(link) a very useful real-world Red One MX test by John Brawley

[Timothy Eaton]

It's a pity that we can't see it in cinema but from Vimeo downloaded file still it can be seen clearly who is who.

Film 35mm Kodak 5219 is still a king in terms of color rendering, balanced DR and smooth roll of latitude.

And of course no clipping with film material at all.

Then comes Alexa and after that RED1-MX.

Many thanks to John for shooting and posting this test. But I gotta say, Sanjin, you are basing an awful lot on an 8 bit compressed Vimeo clip. I think your conclusions are a bit thin, especially since, with all due respect to John and his team, you weren't there when the footage was exposed, or graded, or encoded. Interesting test, but far too many variables to draw a definitive conclusion without having been there. Sanjin, you have posted a lot in the past about DR and HDRx, but much of it seems like a theory in search of evidence rather than sound conclusions based on evidence. Glad to have you back though.

Tim Eaton

 

[shashbugu]

Great tests. But with all due respect, looking at Sanjins screen grabs, one comes to the conclusion that the Red-mx footage was terribly debayered. I am not trying to be defensive here but one thing i do know is when it comes to skies the Alexa, which i have used a lot of lately does not compare to the RED. Even from the vimeo footage it is clear that the level of contrast and wrong color balancing has blown out the Red -mx images.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

They should do those with HDRx on the Epic instead... that would show the real "colors" of red.

 

[Eki Halkka]

Great tests. But with all due respect, looking at Sanjins screen grabs, one comes to the conclusion that the Red-mx footage was terribly debayered.

...or the highlights were overexposed already when shooting. Hard to tell without seeing the camera originals...

 

[jake blackstone]

Can anyone tell me why in test like this was there a key used to separate, darken and give a blue appearance to the sky and water on the film material, but not with the other cameras. Or at least not to the same degree. It's very obvious, that it was done by the very typical halo, that appears in the film image, when not done judiciously.
It's an interesting test, but this kind of "creative" grading makes direct comparisons between cameras pretty meaningless...

 

[John Brawley]

Guys.

Don't forget you're looking at a VIMEO upload that I did from SQUEEZE MP4 that was derived from a PRO RES of the finished file. This was a test designed to be SEEN IN A CINEMA. I've always tried to preface that it doesn't look anything like it looks in a cinema.

It was graded by a senior colourist at DELUXE Melbourne.

In the two public screenings I've done in CINEMAS the RED competes equally with the Alexa and 35mm as far as the audience is concerned. Have a look at the comments from people who've seen this in an actual cinema environment. When I've asked for a show of hands it was pretty much equal between 35mm, RED and the Alexa.
http://johnbrawley.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/available-light-screening-results/

It was a brutal test in very difficult conditions. Available light. It doesn't get much tougher than that.

jb

 

[Mark Pugh]

Film 35mm Kodak 5219 is still a king in terms of color rendering, balanced DR and smooth roll of latitude.

And of course no clipping with film material at all.

Really? I shot Epic HDRx tests today for a film diehard client, that blows film waaaay out of the water.

The Epic rated at 400 with HDRx had noiseless detail, subtle tonalies in skintone, from the back of a dark room , to bright sunlit exterior, in the one shot.
Impossible on film.
Color in the brightest recovered X track highlights looked richer and truer than film.

The Flame artist couldn't believe it.

Client was sold, just maybe wanted to try adding some grain...

As John Schwartzman said... "This is the best looking footage I have ever shot..."
A new chapter in cinematography has opened with this camera.

 

[Peter Strietmann]

I thought the 5219 looked pretty good but the 7219 seemed excessively grainy. I doubt it was, but it appeared to be pushed 2 stops.

 

[Jason Svatos]

The one that actually surprised me the most was the 1D - the way it handled available light given the size and cost of the camera was impressive, I thought.

 

[Keegan Flynn]

I really liked the look of the Alexa just going by that mp4. Surprised me.

 

[Gabriele Turchi]

No offense , but watching the RAW/Graded at the end looks like that the grade killed a lot of highlight ...

Each camera require Particular grading strategies to get the best out of it , and honestly most the clipping has been introduce by a not proper grade

 

[Richard Foster]

Would love to see this test on the big screen. Not really fair on Vimeo 8bit compressed, but still very interesting test. Thanks for doing it John. I was surprised by how good the Alexa looked, but suspect at 60 feet wide you would start to see the Red's superior detail better. And 35mm film is still very nice looking. Always has been.