Just Wrapped up a 7 day commercial.. 2 epics

[Zakaree Sandberg]

2 epics, 1 Mx.
Long week.. pretty much an epic expert and trouble shooter at this point.
Camera is def still getting the kinks worked out, but the guys are really good about getting the builds out and responsive to notes, thanks deanan for being on the ball!

overall. loved shooting 40 fps for most of the shoot at 5k 2:1
5:1 compression vs 8:1 is a noticeable difference (5:1 is sharper)

the menus are a breeze, and figuring out the camera takes a few min, and maybe a half day of production to fully grasp everything the camera can and cant do (with the current builds)

We have a good pocket of cameras to choose from for many different productions and price tags.. which is a good thing..

75% of those cameras come from Red


and let it be known.. MX and EPIC go hand in hand, easily shoot a movie or commercial with one of each, and get seemless intercutting.. MX is NOT obsolete

 

[Antonio Forjaz]

and let it be known.. MX and EPIC go hand in hand, easily shoot a movie or commercial with one of each, and get seemless intercutting.. MX is NOT obsolete

cool that is what I will end up having, that was my plan, one Epic and one MX, A and B cams on shoots

Now, all I need is my epic to be produced.........:thumbup1:

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Good to hear Zak, thanks!

5:1 compression vs 8:1 is a noticeable difference (5:1 is sharper)

Interesting. This calls for a little test! Someone hand me an Epic, I'll shoot it!

 

[Mark Wilkinson]

Indeed. Now I wait.

Thanks for the report from the front.

 

[Art Chong]

Is there a noticeable difference between 5:1 and 2:1? Without pixel-peeping, I mean.

 

[Rob Gardner]

Could you describe some of the kinks you spoke of?
Thanks

 

[Daniel Soderberg]

Sample footage from your shoot?

 

[Joseph Hutson]

Could you describe some of the kinks you spoke of?
Thanks

Speaking publicly about kinks (that will most likely be taken care once there are actual production cameras and not beta state) doesn't do much more than curing our curiosity. I think it has potential to create new and unfounded FUD more than anything.

Just my two cents...

 

[N_Villers]

Speaking publicly about kinks (that will most likely be taken care once there are actual production cameras and not beta state) doesn't do much more than curing our curiosity. I think it has potential to create new and unfounded FUD more than anything.

Just my two cents...

Sorry Joseph but that's just BS. This is Reduser where we talk about Red cameras and sharing our experiences, either positive or negative. Talking about kinks with fellow working professionals is what this place should be about, I want info about the blemishes as well as the glory. Why? Because it gives a more balanced and honest picture. If a producer asks me wether in my opinion its worth testing the Epic in the next month for an upcoming project (just happened) then I want to be able to give them a full picture. If I've learned anything about Red over the past 3 years is that the cameras will always have bugs and that they will always be getting better! That is not FUD but fact.

A long time ago there was an idea for a pro redusers forum and sometimes I wish this was true. When people try to self-censor their feedback because they are afraid of the reaction or scaring clients then IMO this site becomes less and less relevant.

My 3 cents.

 

[Andrew M.]

RED is kind of manufacture “reality show” right now.
Actually creation of 4K standard, reality show, will explode the popularity of RED exponentially.

Simple thing like DC Cupcake reality show made this business go ballistic.
(can't get to inside the store anymore, line-ups)
http://thegeorgetowndish.com/thescene/producer-georgetown-cupcakes-reality-show-chats-dish


Well, all reality shows have to be a bit edited my friend, I underline ‘a bit’
Nature of things, human nature.

 

[Mark Toia]

With NAB just around the corner, weren't all of us piad up stage 2's supposed to be armed with a production Epic about now(ish)?
I'm No. 158 and not a single email or call about and "M" or "X"...

I'm feeling bit lost in the wild at the moment.

Also. I'd like to here about the kinks. All the goods Bads and ugly's.
Why not? If we can't actually have one we may as well here about them in detail.
Preparing us for if and when we may get one of these unicorn horns.

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

(snip) I'd like to here about the kinks. All the goods Bads and ugly's.
Why not? If we can't actually have one we may as well here about them in detail.
Preparing us for if and when we may get one of these unicorn horns.

IMHO FUD is a genuine problem that RedUsers ignore at their own peril on a public forum. Even if you disagree with that, or are willing to accept the fallout in exchange for info you seek, preparing for issues that may be solved in short order is not actually that helpful.

As someone who started working with the RedOne on Red Day Zero I have seen my share of issues. That said, I have experienced better than 99% uptime with my camera. Were there some workarounds used along the way, you betcha, but the core functionality of the camera system has been amazingly reliable. Anyone who has ever had a misthread on a film mag or a condensation issue on a tape camera understands that no system is perfect. With over 100 RedOne shoots under my belt I can confidently say it matches or exceeds the reliability of every other format I have used in 30 years in the biz. Just sayin'

Cheers - #19

 

[Jannard]

With NAB just around the corner, weren't all of us piad up stage 2's supposed to be armed with a production Epic about now(ish)?
I'm No. 158 and not a single email or call about and "M" or "X"...

I'm feeling bit lost in the wild at the moment.

Maybe you haven't been reading the updates I have been giving the past week?

Jim

 

[Jannard]

Also. I'd like to here about the kinks. All the goods Bads and ugly's.
Why not? If we can't actually have one we may as well here about them in detail.
Preparing us for if and when we may get one of these unicorn horns.

There are customers that love to help us work through "teething" for the benefit of others and then there are those that love to point out issues which scare the shit out of potential customers. One of our jobs is to put early cameras in the right hands. There is a really good reason why EPIC-Ms are going where they are... and it has benefitted all future EPIC-X customers.

So far, we have done a pretty good job. We have gotten the feedback we needed to solve inevitable early issues without hearing "the sky is falling"... which leads to soundbites that last for years. Like the RED ONE overheats.

Jim

 

[Michael Hastings]

..
Snip

We have gotten the feedback we needed to solve inevitable early issues without hearing "the sky is falling"... which leads to soundbites that last for years. Like the RED ONE overheats.

Jim

Better put a colon and some " " quotes in there or next we'll see that become " even Jim Jannard says:"

:smile:

 

[Jay Gannon]

There is no reason for the public to know what is going on with a Beta camera, thats what a Beta program is for, to work out kinks before tis released to the general public?

 

[Rob Gardner]

Thanks, Jim, but I think there is nothing wrong with being honest about the realities of the camera's shake-down, particularly for people (like me) that have shown their good faith by purchasing two Reds and lining up cash in hand for an Epic X. As you may have noticed, there is no shortage of assholes in the world, and people will take shots at the new camera no matter what you do.

You and Red have been extraordinarily transparent throughout the whole arc of Red One's development, manufacture and distribution (warts and all) and I really appreciate that. I am a prior customer of Sony and Panasonic and I have experienced their tender mercies.

We took a few lumps with the our Reds early on, but it hasn't effected my faith in them (and I am talking about business faith, not fan-boy faith). So I don't think it's out of line to follow up when somebody is using the camera and mentions issues.

On the other hand, it is your company and if you want to monitor feedback to this degree, well, God bless you...

Keep up the good work.

Rob Gardner

 

[Mark Toia]

There are customers that love to help us work through "teething" for the benefit of others and then there are those that love to point out issues which scare the shit out of potential customers. One of our jobs is to put early cameras in the right hands. There is a really good reason why EPIC-Ms are going where they are... and it has benefitted all future EPIC-X customers.

So far, we have done a pretty good job. We have gotten the feedback we needed to solve inevitable early issues without hearing "the sky is falling"... which leads to soundbites that last for years. Like the RED ONE overheats.

Jim

Understood...

You want a solid tester in the real world of hard core TV commercials...
I'll put my hand up.

oh, and you haven't got a bigger global supporter. I travel the world Directing and shooting huge TVC's and convert companies to REDISM weekly. I even setup up post houses showing them the future as I post on my laptop right in front of them. (which scares the shit out of them)

I'm like an unpaid TED.

I'll stand back in the wings, awaiting the arrival of my 4 Epics.
No more posts from me for a while.

Thanks Jim.

 

[N_Villers]

There are customers that love to help us work through "teething" for the benefit of others and then there are those that love to point out issues which scare the shit out of potential customers. One of our jobs is to put early cameras in the right hands. There is a really good reason why EPIC-Ms are going where they are... and it has benefitted all future EPIC-X customers.

So far, we have done a pretty good job. We have gotten the feedback we needed to solve inevitable early issues without hearing "the sky is falling"... which leads to soundbites that last for years. Like the RED ONE overheats.

Jim

I think you have done an incredibly good job with sharing info with us your clients. Really. Superb. Transperancy works in the long run. You and your company are very much the proof of the principle. Will (is) the Epic benefit from all the experiences that collectively we as users and you as developer? I can count on it. I can see it here on this forum and with all the responses/reactions that I can share because we have this thing called the internet.

I love my Red. I love the things I've done with it and all the experiences that my camera has brought me.

Lets step back a sec, though, and look at the Red One. For three years now I've worked with it almost every day in some manner. From pre-production through post and onto the red carpet I've been in the trenches with it. I've seen it behave magnificently in very tough situations and also behave like a spoiled child having a tantrum. I remember how prior to build 15 we did have problems with overheating.

That wasn't FUD, I experienced it.

Did Red fix the problem? Absolutely! And I haven't even heard of it ever overheating in over 2 years now. It is now today a solid, professional workhorse that just keeps getting better and better and will continue to produce great moving images for years to come. As far as the Epic is concerned I'm convinced it will be the same. Some growing pains but a revolution at the same time.

But what was crucial at the time and I'm sure for the future is that we had a forum like this where solutions to these problems could be shared and addressed. We could prepare ourselves via others experience so that if/when things went wrong we were prepared (or even better plan to avoid) to have a solution at our fingertips. I don't think it was because people talked about overheating on this forum that the notion stuck but because of the nature of our business and how opinion spreads via the grapevine of shared mutual experiences. ACs talk shit all the time. Producers can't bend their mind around to see digital for what it is. If things screw up and 50-100 people are sitting around twiddling their thumbs while you reboot the camera people remember. These notions stick even if it becomes rarer and rarer to the point that now, as already mentioned in a previous post, in some ways it's "safer" than film. I learned with the Red One to step in and tell everyone exactly what could go wrong first thing. List every quirk, potential negative and reason to "not shot on Red." This I learned from experience and has helped a great deal. People hate the unknown. They need to be able to way in their minds the pros and cons and make an informed decision. If I can say with certitude and they can trust me "here are the factors" then IMO Red wins anyways.

This is why I want to hear what is happening with the Epic. I want to hear everything. Positive, negative, whatever. I can't wait to have one in my hands. I respect Zakaree's knowledge and that he knows what people like me want to know about. Let us hear from him and learn. So if in its infancy we hear of issues that will never arise again we will at least have gained some nugget or detail that we never know when will become useful but usually does.

To hear that 8:1 is softer than 5:1 might be true or might not, or more likely is true "for the moment." But the point is that this helps me understand something.

-noel

 

[Gunleik Groven]

Actually I am with Joseph. the cam is in alpha/beta, we know that already. At the moment it is more interesting what it is good at than what is not there yet.

Once RED claims it is out of beta, the heat is ok, but as long as it is still in beta, let's rejoice over everything that works. the rest is an issue between the user and RED.

I'd have loved to have access to an epic for what it can, not for what it can't...

Cheers!

G