SERIOUS contrast problem with RED One MX

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hi all. . .

A friend of mine brought his brand new Scarlet (with Canon) mount over to our house today to do some comparison tests, and I have to say, I really liked the new camera.

In doing a test, we lit a candle and illuminated a book shelf using that candle and nothing else. While both cameras had virtually identical noise characteristics, I did not expect the ABSOLUTELY HUGE difference between the contrast of the Scarlet to the contrast of my M-X One. It is sooooooo different, it almost appears as if we shot the One in a seriously thick haze.

I do not see anything on the OLPF. We used the same settings in the same position using the very same lens (not a different lens with the same settings, but the very same lens). What possible explanation could there be for this enormous contrast, and what can be done to eliminate the "fog" in my machine?

Thanks.

Stephen

 

[Mark Phelan]

How are you viewing them? Possibly in RCX? If so, are you using the same color and gamma spaces or are they defaulting to different settings?

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

We used Premiere Pro with identical settings. It's absolutely shocking the difference. 4K for both cameras.

Stephen

 

[Jon Carr]

You guys both did a black shade calibration before testing?

 

[jimhare]

Post an R3D still of both cameras. Be interested to play with them and someone can probably explain what's happening.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Neither of us did a black shading. How does one post an R3D?

What I do know is that if I drop the shadows on the RED One and toy around with it in the Premiere Pro controls, I can eliminate the fog from the shot, but the image is then at least a stop darker.

I was shocked that both cameras, using the same lens and same sensor looked so very different upon changing to identical settings.

Thanks guys.

Stephen

 

[Daniel Doherty]

I have both cameras. Never seen this issue. I'd say something is amiss.

 

[Tim Sutherland]

With scarlet you can view redcolor 2 and redgamma 2, which is much lower contrast, so I know a lot of people change contrast and saturation in camera, is it possible that you didn't account for those changes in camera when comparing? When we went from red one MX to epic, there was definitely a difference in the image quality but not like you are describing.

Tim

 

[jimhare]

In REDCine X there is a button to export a single frame as an R3D. This can then be uploaded to a website or www.YouSendIt (free service) and provide download information.

Neither of us did a black shading. How does one post an R3D?

What I do know is that if I drop the shadows on the RED One and toy around with it in the Premiere Pro controls, I can eliminate the fog from the shot, but the image is then at least a stop darker.

I was shocked that both cameras, using the same lens and same sensor looked so very different upon changing to identical settings.

Thanks guys.

Stephen

 

[Graeme Nattress]

Yes, please put up the single frame R3D trims and I'll take a look. I've not seen this before. I've ran most RED cameras for comparison tests and I can't understand this difference. Perhaps measuring the R3D files will illuminate the issue for you!

Graeme

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hey there, Graeme, I'd be happy to. . . I'll see if I can accomplish that task. I'm using CS5.5 PP. I don't ever use RCX, so that might be an issue. I'll see if I can figure it out.

Thanks so much!

Stephen

 

[Graeme Nattress]

You need to load the R3D into REDCine-X and use it's "trim" function or the button that will output a single frame R3D still from your movie.

Graeme

 

[jimhare]

Stephen, it's the button that looks like this, which is under the viewer in the main interface:

Hey there, Graeme, I'd be happy to. . . I'll see if I can accomplish that task. I'm using CS5.5 PP. I don't ever use RCX, so that might be an issue. I'll see if I can figure it out.

Thanks so much!

Stephen

 

[Uli Plank]

When I recently did a test for Digital Production (Munich), we had both cameras side-by-side. There were some improvements, but nothing like your experience. Definitely take on Graeme's offer!