Is the EPIC almost perfect... ?

[Mark Toia]

For many many years I've wanted a camera that could shoot hi speed and not cost me an arm and leg in film stock... or camera costs rental or purchase... I wanted stills camera RAW resolutions, light weight body... PL mount... small in size... etc etc etc.. Everything the EPIC is now, I wanted in a camera. Speaking to Jim and NAB this year, he had the same want and being a cashed up camera nut, he had the dosh and nous to make it happen for us all.
Thanks again Jim.

So my question to myself as I sat looking at me EPIC tonight was... is this the perfect camera.... (for me?) Does this camera do all I need, will it last me another 3 to 4 years, will it see me into my early retirement one day...?. I sat there and pondered the question for an hour or so.
Ive used many motion picture film and digital cameras over the years and I could never every say yes, that's a great camera. So many things annoyed me about shooting film, so many things annoyed me shooting 8bit HD, so many things annoyed me about the DV, DVC, Canon 5d, 7d, even the RED ONE annoyed me... But the EPIC camera has stopped me in my tracks to ask myself this question. Is this the perfect camera.... (for me?)

Simple answer was No.. It's very very very close... It's the closest thing to perfect for me right now. Alexa and Sony F65 do not come close, only because of there bulk, limiting speeds, price etc etc etc... (and we all know they shoot great images as well and are well made). But the EPIC ticks a lot more boxes for me for sure.
But I'm like any human, I want more... I'd love it to shoot at 1000 FPS... I'd love it to shoot 16bit LOG 4k PRO RES so I don't have to trans code. I'd like to to be half the weight, I'd like it to be half the price.... maybe even half the size... and my expectations for lenses are even worse, I'd like a pocket sized ZOOM that would be Fstop of T1.0 zoom - 18 to 300mm... but we all know that we will never see that in our life times.

So what I'm leading to is this. Current technology has been milked to the endth degree to produce this little EPIC camera. It does all that can be done in the year 2012, it will get super seeded one day very soon I'm sure as others try to tip it over... but till then, I'm going to say, that as a perfect a camera can get in this time... The EPIC is as good as its going to get for me today.

For the first time in my very fortunate career, I can actually say I'm very happy with my camera.

Thanks RED.

Sorry everyone, I had a glass of wine and felt like sharing.

 

[Tim Lüdin]

Wine or no wine, I feel the same way. Not perfect but the closest thing on earth right now.
I think the next RED camera will be. I just hope they kinda stop the pixel madness. 15 to 16 stops of DR, clean audio, an even smaller camera and we are right there. As Jim likes to say: " Easy to understand".

Cheers Mate :cheers2:


Tim

 

[Jon Jones]

That is awesome Mark! I have posted more than one time after a glass or two of wine hehehe...

 

[Meryem Ersoz]

I'm sure we all have our wishlists. When I owned the RED ONE, all I wanted was the same camera in a smaller, lighter form factor.

I received that camera in the EPIC, plus so very much more.

Now all I want is an affordable, easily replaceable mobile Thunderbolt enabled ROCKET, so that field data management can be as light and portable and efficient as the cameras themselves. I know that a mobile Thunderbolt enabled ROCKET is available but cobbling one of these together by purchasing another ROCKET is neither affordable nor easily replaceable.

So close RED, so close.

But every day that I shoot my EPIC or my SCARLET camera is a happy day for me. It will be interesting to see what new desires RED is cooking up for me in their innovation kitchen.

 

[Kristin Stewart]

There is no perfect camera. A camera is just a tool. Sometimes an Alexa will be the best one for the job, some other times it will be a 5D, a Super 8mm or a DV cam. The Epic is the another option amongst the others. That's why most of the pro dps/directors prefer to rent instead of owning, they know that it all depends on the job/movie project.

Kristin

 

[Peter Stelzhammer]

for me personally; sometimes RED is a "love-hate relationship"
(hard to describe; maybe some of you will get it... but it actually means there are feelings associated with this company and their cameras - which already means more then it was with other "mere tools" I used in the past... as a single, young man I don't have any experience on that field but I think there's some truth to the saying that sometimes an argument or a fight can keep a relationship healthy Even if it can take longer then anticipated to get something out/fixed, I still have the feeling RED listens to it's customers...).

as for the EPIC; jep - it's still not there (Audio, Monitoring, Power-draw)... but I've witnessed how the RED One evolved and matured over the past few years and the same thing will happen to the EPIC (even more because of the mudular design)... so things move on and will get better over time - and most of it totally free of charge On another point of view this could also mean that maybe a RED camera is one of the few cameras that will never be "finished" -> just because things are not set in stone and evolve over time...

 

[Ash Worth]

Share away Mark. Your initial pictures of how you set up your EPIC made me realize it could work for me and you are a constant source of info for this platform and cinematography in general. I'd use the EPIC more if there was a Pro Res module, perhaps exclusively, and with major improvements on the RED Volt powering options.

 

[Aleksandar Colancevski]

You guys are so spoiled. If there wasn't Red we should all be waiting for next 2/3 inch Sony Cine-something wonder for 250.000$ and Arri still would be happy making money with its film cameras. cos its F2x would suck. Alexa would be in plans for 2020 NAB show.
There is only one church where I light my candle. Its called RED.

 

[luigivaltulini]

Eehehe MArk you fell in love

 

[Jason Diamond]

Is that a theremin or a dowsing rod coming from your Epic there?

Agreed, that for all the boxes that need ticking ( they are different for everyone) our Epics are the closest to the perfect camera, For Us, that we will be able to own, use or rent for the foreseeable future. There are a bunch of boxes we'd love to see ticked as well but as you said they may not even be possible with current tech in our professional lifetimes.

 

[Timur Civan]

I agree...

The epic reminds me of the days when the Hvx200 first came out. DVCpro100, p2 media, variable frame rates, different resolutions, fit in my hand, did over crank Slow motion in camera, hell it even had a tape drive. It made sure I never had to say to a director, no I can't do that.

It was the Swiss army knife of video.

The epic is the swiss army knife of cinema. It's everything all at the same time, and unlike most systems, it's isn't jack of all trades master of none. It really is awesome at everything.

 

[C.H.Haskell]

yeah...what he said. cheers.

 

[Max M.]

totally agree, the epic is absolutely the best possible deal right now, but indeed, there are points of improvement which would make it a lot better:
- half the weight
- build in ND's
- half the power draw
- 90% less sound from the fan
- choice of codec and/or raw recording
- better low light senitivity

All of the above points are where some others camera's beat the the epic (of course you can't compare a 5k raw camera with a 8 bit HD camera, but people do it, and base their choice also on point as the above...) A lot of these things can't be changed in the current epic, but maybe a future epic successor could have this, making the choice for epic really easy and obvious

 

[Mark Toia]

totally agree, the epic is absolutely the best possible deal right now, but indeed, there are points of improvement which would make it a lot better:
- half the weight
- build in ND's
- half the power draw
- 90% less sound from the fan
- choice of codec and/or raw recording
- better low light senitivity

All of the above points are where some others camera's beat the the epic (of course you can't compare a 5k raw camera with a 8 bit HD camera, but people do it, and base their choice also on point as the above...) A lot of these things can't be changed in the current epic, but maybe a future epic successor could have this, making the choice for epic really easy and obvious

- half the weight
- build in ND's
- half the power draw
- 90% less sound from the fan
- choice of codec and/or raw recording
- better low light senitivity

as well as clean Audio..
Then it would be perfect... But like I said, I'm very very happy already

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Since we often do our own editing, and do so on Premiere, we don't need Prores - and we don't even have a Rocket.

But I otherwise agree. My milestone was realizing that we almost never rent other cameras anymore. We have all we need, for almost any shoot, right here.

 

[Zeb B]

I knew that "I did my edit on a laptop in a hotel room during the commercial breaks in Family Guy" was hoax . . . nice edit suite my friend!!!

 

[Aleksandar Colancevski]

As I said, I don't dare to ask for more after 20 years of expensive agony with Sony and Arri. Epic is dream come true.
Still can't believe my eyes after 4 years the pictures that I am producing, editing and color correcting in 4K on a 6000$ computer.

 

[Sergio Perez]

I agree...

The epic reminds me of the days when the Hvx200 first came out. DVCpro100, p2 media, variable frame rates, different resolutions, fit in my hand, did over crank Slow motion in camera, hell it even had a tape drive. It made sure I never had to say to a director, no I can't do that.

It was the Swiss army knife of video.

The epic is the swiss army knife of cinema. It's everything all at the same time, and unlike most systems, it's isn't jack of all trades master of none. It really is awesome at everything.

Word!

 

[Lee Saxon]

Well said, Mark. Great post as always.

The biggest enemy of the perfect camera, even bigger than the incremental-update/planned-obsolecence business model, is that everybody's definition is a little different.

Sometimes that's okay. Adding a pro-res option I would never use doesn't hurt me. Go for it.

But not always. Give someone the built-in NDs they want and you're giving me a bunch of added size I desperately don't want.

 

[Sailas Vanetti]

HEHEHE, Mark. Holy words Dude...