SCARLET X Shoot- Field Report

[Jim Coulter]

I just returned from a 4 day offshore shoot with the Scarlet. We were shooting aerials and oil rig footage for Apache Oil company of the ENSCO rig in the Gulf of Mexico. I wanted to report back to you all on some of the issues we encountered to see if anyone else has had the same problems. I was shooting aerials using a Tyler Mini-Gyro. I was using my RED 18mm prime set at infinity focus and I verified focus through the 5.0 touch LCD's focus magnification and focus assist in the settings/ display/ focus enhancement menu. It looked great and the aerials were super smooth. After landing I offloaded the card using Red Station and immediately previewed the shots on Redcine X. Looking at the footage using the FULL SCREEN selection (at the highest resolution) on my Macbook Pro it looked really nice...but when I clicked 100% it was soft and the focus was not sharp. I was shocked! My question is- is 100% a 'magnification' and not the actual fully sized image? I ask this because when I look at RAW still photo images in Lightroom at 100% they are clean and have crisp focus because in that program you are in fact looking at the fully sized image- not magnified. I had a friend who had some raw footage he shot on his Epic try the same experiment on Redcine X when I got home and his footage was just as crunchy at 100%. This makes me believe that my focus was true and that the issue is either in the Redcine X software or possibly because the Macbook Pro cannot resolve that high a resolution? Any insight here would be appreciated. Later I used my 18-85mm zoom and was extremely mindful of double checking focus but all the footage had the same result on Redcine X. Remember- these are NEW Red lenses- first time used - so it would be unlikely it was a backfocus issue on 2 lenses.

Issue #2: I noticed that when you use the Touch LCD in a hurried manner- which is pretty much what you do in the real world of shooting- the LCD will 'lock up' and you lose all touch functions. I first had this happen when I was reviewing clips on the chopper during aerial shooting. I was toggling quickly from viewing a clip (using the playback mode) to jumping back to the 'record mode'. Doing this would lock up my LCD- this happened 3 times! And since there is no 'on-off' button on the monitor itself- I had no choice but to hard shut down on the Scarlet and reboot to get the LCD functions back. Of course I was always greeted with a warning that I had shut the Scarlet down incorrectly. Thank God the monitor came back each time!

Issue #3: The AUDIO playback is NOT enabled on the Scarlet. You can record audio using a powered mic source just fine... but when you go to playback the clip to check audio you hear nothing. I had to offload the clips in order to insure myself that there was in fact audio there. Kinda scary!

The good news is the shoot did go well and the Scarlet for the most part performed very well. The footage of course is phenomenal (if the focus issue above turns out to be normal- someone please let me know!) The Scarlet X really feels more like your using a computer instead of a camera... especially the way it shuts down and boots back up and (downside- the way it freezes up) I spent 4 days reading and studying the Scarlet X manual before the shoot so I'm pretty knowledgeable now as to it's functions but NOWHERE in the manual does it cover any of the issues stated above.

I will have some nice stills from the shoot I will post soon and once I have a chance I will upload some of the aerials and other shots. We shot some killer sunsets and sunrises from the rig!

 

[Matthew Scott]

Awesome Jim! Thanks for sharing I too have noticed the softness of 100% in RedCine-X and I believe it is not a true representation of what 100% really looks like. Can't wait to see some shots!!

 

[Joseph Coleman]

The softness at 100% is because of the debayer process. This has been an on going complaint and well known issue about Red. The fact the 4k does not actually resolve 4K. Its the same reason why Epic shoots 5k so it can truly resolve 4K images. I believe the Scarlet will resolve around 3.2k.

 

[Peter Matthes]

Issue #2: I noticed that when you use the Touch LCD in a hurried manner- which is pretty much what you do in the real world of shooting- the LCD will 'lock up' and you lose all touch functions. I first had this happen when I was reviewing clips on the chopper during aerial shooting. I was toggling quickly from viewing a clip (using the playback mode) to jumping back to the 'record mode'. Doing this would lock up my LCD- this happened 3 times! And since there is no 'on-off' button on the monitor itself- I had no choice but to hard shut down on the Scarlet and reboot to get the LCD functions back. Of course I was always greeted with a warning that I had shut the Scarlet down incorrectly. Thank God the monitor came back each time!

I know exactly what you are saying Jim, but I would call them "freezes" since there is a proper way to lock (and unlock) the screen ... but that's not what we are talking about.

We did a test shoot today in a NYC production company and the touch screen froze up twice. It definitely tends to happen when you are moving fast.

 

[Steve Yager]

The LCD lock when performing tasks quickly and no audio playback is a bigger deal than you're making it. I'd be pissed if my camera didn't give me audio playback. Can someone from the Red team tell us what's up here?

 

[Harrison Diamond]

The softness at 100% is because of the debayer process. This has been an on going complaint and well known issue about Red. The fact the 4k does not actually resolve 4K. Its the same reason why Epic shoots 5k so it can truly resolve 4K images. I believe the Scarlet will resolve around 3.2k.

I have a philosophical issue with this statement. Still photo cameras Virtually ALL use Bayer pattern sensors. Debayering resolution impact is IMHO used as a catch all when sometimes it isnt the actual cause. The real thing I feel is coming into play here is that a primarily motion camera like Red is going to have a stronger anti aliasing filter and far less out of the box sharpening.

 

[Jim Coulter]

I'm not happy with the audio issue either but luckily on this shoot the need for audio was only nat sounds. I looked at the latest firmware that was shipped with the camera and it does not mention anything about audio playback not working. Red has DEFINITELY got to make this a priority firmware upgrade!

As for the touch monitor- it was a love-hate relationship. I loved the fact that all the menu functions were so readily and visually available but I had to 'teach' myself to slow down and not jab around on the monitor. If you move through the program slowly it seems to work fine. A caveat- make a good habit of 'locking' the monitor often as I found when reviewing my settings that my 1/48th shutter speed was sometimes altered by accidentally touching that setting.

 

[Demetri Zuev]

Jim, get a Side Handle. It's super quick to navigate all the menus with it and you won't lock anything.

I had a Touch LCD and a Side Handle on my Scarlet from day 1 and I don't even touch the LCD anymore)

 

[Hywel Phillips]

Couple of thoughts on sharpness:

1) What shutter speed were you shooting at? The truly sharp images you see pulled from a similar resolution dSLR shot were likely shot with a fast shutter speed, which significantly reduces micro-blurring from subject motion, camera motion, vibrations, etc.. If you are shooting at "cine normal" shutter speeds around 1/48th or 1/50th of a second, any hint of movement (pan, tilt, dolly, subject in motion…) is likely to reduce apparent sharpness at 100% zoom appreciably. If sharpness of individual frames is a requirement, consider shooting with a shorter shutter speed. Run a few tests at higher shutter speed or with properly locked off still life subject and camera and see if you can see a difference. High res sensors are very demanding- I shoot at 1/400th and faster with my Hasselblad routinely to achieve maximum crispness.

2) Is it the software? Try rendering a few frames out to a still format (eg TIFF) and inspect with a different program. RAW processing software often generates on-the-fly previews which are not quite the same quality as a final render. If you open that output frame in Preview or Photoshop and zoom in to 100%, does it still look soft?

3) Have you applied some unsharp mask? Pretty much all Bayer-sensor cameras with AA filters produce soft images which need a hint of sharpening in post. Lower-end cameras, and still image RAW software, generally apply some by default. I don't think RED Cine X applies any unless you tell it to. Exact optimum settings vary from shot to shot but something like Amount 100% radius 1.9 threshold 2 makes a lot of difference.

Cheers, Hywel

 

[gustavo godinho]

is the non audio playback a camera limitation or a problem with your unit? i can't audio playback my scarlet too.

 

[Bob Gundu]

Not enabled yet.

is the non audio playback a camera limitation or a problem with your unit? i can't audio playback my scarlet too.