Phil's Komodo-X Diaries

[Phil Holland]

Much like I did for the OG Komodo launch, I'm going to post some notes along the way. Won't go as hard as I'm currently on a project, but I'll keep it to the most critical things. This will be a repository that will likely have some info ending up in a sticky or whatever.

I'll try to be thorough, but if you have questions, fire them off.

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RKX Diary 01 - Power Draw

Going to share some of my process in testing new gear, and I'm already 26 tests deep. Yes. I have a checklist. We'll start with what everybody has been asking me about. Power.

The big question OG Komodo owners have been asking me is how much juice does the new X drain. I have numbers. I did tests with the DSMC3 7.0" Touch in highest power draw/brightness, Rec.709 Standard, and without the Monitor. Tested 5X battery brands as well because of reasons.

Komodo-X Power Draw w/ DSMC3 7.0" Touch at various frame rates = 32-35W, Peak 40W. Without the screen, approx. 26.64-28W.

Simplified with typical Micro-V Capacities:
- 150Wh = 3.75 hours peak, 5.35 hours low draw
- 98Wh = 2.45 hours peak, 3.5 hours low draw
- 45Wh = 1 hour peak, 1.6 hours low draw

DSMC2 bodies we averaging about 62-64W with the old 7" Touch. So RKX is about half the power draw to maybe 20W less hungry. That's cool.

Raptor class bodies draw 60-75W with no LCD. With LCD, 78-95Wh worse case scenario at full draw. RKX is notably less hungry here.

TLR - Impressively low power draw for up to 6K 80fps. Only slightly more power in most circumstances than OG Komodo and you don't have to power the display separately.

Battery Recommendations for Production Peeps- For a standard full day kit I'd recommend 4-6X 98-ish Wh Micro-V batts. 3X 150-ish Wh (I like even numbers for power due to charger slots, go for 4X). Those tiny 49Wh Redvolt Nano-V batts (which are the lightest weight/smallest option) I'd recommend 8-12X if running purely on those. If you run a tone of accessories via D-Tap or whatever, adapt accordingly.

For the yucks, the largest brick you can get is 420Wh, that's a full size V and will need an adapter plate. That would run RKX for 10-13 hours. #R3D

 

[Damon Kai]

Phil, this is awesome and thanks for taking the time to break these things down for us. Do you mind publishing your roadmap of tests? As a K1 owner taking delivery of KX on Monday, I’m particularly interested to see your image quality review vs Komodo and Raptor as you have all of the bodies. I also thank you a ton for your unboxing live on YouTube, awesome to see you breaking things down!

 

[Andrew Dease]

Do you know anything about it being the same sensor? This appears to be a rumour.

Would love a Komodo X probably but do love the smaller Komodo OG and I guess... well Maybe Komodo X in the future it does seem very cool 80fps.

Awesome.

 

[Graeme Meiklejohn]

I hope that I speak for many on these forums. Thank you Phil for always taking the time to answer questions that any prospective buyers have.

 

[Alex Waugh]

Phil if you have access to the eND, I’d love to know whether it’s compatible with Cooke S4i and Arri Ultra sets. Insta buy if so.

 

[Phil Holland]

Do you know anything about it being the same sensor? This appears to be a rumour.

Took me about 60 seconds to see that they are clearly not the same sensor. Very clear at the extents at the top and bottom.

Much like Dragon featuring the same pixel pitch and eventually the same format size as Monstro and Raptor VV, Komodo-X has gone through the same process. New sensor design, same pixel pitch.

 

[Phil Holland]

Phil if you have access to the eND, I’d love to know whether it’s compatible with Cooke S4i and Arri Ultra sets. Insta buy if so.

I'll hopefully be testing it in a few weeks and lens protrusion is certainly on my mind. It would be ideal of RED published compatibility or at least measurements to ensure nobody is going to smash their filters. But it's also pretty easy to test.

 

[Phil Holland]

Phil, this is awesome and thanks for taking the time to break these things down for us. Do you mind publishing your roadmap of tests? As a K1 owner taking delivery of KX on Monday, I’m particularly interested to see your image quality review vs Komodo and Raptor as you have all of the bodies. I also thank you a ton for your unboxing live on YouTube, awesome to see you breaking things down!

Congratulations! Honestly should be said more often on any camera purchase. No published roadmap. I'm hoping to do all my artsy, real world, and technical stuff done quickly. Shortly after Cine Gear I get back into filming mode on a project, so I have this small slot here to get stuff done.

 

[Phil Holland]

I hope that I speak for many on these forums. Thank you Phil for always taking the time to answer questions that any prospective buyers have.

Thanks Graeme. This is the first time in a hot minute where I didn't get to look at the camera early on. RED's been keeping me in the dark, but fortunately it was also an easy guess as I'm a little on top of industry trends. I think CVP did a decent job on the overview. But rather bluntly, until I test things deeply this camera is an alien to me. Happy to help the community out with important info.

 

[Leonardo Newman]

I'll hopefully be testing it in a few weeks and lens protrusion is certainly on my mind. It would be ideal of RED published compatibility or at least measurements to ensure nobody is going to smash their filters. But it's also pretty easy to test.

they have actually. https://support.red.com/hc/en-us/ar...PL-Adapter-w-Electronic-ND-Lens-Compatibility

I read it last night after Jonathon Petts posted it in a comment on FB, gata say it all went over my head.

 

[Josef Gatti]

Hey Phil! Appreciate you and your contributions man. Wondering if you could at some stage let us know about timelapse function and related modes e.g. frame blending, summing as featured on original DSMC. I use it a lot for my work, and it's something I'm looking for in a future camera. Hoping there's at least interval recording in KX and additional features soon

 

[Alex Waugh]

they have actually. https://support.red.com/hc/en-us/ar...PL-Adapter-w-Electronic-ND-Lens-Compatibility

I read it last night after Jonathon Petts posted it in a comment on FB, gata say it all went over my head.

This is great info - i wish i knew where to get the information for the lenses im interested in

Any idea what the relative specs of the kippertie revolva are? is this more room?

Questions open to anyone obviously!

 

[Phil Holland]

they have actually. https://support.red.com/hc/en-us/ar...PL-Adapter-w-Electronic-ND-Lens-Compatibility

I read it last night after Jonathon Petts posted it in a comment on FB, gata say it all went over my head.

Didn't know about this link! I would say this bodes well from the Cooke S4 and Arri Ultra Primes, I'll cross reference the drawings to confirm. I know for sure Sigma Cine will fit based on that drawing, which also means a host of other glass does and a good chunk of anamorphic lenses out there, which are usually the biggest culprit when it comes to fitting issues and behind the lens filtration.

 

[Alex Waugh]

Anamorphics and Ultras are the killers.

 

[Daniel K Matsumoto]

According to Kippertie's Facebook page the rear clearance for the Strata PL-ND is around 27mm, and it looks like from the Red support page the the clearance for the E-ND is 21.6mm best case scenario. I'm hoping I'm reading something wrong though, as 21.6mm would be around the same as/worse than the Revolva at 21-23mm, which I've run into a few issues with clearance wise.

 

[Alex Waugh]

It actually says 20.40mm for most of the glass we're referencing - which would be pretty bleak.

 

[vincent kardasik]

Hi Phil, many thanks for sharing all this but also for keeping Reduser interesting and alive.

 

[Phil Holland]

RED Komodo-X Diaries 02 - Media and Codecs

So the first thing to know is Komodo-X now uses the same media as DSMC3 Raptor Class bodies, CFexpress Type-B (CFx). Max data rates are lower than Raptor, but you actually still need a high speed/high performance card to get the maximum out of KX. I use RED/Angelbird cards in 4TB, 2TB, and 660GB capacities. Tested a couple other brands I use for other cameras with decent success, but I strongly suggest RED approved media at a minimum to handle the sustained writes of the two codecs this body supports.

To that point, you have two codecs and several different encoding types/strengths/compression levels.Firstly, and pretty much the biggest strength of Komodo-X is REDCODE RAW. And the
rad thing is at max 6K resolution and at a max framerate of 80fps you can do it all in REDCODE RAW HQ. If you need to be more data footprint conservative or need to tap onto longer roll times, you also have MQ, LQ, and the very lightweight ELQ. Personally, I recommend HQ and MQ for most applications, with LQ being a case by case choice. ELQ, use it if you really need to be small and nimble.

Additionally, you have ProRes up to 4K resolution, and yes, the camera will scale that down from 6K to 4K. Note, it will never scale up (and remember RAW is always straight resolution, no scaling). What's pretty cool here is Komodo-X can handle ProRes 4444 XQ (12-bit - awesome btw) at 4K 60fps, and with 4444, 422 HQ, 422, and 422 LT at all framerates in 4K.
Generally, I always shoot REDCODE RAW, and most modern workflows can handle this metadata driven compressed RAW workflow nicely. But I know lots of fast turnaround or straight to air workflows go with ProRes. The kick butt thing is 4444 XQ and 4444 are the best options for this mezzanine acquisition codec and a post color workflow. If you are going straight to air, 422 HQ works. I personally don't work lower than that, but again, if you need to keep things small go for it.

Just like OG Komodo, you select either REDCODE RAW or ProRes, and it does require a reboot. In many ways, that is a stop gap to ensure that's a very deliberate choice. #R3D

 

[Steven L]

Phil Holland Thank you for doing all this and sharing.

And it's working, now I want a Komodo X.

 

[Phil Holland]

- -

Didn't have a bunch of time today to test as other work was pressing, but I thought I'd go into some insight about some real-world stress tests. I don't share a lot of this usually as it would be grueling to go through all the exposure tests, but I do want to chat about my process a bit.

For the time I had today, I spent shooting some classic cars with some fairly broad dynaic range conditions. Some frames were exposed from clip to crush, meaning they span the entire Total Captured Dynamic of Komodo-X's sensor. From a cinematography perspective, if I didn't control the lighting or, in some cases, adapt via filtration, I would make the choice of retaining the highlights or shadow detail. In this case, which is common in many cases, I let the shadows go deep and keep the highlights. Also made those juicy "fill up the bucket" exposures that are right on the edge, which is a way I personally enjoy working a lot when in the outdoors or in natural or practical lighting conditions.

Back at the office, then I run all of my test images through numerous color grading, export, and encode tests to ensure things are working as expected. Between the shooting tests and post workflow tests, I find in a very concise way what a camera system can do.

Shot notes today are I will say it's still unerving to me to be able to shoot for so long on a single battery, but also rather freeing. Most shot with the Sigma Cine Primes today, 24mm used for this image, which is also transmitting /i Data. In post, one of my philmColor Bleach Bypass looks being shown here, which is a harder tone curve and also ensures certain things are working on the color side as expected. Will be looking closely at all this stuff as well as much more controlled scenarios. But that's today's lizard fondling fun.