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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 :)

How much media to buy for Epic?

E

Erich Ocean

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So, I need media.

I'm looking at three potential options, and wanted to get people's feedback. The media is for feature film shooting (long days, lots of setups, *can* offload during the day). Fairly common use of high-speed. I'll have a mix of 5K in shorter bursts, and then long shoot day as 3K (S16 glass).

  • 4 256GB cards w/4-pack case. Cost: $9950 for 1024GB of media.
  • 12 64GB cards w/12-pack case. Cost: $9790 for 768GB of media.
  • 4 128GB cards w/4-pack case: Cost: $7230 for 512GB of media.

I'm leaning towards the 64GB cards for two reasons: better failure resistance, and better ability to parallelize offloads via 2 or 3 readers (which you need anyway, in case one breaks).

My big concern with the 64GB cards is record time, especially with high-speed: will I be swapping cards too often?

The last option is too costly, and appears to be about the minimum number of cards I'd be comfortable with on a shoot. If RED offered a 4-pack with better pricing, I'd probably buy two of those.

I appreciate any feedback!
 
At high speed and 5K, for anything with remotely documentary style filming, yes, you'll be swapping 64GB cards very often. I was staring at the monitor watching the media percentage fall on a doc-style commercial last week.

Ryan Walters has an excellent chart for this...

http://www.ryanewalters.com/downloads/RedMagRecordTimes.pdf
 
I think you get plenty of failure protection with 128 GB. Even with 128 GB you'd be surprised how quickly it can fill up. A good question to ask as well is what data rate will you be using? If it's 6:1 (assuming 5K 24fps) then I'd go with 4x 128 GB.

That is what I have. With 12x 64 GB that just seems like a lot more time to keep track of different mags. It would be very easy to not notice if a mag went missing. With just four mags you'd notice with a glance.
 
Does anyone make after market media for the EPIC?

Not that I would use it. Just curious.
 
paulherrin said:
i'd recommend you lean towards 128
Click to expand...

Even though, per-GB, it's THE most expensive media RED sells by a huge margin? Is this really what people are doing?

Why spend $7200 on 128GB cards that only gets you 512GB total, when you can spend $2750 more and DOUBLE the amount of storage? Am I missing something? Is there something wrong with the 256GB cards?

There's a guy here on RedUser now selling two 256GB cards for $2600/each. That's $2,000 less than the equivalent amount of storage in 128GB cards, for people who don't have $10K to spend on media.

Like I said in the original post, if RED sold 128GB 4-packs at the expected discount, I'd buy two in a heartbeat...
 
Okay, so it looks like the 64GB cards are pretty much unworkable unless you stick to low frame rates/high compression ratios. I guess the $10K for 256GB media is it, unless RED offers the 128GB 4-packs.
 
Erich Ocean said:
if RED sold 128GB 4-packs at the expected discount, I'd buy two in a heartbeat...
Click to expand...

Perhaps you should ask RED to add this to their media product page?

I wonder why they don't already sell a 4 pack of the 128GB?
 
I would aim at the 128 SSDs as it them gives you data room to use HDRX if you need it.

A 64Gb SSD - 5k 2:1 @ 8:1 compression gives about 10 minutes or 5 minutes with HDRX record time. This means lots of SSD changes which may break the flow of the shoot.
 
The great news is that SSD MEDIA is reusable. Heh heh heh.

What is the current cost for a 1000 foot roll of 35mm neg, plus develop, plus DI...etc. etc.?
 
Anyone know if there is an Epic data-rate calculator? Perhaps an iOS app?
 
So, if you shoot a 64gb SSD card at 5:1 (this is a feature yes?) at 5k FF (just 24fps--no overcranking) you get 11.5mins of record time. go 3:1 for a film out and get 7 mins on the 64gb card--if shooting HDRx with same above settings then cut those in HALF, so 5.75mins at 5:1 and 3.5mins at 3:1 ---add in overcranking and you see that 5k FF with a 64gb card is not very wise unless you know you have short 1 & 2 minute takes---DON'T FORGET--you NEVER want to shoot the full capacity of your SSD card....i usually shoot 80% so then you can drop those numbers above even more.

256gb card @ 24fps @ 5:1 = 46mins + HDRx = 23mins
256gb card @ 24fps @ 3:1 = 28mins + HDRx = 14mins
....again, factor in shooting only 80% or so of your media since you need space on your card so it doesn't drop frames and act weird---same as filling your computers hard drive to capacity where you see slowing of the computer and problems.....
 
I have heard several time that it is okay to use the full capacity of a SSD drive.

It is only Hard Drives that this is a concern with.

But I might be wrong.
 
Erich Ocean said:
So, I need media.

I'm looking at three potential options, and wanted to get people's feedback. The media is for feature film shooting (long days, lots of setups, *can* offload during the day). Fairly common use of high-speed. I'll have a mix of 5K in shorter bursts, and then long shoot day as 3K (S16 glass).

  • 4 256GB cards w/4-pack case. Cost: $9950 for 1024GB of media.
  • 12 64GB cards w/12-pack case. Cost: $9790 for 768GB of media.
  • 4 128GB cards w/4-pack case: Cost: $7230 for 512GB of media.

I'm leaning towards the 64GB cards for two reasons: better failure resistance, and better ability to parallelize offloads via 2 or 3 readers (which you need anyway, in case one breaks).

My big concern with the 64GB cards is record time, especially with high-speed: will I be swapping cards too often?

The last option is too costly, and appears to be about the minimum number of cards I'd be comfortable with on a shoot. If RED offered a 4-pack with better pricing, I'd probably buy two of those.

I appreciate any feedback!
Click to expand...

Go for the 256 GB, best deal, less cards to play around with, drop, get dirt on, in the camera's SSD slot, etc. SSD is reliable.

My guess as to why Red is not offering a 4-pack deal on the 128 GBs is because everyone would obviously buy that, and they would not be able to produce enough, the deals on the 64s and 256s are to encourage people to go with those options and even out their sales on the different capacities.

I use 64 GB cards with our Red One, I just split a 256 4-pack with another Epic user, for our Epic, and will be recycling the 128s I had initially got for the Epic with our Scarlet.

Cheers,
Damien
 
I thought long and hard about this and ended up going with 4 x 256GB cards and couldn't be happier. 6+ hours of record time if I needed which I have on many occasions without a DIT on hand..
 
Jeremy Forni said:
Some Assistants and DIT said that PANAVISION and other rental company have not validated the 256 SSD... they had problems of dropped frame in 5K....True ?
Click to expand...

The three capacities all have the same speed rating.
 
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