Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

NAB 2014 - RED SWITCHBLADE-M

Mike Halper said:
When will we be able to preorder?
Click to expand...

Awwww… are they gone from the store already?

Some of us already got our orders in before that happened. ;) - This site needs a fist-pump emoji.
 
It seems like a missed opportunity to simply make a redmote cradle that connects to the camera but mounts in this same place.
 
Bumping my earlier question - what is the weight of this accessory?
As one of the main reasons for this is to replace the side handle for weight-saving when camera is powered at the rear - super important for gimbal use - I would like to know the weight saving...
 
I would love to see an accessory cable sold for this. Maybe a 24" cable that can clamp on to the port on the side of the camera and to the back of the switchblade. It might seem a little silly, but I think a lot of people would like control functionality off camera where it could be in the hands of an AC or mounted to a tripod handle.

In my case I frequently shoot w long lenses or macro lenses. Physically touching the camera introduces shake into the image. I currently mount my REDmote to my tripod handle, but as we all know the REDmote's wireless functionality is less than reliable, even from a foot away. Plus the REDmote's battery does not make it halfway through the day without needing recharging.

The Switchblade looks beautifully designed and engineered, but I personally would love to see the same thing off camera.
 
Lee Saxon said:
Forgive my ignorance, I don't understand why everyone's so excited about this / what the point of it is. It seems like a RedMote minus wireless?
Click to expand...

People have been asking for a hard button option ( on the dumb side for obvious reasons) instead of the REDMOTE (unreliable according to most reports i've heard, never seen one myself), side handle (impractical for most normal work) and REDTOUCH, (monitor, therefore operators priority so again somewhat impractical for assistants.

I found myself walking away from the camera a lot if I ask the assistant to change a setting and they are using the monitor. Its just irritating having arms and hands reachin and pressing a fiddly screen while I am waiting to see the picture.

Something this basic should not be the cause of so much excitement, I will grant you that, but, we are where we are.
 
On a feature setup with an EVF for the operator you had to attach a sidehandle to control the camera even if not using the REDVolts at all.

With the swicthblade you get a nice clean display on the AC side with access to most vital parameters of the camera without making the camera heavier or wider and control it no matter what kind of display you are using.

You can keep the evf or AC monitor in clean mode without any overlay menu and still make sure shutter angle, ISO or camera temperature are correct.

Might not be useful for a single operator but will be big for rental cameras to have a small setup.
 
Ivan McCullough said:
Something this basic should not be the cause of so much excitement, I will grant you that, but, we are where we are.
Click to expand...

I agree it is a lot of excitement, but we struggle with our Redmotes daily hence the excitement.

We were about to move to REDVOLTs but since we will be dropping the sidehandle I`m no longer sure we want to.
 
Whilst the concept of this is good, I can't help but feel the implementation could be better.

For example, buttons up either side of the screen so that you press the button next to frame rate to change frame rate, a button next to ISO changes ISO etc etc. As it is it doesn't seem very intuitive. Having A B C and D buttons that can be different every time a camera comes out is really annoying as is having to scroll around a screen to edit settings. A good menu and controls ought to allow a setting to be changed in about 2 seconds.

Simplifying the controls a bit would be good. As with the Alexa a single scroll wheel, which you press in to enter to change settings, is better than the confusion that using the crosspad and enter button sometimes causes. I've found myself using the side handle on occasion wanting to scroll a menu before realising you have to press across and enter. I just don't see why you need both. Good menu design can be controlled from a single wheel knob and makes for less confusion. AC's instinctively understand the form factor of a scroll knob from their use of the Alexa and other cameras so why not adopt it in this product (I've never seen an AC use the wheel/cross pad on the side handle to alter settings when it's attached).

The screen could also have been larger, why not have the design extend to cover the Red logo to the left? A larger display would mean more information, more legible typography and less confusion when entering the menu's. It doesn't need to be an OLED screen as these suck the battery life a bit more.

The buttons also seem very small. If they need to be that size why have them flush to the metal work? It's annoying pressing such tiny buttons with the tips of fingers. Sometimes we're working in the freezing cold with gloves on (Here in the UK that's surprisingly more often than it ought to be!). If it's because of worrying about accidentally pressing the buttons when handling the camera then have a very self explanatory lock button with a lock symbol on it. Locking those buttons using A & D is fine, but AC's have to learn that when they see this for the first time... It should be obvious the when you look at it initially how to lock them.

It would also have been good to have more mounting points on the top had it fit flush with the top of the camera. This sort of product lends itself to using a small tvlogic instead of the Red monitor so it would've been good to have more mounting points on the AC's side of the camer (I personally don't use a top plate much as I've found the camera runs cooler for longer without it and if you had this then more people might opt not to use a top plate anyway).

Finally Aesthetically it doesn't fit with the look of the rest of the camera. The finishing of the design with the curves and small indentations doesn't appear on the Epic camera elsewhere and people don't require arrows telling them where things turn or get inserted, it takes seconds to understand such a devise and then you don't ever need a reminder.



I know this all might seem like I'm moaning... I'm not. I very much like the purpose it serves. It just doesn't feel like it is as simple and fluid as using the camera could be. As an owner I'd like if every AC that picked up the camera with this attached looked at it and said "I get exactly how to control this" without even thinking about it, if only because it's as simple as other camera controls such as the Alexa's. At the moment it looks like a mini redmote and they're clunky to use.

Cheers
Paul
 
Peter Majtan said:
Bumping my earlier question - what is the weight of this accessory?
As one of the main reasons for this is to replace the side handle for weight-saving when camera is powered at the rear - super important for gimbal use - I would like to know the weight saving...
Click to expand...

I would imagine that it is not a great weight loss or savings from the regular side handle because most of the Sidehandle is space for the battery in it. The Switchblade is from what I can see all the controls of the Sidehandle with out the bulk of the battery compartments and a few more UI thingies.
 
Paul Clements… I agree with everything you have said.

I wish this gear had more real world testing on actual working jobs before it was designed / released.

Such a good idea, why not make it perfect for working assistants?
 
PaulClements said:
...buttons up either side of the screen so that you press the button next to frame rate to change frame rate, a button next to ISO changes ISO etc etc. As it is it doesn't seem very intuitive. Having A B C and D buttons that can be different every time a camera comes out is really annoying as is having to scroll around a screen to edit settings. A good menu and controls ought to allow a setting to be changed in about 2 seconds.
Click to expand...

Paul seems on the money. Any chance his points might be considered by the designers?
 
I'm wondering if things are still being tweaked? This kinda fell off the map since NAB. Some of us were able to sneak in a pre-order before they went unavailable in the store…
 
PaulClements said:
Whilst the concept of this is good, I can't help but feel the implementation could be better.

For example, buttons up either side of the screen so that you press the button next to frame rate to change frame rate, a button next to ISO changes ISO etc etc. As it is it doesn't seem very intuitive. Having A B C and D buttons that can be different every time a camera comes out is really annoying as is having to scroll around a screen to edit settings. A good menu and controls ought to allow a setting to be changed in about 2 seconds.

Simplifying the controls a bit would be good. As with the Alexa a single scroll wheel, which you press in to enter to change settings, is better than the confusion that using the crosspad and enter button sometimes causes. I've found myself using the side handle on occasion wanting to scroll a menu before realising you have to press across and enter. I just don't see why you need both. Good menu design can be controlled from a single wheel knob and makes for less confusion. AC's instinctively understand the form factor of a scroll knob from their use of the Alexa and other cameras so why not adopt it in this product (I've never seen an AC use the wheel/cross pad on the side handle to alter settings when it's attached).

Paul
Click to expand...

I think this is a great idea. I really like that we can customize the Epic button configuration so much on the side handle. However I wish that there was a nice base setup that was really well thought out and that the buttons would maybe say what they do. Now I find the interface relies too much on the touch screen interface which makes it slower to work with. One example is that when you are in playback I find it a bit fidly to press the next/previous clip so I assigned the three bottom buttons on the side handle to do next/previews and play stop. Now its much easier to playback many clips faster. However now these buttons are taken in the record mode and I would maybe like to use them for record settings. A more elaborate button system would be able to have buttons behave different in record and playback mode. Maybe even Epic can already?
I also wish that the key settings would move with a one click operation to the next firmware, especially when it takes quite some time to set everything up. I find myself often spending 20 minutes after a firmware upgrade fixing some mistake I did with keyboard settings that were not saved properly before the upgrade.

/Andreas
 
AndreasOberg said:
I think this is a great idea. I really like that we can customize the Epic button configuration so much on the side handle. However I wish that there was a nice base setup that was really well thought out and that the buttons would maybe say what they do. Now I find the interface relies too much on the touch screen interface which makes it slower to work with. One example is that when you are in playback I find it a bit fidly to press the next/previous clip so I assigned the three bottom buttons on the side handle to do next/previews and play stop. Now its much easier to playback many clips faster. However now these buttons are taken in the record mode and I would maybe like to use them for record settings. A more elaborate button system would be able to have buttons behave different in record and playback mode. Maybe even Epic can already?
I also wish that the key settings would move with a one click operation to the next firmware, especially when it takes quite some time to set everything up. I find myself often spending 20 minutes after a firmware upgrade fixing some mistake I did with keyboard settings that were not saved properly before the upgrade.

/Andreas
Click to expand...

This is a bit off topic in the Switchblade thread, but I thought it warranted a comment.

We try very hard to make sure every single feature is just as easy to control using the side handle as it is using touch. If you bring focus down from the top bar to the timeline in playback you can use the wheel to scrub, left/right to go prev/next clips, enter to toggle pause/play. Also, you can continuing brining focus down to the buttons on the bottom bar and use those instead.

Also, you can create two presets: a Record Keys preset and a Playback Keys preset and have them automatically applied when entering preview and playback mode respectively (the Auto Presets tab in the Presets dialog).

Also, check out the key mapping tool available for PC/Mac on the downloads page - very helpful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top