Red in Science!

[thescientist]

Hi fellow users. I am currently working on a PhD using a RED Komodo-x to film waves breaking on an artificial reef we have created. I am looking to get the highest resolution, does anyone have any recommendations for settings and prime lenses that would offer the sharpest resolution? I have to keep my shutter angle low and frame rate high because we are essentially pulling stills and running them through image analysis. (filming wave in glass tank using overhead light)

 

[Phil Holland]

If you are looking to extract stills from motion, that specific type of motion, you'll want to explore a faster shutter speed like 1/250th or higher. If you are on RF Mount on the camera, the Canon 50mm f/1.2L is very good. However, if more budget sensitive the 35mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.8, or 85mm f/2 Macro will work great. Keep it between f/4-f/8 and you'll be happy.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

My brother did similar things, maybe 15-20 years ago, while he was still in university. They recorded water in circular wave tanks. I can't recall the type of video camera they used but if it had a CCD, I assume it would have had a global shutter. He asked me to import and convert that video, on behalf of the group. Anyway, I commented simply because your post reminded me of all that.

I can't add anything to what Phil said. But maybe try and get the light levels as high as you can. Make sure that the light source is as white as possible. Remember that the blue channel is the easiest to starve, so if your light is too green or too red, you will get a lot of blue channel noise. Maybe bias your light to the cool side, and correct later.

 

[Brian Timmons]

Not sure how exactly you have to capture the wave experiment you mentioned but pretty much any
decent lens shot in the sharpest mid range stops should give you great quality 6K on a KX.
I imagine you might rig your camera over the glass tank.

One of my clients is a science journal where I have to film protocols for publishing.
I occasionally have to adapt my Komodos to film through microscopes with a C-mount to EF adapter.
The client normally prefers ProRes but I film the microscope footage with RED Raw which
is more than what they ask for.

Below are some of the setups.
Interesting that a couple of these scopes were developed by Nikon.
They among other lens manufactures (i.e Zeiss, Leica) are quite big in the science community.

Yes- the Komodo was holding its breath a little when mounted on the side. Tough camera.
RED Control is invaluable in these type of setups.





Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Phil do you think an Otus lens would perform better than cp3 or Milvus ?

 

[Phil Holland]

Phil do you think an Otus lens would perform better than cp3 or Milvus ?

Optically speaking yes.

 

[Phil Holland]

Though Sigma Cine/Art are pretty close to Otus in quality.