thinking about upgrading or buying a Weapon. Nobody is really talking about high Weapon ISO. And my experience with Arri cameras is that they have horrible noise past 1250/1600ISO(which none the Arri Mini lovers ever talk about) Have you tested the higher ISOs?

I would wager a guess the vast majority of the first Weapon owners aren't purely focused on low light shooting. However, I've noticed it's cleaner for sure. Which is going to be fun to test this week. I just need to finish up this edit tonight from the last couple days of shooting and I get to "play" a bit.

 

[Matt Bass]

Phil - I shoot quite a bit of Verite style documentary stuff and low light is always coming into play. Im constantly changing film speeds in real life situations and often want to shoot high speed in low light but am limited by my ISO and the time it takes for the calibration maps to change. Right now Im on the list to upgrade to the Magnesium Weapon but to be honest High ISO and quick calibration mapping are high on my list of wanted features, if it can't do those things Im not sure if its worth it for me to upgrade at this point, although Im sure I will do it anyway just for the weight savings, auto calibration and ProRes on the full Sensor. Cant wait to see what your tests reveal.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

I'm still testing, but Auto Black Shade gives you a massive shutter speed/shutter angle/exposure time range. You run the Auto Black Shade Calibration, which does take a bit of time. Then anytime you switch shutter speeds within the approximate 10 stop calibration range (1/8th-1/8000th) it will load the appropriate calibration from the Auto Black Shade. Takes about 5-7 seconds, maybe faster to switch.

Temperature I'm still testing, but I think it's primary focus is exposure time flexibility. And that's massive for those switching between high speed and standard speed recording.

Mostly you just need indoor and cold outdoor (or very hot outdoor) temperatures set. Are you saying that the calibration is setting all the shutter speed blackshades in one black shading process? If so, wouldn't it be possible to save two temp black shade templates? So when going outside, you apply the autoblack for cold weather and going indoors you set to the autoblack for warm temps?