I hope Red team read this...

[Brandon Shafto]

Dude, you still use a Blackberry?

 

[Tarquin Cardona]

I am not really sure if Red was ever trying to compete in the doc space. Correct me if I am wrong but I always felt they were a 'cinema' film replacement type camera. Until very recently, the color science, the calibration, black shade, and lego block approach to building out the camera for things like audio did not really make it the obvious choice for documentary and run and gun. It could be done, but not in high pressure situations with one off opportunities.

In some ways I think Weapon improvements have brought us closer, though it feels like with the whole 8K business that they are still going for the bigger is better aspect. But. But. Optimistically looking at other developments like Raven and the Fincher style camera -- I wonder if Red could not kick some butt if they brought their imaging capabilities scaled to a functional all in one camera body (XLRs/Phantom power/simple dials) with efficient draw so say a Redvolt lasted an hour not 15 minutes. Then we would not need to rely on alternatives when speed and efficiency are paramount.

 

[Björn Benckert]

To me the low weight and small size weapon / or even more so raven kind of makes up for 1 or 2 batteries. Now i use 190Wh batteries all the time. Got 90Wh stickers on them so no problem flying and the weight size ratio for those are very good compared to smaller batteries that does not last as long. Sure if would be great if the lasted longer, but bringing 3 and get over 9 hours of camera on time is not to shabby. That and 2 canon lenses and a small tripod or even mono pod together with fool control and droknob is not such a shitty doc setup if you ask me. If you then consider shooting prores 2k only then a 512Gb mag last for half a life time

 

[Scot Yount]

I would like to have me some of those stickers.....I have 190s and have to fly soon.

 

[Björn Benckert]

I would like to have me some of those stickers.....I have 190s and have to fly soon.

Simply ask to buy "spare stickers" from your battery manufacturer... or if thats not possible the plastic housing from the smaller sized same brand. To me cheating that around airline security is not really endangering anyone. As they allow any amount of 90WH batteries in carry on but no 190Wh batteries, and frankly if I have my carry on filled with 90Wh batteries and one catch fire, then they all go. and the more batteries the bigger chance that one apple goes bad, no? So bringing less and more powerful 190Wh batteries is actually drastically reducing the risk of having a battery on fire... Or atleast thats my excuse

 

[Scot Yount]

Simply ask to buy "spare stickers" from your battery manufacturer... or if thats not possible the plastic housing from the smaller sized same brand. To me cheating that around airline security is not really endangering anyone. As they allow any amount of 90WH batteries in carry on but no 190Wh batteries, and frankly if I have my carry on filled with 90Wh batteries and one catch fire, then they all go. and the more batteries the bigger chance that one apple goes bad, no? So bringing less and more powerful 190Wh batteries is actually drastically reducing the risk of having a battery on fire... Or atleast thats my excuse

Agree with you totally....

 

[Tarquin Cardona]

Rehousing large batteries to conceal non permitted ones. I dunno. You have more chutzpah shall we say than I do.

I think it is true that the Weapon affords possibilities for doc. But I still - as this was kind of one of those suggestion box type threads - that a single purchase all in one tool with no add ons would be a great thing if it ever happened. BTW - I shot like this with Weapon pro rez etc for doc. And I must tell you it is quite a shock shooting pro rez HQ to see how many gigs you rack up and quick.

Simply ask to buy "spare stickers" from your battery manufacturer... or if thats not possible the plastic housing from the smaller sized same brand. To me cheating that around airline security is not really endangering anyone. As they allow any amount of 90WH batteries in carry on but no 190Wh batteries, and frankly if I have my carry on filled with 90Wh batteries and one catch fire, then they all go. and the more batteries the bigger chance that one apple goes bad, no? So bringing less and more powerful 190Wh batteries is actually drastically reducing the risk of having a battery on fire... Or atleast thats my excuse

 

[Björn Benckert]

Big batteries on airplanes: all fun and games unril it's on your over ocean flight.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fF9fhlr9S5s

The battery in the vid was not even huge. Just slightly damaged and on the workbench, not being charged or anything. Be careful out there kids.

Yes understand all that. But again they let me carry 20 units or what ever amount I may fit in my carry on as long as they are below 90Wh batteries.... now in the same bag I would be able to fit 10 190Wh batteries. I know thats not aloud but in the total its about the same amount of Litium Ion... but with the smaller batteries I actually run a much greater chance of catching a fire as every single battery simply is a fuse that if it would catch fire they all do... So question are do you want 10 fuses or 20 to that litium ion bomb I´m carrying...

I had this discussion with the safety personal of our local airline and after about 10 minutes discussion they waved us by.

Personally I think it´s a bit nuts. As with a full bag of those batteries, even if they are only 50Wh, a MacGywer kind of terrorist could possibly cause more damage than with a bottle of liquid or any kind of nail clippers.

So to me the right solution would be some sort of fire protection bag to carry litium ion stuff in. The strange thing is that they say nothing about smaller litium ion batteries in the cargo. If such turns to flame there its not really anyone around to stop the fire. It´s almost odd that there are no that common that there is luggage fires.

 

[Luca Volpe]

Here is http://www.newsshooter.com/2016/06/15/cinegear-2016-blueshape-battery-flight-cases/

 

[Graeme Meiklejohn]

I'm unaware of any 4K camera that has "great" battery life.

Not the camera for docu work but the GH4 SIPS battery. I have shot entire days on one battery plenty of times

 

[Kris Tait]

Exactly. I've mapped one of my preset buttons (button 1 above the front fan of the Epic) to go into sleep mode and button 2 below it to power saving mode. It's really made a huge difference in my power management. I can't see any down side of doing this, I was concerned at first that perhaps it might drain more than save by cycling between modes too often. But I've found that at regular doc shooting intervals it gets me an average of 3 hrs on a 75W switronix Hypercore v-lock batter and up to 5.5 on the 150w version of the same. Also bringing it in the shade whenever possible helps keep the core temp down a tad which helps with the fan draw. It's just a bunch of little things that add up in the end I've found to make an overall difference. I basically treat my batteries like a RedMag, which I treat like I used to treat 16mm film. Every minute is precious so shoot frugally, mindfully and with intention. Letting the camera just run without purpose, which is a real novelty on smaller cameras like Sonys mirrorless or FS cameras, and letting it bake in the sun, will make the camera work harder than it really has to. It's a pain at first but I found it second nature before long and just reflex now, and it makes a difference in the end. These cameras are power hogs, but it's what you put up with for superior images. It's going to be a totally different shooting experience when the next big breakthrough in battery/power technology breaks through. In the meantime it's fire and retreat though. Get your shots, shoot with intention and your edit in mind and hit the standby hotkey. That's my advice. Hope this can help on your mission.

Don't forget to make use of Red's power saving feature when you want to be ready but not drain too much power.

 

[Scot Yount]

Exactly. I've mapped one of my preset buttons (button 1 above the front fan of the Epic) to go into sleep mode and button 2 below it to power saving mode. It's really made a huge difference in my power management. I can't see any down side of doing this, I was concerned at first that perhaps it might drain more than save by cycling between modes too often. But I've found that at regular doc shooting intervals it gets me an average of 3 hrs on a 75W switronix Hypercore v-lock batter and up to 5.5 on the 150w version of the same. Also bringing it in the shade whenever possible helps keep the core temp down a tad which helps with the fan draw. It's just a bunch of little things that add up in the end I've found to make an overall difference. I basically treat my batteries like a RedMag, which I treat like I used to treat 16mm film. Every minute is precious so shoot frugally, mindfully and with intention. Letting the camera just run without purpose, which is a real novelty on smaller cameras like Sonys mirrorless or FS cameras, and letting it bake in the sun, will make the camera work harder than it really has to. It's a pain at first but I found it second nature before long and just reflex now, and it makes a difference in the end. These cameras are power hogs, but it's what you put up with for superior images. It's going to be a totally different shooting experience when the next big breakthrough in battery/power technology breaks through. In the meantime it's fire and retreat though. Get your shots, shoot with intention and your edit in mind and hit the standby hotkey. That's my advice. Hope this can help on your mission.

Super advice.

 

[Ebrahim Saadawi]

A c100 MKII will give you MUCH MUCH longer recording times on your media and run on a small batt for 4+ hours of continuous shooting. Superb HD. A C300MKII can also be rented for such a job if 4K/high resolution and Uncompressed is required by the job. The Sony FS7 is a good option. But if there's one of these lesser manufacturers that will give you a satisfying image and colours compared to a RED image you're used to, it's Canon, particularly the C300 II. GREAT battery life and small, nimple, effective EVF/LCD/weight, size, all are just made to be used EXACTLY for this kind of shoot. A red is more at home in a narrative solution or a less demanding docu. job rather than 20 hours a day in a jungle!. Everything can be done though if one is willing to make the sacrifice. But going that job with a CX00II is my advice.

Asking for a 2x power consumption reduction is not realistic, ain't gonna happen I am afraid!

 

[Brendan H. Banks]

Simply ask to buy "spare stickers" from your battery manufacturer... or if thats not possible the plastic housing from the smaller sized same brand. To me cheating that around airline security is not really endangering anyone. As they allow any amount of 90WH batteries in carry on but no 190Wh batteries, and frankly if I have my carry on filled with 90Wh batteries and one catch fire, then they all go. and the more batteries the bigger chance that one apple goes bad, no? So bringing less and more powerful 190Wh batteries is actually drastically reducing the risk of having a battery on fire... Or atleast thats my excuse

Huh, never thought about doing that. If you want a more "above board" solution, the Switronix Hypercore Primes are interesting. 190wh and slit into two 95wh blocks for travel compliance....they also send % info to all DSMC2 bodies. Linked here.

 

[MRomero]

Another option - a belt pack that carries a V-mount/ battery with d-tap out if you dont mind the cable. They have d-tap - red power cables online and this powers my camera for a good 2-4 hours depending on how you're shooting. I like taking the weight off my camera especially if Im doing handheld documentary style filming and moving from on and off sliders and tripods. This plus a few power saving suggestions from the other guys on this thread will get you there. I've shot all day on 3 batteries before.

But.... If you say you can shoot 9-10 hours on 3 RED volts then forget everything I just said.....

 

[Robert Gustafsson]

there will be minimum three days - four days staying in a jungle.

only a producer and I will go there. The location isn't particularly easy to charge the batteries...
of course, I can bring 8-12 v mount batteries for covering three days. But, wouldn't that be really great if I could bring only 6-8 of them instead?

3 battery for a day isn't bad...

its just I don't want to bring that many batteries during 20 days...

note:

memory's case, we could easily extend the capacity using higher compression mode...
which I really love so much about Red.

if higher compression needed lessor power to run the camera. Could Red team possibly changing battery saving mode like our cell phone ?

My suggestion is that you buy a decent backpack and take as many batteries as you can with you. I use an 80L F-Stop Shinn. On my last shoot I hiked 7 hours on top of a mountain with a fully kitted Epic Dragon, 6 PAG 94W goldmount batteries, 3 Canon L zooms, 3 Sigma Art primes and a fully kitted
Glidecam among with a bunch of other sh*t.... (see attached picture)

Was it a nice mellow hike? - No!
Did I run out of juice? - No!
Did my back hurt? - Yes!
Did I get the shots I needed? - Yes!

If you're prepared to carry heavy loads of equipment, especially batteries, you won't regret it when you're on location and you're actually going to press record. I'm not to keen about these solar chargers but they might work if you're out in remote locations for a longer period of time.

I don't think RED will make any changes anytime soon regarding "battery saving modes" or similar but hell, I would be the first to applaude that if it happens.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Red crew may have already noticed the battery life of other cameras since they are in camera making business.

There are 19 Million pixels in motion, sampled in potential 281 Trillion of tonalities, and on-board wavelet compressed in real time.

That needs juice.

 

[David Peterson]

But, yeah, you're right: they are power hogs. Bigtime. You need to treat them like oldschool film cameras, because they require the same amount of care and feeding as a big cinema camera. Bottom line for me is, if it's an all-day shooting project, and a light crew, and especially if it's doc? Don't shoot on RED. Other cameras do a better job. It's like, you have this kickass hammer and then everything looks like a nail. Well, everything isn't a nail. Rent or buy a FS7 (if you know how to color grade) or even a FS5 with Shogun, or a C300II for the project.

Total truth.

This is from a guy who has traveled the world with a RED ONE

Your chiropractor must love you!

 

[David Peterson]

I'm saying it again, but MX cameras, with DSMC2 bodies would be a great adition to the arsenal. It would need less batteries, less everything and still would be an awesome camera.

Agreed, and some people prefer the MX look, plus it could offer a lower priced entry point to join the RED ecosystem below the RED Raven.

Yes understand all that. But again they let me carry 20 units or what ever amount I may fit in my carry on as long as they are below 90Wh batteries.... now in the same bag I would be able to fit 10 190Wh batteries. I know thats not aloud but in the total its about the same amount of Litium Ion... but with the smaller batteries I actually run a much greater chance of catching a fire as every single battery simply is a fuse that if it would catch fire they all do... So question are do you want 10 fuses or 20 to that litium ion bomb I´m carrying...

I had this discussion with the safety personal of our local airline and after about 10 minutes discussion they waved us by.

Why did they have this discussion with you?? Did they spot the fake stickers??

 

[Dolph van Stapele]

What Alvise said.

That's a 75Wh battery. And remember RED cameras will shutdown before the power runs completely out.

Hi Phil, if it shuts down before it powers out, it would be preferable while recording it stops recording before shutting down to save your file. Now it will corrupt the file. Could that be a software update?