Is the Red One obsolete?

[Peter Strietmann]

The last upgrade was 3.5 years ago. Is this the end of the line for my old buddy?

 

[Phil Holland]

in terms of massive firmware updates I imagine there won't be any more coming anytime soon.

However, since things like REDWideGamutRGB and Log3G10 + the rest of what IPP2 brings can be used on REDCODE RAW footage off the camera, I'd still say it's a very usable 4K system.

That said, move up to DSMC2. It will change your life for the better

 

[Zack Birlew]

I recently purchased a RED One MX for my upcoming feature film and it's everything I wanted it to be and more! It was a bit of a challenge trying to find all the bits and pieces I wanted for it though, particularly a Nikon G lens mount solution, which ended up being the Allstar A Mount for RED One by chance. If there were anything that would make the RED One better or, at least, more future proof, it would be if either:

1. A third-party or RED made an SSD adapter for off the shelf SSDs to work with the RED One, thus enabling bigger and cheaper storage solutions that are plentiful. This would alleviate some of the current and future issues with discerning incompatible RED SSD sizes as well as fighting the eventual dwindling of proprietary RED SSD media over time with age and drive die off.

2. RED releases a final firmware update to allow the same thing but with the caveat of providing zero support for anybody who uses the open drive feature instead of RED approved media.

3. RED continues to do what it does and offers generous trade-in offers for RED One owners to upgrade to their newer cameras. If I had the money last month, I would have traded my camera in and upgraded to the Epic-W right away and maybe if they did the same offer later this year, things may be different.

All in all, the RED One is still leaps and bounds beyond many cameras in the under $10K price range and for what it goes for now, it's a steal!

 

[L. Langer]

If you have the latest (and last) RED ONE revision and can record REDMAG media, there's no reason to put the camera out on the curbside for pick-up.

 

[Paramon Ivanovich]

All in all, the RED One is still leaps and bounds beyond many cameras in the under $10K price range and for what it goes for now, it's a steal!

Absolutely!
if you're not in the rental business and just need a camera for work R1 is probably one of the best deals out there.

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

The Red One, released almost a decade ago, is a very similar camera to Cannon's new flag ship camera, the C700, which was announced a few months ago.

So yeah, I would hesitate to call it obsolete.

 

[AndreeMarkefors]

The Red One, released almost a decade ago, is a very similar camera to Cannon's new flag ship camera, the C700, which was announced a few months ago.

Aa-uhm…



Sooo… yeah.


"Exactly the same (except the parts that aren't)" <----- do we already have an internet 'ETSETPTA' for that? I'd would be truly great to be one of those guys that came up with something on the internet.

ETSETPTA almost perfectly sums up 20 years of forum discussions for me.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

Well, I think as an image gathering device, it is still viable. I continue to use it for paid client work, and I'm still happy when it turns on nearly a decade after it first saw action.

I think in typical feature, TV, and high end commercial work it can still be utilized as it always has. The biggest challenges come with the way some of the other segments of the industry have changed. Production tends to move a lot faster, using less and less "heavy lifting" when it comes to light and grip. The expectations are often to do more with less, sometimes literally meaning no additional lighting, just whatever is there. Unfortunately, Red One won't always fare well in these situations. The camera is what I would deem full size, meaning it needs proper support and it needs light to really capture great imagery. It's hard to replicate a 5D MKIII workflow with this camera.

Now, having said that I have pushed the limits of what I just wrote above. I have stripped the camera down to rigs that weighed somewhere in the 15 to 17 lbs range with lens. That's not terrible. But it still requires a lot of battery power to get through a day. So you have to account for that. And you have to really know how to process your footage if you are going to attempt low light with this camera. That means capturing noise profiles so it can be processed with NR tools in post and having a lot of skill in grading as the less light you throw at it, the more difficult it becomes to normalize it.

Otherwise, this camera still holds its own. It would be virtually dead in the water if RED had never created the SSD option for it. With that option it has allowed for a similar workflow to the rest of the RED camera line, as well as offering the benefit of an emergency recording option in the RED drives. Although at this point they are not a great primary recording medium, if you found yourself in a situation where for some reason you ran out of media with your RED SSDs, you could throw an additional 320 or 640GB RED Drive and still continue shooting, especially with the Element Technica ISO drive brackets.

Some other things to keep in mind. If you have old RED bricks, consider getting them re-celled. I used Ritter Battery for this. I had a couple of bricks that would cause shutdowns, even when showing a decent charge. Now they work perfectly.

Think about ways you can shave weight if you are looking to move quickly on set. Smaller lenses (I have eventually gone with the Leitax EF mount for Red One and use Contax primes and Sigma zooms). I try to use lightweight LCDs and only use EVF when absolutely necessary or when the camera will mostly be on support. For handheld, try to get the battery off the camera and onto your waist or backpack. No EVF, battery, or chunky drive cage shaves a lot of weight off of it. Get the Zacuto Universal which uses VCT mount and has shoulder pad built in. Makes getting camera from shoulder to sticks very fast and secure. Also has mounting points on it.

And be ready to acknowledge that the RED One MX is not a Dragon and certainly not a Helium. Although you will find with careful setup you can probably get them in the ballpark of each other, Dragon and Helium are advanced chips. They are cleaner, higher resolution, etc. For some, maybe they are too clean but that just comes down to personal preferences. Technically speaking, these are better cameras than the Red One. But considering the age, it's still amazing you can even put them in the same sentence. Just tells you how much RED put into that first generation to get themselves on the map.

There are some RED One groups on Vimeo to see work still being done but I think a lot of Dragon and Helium footage has started to infiltrate them.
https://vimeo.com/groups/8453
https://vimeo.com/groups/redusers

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

Aa-uhm…



Sooo… yeah.


"Exactly the same (except the parts that aren't)" <----- do we already have an internet 'ETSETPTA' for that? I'd would be truly great to be one of those guys that came up with something on the internet.

ETSETPTA almost perfectly sums up 20 years of forum discussions for me.

Hahahah what are you talking about????? You even quoted me as saying very similar? Which they are?

Just for a laugh, let's look at the C700 tech specs.

C700 Tech specs
4K (4,096 x 2,160) video recording at up to 810Mbps
Internal 10/12-bit XF-AVC or ProRes recording
4K recording at up 59.94P/50P internally or 100P/120P with optional Codex recorder CDX-36150
Up to 15 stops dynamic range
Dual Pixel CMOS AF (EOS C700 only)
PL mount Global Shutter model options
Proxy Recording to SD Cards
Selectable Gamma and Log Curves
XF-AVC and ProRes Recording to CFast 2.0
Raw Recording Option
OU-70 Remote Control Unit
Adaptable to B4 mount
Internal Anamorphic de-squeeze



With the exception of Canon's focus on proxy recording modes, and RED's focus on RAW recording, these cameras are very similiar specs wise.