RED ONE and Nikon D3/Canon EOS 1D Mk3

[Marius V Graan]

I am by no means trying to slate the RED ONE, I believe it is the best Digital Cinema camera available (for now- EPIC coming soon), however I would like to propose a test. I would do this myself but I have neither camera, yet.

I would like to see a frame grab from RED ONE compared side by side with a still of the same subject from a Nikon D3. If anyone could do this I think it would be a good excercise. Preferably someone who has a Nikon mount on their RED ONE and can shoot the test with the same lens on both cameras. Obviously, all settings should match, iso, stop, shutterspeed, RAW, colour temp, etc.

The same test could be done with a Canon EOS 1D Mk3 and Birger mount if anyone has that combo.

Anyone with both cameras want to try this?

Otherwise if this has been done, could someone point me to the thread.

 

[jbeale]

I don't own any Nikon cameras. I did try some fairly casual test-chart shots with my Canon 20D, you can see the DSLR JPEG files, and the Red R3D files here:

http://www.bealecorner.org/red/test-080108/index.html

This was back in January, on firmware build #12. Around that time the big image improvement was advertised as coming soon, so I didn't spend much time analyzing the results. It's now six months later but the better image build, now called "build 16" is still just around the corner, so I am still waiting before doing any further analysis.

When you say "all settings should match", that's fine for shutter, aperture, and lens focal length (note with a Nikon D3 or Canon 1D, they would not match, as Red's sensor is 24 mm wide). But when you say "RAW", what is supposed to match? Each camera manufacturer has fairly arbitrary settings for things like sharpness and contrast curves, so there is a lot that must be matched by eye, not by just setting the numbers to be superficially equal.

Some other things which might be equal are not: at least back on build #12, Red and/or Redcine had a different idea about color temperature than my DSLR or a calibrated color temperature meter, which others have reported as well. Now if the Red sensor (for example) has significantly different spectral sensitivity in it's R,G,B channels than your DSLR or your color temp meter, than it cannot provide the same color reponse (in general) to all colors in a scene, no matter what post-process steps are done. That's a theoretical result, in practice the difference may or may not be significant. Just some things to consider.

 

[Marius V Graan]

Thanks, I'll check it out

 

[Brook Willard]

Why bother comparing the RED to cameras with larger sensors? The D3 has a larger sensor but a similar resolution. This means that every pixel will be larger and - thus - more sensitive. The noise levels will be dramatically lower as a result.

If you want a comparison, it should be done with a camera more similar to the RED. Haakon did a test like this with a 20D [I believe...] once upon a time.

 

[Jannard]

I have just posted a direct comparison between Build 16 RED ONE and the Canon 1D MKIII on Recon.

Jim

 

[Marius V Graan]

I'll check the comparison Jim posted, thanks.

 

[Digital Coast Image]

I don't have a redone or I'd do this for ya.

I could test multiple DSLRs against it:

Nikon D3
Nikon D1x
Nikon D80
Canon 5D
Canon XSi
Sigma SD14

I've got glass for all to cover any focal length.

If someone with a Red is near me, .... speak up and I can get together and test them out vs. a redone.

 

[Michael Grugal]

I have a Nikon D3 and D80 if someone in LA wants to run a comparison test.

 

[Marius V Graan]

Check out Jim's thread in Recon - http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14658