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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

RED KOMODO vs GEMINI vs HELIUM COMPARISON

Tim Daust

Tim Daust

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Its been a long few weeks...


I plan to share my entire thoughts on this comparison once all of them have been released and I will also publish a longer edit of all parts together as a single video. I am choosing not to share my thoughts yet because I think you should look at the footage yourself without me telling you what to look for. I have tried to be as fair as I can to make sure these results are very accurate. I know the footage is "lackluster" but remember we are still in a Pandemic and I did what I could with what I have. I really hope this helps answer questions for everyone. I know I sure have received a TON of messages across all platforms asking about KOMODO compared to (INSERT CAMERA MODEL).

For now I will say this about my thoughts.. KOMODO fits perfectly into the RED ECOSYSTEM. & I LOVE IT!


onto the first part of the comparison.

PART 1 - DYNAMIC RANGE ---- This test is not scientific. my intent was to discover the differences and similarities between the RED KOMODO, RED GEMINI, & RED HELIUM. Through that process I am sharing what I LEARNED by showing you my results.

all footage is straight out of camera (IPP2 Low contrast, Soft Highlight rolloff)
IPP2 CHROMA NOISE REDUCTION (CNR) enabled on all 3 cameras
KOMODO 6K 17:9 23.976fps R3DCODE HQ
GEMINI 5K HD 23.976 R3DCODE 5:1
HELIUM 8K HD 23.976 R3DCODE 8:1

KOMODO Alpha firmware v1.1.0rc6

some perceived softness in the following test could be a result of slight critical focus variations - Yoda would be mad at me.

RED KOMODO is based on SKINTONE HIGHLIGHT OLPF - however I decided for a baseline to test KOMODO first with the STANDARD OLPF on both the HELIUM & GEMINI. I then swapped the OLPF on HELIUM & GEMINI to the SKIN TONE HIGHLIGHT for the remainder of the test, so only the Dynamic Range test will have footage from the STANDARD OLPF.











I have several more parts coming to this comparison test, the next video is the ISO NOISE TEST comparison.
 
PART 2 - ISO NOISE TEST



all footage is straight out of camera
IPP2 CHROMA NOISE REDUCTION (CNR) enabled on all 3 cameras
RESOLVE CAMERA RAW DECODE QUALITY : FULL RES. PREMIUM

some perceived softness in the following test could be a
result of critical focus variations not camera sharpness


I was completely blown away by the results of this ISO NOISE TEST Comparison between the KOMODO, GEMINI, and HELIUM. In tradition of the first part of this test, I will withhold sharing my opinion until after I have shared all of the parts of this series.


I have several more parts coming to this comparison test, the next video is the LOW LIGHT TEST comparison.
 
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PART 3 - LOW LIGHT TEST

finally published part 3.. really sorry for the delay everyone. I decided I needed to reshoot most of it because so many people reached out and said they wanted to see Gemini low light mode included. I had already shot everything but decided to reshoot all while work is finally starting to pick back up here locally. Really appreciate the support and I hope everyone is enjoying these tests.

as before, the GEMINI and HELIUM are both running SKIN TONE HIGHLIGHT OLPF.





Part 4 - GLOBAL SHUTTER TEST is next.
 
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RESERVED PART 4....
 
RESERVED PART 5... ...
 
Thanks Tim
 
Thanks Tim! Can't wait to see future tests as well!
 
Tim Thanks for the test!. I actually preferred the Helium in all the tests, then Gemini and then the Komodo. The Komodo always seemed either a little too blue or magenta in comparison to the Helium and Gemini. The skintone of the guy in the black T-shirt looked more magenta in the Komodo against the Helium and Gemini. The Komodo is still kinda in beta firmware so this may probably change.
 
I’ll echo others here and say thank you for posting these tests, I can imagine how much time it takes to try to be as accurate as you can be. I’ll admit I’ve had mixed feelings about some of the early Komodo footage but I think this test really shows number one how well it fits into the ecosystem, and number two some interesting things happening with Komodo and how it’s handling highlights, both in terms of roll off and color saturation, in a way I’m really liking! Thanks again!
 
It's easy to like the Komodo maybe due to that it is more blue, thereby looking cleaner. From having used a lot of R3D media my experience is that they can be a bit green, that is not the case here. I didn't like the Gemini images. I don't think they are handling the incoming light well. In some cases I liked the Helium better than Komodo, but in other cases I liked Komodo best. Naturally theese are my personal thoughts, not an absolute judgement.
 
That Komodo is almost indistinguishable and has global shutter and no red orbs are all very good things.

Thanks for the test Tim.
 
The Komodo is looking fantastic and I think that it's a little more tuned to get rid of the green that I'm always dialing out just a smidge on the other RED sensors. That is my preference, but most shooters I know do the same.
 
Komodo Colour is great and dynamic range is too. But it looks a little more like digital video than Gemini and helium. It’s a bit sharper too. I’ve noticed a slightly more digital video look to Most Komodo footage more then other red camera footage. Could it be the global shutter that’s forcing that effect? Reminds me a bit of 3ccd cameras. Obviously it’s a great camera and very impressive but it’s price point aims to be a cut away crash cam. The big red cinema cameras will give you a much more hearty cinematic look. Considering the price difference that makes sense. Still early days, but over the last two months Of footage, my first impressions is it’s great colour and dynamic range but slightly more digital video then bigger reds. BUT WAY better then Zcams, pocket BM and DSLRs.

Looking forward to more side by sides.
 
Peter Stanley said:
Komodo Colour is great and dynamic range is too. But it looks a little more like digital video than Gemini and helium. It’s a bit sharper too. I’ve noticed a slightly more digital video look to Most Komodo footage more then other red camera footage.
Click to expand...
Not to disagree, but until you actually have a Komodo R3D on your screen do you realize just how rich and thick of an image it produces. There is no sharpening in any Red cameras. Komodo footage looks like film, especially with the soft and very soft highlight roll off.
 
Andy Roberts said:
Not to disagree, but until you actually have a Komodo R3D on your screen do you realize just how rich and thick of an image it produces. There is no sharpening in any Red cameras. Komodo footage looks like film, especially with the soft and very soft highlight roll off.
Click to expand...

Hope you’re right. At the moment it looks slightly more digital video on my tv compared to other RED footage. Especially in movement.
 
I didn't see it posted in the original notes, but are you using the same glass on all three cameras? I would assume so, but just checking.
 
Peter Stanley said:
The big red cinema cameras will give you a much more hearty cinematic look. Considering the price difference that makes sense. Still early days, but over the last two months Of footage, my first impressions is it’s great colour and dynamic range but slightly more digital video then bigger reds.
Click to expand...

I'd recommend shooting something with more expensive glass than DSLR lenses. Most stuff out there right now are shot with cheap lenses, bad grading, unbalanced LUTs, weird shutter speeds, unbalanced shadows and highlights etc. If you do the same with any other Red, it will look like video as well. There are plenty of bad cinematographers who produced material shot on Red that becomes "examples" to all of those who are deciding between Arri and Red. Of course Arri gets chosen more often when there are far more examples of bad cinematography among Red shooters than Arri shooters as it's more common that Red exist in the hands of the unexperienced. It's always been more popular with newcomers over getting an Arri.

I don't think the global sensor or anything about Komodo produces a video look, I think it's the choice of lenses, lighting and post-process grading that is key to getting a less video-ish look.
 
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