Red accessories - help needed

[Latrelle Scott]

I have been wondering this for the longest time... what accessories must you buy for a basic red one camera package to operate. I plan on getting one pretty soon and outside of the RED body, I have no clue what extras are needed in order to have a basic package. also, what lenses seem to be the best? thanks guys.

 

[David Wyatt]

On one hand there's all the Red-made accessories (Red Drive, LCD, EVF etc) & on the other hand there are fairly essential 3rd party accessories too - Element Technica make some great Red accessories - have a look at their website:

http://www.elementtechnica.com/

(I'd heartily recommend their EVF mount and their breakout box for starters).

It all depends how much you want to spend - you can get the camera operational with surprisingly little spent on accessories but in the rough & tumble of shooting in the field at a fast pace it might be worth investing in a few optional extras.

Personally if I were you at the very least I'd go for Red's base production pack (which includes battery/drive cradle, top handle, top mount, 18" steel rods, 1 handle etc). On top of this you might want to order a shorter set of top bars (Element Technica make some great lightweight bars), plus another top mount so you can run bars along the top. You'll also need at least 2 Red Drives, a couple of Red 16GB CF cards (for filming in bumpy situations), EVF, Red LCD (7" is really worth it), at least 4 x Red batteries + 2 chargers, Element Technica bridge plate (19mm Studio Hybrid I think it's called), a sliding baseplate / dovetail, focus hook etc. I also find the Element Technica top cheese plate pretty handy for rigging accessories to. You'll also really need spares of all cables just in case (EVF/LCD cables, drive cable etc).

Then there are a ton of optional extras that all add up in price and may make your life a little bit easier/quicker (it can also can get a bit addictive buying all these bits...a bit like modding a car!). You might find a remote start stop like the Monstercine one will come in handy for crane work, car rigs etc. For a lighter weight/handheld configuration you might want to look at Element Technica's aluminium battery interface with 19mm speedy clamp. This means you can do away with the heavy Red cradle (as long as you also find another way of mounting your Red Drive such as the superb Element Technica vibration isolating drive mounts or Action Products' Raidrack. If you're doing a lot of hand-held and you've got deep pockets you might want to look into Element Technica's superb Mantis hand-held system (you only get one hand-held handle (which isn't very well made IMHO) with Red's base production pack so you'll need something additional anyway).

Lens-wise you can't really beat Red's lenses on price (their new RPPs have been very favourably reviewed, especially considering their price ($19,000). Otherwise their zooms are pretty cheap (but nowhere near the RPP's build & optical quality...except maybe the 18-85mm - I think that's a "Pro" lens, I haven't come across it personally but have heard pretty good things. There's a whole lot of new 35mm glass coming out right now and a lot of older second hand glass on the market, so you've got a lot of research to do if you want to spend that kind of money IMO. Then you can also go a cheaper route with stills lenses, using various adaptors/mounts...lots of options, lots of pros & cons (you could literally fill a book...) - these forums are a good resource for looking into it but be prepared to do a little searching & exhaustive reading!

There's also a website that might be of interest to you called www.redmodz.com that has loads of accessories info (mostly 3rd party add-ons), and of course if you search these forums you'll find lots of recommendations.

p.s. then there's all your DIT kit...:bored:.........

 

[ALLSTAR]

If you want to work with BASE PRODUCTION PACK, I suggest you purchasing Allstar dovetail
http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19146
If you think about hand-held and Epic, maybe choose Allstar BASE & Dovetail
http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=30012&highlight=allstar
http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28210&highlight=allstar
and shoulder rigs:
http://allstar-cine.myweb.hinet.net/html/red_accessories/Allstar_products_map.htm

 

[Eric Ulbrich]

This question is going to open a can of worms...but
What are you primarily going to be doing with the camera?
What type of shooting? Feature films, Commercials, Music Videos, Docs, ENG? Building a package designed for what you want to do is the best option.

PM me if you have any questions, I just bought my package, so I know what's new out there.

 

[Latrelle Scott]

I will be shooting feature films almost one hundred percent of the time. thanks Eric, that piece of should definitely help a lot. thanks also David and Allstar. I'll check those sources.