M8 (aka 008)...

[Jannard]

Gibby has EPIC-M 008 in hand and will be un-boxing today. Everything he does will be posted here.

Should be a fun day/night.

PLEASE DO NOT POST UNTIL AFTER GIBBY HAS A FULL RUN AT SHARING HIS EXPERIENCE. KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF YOUR MOUSE. ANY POST WILL BE DELETED.

Jim

 

[Steve Gibby]

First just let me say this :hurray:

Our M8 baby arrived this morning, along with some seriously cool accessories

Me and our crew are hanging out with M8 out in the mountains and red rock cliffs of southern Utah at my ranch. First let me explain who our crew is: me (shooting M8), my wife Pam (shooting FF35 stills of the crew), Ketch Rossi (shooting M8), Michael Tekcin (data wrangler & tech support), Joseph Hutson (video documentarian).

Epic seriously, seriously, seriously rocks! The unboxing was surreal mega-grins all around. We just sat there and stared at all the cool things which kept coming out of the box. M8, matte box, SSD (4), Red Mote, 5" LCD, and on and on. It was like a big, giant birthday party!

Then came the fitting and assembly. The finish of the stuff is spot-on. The titanium PL mount is incredible - very precise and strong.

For our on-location shooting we have a set of Master Primes, a set of Red Pro Primes, a Red 17-50 Red Pro Zoom, Ruby 14-24 zoom, and for some long lens sports action we'll use my stock Canon FD 150-600 f5.6L zoom, which has a Century PL mount conversion (mount only). The Red Matte Box fit each lens perfectly (except the Canon naturally). Its amazingly light...but seems very strong too.

We've been out all afternoon shooting in some really stunning red rock canyons. The Red Mote is way cool my friends. The camera's menu system is straightforward and easy to navigate.

Pam shot tons of stills all day of the equipment and crew in action. Joseph documented everything in video with his Z1.

We're breaking for dinner now, but we're already processing the still pics. After diner we'll begin to post our impressions of M8. pics of the day, etc. We have several more shooting days ahead, so we'll keep everyone posted about what we've done. It will be a day or so before we post shots from M8, including stills and clips. But we should be able to put up some of the video Joseph shot fairly quickly.

Before we break though, I need to tell all you friends something very cool - I brought in my longtime associate Ketch Rossi and formed an alliance. Ketch now co-owns Epic M-00008 with me. Welcome aboard Paisano! We've worked together on many projects since 2007, so this was a natural progression of our alliance. I also have two early Stage 2 Epic X cameras coming. Ketch will not be connected with those cameras though.

Before I go to dinner I just want add that in a 30+ year career in this industry, I can only remember being this excited once before - and that was the day I took delivery of Red One 00008! Jim's dream of Red cameras, and all the hard work of Red Team has seriously enhanced this industry as a whole.

Epic will blow your mind...

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Must say that after a long time relationship, it was inevitable that we ended up forming such Alliance, and extremely
happy and proud of it Steve

Together we will see Epic-M8 in many shoots to come, which have already started with Zion National Park, with Steve
Gibby's EFP style shooting, even so we didn't get a Canon mount, so we will be shooting PL lenses as described
above by Steve.

More shoots are planned and will post Pictures Unboxing setting up and shooting, just give a little time to go thru the pace
and be ready for a serious ride, as M8 is already scheduled for some serious Cine Style shoots as well, in LA, Lake Tahoe,
Richmond Virginia, and NY to name a few

To name a few upcoming shoots currently been organized in a high end collaboration, I like to give a sneak peek of what is to come.

One is organized with Tonaci, a fun little surprise, plus and other good one organized with Nathan Garofalos,
one with Mcihael Tekcin, to shoot some High frame rate Girls fight with Liquid Paint filled Balloons, one High End Fashion Shoot,
organized with Clay Haskell in Richmond Virginia, and few more we can't say at this time, but be ready to be really Rocked by our M8 US Tour

Plus Steve and I, have decided to offer a rare opportunity to Collaborate with us in other Shoots,
only we ask that this is Completely under our NDA Controlled Environment, limited to few Professional at the time,
and that this shoots be organized as if they were a ONE DAY MOVIE SHOOTS, not interested in low end stuff,
or been in some please not safe for ourselves and our gear.

If interested in organizing a Shoot Epic-M8 just contact us, and will do our best to make it happen.

RED has really outdone themselves with EPIC!!!

Not sure really if I will see anything else in my life time of such Quality, fill, Build, Form Factor and IQ such as EPIC, THANKS RED


RED EPIC-M8 BTS Photo Gallery!! Thanks to Pamala Gibby for the Pictures

RED EPIC-M Videos On Vimeo:

RED EPIC M8 First Test Footage

vimeo_KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS_EPIC-M8_Videos

RED EPIC-M Videos On YouTube:

youtube_KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS_EPIC-M8_Videos

Happy Campers...

EPIC-M8

On Location on Zion National Park.

________________________
EPIC/ATOM Ready for 3D
DEEP ATOM Coming Soon

KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS

YouTube-KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS

Vimeo-KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS​

 

[Steve Gibby]

Whew...what a day! After dinner we've all been pouring through stills, checking out Joseph's documentary footage, dumping off and and backing up the day's M8 footage.

I've attached a few more pics here. You can see that it was a team effort - a bunch of stoked guys huddled around a table top crowded with the new tools of our future. Hopefully these pics will bring the rest of you up to the table with us.

We brought out some serious lenses for this week's fun...

I think my smile in that one pic says it all - I climbed onto the Red train clear back in mid-2005 - and days like this remind me of what an incredibly fortunate decision that was

Joseph's first two edited videos from today came out way good - informal and fun. We've uploaded them to our servers and in a few minutes we'll post a link to them right here on this thread.

Ketch has uploaded down-rez versions of all the still photos Pam took today, then uploaded them to his site. In a few minutes he'll post a link here on this thread to all those pics

Next up tonight - viewing today's M8 footage!

We have an early call tomorrow morning and its almost 11pm here, so after we view the M8 footage we'll get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll be out shooting with M8 in some incredible 12,000' mountains, red rock canyons, and by rivers in meadows. Then Monday we'll spend all day a a gorgeous mountain resort while I shoot 5k overcranked slow motion of skiing and snowboarding.

My approach to Red One has always been mobile EFP style action sports, wildlife, adventure travel, nature, music, cultures, and documentaries of various kinds. It shouldn't surprise anyone here that my approach to Epic and Scarlet will be the same - except Epic (and Scarlet) are smaller, and in the case of Epic I get the combo of 5k at the higher frame rates I've been craving for a lot of my work.

Don't get me wrong, for the more pastoral shots I do I quite often shoot 24fps or 29.97 fps. But for the high action sequences in wildlife and sports Epic takes me to the a whole other combo level of fps and resolution

Also, as Ketch noted earlier, M8 will also very shortly be used in some serious cine style productions - some features, S3D, etc., plus some high-end tourism TV productions which we'll mostly shoot mobile EFP style.

Life is good...and so is business

 

[Steve Gibby]

We're up and about to head out for another day of fun! Today we'll be at a bunch of stunning places out in the high mountains and red rock pinnacles. I'm thinking I'll use the Ruby 14-24, Red 17-50, and Master Prime 18mm today.

It will be a lot of real mobile work (love it!), so my tripod will be a Miller Arrow 55 head, on Miller 1505 spreaderless CF legs. I'll also use one of my Cine Saddles to get the camera on the ground, on rocks, fences, etc.

I'll use the new Red matte box too - its impressive - lightweight and strong (both of which are good in the kind of work I do). I usually don't use matte boxes because I usually use 35mm still zooms and screw-on filters. But when I do use lenses which call for a matte box, this new Red matte box will definitely be my choice. I'm way glad we bought it...

The camera worked perfectly yesterday. This is an early camera running and alpha build, so and we're out here pushing it. We haven't been able to break it yet

Tomorrow we'll be at a beautiful mountain resort all day while I shoot 5k/96fps footage of skiing and snowboarding. BTW, we shot some 5k/96fps driving footage yesterday in a red rock canyon, with M8 on one of my Cine Saddles on top of my Xterra. It came out real good! The lens we used was a Ruby 14-24, with the Red matte box. Fun stuff...

Out all day shooting now...we'll post more pics, more video from Joseph, and impressions later this evening.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Okay, finally going out.. this is our set up of the day that Steve just finished setting up

See you guys Tonight with more Pictures and videos

We are just acting as if we have consumed gallons of Coffee ha ha.

________________________
EPIC/ATOM Ready for 3D
DEEP ATOM Coming Soon

KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS

YouTube-KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS

Vimeo-KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS​

 

[Steve Gibby]

Another great day out here with M8

The camera performed flawlessly...no problems at all. Today was car-mounted driving shots at 96 fps overcranked, and 12 fps undercranked. The camera setup we used was what I set up this morning - the setup Ketch posted just before this post. That setup weighed just 19 pounds, and felt lighter than that.

That setup is well-balanced, easy to hand hold, and the EVF is way crisp and clean. I think that camera setup really speaks for itself - it was a thing of beauty - lightweight, balanced, looked way cool, and "all business". It was a real pleasure to work with.

We found that at 14mm the Ruby 14-24 shows a small amount of the Red matte box on the right and left edges. I simply pushed in to half way between 15mm and 16mm and the easily lost the matte box edges. The 14-24 is a full frame 35mm lens. Images from the lens are very crisp, good contrast, and clean. I expected that because I've used the stock Nikon 14-24 on Red One with excellent results.

We're just now backing up the BTS still pics and video, then comes the M8 footage.

Its way amazing how you can be super tired at the end of the mobile shooting day like this - but when it comes time to check out the days images everyone is all into it!

We have a early call tomorrow as we trek up to a beautiful ski area for me to shoot some high frame rate skiing and snowboarding. Can't wait to shoot those slow motion sequences...love that stuff!

More info and pics coming soon...

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Yesterday, we had yet an other amazing day with RED EPIC-M8... WOW, what a camera!!!

Readying to head out to the Ski resort, Steve has really got us excited today, and so should you

On location a@ Zion National Park.

Zion National Park (Thanks to Pamala Gibby for the Photo)

________________________
EPIC/ATOM Ready for 3D
DEEP ATOM Coming Soon

KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS

YouTube-KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS

Vimeo-KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS​

 

[Steve Gibby]

The top handle worked fine and was plenty strong. The camera in that setup only weighed 19 pounds. I set the camera up and shot it...trust me, for mobile work you always sacrifice weight. Nothing goes on the camera that doesn't absolutely have to be there.

For my normal highly mobile work, I'd probably just use a 35mm still lens with screw-on filters, the small Red Volt in the handle and bottom, and either a small LCD or the Bomb EVF, which is amazingly light. But this week the Canon mount and Red Volt batteries weren't ready yet, thus I used a Red Battery in a lightweight transverse mount on the lower rear of the camera.

 

[Steve Gibby]

When we shot previous Xterra top mounted Cine Saddle driving shots with Red One, I used a 10" LCD cable, and a 10" start/stop cable attached to the camera, with the cable strung down through the sunroof to where I was sitting in the passenger seat. I could see what was framed, and start/stop recording as we did the shots. I simply had the driver of my Xterra (Pam) keep a steady speed and follow my directions. The shots came out great...

Yesterday as we did the Xterra top Cine Saddle driving shots I didn't have the luxury of an LCD and start/stop switch in my lap, so I simply set up the camera carefully, strapped it down on the Cine Saddle, focused to infinity, set the Ruby 14-24 to 16mm for the field of view I was after, tilted the rig upward for the angle of view I was after, set the exposure, put a small piece of Gaffer's tape across all three gear rungs to keep them from vibrating off the setting I had, started the recording on the camera, then we all jumped in and I drove up the road at a steady speed for about 5 minutes - through a canyon with unreal towering red cliffs and trees. The footage was shot with a project frame rate of 29.97, then overcranked to 96fps. It came out great...smooth slow motion, exposed correctly, focus spot-on,, framing excellent, etc.

For shots like that you have to use pre-visualization and your imagination, set up the camera right - then just go out and get the shots. Some of them won't work - but when they do, its a real rush

 

[Steve Gibby]

Obviously - I understand that completely - I've been doing very mobile production work with large zooms for 30+ years now. Again, the top handle that I rigged and you see in those pictures was more than strong enough for the 19 pound load of the camera.

This is one of the very first Epic cameras shipped, and the first one to my knowledge to be used out in the super-mobile natural world shooting that I do. I'm sure Red and third party manufacturers will have many top handle options available for Epic and Scarlet.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Our crew will be offline for several hours starting now...we're on the mountain shooting slow motion snowboarding and skiing with M8

Talk with you later...

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

A friendly reminder to keep all discussions in the discussion thread: http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=54957

Many posts have been moved there.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Back from an other mind Blowing experience with Epic M8!!

Temperatures in the low 20's at just over 10000' of altitude, on a beautiful Ski resort in Utah, Steve Gibby's Back Yard,
He has a large yard Camera off course has worked with out a single glitch!

Big thanks to all of those at the Resort that made this very fun day possible, we could have not done it with out their group effort.

As you se in this few pics, we had Skiers, Snowboarders, Snow mobile, a Ranger on Steroids, and lots of motivation.

Steve, shot the day with the Canon PL mount 150 to 600, how does He rack Focus and zoom in at the same time on this lens,
only He knows

Images captured here as well with Epic M8, are stunning, we can't wait to post the footage in the next few days

Over 100 more pics uploading to server for an other gallery, as well as an other cool video of the BTS rendering.

________________________
EPIC/ATOM Ready for 3D
DEEP ATOM Coming Soon

KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS

YouTube-KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS

Vimeo-KETCHROSSiSTUDiOS​

 

[Peter Lyons Collister ASC]

Remote on/off

Remote on/off

Steve,

What remote on/off switch are you using and how are you connecting it to the EPIC?

Peter

 

[Steve Gibby]

Hey Peter,

I'm not using a remote on/off switch. Because of the style of shooting I'm doing I've been using the record button on the front of the camera, and the one on the side handle. That's been quick and efficient. I love on/off switches, and I'll get around to shaking down option with Epic, but for now and this first use I've been sticking to a quick manual on/off.

Also, in the EFP style of shooting I do I operate the camera by myself, expose quickly by myself using zebras and histogram, and eye focus by myself manually racking lens barrels (no FF).

Epic M8 has been performing perfectly - no problems of any kind now after three long grueling days of field production out in the elements - wind, snow, etc.

We're happy campers out here

Oner more day of busy field work, then we can slow down a bit, analyze more closely our images, and come to L.A. for some visits

 

[Steve Gibby]

For this mobile EFP style work I'm using a Miller Arrow 55 head, Miller Solo 1505 CF legs (spreaderless). The head is rated for 55 pounds, and I've had 55 pounds on it before several times - a fully loaded Optimo 12x rig, etc. The head action of the Miller 55 head is excellent. The Solo 1505 legs are way strong, rated for over 55 pounds.

The whole head/tripod rig weighs just 13.5 pounds - a nice comfortable load for mobile production where I carry my stuff in with a real small crew, or by myself.

My Canon FD 150-600 f5.6L lens, Epic M, Red Battery, and Bomb EVF, setup I used yesterday only weighs 23 pounds - a super easy head load for the Miller 55/ Solo CF legs combo I was using.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Epic does really well in bad weather...no problems there. In the past three days we've shot in sunshine, overcast, at 10,000' up in the mountains in snow, and in the red rock desert. I use my cameras - but I don't abuse them. To me, protecting a camera from the elements is something that every cinematographer, videographer, and photographer should continually be aware of. Your equipment takes as good of care of you as you take of it.

The reason we avoided the weather this morning was because of high winds. Anyone who has tried to shoot in high winds knows that the wind causes vibration of the camera - shaky footage. I don't do shaky footage - unless that's the effect I'm looking for. If you're trying to shoot longer focal length lenses in the wind, then the shake in the frame is even worse. High winds are always a big challenge when shooting out in the natural world.

 

[Steve Gibby]

By a strange twist of harmonic convergence in my post count total on Red User the current last three numbers of this post are "008"

I assure you that's a pure coincidence, but then again in life some things just occur in a natural sequence.

----------------------

This crew worked together with passion and great energy! With some crews I find people just going through the motions - but this crew was tireless, committed, and worked as one.

This morning after the crew packed up to leave Gibby Ranch, me and Pam gave each of them a huge high five and a hug for a job unbelievably well done. In essence they're family - but just a small group of the overall Red worldwide Red family. They've donated their time to bring all of you out there reading these posts, and seeing these BTS pics and video, a window into what its like to receive an Epic, handle it, set it up, and take it out into the field and shoot it.

I offered a huge thanks to Ketch, Pam, Michael, and Joseph. They seriously rock :thumbsup:

Ketch, Michael, and Joseph left this morning, but while they're on the road I'll be here at the Ranch, online off and on today to answer your questions on the M8 discussion thread, post more photos, and my impressions of Epic M8.

This morning early I put some black cloth on our kitchen table and shot some final pics of Red One 0008 and Epic M 0008 together. There was some incredible Red history sitting there in front of me on the table as I shot those photos. My mind was running back to August 2007 when I took delivery of Red One 0008. In some ways that seemed like yesterday - but in others it seemed like a decade ago.

Its been a great ride...and even though a lot of water has run under the bridge since 2007, I feel as if everything has just began all over again. I like that...

Today and in the coming days me and Ketch will post a lot more info here on this thread, and also on the M8 discussion thread. For those who haven't viewed them yet, the still photo library and BTS video pieces of this week's field shooting with Epic M8 are available on the links Ketch posted earlier in this thread. When Ketch and the crew get to their destination today you can expect a lot more still photo links, and links to more of Joseph's cool new BTS videos.

 

[Steve Gibby]

Yesterday we went into a beautiful canyon in red rock country to shoot some late afternoon shots with a small camera setup for Epic M8, including the Side Handle, Red RPZ 17-50 zoom, Bomb EVF, and a Red Battery transverse mounted on the lower back of the camera via short rods. The total rig weighed around 17 pounds. That's a really light rig for a camera that shoots 5k. I didn't use the new Red Matte Box with the 17-50 because I was shooting late evening mood shots of the red rock canyons and the light was low enough that ND filtering wasn't needed for the shots - thus I saved the weight by skipping the use of a MB. The Red MB would have only added about a pound (or less) - its real light.

The Red 17-50 is a nice zoom. The images from it are clean and have good contrast. For a cine lens it is small, compact and light. IMO its price to performance ratio is quite good. Some may not particularly like the telescoping center element case, but that never bothered me of the Red 18-50, and didn't bother me with the 17-50 either. The lens seems to be well built and the glass is good.

We figured that if we were were using a short 35mm still zoom, the Bomb EVF, no MB (screw-on filters), and Red Volt batteries in the Side Handle, that we could get the total rigged, and ready to shoot weight down to around 12 pounds.

I've attached three pics of that camera setup. Check out how small the rig looks on the front seat of my Nissan Xterra. The camera is so each to haul around for mobile work. I adapted a Red One top handle to the rig, which worked well. I'm assuming that Red will be designing a cool top handle for the camera. These photos were shot by me (iXterra shot), Michael, and Ketch