Scarlet , once again

[Konrad Bak]

Hi,
here's a little update to my "Scarlet - few questions" post I published 2 weeks ago.

The moving/resizing of magnifying rectangle doesn't work.... either with side grip arrows or touch/drag on LCD touch. Should I activate an option in the menu first? Am I doing something wrong?

I did several focus test, because I find the image very soft. Softer than R1MX I owned last year. I did some backfocus research, and fixed it a little bit with wrench (sensor was just a little bit close to lens). It's slightly better now, but still not perfect. Does the Scarlet have another OLPF than R1MX that is making the image soft looking? I tried on several good quality lenses (Canon, Sigma, Nikons). Results pretty the same.

I compared 100% crop the 4k raw still frame of my Scarlet to a photo of my Canon 5dMKIII set on JPG low resolution (around 3k). Canon definitely wins in terms of sharpness. Is that normal ?

regards
konrad

 

[Todd T]

Go to the focus settings menu and make sure it is set to manual/confirmation and see if you can move it.

The size of the rectangle is directly linked to, and only changes with, the resolution/aspect ratio that you select.

Scarlet and EPIC MX cameras have the same OLPF and Sensor, I'm not sure if RED ON MX Sensor/OLPF combo is identical.

You can't compare the Canon JPG to RED raw for sharpness. In camera processing adds sharpening to the jpg image.

 

[Konrad Bak]

I've set the mode to confirm, and yes, it seems to work Does the green color of the rectangle mean "in focus" ?

>>You can't compare the Canon JPG to RED raw for sharpness. In camera processing adds sharpening to the jpg image.
The 5dmk3 raw is even sharper than jpg...

I'm wondering if someone can take a standard chart and make a still shoot from a 1 or 2 m distance , making for me possible the sharpness comparision ?

thanks in advance
konrad

 

[Todd T]

Yes, the Green means "In Focus"

The 5dmk3 raw is even sharper than jpg...
[/COLOR]

Ahh, now you are comparing a 14 megapixel image against a 22 megapixel image. Also the software you are using to view the Canon Raw may be adding some sharpening (sort of a default Look)

 

[Konrad Bak]

It hasn't so much to do with megapixels , look how 4k gh4 wins against 5k epic in terms of sharpness&detail www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kwMWb2KPB4

Another question - do I have to turn of the Scarlet when I change lenses ?

 

[Björn Benckert]

No you do not have to turn the camera of when changing lens.
And when you played with it a bit you will understand the difference between Gh4 and epic they are quite different beasts.

 

[Phil Holland]

Remember. If you want your Red material sharpened at all you will be doing it post. The GH4 and 5D Mark III are both doing things "we aren't seeing totally" under the hood.

From long ago on MX:

Also, Mysterium-X with sharpening and added grain, click for 4K version:




And of course Dragon:

 

[Konrad Bak]

I know what is all about . Have GH4 for my dji s1000 platform. Gh4 with much smaller sensor has an overall sharper image , and the postsharpening has an emphasized effect, even with sharpness set to -5. But it's unbeatable for the price.
But, the difference on the YT video above is huge. I think Luke Neumann has an back-focus issue on his Epic. Epic on 5k should be a just a little bit softer, not so much.

RED offers filmic-style motion rendering quality, and overall "film look". But You can slap an 1/4 black pro mist filter on gh4 , set all paramters to flat and it can come close to Red.

 

[Mike P.]

Post a .r3d and get the community to take a gander.

I presume you have *not* added any post sharpening (which is fine, but it makes your comparison even more non-apples to apples).

While people adjust their back focus using lenses, I think that's a bad way to go (especially with stills lenses, which are mass manufactured and QA tolerance is fairly lax compared to cine glass). Best bet is to go to a shop or find someone with REDfocus/PL mount to get it set properly. Something tells me you may have messed something up, as you can't adjust the back focus with a wrench... (at least not a North American wrench... It's a torx cap and screw underneath...)

What firmware are you running? Moveable focus box wasn't added until 2013 sometime... not sure if you bought used or new, so it could just be an old fw. For the side-handle, you just click down until the box is highlighted (blue, I think) and then click the select button, and then use the arrows to move around the box (clicking canel/back/exit to un-select.) Unfortunately it's not nearly as fluid/easy as a DSLR, but despite RED's hopes for stills, it's a cinema camera first and foremost, so moveable focus box is less of a priority for motion.

Have you read the manual yet? Lots of juicy info in there regarding operation and stuff (including focus modes).

 

[Bob Gundu]

Smaller sensor also has deeper focus. Much easier to nail focus. Less pixel will also garner sharper images. More resolution and raw, needs post sharpening to match. Down sampling 5K or 6K to 4K will also clean up the image. If your argument is about value, then thats a different story.

 

[Konrad Bak]

Phil, Your samples are very sharp. I think it has also with high-end optics to do. The Dragon 100% crop kills in terms of (near-photographic-quality

I did backfocus properly, with a torx from RED, screw underneath the cap, measuring distance using sensor markers on side of the camera. It helped a little. Now I find the image acceptable, especially adding some sharpening in Resolve (.47-.48)

I'd be very grateful if someone can shoot'n'post r3d of http://www.cameradit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/3D-Camera-Chart-v1-600.jpg , printed out on A4 sheet, 5 feet away, with 35mm lens at f/4.0

thank You for feedback

konrad