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RED Epic Dragon Outside Image Problem

C

Caleb Ennis

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Shooting inside looks great. When I head outside the image is soft and kinda hazy. I have tried a few different NDs, Stopped the lens down, etc. Anybody else have this problem?
 
What lenses, what stop, what iso, what filters, R3D clip? Dragon looks just fine out doors.

Nick
 
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, F4, 800iso and a Singh-Ray Variable ND (Have tried another ND too.) Ill export out a file here shortly.
 
2gBpm8ml.jpg
 
It seems like im able to correct alot in CC. Just curious on why the outside images are recording alot more flat and desaturated then a inside image. If that make since.
 
I would blame a lot of it on cheap ND filters. Do a test where you shoot at say an f4, and adjust exposure with shutter angle, with a naked lens. That will tell you where your problem lies.

Nick
 
Nick Gardner said:
I would blame a lot of it on cheap ND filters. Do a test where you shoot at say an f4, and adjust exposure with shutter angle, with a naked lens. That will tell you where your problem lies.

Nick
Click to expand...

Ok ill try that and let you know. I use the same nd on my red one and its fine.
 
Beware of:
- Cheap NDs (resin = not great often)
- Variable NDs (can certainly effect image quality and even color when stopped down)
- Shooting at very deep stops (diffraction)

This is optics stuff likely from the example I see.
 
Using any matebox or just screw on filter ?

edit : bare lens outdoor can lead to severe flaring resulting in greyish / little contrast image that you can correct but will loose a lot of shadow detail versus using a matte box or at least a hood to block marginal (non image making) light rays hitting the lens...
Also variable NDs can reduce resolution as said earlier by others...
 
When was the last time you've cleaned your OLPF? Here in Austin, with the humidity being so high, I run into this on occasion. Especially with how the weather is currently! Also, I'd shine a light through the front end of your lens and look through the back element to see if there's any haze.
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the variable-ND; in my experience, even the $400 ones knock down sharpness drastically (especially at inf). Also try a different lens for comparison's sake.

Other than that, if your compression ratio is high (~12:1+), that will also start hurting the image when at inf in a high detailed scene as well (like a tree with dense leaves all moving in the wind).
 
What would be a good ND alternative? I do alot of prompter so using a Screw on ND is a must. Also I pretty much shoot at 4kHD and a 8:1 compression.

Also OLPF is clean. Thats the first thing I checked. Question... I only have SkinTone OLPF listed in dropdown. I looked at the OLPF and don't see it labeled anywhere?

Thanks guys. This really helps!
 
Last edited:
Phil Holland said:
Beware of:
- Cheap NDs (resin = not great often)
- Variable NDs (can certainly effect image quality and even color when stopped down)
- Shooting at very deep stops (diffraction)

This is optics stuff likely from the example I see.
Click to expand...

What ND do you recommend?
 
You should really be shooting Epic Dragon at 5K minimum for optimal results.

Try Firecrest ND's.

And yes as others have said, try not to stop down too much, and definitely be aware of flare - there seems to be a lot of light bouncing off your ND and lens. That's giving you a very low-con and low resolution image.
 
Just for the record, I shoot dragon 4K for1080p finish all the time, looks great.
 
If I recall correctly, way back in the day, The first couple of seasons of HOC were shot 5k with a 4k frame for reframing. Then when dragon came around, 6k and 5k, then 8k and 7k.
There is no shortage of great looking stuff shot on dragon at 4k.

Nick
 
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