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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 :)

Some Perspective, Please

J

Jack Bayles

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This is not what I wanted to be my first post but I am desperately seeking some perspective one month in to my RED experience: I got a RED Weapon 8K last month and have immediately found out that it is substantially different than how it was advertised: AF doesn't work at all, focus confirm doesn't work at all, the 7" screen is a flickering mess, the camera freezing regularly and today wouldn't initialize once. There are other issues, but these are the most pertinent. My sales rep. has apparently disappeared and RED tech. support is being unhelpful. Am I having a normal experience? Any advice? Thanks in advance.
 
Maybe before taking a plunge at a 80k usd camera... rent or borrow first to see if its what you are after.

Red have never braged about thier AF and yes firmware has been somewhat flaky from the first redone and forward.

Still, when getting deeper into it a lot of people tend to like it, not just a little, but a lot. Its not for everyone. Thats a part I probably like the most about Red.

That and the beautiful pictures, Nothing else looks as good straghit out of camera I think.

https://vimeo.com/267253141


Hope you get over the firs ät couple of hurdles then you will love it.
 
Hi Michael, I did buy RED ARMOR, but RED is so far saying that screen might work better after some putative future firmware upgrade and that autofocus or focus confirm are not reasonable expectations. I guess they monitor this forum, however, because I just heard from a supervisor. This morning the camera wouldn't even initialize the first time I tried to turn it on. It's frozen four times in less than ten hours, twice while I was recording Grizzly Bears.
 
Hi Bjorn, Well I saved and borrowed a whole bunch of money to get in to the Weapon. I don't see going to a higher price point. I want to love it, but it has to work. I wouldn't have purchased a manual focus camera to work with Grizzly Bears and Wolves.
 
Jack Bayles said:
I wouldn't have purchased a manual focus camera to work with Grizzly Bears and Wolves.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you bought the wrong camera then. Cinema cameras aren't typically designed with autofocus in mind. Pulling focus is easy, you just have to practice it. You can get follow focus accessories that make it easier.
 
The issues you have sounds power related. Try different power source. Weak amp vlock batteries are usually the cause, or3party battery plates.
Trying to start it up using ac power and no accessories is a good first try, Then holding in the stsrt button extra long to start with factory default firware and then upgrade to latest firware after a restart.

Sure auto focus would be nice for wild life but so far pretty much only pocket cams have any good autofocus.
 
Jack Bayles said:
Hi Bjorn, Well I saved and borrowed a whole bunch of money to get in to the Weapon. I don't see going to a higher price point. I want to love it, but it has to work. I wouldn't have purchased a manual focus camera to work with Grizzly Bears and Wolves.
Click to expand...

Fast moving wildlife that can murder you if you don't stay alert seems contrary to what a RED offers as a product. Making feature movies with a full crew and lighting package is what RED is good at. When given the correct environment you can't beat the image coming out of a RED. Single shooter in the wild trying to catch focus on elusive critters is pushing what a RED basically is to the max. Not sure potential Image Quality would make up for features like fast auto focus, auto exposure and light weight when in the wild.

On AF or internal Audio, I wouldn't count on those since that is not the purpose or typical use of a RED. On movie sets there are Focus Pullers and Second System Audio specialists.

That all said, your new products should work. That also said, not sure you have the correct tool for the stated mission.

BTW: here's me with a RED Dragon and a little Elk ;-)

Ubpg6k.jpg
 
Zeb,


You're braver man than me! That Elk looks likes he's thinking " are you seriously filming me right now!!...are freaking kidding me!!"
 
Jack Bayles said:
This is not what I wanted to be my first post but I am desperately seeking some perspective one month in to my RED experience: I got a RED Weapon 8K last month and have immediately found out that it is substantially different than how it was advertised: AF doesn't work at all, focus confirm doesn't work at all, the 7" screen is a flickering mess, the camera freezing regularly and today wouldn't initialize once. There are other issues, but these are the most pertinent. My sales rep. has apparently disappeared and RED tech. support is being unhelpful. Am I having a normal experience? Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...



Some thoughts
- Autofocus. As others mentioned, that is not going to be useful, but is there any other high quality camera that has solid auto focus. I use Canons camera that has some of the best autofocus and I would never rely on it for important shots. I think you should expect to focus manually for higher end videos and yes it requires a lot of practice.
- This is the camera that is used for Planet Earth 2 and that show looks amazing, so clearly for them it works.
- Monitor flickering mess I have not experienced. I had some problems with the screen, but it just needed to be replaced. Otherwise it should work perfectly.
- Freezing. It happens, for me especially if I use pre record a lot, but otherwise this is not default behaviour.
- Red Tech support has always been helpful to me.

There are several challenges with RED such as high data bandwidth, powerful computers needed for good color grading, tricky to nail focus, external recorder needed etc, but in many way these challenges are coming from delivering such high quality. Slow motion together with the resolution and raw is fantastic with Red.
Hope things turn out better for you after using the camera for a while.

/Andreas
 
Shooting wildlife on a Red isn't any harder than shooting it on an Arri SR which is what everyone used to use, and in fact it's much much easier, so I don't get the fuss at all.

Nick
 
auto focus does not work on red cameras, or almost any cinema cameras, the best bet is a C300MK2, for focus and reliability.
i remember i bought the raven and the GDU lens red made(with manual functions removed) and thought id be running around capturing images on my own, nope, nothing even remotely close in frame would be in focus.

They really should just be up front about it or not even include it as a spec, but at least it's not bragged about like with canon and sony.
though you for sure should of rented one first before spending that kind of money and seeing if it was right for your needs.
i had been using red for 10 years before i jumped in with a raven for personal projects, so i knew what i was getting into, sort of.

but yes, you are not alone, doesnt seem like you did much research as with any high end product made available to the public, there are huge disappointment posts talking about your exact issues, though i havent had many, i certainly wouldnt invest more then i already did.

oh, as well, what i have been learning, a lot of freezing comes from battery power that is not consistent, i know, sounds weird but red processors dont like crappy batteries, or just certain types, id check that, what batteries are you using?
 
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It can be done . . .

http://www.mhdp2.com/XRED1/REDL03/MHD_REDL03.html

but like most top 1% of craft tools . . . it takes time to learn. My suggestion is to settle down and get a couple hundred hours of 'seat' time with the RED learning its limits and capabilities. If AF is still a priority after that time, then maybe look into a Canon 1D style cam with L lenses. Best AF in the world they have and color out of cam is ready to go.
 
I'm sorry you're having so many issues Jack. RED support has always been great, but it sounds like it's more of an issue with you just not liking the camera than it is a "support" issue. RED's have never really been good at autofocus, nor do they claim to be. Sometimes RED's can be glitchy...but that's because they push their firmware to new heights and give each and every update, for free, to their customers. Sometimes those updates perform flawlessly, while other times not, but honestly, I'd rather have a company updating/evolving and giving their users free updates, unleashing new capabilities than the alternative.

RED is good at a lot of things, and I think if you just take a moment, look at that amazing tool you have, and try to learn how to use it most effectively...I think you'll be very happy. We are a big family here...it's worth sticking around.
 
I dont shoot wild life. But I did shoot me accidentally killing some of my bees this weekend. Just wanted to try to see if I could make "slow tv" kind of things using red. And did so without a tripod, camera laying on ground. Kind of realtime filming something that took about an hour, then edit straight from the mag on my laptop and toss color on and export and upload to vimeo in 2k.... All in all I was done in 3,5 hours shooting editing transcoding and uploading a 50 minute program to the web in 2k. Shot in 8k.

And I was editing while having dinner with my wife. Sound recorded only trough the internal microphone etc.

To me red comes with a lot of possiblites, picture quality, Easy of use when you know how to use it, and compared to most similar cameras it has so many more features. HDRx, some sort of auto focus, more than twice the resolution, compressed raw, proxies on the side, built in luts and grading features, built in microphone for scratch track, possibilities to mount pretty much any lens available. etc etc.

I find it very difficult to see why I would use any other camera than monstro except for ultra high speed shots, then ofcourse phantom 4k is a better option but having a helium or monstro I dont care what you are going to do but if you say your other camera is better... I say you just dont know how to use your red. :)

Here my slow tv attempts :)


https://vimeo.com/268204636



Im really sad about the bees. Got the wrong information about using ant acid instead of milk acid and ended up killing pretty much all what was left of a very much varoa infested colony. Some is still alive in both hives but I would be very supriced if they make it. :(
 
@Björn
Straight to 'Mitt i Naturen' mate! But you might want to read the manual on bee keeping a bit more! :))

@Jack
Nearly all professional wildlife films are shot manually. They always have been and it is a real skill to acquire. There is no AF camera system existing today that can hold focus reliably enough to do the job.

I really sympathise with the problems you are having but if you can get through all that there is a gem of a camera waiting for you. Good luck.
 
Bjorn, if it makes you feel any better, my bees didn't make it through the winter either. And I didn't figure it out till all the nuc bees were sold out, so I'll have to wait for next year ;-)

Nick
 
Nick Gardner said:
Bjorn, if it makes you feel any better, my bees didn't make it through the winter either. And I didn't figure it out till all the nuc bees were sold out, so I'll have to wait for next year ;-)

Nick
Click to expand...

:( sad.


My other hive, the one to the right is thriving. It got a oxal acid treatment this winter and shows no signs of varoa. And now got quite a few days here and more comming with really good weather so they are carrying in pollen like mad. So that one I will be able to split this summer which is great.

William Long said:
@Björn
Straight to 'Mitt i Naturen' mate! But you might want to read the manual on bee keeping a bit more! :))

@Jack
Nearly all professional wildlife films are shot manually. They always have been and it is a real skill to acquire. There is no AF camera system existing today that can hold focus reliably enough to do the job.

I really sympathise with the problems you are having but if you can get through all that there is a gem of a camera waiting for you. Good luck.
Click to expand...

You know it :)
 
The whole wonky camera thing really sucks. It's not the first time someone has had issues with a RED camera but it is not typical. Here's to hoping you get the part sorted out quickly.

I don't shoot wildlife but, as others have suggested, I can't imagine relying on AF for anything important - and moves. Wouldn't it make more sense to use a smaller aperture and plan your DOF carefully when you set up your shots? Then adjust focus as needed.

Good luck with the camera. RED has extraordinary image quality even if they stumble now and then with keeping things solid.
 
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