Red's menu system

[Nadav Sheffer]

Hello, I'm very interested in the upcoming scarlet system and I wanted to ask the current red owners and developers, how does the on-camera menu system work?

I suppose that it's a pretty in-depth system because of all the features, but I wanted to know how easy it is to learn and how fast it works on the set (how much time it takes to do all sorts of small changes).

I know there's a separate lcd for the menu but what information can you get on the monitor.

I'd really appreciate any information and explanation.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

It's actually pretty simple. There's fewer options in a RED One than in most consumer stills cameras or camcorders. You should have the menu layout mostly figured out within a few hours of use. There are menu guides you can download... Don't have a link off the top of my head, but just do a search for menu map and you'll probably find it.

 

[Joel Kaye]

You should have the menu layout mostly figured out within a few hours of use.

Well, I beg to differ there.

Where's that S4 data switch? How do you turn on sound, vs set levels, vs. set phantom power vs. set headphone levels? It's still a 3 step process to switch to 120FPS. Now quickly switch between false color and histograms. Now do edge focus assist.

If you're truly manipulating the camera a lot the menu system blows. Designed by an engineer not a user. Hell.. the labels on the back of the camera aren't even intuitive.

I've got hundreds of hours on the camera and I still dig through the menus. Luckily the 3 programmable buttons A, B, C and the two side buttons make things better.

EPIC needs 9 programmable buttons in a standard numeric pad layout on the side. Then at least we can make the camera work fast for us. And you'd memorize a layout like that very, very quickly. Probably an hour of usage. You wouldn't need to look at labels or dig into menus - you'd quickly learn to feel the right button. Even in the dark.

 

[Curtis Abbott]

These guys have the best one I have found.
http://www.octamas.com/red-one-software-downloads-postproduktion.php
It's at the bottom of the page.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Joel,

I wasn't commenting on user-friendliness. And the menu system is still fairly simple compared to the number of controls on many other cameras out there. The ability to assign user buttons is a life-saver. I find the menus to be very logically designed... Maybe I'm just too much of an engineer. But yes, the actual navigation leaves a lot to be desired in terms of speed.

I hope that Scarlet will be more user friendly and allow us to navigate quicker.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

i completely agree with Jeff. In my opinion, the RED ONE's menus are much simpler than my old DVX100 was. That doesn't mean I've never had to look in the manual or ask a question on REDuser, but I was pleasantly surprised to find how easy it was to find everything in the RED ONE's menus.

 

[Joel Kaye]

Joel,

I wasn't commenting on user-friendliness.

I hope that Scarlet will be more user friendly and allow us to navigate quicker.

I really couldn't agree with you the RED's menus are any better than an EX1 or my HD-100 or my DSLR. I'd call it a wash. I just find some of RED's stuff to be absolutely bizarre - like audio settings in two totally different places.

I think what makes most other cameras faster to operate is the fact that there is a buttons for a lot of stuff you want to have buttons for. They also have modifier buttons so one button provides two functions. This whole menu system mentality doesn't work when you're moving fast.

More programmable/scriptable buttons. 1 button to go to 120FPS. 1 button to go back to 24FPS etc. And give me phantom power switches and a gain pot. Not to mention the ability to map one audio input to multiple tracks.

I hope they really rethink that stuff on Scarlet and Epic before they start machining bodies. Hire some iPod designer. Geez.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

I think what makes most other cameras faster to operate is the fact that there is a buttons for a lot of stuff you want to have buttons for. They also have modifier buttons so one button provides two functions. This whole menu system mentality doesn't work when you're moving fast.

More programmable/scriptable buttons. 1 button to go to 120FPS. 1 button to go back to 24FPS etc. And give me phantom power switches and a gain pot. Not to mention the ability to map one audio input to multiple tracks.

I hope they really rethink that stuff on Scarlet and Epic before they start machining bodies. Hire some iPod designer. Geez.

The reason there aren't more specified buttons is because they were still developing what the camera was and would be while they were shipping them out. You can argue the validity of such an approach, but I feel most of us are reaping the rewards.

I doubt you'll see more buttons on the EPIC body, in fact I'm sure you'll see fewer, but you will have detachable controllers, which means they can continue to develop better and more intuitive ways of accessing the camera's ever changing feature set.