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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 :)

Redcode for Dragon

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Paul Watt

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What compression are people running generally? At 6K? 5K? For lotsa light and low light? For no VFX and for VFX. I've heard fairly high (12:1 etc) compressions working really well for some situations, but I'd love to hear what people have had success with.
 
I did some green screen tests yesterday, 7:1 seemed Good, it's down to how picky you are, I would have said the same with 5:1 on MX.
 
At 6K formats I'm using 5:1-8:1. Though I'm finding 8:1 is pretty nice for most shooting conditions. REDCODE works a bit different on Dragon compared to Mysterium-X.

I'm testing the new OLPF at the moment and I may have more to say on this matter after 6pm today :) Initially though that's my wheelhouse for standard shooting.
 
I shot my feature at 5.5K with 6:1 unless it was high speed (obviously)

At 100fps the compression with regular sized SSDs it is 17:1 at 6K and on MX I would be worried but it appeared devoid of artifacts even projected at 4K at IBC...
 
Phil Holland said:
At 6K formats I'm using 5:1-8:1.
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At lower Dragon resolutions (5K), would you go lower or higher on the compression? Everything else being equal...
 
George A. said:
At lower Dragon resolutions (5K), would you go lower or higher on the compression? Everything else being equal...
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Generally speaking yes. Of course if you are shooting high speed you have to use the REDCODE compression ratio offered for your targeted rate.

If I was shooting 5K I'd likely be shooting 5:1.
 
Phil Holland said:
At 6K formats I'm using 5:1-8:1. Though I'm finding 8:1 is pretty nice for most shooting conditions. REDCODE works a bit different on Dragon compared to Mysterium-X.

I'm testing the new OLPF at the moment and I may have more to say on this matter after 6pm today :) Initially though that's my wheelhouse for standard shooting.
Click to expand...

Good to know 8:1 is working so well! My army of 128 cards won't last very long at 5:1.

At 8:1, a 128 will last almost 30mins at 6K HD. Which ain't bad!
 
While you could definitely get away with higher Redcode settings in most situations, with Dragon, I simply prefer to stay at the lowest Redcode allowed on chosen Frame Rate...

Storage is cheap, and since I pull frames for print form every single shoot, I prefer to have the most detail allowed form any given shoot.

Other then that you could easily get away with 8:1 no problem, with 5:1 for the most detailed scenes, and FX shots.
 
Mark L. Pederson said:
I'm a 5:1 guy. I like 3:1/4:1 for super high detail shots and very, very low light.
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Yeah 5:1 is fantastic, especially on features. For tight deadlines or long shoots, I'm hoping 8:1 can provide enough flexibility. Fingers crossed!
 
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Will they ever add 2.5:1 lossless like they promised years ago? Better compression is nice, but i prefer the best quality possible.
 
Mark L. Pederson said:
I'm a 5:1 guy. I like 3:1/4:1 for super high detail shots and very, very low light.
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I agree with you 100%. Sorry again about misunderstanding what you were saying on other thread. Really, sincere apologies.

I would add that it depends how far you intend to push the grade, as much as anything else. High compression shows up a lot more in sharp grading curves, or grading that intends to lift dark regions of the image, even though it may look fine straight-out-of-the-box.
 
Dunkan Wolf said:
Will they ever add 2.5:1 lossless like they promised years ago? Better compression is nice, but i prefer the best quality possible.
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Well, the MiniMags can go to 2:1. I don't know if 2:1 is Lossless. Yes, I know that 2 is less than 2.5, and if 2.5 is claimed to be lossless than 2 should be lossless. But without Red themselves stating that 2:1 on the MiniMags is lossless, I just wouldn't say that it is.

But 2:1 is a thing you can have.
 
Nick Morrison said:
Yeah 5:1 is fantastic, especially on features. For tight deadlines or long shoots, I'm hoping 8:1 can provide enough flexibility. Fingers crossed!
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Nick,

8:1 is my "everyday" compression but I'm not even afraid to go to 11:1 for interviews and frames that don't move much.

Battistella
 
Hey sorry to bump this old post but didn't want to start another.


I was reading that in low light you guys use lower compression, does that help with the noise as well?

Cheers
 
Piero Sgarbi said:
Hey sorry to bump this old post but didn't want to start another.


I was reading that in low light you guys use lower compression, does that help with the noise as well?

Cheers
Click to expand...

There was a really great piece of advice I saw somewhere on RU called the IQ Triangle. Basically, take Resolution, Compression, and Exposure and put them in a triangular relationship with each other (similarly to how exposure is a triangular relationship of ISO, aperture and shutter speed.)

If you assume a "native" setting is a properly exposed 6k @ 8:1 image, then you can adjust to compensate for real world issues that arise. When you have to change a setting for the worse, you offset the IQ loss by changing another setting. So if you have to go from 6k to 5k, you should lower compression. Or if you know you will be underexposed and there is no way to fix it, perhaps lower your compression and increase rez (if possible)
 
Charles Bergquist said:
What settings are you using to get 2:1 and 3:1 on Dragon with Mini-Mags. Latest firmware and I can only get to 4:1.
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Interested to know this as well- just got the Dragon sensor and trying to figure out why I can't go below 5:1
 
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