RED review by wildlife cameraman

[Jay Gannon]

There is definitely some quality improvement, but the question each production has to ask is convenience/quality of Varicam vs Archive/Quality of Red One.

Varicam seems to have a certain feel to its footage, its very nice in its own unique way somehow.

 

[Jay Gannon]

The statement about Planet Earth being mostly shot on Varicam is also incorrect.

The majority of its video Material was Varicam.

 

[Steve Phillipps]

The statement about Planet Earth being mostly shot on Varicam is also incorrect.

No, it's correct. Varicam was the main camera for the wildlife stuff. Emperor penguins was on 35mm Aaton, aerials Sony HDcam, some 16mm stuff crept in too, but majority was Varicam. I didn't work on PE, but did work on the next big one "Life", and again almost all Varicam.

Steve

 

[Steve Phillipps]

Er, Steve, nah... I'm quite familiar with Varicam, and although it's good, that's an incorrect statement.

You don't need to be familiar with it, just need to view it on a big HD TV like any other viewer. I don't know anyone that can see immediate, obvious differences on anything 50" or smaller. Or maybe I'm just not enough of a discerning viewer.
Steve

 

[Brian Petrie]

Does that mean you didn't enjoy Planet Earth much? That was mostly lowly Varicam with a 720P chip.
I'm not disagreeing with you idea that picture quality is important in wildlife shows, it definitely is, just that for TV use you'll get a tiny image quality (if any) benefit from a 4k camera over a Varicam, and for most uses it's just not worth dealing with the issues cameras like the Red 1 present.
Steve

I never stated it had to be Red (although for digital I feel Red would provide the best picture now and for years to come, all other issues aside). I agree Varicam and 16mm can provide a great result for television, in fact, I really enjoyed the recent Life series which was shot mainly on Varicam. I was just responding to the statement that it's not the equipment, it's the person. In most cases that is true, a very compelling story can be shot on a cheap 8mm camera. However, I feel that wildlife shooting is the exception to this because imagery is such a big part of the story, well, for me it is anyways.

 

[dustin lindgren]

Does that mean you didn't enjoy Planet Earth much? That was mostly lowly Varicam with a 720P chip.
I'm not disagreeing with you idea that picture quality is important in wildlife shows, it definitely is, just that for TV use you'll get a tiny image quality (if any) benefit from a 4k camera over a Varicam, and for most uses it's just not worth dealing with the issues cameras like the Red 1 present.
Steve

What other "issues" are there? Ill give you two.

1. If your shooting in 110 degree weather, you have to have the fan on high and if your shooting wildlife up close you might scare the wildlife away.

2. Boot time takes 1 minute.

What else is the "issue"?

Most big time wildlife was shot on film not to long ago. Way harder than the RED. You should be asking all the wildlife film guys why they ever used 35mm instead of just 16mm back in the day. Its way lighter and easier to deal with. Its not like they were shooting it for theatrical use. Just for TV right? S16mm was even to much for TV not to long ago.

A ton of people on here come from a video/film background. I bought a RED 14 months ago and worked on a film project for 5 months last winter.

Once again were not here to suck RED off but some will defend it from pathic bullshit like this!!!! Why the hate. The hate doesn't come from your questioning its your tone.

Every camera has its place but the RED is probably the best all around camera in the world right now. You can shoot Webisodes, TV shows, Extreme Sports Project, Big Time Commercials, Wildlife (at least some can), Indy Budget Projects, and big time Hollywood Projects like "Pirate of the Caribbean". I can stick a shit ton of different lenses on the camera as well. What other camera can do all this?

 

[Brian Petrie]

No, it's correct. Varicam was the main camera for the wildlife stuff. Emperor penguins was on 35mm Aaton, aerials Sony HDcam, some 16mm stuff crept in too, but majority was Varicam. I didn't work on PE, but did work on the next big one "Life", and again almost all Varicam.

Steve

I just read this post. Good job to you and everyone, I really loved the "Life" series. It was excellent!

 

[Steve Phillipps]

Once again were not here to suck RED off but some will defend it from pathic bullshit like this!!!! Why the hate. The hate doesn't come from your questioning its your tone.

Pardon? I think the hate's coming from you mate. What did I say? I think if you'll read my posts they'll all been very civil and constructive. We don't need that sort of language and aggression here thank you.
I've nothing against Red, I had a reservation for one early on.
I don't agree that it's the most versatile camera around, but don't take it personally.
The days when folks used 35mm was when 16mm just wasn't upto the job, as soon as the stocks improved enough we jumped straight onto it. My first 10 years in the business were all on Super 16. FYI Super 16 is not acceptable for HDTV by most broadasters, due to the film grain messing up the transmission coders, hence the reason 35mm still does get used on occasion.
Steve

 

[Steve Phillipps]

Most big time wildlife was shot on film not to long ago. Way harder than the RED.

In what way is it harder than the Red? It's a lot easier than any video camera out there actually. As long as you can load a magazine (or not even that if you use 100' spool loads on a Bolex etc.) all you to do is get the meter needle in the middle and press the button.
It's harder to pay for the stock, that's for sure.
Steve

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

No, it's correct. Varicam was the main camera for the wildlife stuff. Emperor penguins was on 35mm Aaton, aerials Sony HDcam, some 16mm stuff crept in too, but majority was Varicam. I didn't work on PE, but did work on the next big one "Life", and again almost all Varicam.

OK... I guess it's Varicam then... I've always been told it was mostly HDcam with some 35mm and some Varicam thrown in.

 

[Steve Phillipps]

Problem with all the HDCams is that you can't do slomo, it's SOOO vital for wildlife. It's one of the appeals of the Red, the ability to do 120 fps gets us back into Arri HSR territory.
Steve

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

True that. Can't wait for Epic-X! over 100fps at 5K and 250fps @ 2K, last I heard.

 

[dustin lindgren]

In what way is it harder than the Red? It's a lot easier than any video camera out there actually. As long as you can load a magazine (or not even that if you use 100' spool loads on a Bolex etc.) all you to do is get the meter needle in the middle and press the button.
It's harder to pay for the stock, that's for sure.
Steve

I guess it is just the entire unloading/reloading, extra gear and weight (mags) in the field..... that is harder. Nothing more than that. With the RED you can go out with your drive or several CF cards and get it done for the day. If your in a controlled environment none of this matters. But in your case bringing a device that weighs a pound, that can capture all your footy, seems easier to me. It is in my world and its kind of similar to yours!

 

[Brian Petrie]

OK... I guess it's Varicam then... I've always been told it was mostly HDcam with some 35mm and some Varicam thrown in.

In an article they stated '"We shot a lot of footage on the Sony HDW-750, especially where we were controlling the light, such as in the cave," he said.
A Sony HDC-950 was used for much of the aerial gimbal shooting, along with a Canon HJ40 400x lens. The Panasonic Varicam, which Cordey sometimes used to give some sequences a film look, also got a workout at other sites."*

http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/12848
*7th and 8th paragraph 1/3 of the way down

 

[alexx_hg]

Problem with all the HDCams is that you can't do slomo, it's SOOO vital for wildlife. It's one of the appeals of the Red, the ability to do 120 fps gets us back into Arri HSR territory.
Steve

Other digital cameras can`t do it.
Because RED can, I want to use it, but:
switching forth and back to 120fps, sometimes it needs to much time fumbling in the menu and pushes me out of my "flow" and when you botched the shot because of the wrong shutterspeed than....
To my opinion this is the ambivalence which leaves room for "can" or "can´t" especially for renters.
As an owner for over two years knowing the shortcomings I shoot EFP/ENG Style without any question but recommend to a first or second time renter...I´m not sure...

PS: Maybe EPIC gives us an "one push button" for userpresets (incl. varispeed)

bg
alex

 

[Curran Giddens]

PS: Maybe EPIC gives us an "one push button" for userpresets (incl. varispeed)

bg
alex

Excellent idea!

 

[Larry Gebhardt]

HUGE Idea! For me, changing speeds on a digital camera, vs just turning a knob on a film camera, is a major "take your brain out of the flow" of what you are shooting. Even on my EX3, which I just sold, pushing the "speed" button for severals seconds to activate it, then dialing in the speed...took too long, especially when hanging out of a helicopter, chasing things, etc, where there is already enough going on to occupy your mind.

Assignable buttons, where you can assign 24 to one and some other speed to another, is absolutely huge for me.

Larry

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

I am not disagreeing, but bottom line, the R-1 body "made RED happen" and without RED we wouldn't be where we are with REDCODE RAW, with M-X, and with EPIC ready to shatter all mentioned downsides and just around the corner. If it doesn't give you what you need yet, just look again in a month or two. Then make sure to thank everyone that purchased R-1s and financed the development of the camera that solves virtually all those things that rain on your day.

 

[Paul Leeming]

These guys sure are glad I showed them at their best on my Red Mysterium-X

Larger versions can be found in my Discovery Channel - Atlas Japan thread.

Cheers from Japan,

Paul

 

[Lauri Kettunen]

I think this question of whether R1 fits to wildlife shooting depends also on how one is used to deal with modern equipment. In this review the author rather clearly indicates he is not a fan of all the new equipments. In this light it is understandable one may get frustrated with the details of the camera.

But a coin has always two sides. In may just a day before the mating time of capercaillie started I had to travel elsewhere and a still photographer who usually assists me felt it was important to get the capercaillie footages. He had never used any video camera but has followed me working for several years. He is neither a computer guru. But, he was so keen to get the capercaillie footages that he had the motivation to try to use the camera. As I was in hurry had only 15 minutes to show how to setup Red One and later on the same evening wrote the basic instructions and sent it over as a text message into his mobile phone.

Eventually he shot 3TB of data over a few weeks, and he summarized that the camera is easier and more convinient to use than what he thought on before hand. Yes, there was some drawbacks, such as, the camera was once more than an hour in the prerecording mode with project settings 2K 16:9 100fps and as a result he got this Codec error message. In addition, as I had emphasized the idea of not clipping highlights, couple (2 or 3) footages got underexposed in a high contrast situation. But otherwise, very nice footages, and as a result, we've been now discussing that for the next project I'll get him a Epic and then we may shoot with two cameras together.

Summing up, if somebody gets frustrated for good reasons, the same does not apply to everybody.