Is there a 2k mode "soft image" problem or not?

[Stuart English]

Image Sharpness

Image Sharpness

Don't confuse apparent "sharpness" with resolution or detail.

See here - www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/sharpness.htm

In video "acutance" might be called "detail", "edge enhance", "sharpness" or "aperture correction" depending on manufacturer.

You can sharpen 4K and 3K and 2K RED-ONE footage in post.. you can't undo it if it's been added in the camera (as the majority of video cameras do)

The RED-ONE adds none, leaves that choice up to you to post production.

 

[Tim Sutherland]

Improper backfocus or poorly maintained lenses seem to make the difference to me. Also, for sharp 2K, S16 lenses are a must, as 35mm lenses are not optimized to be shot through the center.

I work at a rental house where every single lens is projected after every rental, and it takes a ton of care to keep lenses in top shape, even masterprimes and ultraprimes have to be sent in for service from Arri/Zeiss. Our lens tech rejects at least 20% of lenses sent from other rental houses. That means other places keeping track of their lenses and servicing them aren't always keeping them up to par.

When someone tells me a lens is soft, the first thing I ask is where it came from. Not that that's the only problem possible. I might be a bit biased because of my job, but I would never own lenses as they are so difficult to maintain, and can affect quality no matter how perfect the backfocus of the camera is.

 

[cinemano]

hum so a 4K tiff at 100% size we are actually looking at a 130% zoom.. so we should look at the tiff at 66% more or less.. good thing 4.5K is coming so we get real 4k detail.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Guys - is it just me or did nobody taken in the fact that we are dealing with Bayer CMOS sensor? According to Graeme the Mysterium resolves about 78% of its RAW resolution. So when You shoot a 2K-RAW You are only getting resolved 1598 px (or 1.56K)... This in my opinion is the main reason why the 2K is little "soft"...

Try shooting 3K (which resolves 2.34K) and scale it down to 2K. Then compare it to the 2K mode...

Any HD (true 1920x1080) camera with 3xCCD or 3xCMOS sensors will look sharper then 2K-RAW single CMOS. This is common sense...

Just my two pesos...

We had to get 3 pages into this thread before someone mentioned this?

Peter basically nailed it. You cannot shoot pixel for pixel at 2K and expect the footage to really hold up. Low-light footage suffers terribly from the 2K crop. All the 2K stuff I have seen would look at lot better at 720p. If you're shooting for a 2K or 1080p finish, shoot 3K high FPS.

Hopefully this is something that will improve over time, as Red One upgrades are offered. Patience, my friends.