Red Auto-focus?

[James P B Wright]

Dear Red Users

After my interest was peaked about "Red" being the future of cinematography and will usurp cameras such as the Varicam in the broadcast market.

I was wondering since I'm investing in Nikon lenses for stills photography is it possible to use them on the Red and if it is do they still operate within normal AF parameters, meter properly and have full use of aperture control.

Cheers

 

[PaulClements]

Epic will have touchscreen capabilities that will focus your Nikon lenses using the motors within them. You will need to either swap out the PL mount or have Red fit it with a Nikon mount from the offset ($500 mount).

They have also shown a Pro Redmote with follow focus knob that should be able to wirelessly control the lenses and focus them as a focus puller might using a remote follow focus setup.

The Red One had the Birger mount that could do a similar job but I believe Red have stated that installing it breaks the warranty. Either way, go Epic later this year and your Nikon glass should live on happily.

Paul

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Aperture control may be an issue. It certainly is with Canon glass and the Birger mount, which only allows 1/4 stop discrete moves up or down (which are easily visible). In other words, it is not possible to use Canon glass and do a smooth iris change from one stop to another.

Stephen

 

[James P B Wright]

Thank you very much Paul, I was just thinking of the future, I don't want to buy £12,000 worth of glass over the next 2 years and then when I do move over to Red, I don't want to have to buy another set.

Canon glass

Glad I'm asking about nikon glass then! I assume you are saying that the principals are the same for Nikon though?

 

[Bill Goehring]

I believe that, during the Birger development process, Erik stated that Nikon lenses had smaller (more) discrete aperture steps, which would make in-shot changes less noticeable on Nikon glass than Canon glass.

Also, if you want electronic control of your Nikkor glass, make sure you get AFS lenses, which use a motor in the lens, not the camera body. Otherwise, you will not be able to control focus electronically. However, with non-AFS Nikkor electronic lenses (ie. D lenses), you would still have electronic control of aperture, I guess.

I shoot stills with Nikkor lenses and have done so for my entire 25 year career. In anticipation of electronic lens control on the Epic, I have updated all of my Nikkor zooms to AFS G series lenses and couldn't be happier with their performance for stills work. Can't wait to get them on the Epic. If they work well, I will look into updating my primes, as well.

The zooms I'm speaking of are the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8 (might have to trade up to a new one if an update comes out with vibration reduction), and 70-200mm f/2.8. The primes I'd get are the Nikkor 24, 50 and 85mm f/1.4.

 

[James P B Wright]

I'm a wildlife photographer, but also shoot events.

I already own a 70-200mm f/2.8, and a few fast primes. But this year buying a 600mm f/4 as well as a 200-400 and a wide angle zoom as I'm ditch my 24mm f/2.8.

Are there any wildlife films been shot on read?

 

[ericyoung]

Ask Steve Gibby on this forum.

Also pretty sure Reds are appearing on many other major nature shoots.

 

[Yusuf Thakur]

Nikon Lenses

Nikon Lenses

Hi James,

I have completed three films all shot on red, and in post at the moment with four more again shot on the redone. All the films were shot with Nikon or Nikon mount Sigma lenses.

The vary from 8mm to 500mm including using the telephoto's with a extender.

We have filmed in all three environments land,air and underwater.

What would you like to know.

I have included three links below which may be helpful for more info.

Yes waiting for the epic Stage 2 delivery, then off on an epic wildlife journey with the epic and nikon lenses again.

http://www.videography.com/article/97780
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/492370?tmpl=print&page=
http://www.decklink.com/userstories/detail.asp?story=trackingmermaids

Yusuf Thakur
www.vfxme.com

 

[James P B Wright]

What would you like to know.

I don't really know at this stage! I'm just musing really...

 

[AnthonyFlores]

I can't wait for more reports on the Epic and Scarlet's autofocus abilities. I'm hoping Mark will post about that in the 007 thread.

For now, I'm guessing that it will be similar to the Leica S2's autofocus performance ... excellent overall, but a bit slower than high-end DSLRs and might have a little difficulty with high-contrast areas or in situations of extreme shallow DOF. Of course, no auto-focus system is "perfect" not even the Nikon D3X or Canon 1Ds ...

Then again, I don't want to presume anything (especially limitations) about the Epic/Scarlet ... I'm sure we will find out soon enough.

But like with the S2, I think it will be a bit risky to rely purely on AF with the Red cameras -- I'm planning for AF to get me 90% there and work like a charm most of the time, but will be ready to adjust manually whenever needed.

I see it almost as a bonus feature, but very important, as I'm hoping to use the "S" lenses as my primary lenses for the Epic until I can get the Cooke 5i or Leica Cine set