Steve Gibby
Red Savant
Me and my crews have shot several docs over the 17 months I've owned my RED One cameras. Here's what we've used:
Most shooting was done in 3k, after the 3k capability was added to the cameras. 3k oversampled down to a 1080 or 720 finish is excellent. Using Graeme's debayer percentage of 78%, then 3k debayers out to around 2.34k - well above the needs of a 2k or 1080 finish. 2k is 6% larger than 1080p. 3k DOF works well with most doc situations.
Me and my crews shoot docs in a non-hardlined EFP style, with pickup b-roll being often shot in hybrid cine/EFP style.
For shoulder held doc work during the past seven months I've been using the ET Mantis prototypes and now the shipping units. A well-configured RED One balances perfectly on the Mantis, fore/aft by sliding on the dovetail plate, left/right by mounting the battery and ET Shock Mount RED Drive via ET Speed Clamps on a single aluminum 15mm (12") rod (low on the smart side of the camera), and shoulder angle by adjusting the angle and cant of the shoulder pad system. I mount the camera on an ET ARRI base plate (15mm), then simply slide the base plate onto the dovetail on the Mantis. Switching from shoulder held to tripod is as simple as sliding the camera off the Mantis, and onto the ARRI dovetail on the tripod. Very fast and very efficient. I have View Factor Origo start/stop switches mounted on my tripod handles and integrated with the right handle of my Mantis. Quick start/stop capability is a must for doc work - and the Origo fills that need nicely. The EVF is mounted via the ET EVF mount - set to it's lowest level. The EVF weight is perfectly counterbalanced by the RED Drive and RED Battery mounted on the opposite side of the camera, and everything (EVF, drive, battery) is as low on the camera as possible to keep the center of gravity low.
Cine lenses are too heavy and to short in focal length for their weight to be of much use in doc production. For doc lenses, I've mostly used Nikon short to medium zooms, without matte boxes and FF units - which are IMO too heavy and bulky for mobile doc work. Filters have all been screw on, and all focusing has been by the operator using image magnification and racking the focus (and zoom).
All exposure has been set quickly and efficiently via zebras and histogram.
Since the audio upgrade to my cameras, all audio for mobile docs has been via a camera mounted Sennheiser short shotgun for ambient audio, and a wireless mic system for interviews. We don't use a dedicated sound man for mobile docs.
The weight of my RED doc rigs using Nikon zooms has been around 19 pounds, including camera, lens, RED Drive, RED battery, ET EVF mount, RED EVF, a single aluminum rod, short shotgun, wireless mic receiver, and ET ARRI base plate (15mm). This is a much lower weight than the usual EFP cameras we used to do docs with - which averaged between 24 and 30 pounds.
Our doc tripods are Miller 55 heads, with Miller spreaderless SOLO CF legs. This combo weighs just 13.5 pounds. We also take along a Cine Saddle for creative angles and situations where using a tripod isn't practical.
I also own the RED B4 adaptor, and we've used a Fujinon 13x4.5 HD EFP/ENG zoom (an excellent lens) with it for 2k docs. The glass in the RED B4 adaptor is excellent. It spreads the image the 6% necessary for a 2/3" lens to cover 2k. For some docs that finish in 1080p, and definitely those that finish in 720p or SD, the RED B4 adaptor and B4 HD EFP/ENG zoom set up is definitely an option. The plus side is the great operability of having a powered zoom rocker and start/stop capability right at your fingertips. Power to the zoom unit is supplied by a hirose to 12v cable from RED, which plugs into the 12v auxiliary on the back of the camera.
Because you end up shooting a lot of footage in a doc, and RED footage is more time-intensive to deal with in pre-post, I'd suggest that you constantly ask yourself "Is this a shot that will be used" throughout your shooting day. In the evenings on location we sort through the footage on MacBook Pro laptops via the QT proxies, toss the obvious sub-standard shots, then back up the rest to a drive (sometimes two drives) and an LTO tape. The drives and are them mailed back to our post facility, while the LTO tapes (which are small and easy to carry) stay with us until we return.
We post our docs in Final Cut, using ProRes 422 HQ, and output masters to HDCAM SR. I don't own an HDCAM SR deck - too expensive to just sit around and only be used for mastering - so we simply visit a standards facility when we need to, with our finished project on a drive, and have them dub out the HDCAM SR master to delivery specs for us.
Using the above equipment setups and procedures we've done a lot of docs with RED One efficiently, cost-effectively with small mobile crews, and the end results have been excellent.
Looking forward, I'll be one of the first to receive Epic and Scarlet. Both of those cameras will be smaller and lighter than RED One - thus if they're setup and accessorized lightly for mobile work, they should be exceptional doc cameras. Plus they have 1080p acquisition in their current specifications. If that stays, then the cameras could be especially good for doc work. Depending on how you set them up, Epic X (S35 Epic), and the 2/3" and S35 Scarlets should be excellent for shooting documentaries.
Hope this info helps shed some added light on shooting docs with RED One...
Most shooting was done in 3k, after the 3k capability was added to the cameras. 3k oversampled down to a 1080 or 720 finish is excellent. Using Graeme's debayer percentage of 78%, then 3k debayers out to around 2.34k - well above the needs of a 2k or 1080 finish. 2k is 6% larger than 1080p. 3k DOF works well with most doc situations.
Me and my crews shoot docs in a non-hardlined EFP style, with pickup b-roll being often shot in hybrid cine/EFP style.
For shoulder held doc work during the past seven months I've been using the ET Mantis prototypes and now the shipping units. A well-configured RED One balances perfectly on the Mantis, fore/aft by sliding on the dovetail plate, left/right by mounting the battery and ET Shock Mount RED Drive via ET Speed Clamps on a single aluminum 15mm (12") rod (low on the smart side of the camera), and shoulder angle by adjusting the angle and cant of the shoulder pad system. I mount the camera on an ET ARRI base plate (15mm), then simply slide the base plate onto the dovetail on the Mantis. Switching from shoulder held to tripod is as simple as sliding the camera off the Mantis, and onto the ARRI dovetail on the tripod. Very fast and very efficient. I have View Factor Origo start/stop switches mounted on my tripod handles and integrated with the right handle of my Mantis. Quick start/stop capability is a must for doc work - and the Origo fills that need nicely. The EVF is mounted via the ET EVF mount - set to it's lowest level. The EVF weight is perfectly counterbalanced by the RED Drive and RED Battery mounted on the opposite side of the camera, and everything (EVF, drive, battery) is as low on the camera as possible to keep the center of gravity low.
Cine lenses are too heavy and to short in focal length for their weight to be of much use in doc production. For doc lenses, I've mostly used Nikon short to medium zooms, without matte boxes and FF units - which are IMO too heavy and bulky for mobile doc work. Filters have all been screw on, and all focusing has been by the operator using image magnification and racking the focus (and zoom).
All exposure has been set quickly and efficiently via zebras and histogram.
Since the audio upgrade to my cameras, all audio for mobile docs has been via a camera mounted Sennheiser short shotgun for ambient audio, and a wireless mic system for interviews. We don't use a dedicated sound man for mobile docs.
The weight of my RED doc rigs using Nikon zooms has been around 19 pounds, including camera, lens, RED Drive, RED battery, ET EVF mount, RED EVF, a single aluminum rod, short shotgun, wireless mic receiver, and ET ARRI base plate (15mm). This is a much lower weight than the usual EFP cameras we used to do docs with - which averaged between 24 and 30 pounds.
Our doc tripods are Miller 55 heads, with Miller spreaderless SOLO CF legs. This combo weighs just 13.5 pounds. We also take along a Cine Saddle for creative angles and situations where using a tripod isn't practical.
I also own the RED B4 adaptor, and we've used a Fujinon 13x4.5 HD EFP/ENG zoom (an excellent lens) with it for 2k docs. The glass in the RED B4 adaptor is excellent. It spreads the image the 6% necessary for a 2/3" lens to cover 2k. For some docs that finish in 1080p, and definitely those that finish in 720p or SD, the RED B4 adaptor and B4 HD EFP/ENG zoom set up is definitely an option. The plus side is the great operability of having a powered zoom rocker and start/stop capability right at your fingertips. Power to the zoom unit is supplied by a hirose to 12v cable from RED, which plugs into the 12v auxiliary on the back of the camera.
Because you end up shooting a lot of footage in a doc, and RED footage is more time-intensive to deal with in pre-post, I'd suggest that you constantly ask yourself "Is this a shot that will be used" throughout your shooting day. In the evenings on location we sort through the footage on MacBook Pro laptops via the QT proxies, toss the obvious sub-standard shots, then back up the rest to a drive (sometimes two drives) and an LTO tape. The drives and are them mailed back to our post facility, while the LTO tapes (which are small and easy to carry) stay with us until we return.
We post our docs in Final Cut, using ProRes 422 HQ, and output masters to HDCAM SR. I don't own an HDCAM SR deck - too expensive to just sit around and only be used for mastering - so we simply visit a standards facility when we need to, with our finished project on a drive, and have them dub out the HDCAM SR master to delivery specs for us.
Using the above equipment setups and procedures we've done a lot of docs with RED One efficiently, cost-effectively with small mobile crews, and the end results have been excellent.
Looking forward, I'll be one of the first to receive Epic and Scarlet. Both of those cameras will be smaller and lighter than RED One - thus if they're setup and accessorized lightly for mobile work, they should be exceptional doc cameras. Plus they have 1080p acquisition in their current specifications. If that stays, then the cameras could be especially good for doc work. Depending on how you set them up, Epic X (S35 Epic), and the 2/3" and S35 Scarlets should be excellent for shooting documentaries.
Hope this info helps shed some added light on shooting docs with RED One...
Thanks to you other guys on this thread too, very informative. Happy shooting! Th