Red Brick vs. Red Volt

[Tom Chase]

So as I have stated before I am venturing out to collect archival interviews (in the thousands), Power has come up a couple times because of the potential length of some of these interviews. So here is my question should I be looking at the Red Brick (or some third party solution) or the Red Volts with a DMCS adapter to hold multiple?

Interviews could be as short as 10-15 or as long as 2-3 hours (I know media is an issue at that point as well).

Thanks

Tommy

Tom Chase
Founder - The Death Cheaters Project
www.deathcheaters.org
714-724-6897

 

[ericyoung]

You'll need a hotswappable solution. Red Bricks will last much longer - so fewer swaps during long interviews, and less getting up in the night to swap batteries on chargers when charging overnight!

But Red Bricks have stricter flying restrictions. Make sure you have enough separate chargers to keep up with continuous camera running. Or a really fast simultaneous charger (or two). You need at least TWO Red non-simultaneous chargers, mains power and 6 Red bricks to be certain you can shoot for a day without running out of batteries. That's equivalent to a lot of Redvolts.

[Edit: this is for R1M/MX. Epic/Scarlet cameras maybe a bit less power hungry]

There are alternative battery systems that are large capacity but flight friendly.

 

[jimhare]

A RedBrick will drive the Epic for over 2 hours without breaking a sweat. It's by far the best solution for extended shooting. As Eric mentioned, there are flying issues with bricks so plan accordingly.

But seriously, for 3 hour interviews, use the A/C pack. I assume you'll have lighting and other A/C requirements anyway.

One less thing to think about.

 

[Peter Strietmann]

I would get both! Or at least one red volt and 4 red bricks so as you hot swap the bricks the volt keeps the camera recording.

 

[Mark Phelan]

If you use the quad module with two Redvolt XLs you'll have around three hours of record time.

 

[Glen Powell]

If you use the quad module with two Redvolt XLs you'll have around three hours of record time.

And you'll be able to swap out the dead RedVoltXL while the camera still runs = continuos power if you can keep up with the charging. (which is a no brainer - even as a one man band)

I use the quad module when I'm shooting with client / agency (who panic excessively when the camera shuts off for a battery change) + 4 XL batteries + two quad chargers, and can go indefinitely. I also use V mounts on some jobs where I need to fly and can't recharge except back at the hotel room - for those jobs I've started using the PAGLok batteries. You can stack them on a charger and on the back of the camera - again making them hot swappable, and there are no flight restrictions. The PAGLok's are a great solution, but a bit pricey if you are cost conscious.

The AC adapter is always an option if you are on sticks - probably the best if you are doing static interviews with someone in a chair. Even if the power goes out; you'll also loose your lighting in most cases - so the interview would be over anyway.

 

[Bryan Cua]

But seriously, for 3 hour interviews, use the A/C pack. I assume you'll have lighting and other A/C requirements anyway.

One less thing to think about.

No that would just make too much sense!

 

[jimhare]

:laugh:

No that would just make too much sense!

 

[Jason Comparetto]

But seriously, for 3 hour interviews, use the A/C pack. I assume you'll have lighting and other A/C requirements anyway.

Makes sense

 

[Steve Gibby]

But seriously, for 3 hour interviews, use the A/C pack. I assume you'll have lighting and other A/C requirements anyway.

Since this is the "EFP/ENG and Red" forum he posted his question in, and by far the largest percentage of of the world's EFP work is mobile (where the crews are nowhere near an A/C outlet), your assumption and recommendation would only be valid for studio (hardlined) or more stationary non-hardlined EFP work where there is access to A/C outlets. In mobile EFP work any lighting is battery powered on-camera or if small light stands are setup they're also battery powered.

Tom - most of me and my crews work is mobile EFP, and we shoot tons of interviews. For super mobile work with Epic we use both Red Volt and bricks as needed. Our on-camera lighting is via small LED units, augmented as needed with small 2-light LED light kits when the interviews are a little more stationary. When we have access to A/C for more stationary and lengthy interviews we then may at times opt to use A/C rather than bricks. For long interviews if we're using bricks we simply pause the interview for a few seconds and change the brick as needed, then launch back into the interview.

Our EFP productions shot on Epic are usually shot in 4KHD. Long interviews with Epic in 4kHD burn tons of gigs - so our Epic interviews are kept short and to the point - we go into the interviews with a bullet list of questions, ask the interviewee for concise responses which repeat our question (helps in editing), and proceed. If we have to do longer interviews on Epic, and we've been doing our other shooting in 4KHD, we may shoot the interviews in 3k to save data space. We also occasionally shoot mobile EFP productions with Epic entirely in 3k when the end product is going to be a 1080 delivery - but in those instances, especially when a quick turnaround of the show is needed, we also frequently opt for a dedicated 1080p EFP/ENG camera for ease of field workflow and quickness of post workflow - either a unibody camera or a traditional form factor EFP/ENG camera. Horses for courses...

 

[Daniel Reed]

But seriously, for 3 hour interviews, use the A/C pack.

Heh, I all too much agree...

No that would just make too much sense!

...plus it's great for a free chuckle or two when others get shocked by the site of a camera with a power cord connected to it.

 

[Brian Merlen]

I typically use my ac cord, but just ordered some paglink batteries to do in the field stuff. they can go on planes AND you can charge 16 of them at once on one charger. not a bad system, looking forward to using it and will report back

ps they hotswap