MammothHD - Dragon Testing

[Bob Gundu]

thanks guys - more will be added later today. Jeff Kilgore is arriving with his glass collection for todays tests....

Eric - the held lantern shot - - going to re-shoot that tonight and may post that r3d

Great. hopefully we'll see some of his new Schneider's in action!

 

[Jacobo Martinez]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Clark Dunbar]

OK an update on the testing of a Carbon Fiber Dragon (#13 -> Nathan Garofalos's camera) - Jeff Kilgroe brought a few lenses along for todays tests... and rather than shoot charts - we headed out into the cold! Jeff will be posting his images and impressions of shooting with Dragon and Optimo Zoom and his new Xenon primes.... when he has a few minutes during the holiday season.

(iphone pics)
So - Dragon on the Ice.... (with Optimo zoom)

...and Jeff catching a bit of local hockey

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I'll add a few more shots of my tests - the next couple of days.


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[Jeff Kilgroe]

I should have brought my skates, didn't think of it. Still walked out on the ice with the camera on sticks for a couple shots. We headed out and were admittedly not as prepared as we should have been. I really should have brought a blanket to drape over my head so I could see the screen. We had an EVF, but in our hasty setup didn't give ourselves a good way to mount it, so had to look through it as if I were holding a monocle.

Will post a few more shots.

The Xenons… Hmmm… My initial impression of these are that they are quite nice. But I also encountered some CA in the form of purple fringing in some places today. I'm going to do some more testing with the Xenons before I issue any final judgements or reports. I had to pick them up from FedEx friday afternoon and playtime thus far has been limited. Sorry, no action captured on the Xenons. Got some floating ice and water flowing over a dam.. Will have more Xenon stuff later, but this coming week is pretty much a lost cause withe the holiday and family being around.

Dragon is impressive. the extra range on the low end is crazy. One thing I noticed in the brightness today is how well it performs when rated at low ISOs. I'll post a pond hockey shot in a bit where the camera was set at 24fps 180 shutter and ISO 250 where I had the lens (Optimo DP 16-42) at T8 and an ND.9 in front of it. Could have easily put another 4 to 6 stops of ND on and yet Dragon holds it well and it doesn't feel like the DR is crushed as it does on the MX sensor at low ISOs.

Briefly looked at footage on Clark's '09 Mac Pro. I think it's a quad-core, but you would have to ask him for specifics. Id doesn't do very well at digesting Dragon footage. Especially with the current Rocket not offering support and I don't think his GPU was providing any acceleration in RC-X. Had to go out to dinner after I left Clark's place. Have not had a chance to offload footage onto my systems and take another look.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

OK, FINALLY getting around to some of this. Been a busy week and not a particularly good week, but that's another story.

Here's a quick one, lots of detail, but shot hand-held, so a touch of blur/ missed focus. Exposed for ISO 320, 1/240s shutter. 6K @ something like 14:1, Schneider Xenon 35mm prime at about T5.6.

nasty pipe...

R3D image: A010_C026_1222X2.0000252F.R3D

 

[Karim_Nassar]

^ ok wow that looks like a still from a dslr, crazy detail

 

[Filip Orlandic]

OK, FINALLY getting around to some of this. Been a busy week and not a particularly good week, but that's another story.

Here's a quick one, lots of detail, but shot hand-held, so a touch of blur/ missed focus. Exposed for ISO 320, 1/240s shutter. 6K @ something like 14:1, Schneider Xenon 35mm prime at about T5.6.

nasty pipe...

R3D image: A010_C026_1222X2.0000252F.R3D

It is RC15:1 and Schneider Xenon 35mm has a lot of CA.

 

[Will Keir]

Ah, Jeff, you got your Dragon and your Xenon Primes?

OK, FINALLY getting around to some of this. Been a busy week and not a particularly good week, but that's another story.

Here's a quick one, lots of detail, but shot hand-held, so a touch of blur/ missed focus. Exposed for ISO 320, 1/240s shutter. 6K @ something like 14:1, Schneider Xenon 35mm prime at about T5.6.

nasty pipe...

R3D image: A010_C026_1222X2.0000252F.R3D

Ah, Nathan's CF Dragon but at least you got your primes!

OK an update on the testing of a Carbon Fiber Dragon (#13 -> Nathan Garofalos's camera)

 

[Bob Gundu]

Ah, Jeff, you got your Dragon and your Xenon Primes?

Jeffs Xenons... Nathan Garofalos's camera

 

[Clark Dunbar]

Thanks Bob - for clarifying - this was a short test with Nathan's Carbon#13 last weekend - I invited Jeff along with his glass...

 

[Will Keir]

Cool, glad you guys are getting so many RUs involved.

Thanks Bob - for clarifying - this was a short test with Nathan's Carbon#13 last weekend - I invited Jeff along with his glass...

 

[Esmaeil Neisi]

Nice samples, really look to see more samples .
thank you guys for keeping us updated.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

It is RC15:1 and Schneider Xenon 35mm has a lot of CA.

Yep, 15:1. Couldn't remember what it was by the time I got around to posting it. The higher compression was due to frame rate, I was shooting at 82fps (in full 6K!). Using the 512GB 1.8" REDMAG, not the new mini-mags, we can do 3:1 at 6K 24fps.

As for the Xenons... I'm seeing lots of CA, mostly in the form of purple fringing. I'm doing some more tests, on MX now and will have another camera or two this next week for comparison. Hopefully I will have my own Dragon with the next couple weeks. Clark should have his here soon, next week I think.

Not sure what to say about the Xenons just yet, but I want to get some more controlled and diverse testing done and then talk it through with someone from Schneider. I don't want to bad-mouth the lenses at this point and the lighting I was shooting in was rather harsh. OTOH, I was not seeing the CA from my Optimo zooms, or at least not to this extreme. I'm not going to post any more Xenon shots for now until I have a clearer idea of what is going on. I have a pond-hockey clip I'll post a few stills from when I get back to my desk and maybe a transcoded motion clip as well so people can see.

 

[Clark Dunbar]

well back to shooting more Dragon footage - here's a little shot done last night with the studio chameleon... 6K-FF - Nikon 105mm/macro - 1xExtension tube (iso 1000 - 23.98@23.98/48th sec - ~f5.6).

 

[Will Keir]

ISO doesn't really matter in camera, just gives you an idea what you will get or can do in post.

It's how much light you give the sensor that determines exposure.

ISO doesn't change the amount of light entering the sensor, only aperture, shutter speed, ND filtration and the amount of light you give the sensor.

I'm glad to debate anyone on this, glad to reinforce this principal for myself and colleagues. The misleading thing is that changing the ISO in camera shifts your histogram, which leads you to the incorrect conclusion that ISO effects your exposure.

well back to shooting more Dragon footage - here's a little shot done last night with the studio chameleon... 6K-FF - Nikon 105mm/macro - 1xExtension tube (iso 1000 - 23.98@23.98 - ~f5.6.

 

[Frank Weeks]

Love your model Clark. Great eyes

But seriously. Stunning image.

 

[Clark Dunbar]

Thanks Frank (the model works for scale.... or preferred crickets and worms).

Will - I'm just posting the setup info that was used on the shot. Your choices and setups will differ - based on what your have on hand and subject/shot your working on.

 

[Will Keir]

Clark,

Sorry if my post seemed like an attack of any sort. Just saw an opportunity to educate an important principal for us all, something I didn't have for a long time and it's nice to have the clarity.

Awesome shot btw, and thanks for sharing your work.

Thanks Frank (the model works for scale.... or preferred crickets and worms).

Will - I'm just posting the setup info that was used on the shot. Your choices and setups will differ - based on what your have on hand and subject/shot your working on.

 

[Tom Greenberg]

well back to shooting more Dragon footage - here's a little shot done last night with the studio chameleon... 6K-FF - Nikon 105mm/macro - 1xExtension tube (iso 1000 - 23.98@23.98 - ~f5.6.

Love the skin tones...

 

[Andy Roberts]

As far as exposure goes, Jim said once, "Keep your histogram between the goalposts and you're golden." How does that play out when you have (and WANT) this much black in a frame? Was this exposed as dark gray and you just crush it to black in the grade?

Related question: is the same true for a high-key situation? Let whites nearly clip and then just take it to white in the grade?