The First Komodo Out in the Wild

[Bastien Tribalat]

Still no r3d’s released? or?

Did you guys have to sign a NDA or somthing? So odd when people been waiting for a camera to be released for so long time and teased with pictures of the actual camera but no raw footage from it.

Or have I jyst missed tge link somwhere?

To add to what Phil said above : don't forget it is still in beta firmware so playing with R3Ds right now, as fun as it could be (and believe me I can't wait !), it won't me representative of the retail camera.

 

[Peter Stanley]

I immediately grabbed a coke. Yeah ok this thing is small!

 

[AndreeMarkefors]

I don't think if you're in an area that has the mandated curfews going on there's a clear understanding of how hard it is to get people together film film something this week.

Getting people together to film something?

What the hell are you talking about Phil? =)

People here are talking about r3ds of coffee machines at home, or a dog on a sofa, or Legos and Barbies or a Spouse with that look: "are we done yet".

Hehe.... "getting people together to film...." That's a good one!

 

[AndreeMarkefors]

don't forget it is still in beta firmware so playing with R3Ds right now, as fun as it could be (and believe me I can't wait !), it won't me representative of the retail camera.

Let's not overuse the 'beta' label for woulda-shoulda-coulda.

The camera is shipped and will be sold more or less 'as-is', right? Or are buyers outside of the inner circle now waiting for another two months before shipping (I'm not up to speed on this)?

It's great that RED says it will actively work on the software and things like AF, but I wouldn't personally buy this camera EXPECTING things to change, if they aren't good enough already.

 

[Bastien Tribalat]

Let's not overuse the 'beta' label for woulda-shoulda-coulda.

The camera is shipped and will be sold more or less 'as-is', right? Or are buyers outside of the inner circle now waiting for another two months before shipping (I'm not up to speed on this)?

It's great that RED says it will actively work on the software and things like AF, but I wouldn't personally buy this camera EXPECTING things to change, if they aren't good enough already.

I use the term "beta" because it is not the retail firmware/color science. It is v 0.xxx. Not final yet. People are buying those batches for the exclusive colors and aknowledging that it do not represent yet the final product and that something could break.
Jarred said here or on Instagram (can't remember) that it's easier to buy those batches if you live in the U.S because of something break, return/shipping would be much easier. (but I don't recall if living in the U.S is mandatory... Probably not)

So maybe instead of "beta" we should talk about "early adopters" or "soft-release" ? ^_^

 

[Han Vogen]

Honestly, while it’s great to see what it will capture under perfect conditions, it’s just as useful, perhaps even more useful to see what it can capture run n gun, under random conditions. Any camera can look good under perfect conditions with a full crew, lighting, sound etc... that said, I understand that personal matters are a top priority. That’s the stuff that counts the most. I think most here are curious to see some basic footage so they can judge skin tones, dynamic range, shadow recovery and so on. Think of it as a run n gun vs full production.

 

[Björn Benckert]

I'll be providing footage when I can. I had to cancel 2 days of shooting due to what I've written about. I don't think if you're in an area that has the mandated curfews going on there's a clear understanding of how hard it is to get people together film film something this week. Ideally there would be no Covid-19, ideally the riots and protest wouldn't have causes early curfews and locations not even opening, ideally my father didn't need heart surgery.

Not making excuses, but I'll get you all what you want shortly. It's just real hard and I'm really not going to release footage of squirrels in my yard. And trust me. You want something better than that anyways.

A few frames of squirrels would be huge. For me, even a clip shot with the lens cap still on would be great to see.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

For me, even a clip shot with the lens cap still on would be great to see.

;-)
Even with cap, I bet there is someone who would comment that skin tones aren’t as good as Arri.

 

[Nathaniel Haban]

Some new footage posted a short time ago.

 

[Björn Benckert]

;-)
Even with cap, I bet there is someone who would comment that skin tones aren’t as good as Arri.

Yes ofcourse but time would not help to solve that matter

Weight of file, ability to read the file in apps etc even a pitch black r3d. Would be a lot more than nothing.

 

[rand thompson]

Some new footage posted a short time ago.

The Helium and the Komodo can be evened out to some extent in this scenario. However, the komodo has a much more neutral look straight out of the camera than helium does.

 

[Paul Leeming]

Is there a sensor backfocus adjustment screw on Komodo like the DSMC2 cameras have? Would be awesome if we can adjust it to zero out the backfocus once we put other mounts on. Thanks in advance!

 

[Björn Benckert]

Is there a sensor backfocus adjustment screw on Komodo like the DSMC2 cameras have? Would be awesome if we can adjust it to zero out the backfocus once we put other mounts on. Thanks in advance!

I guess the mount is quite easy to shim / built like a EF mount.

 

[muhammad]

Would be great if Komodo was dual ISO like Gemini is. Would be a nice surprise.

 

[Han Vogen]

Would be better still if it was DGO (dual gain output) like the C300 MkIII.

 

[Thomas B.]

...I don't think many have experience as to why professionals don't like that concept of a cabled media drive. It's cool and all, but like literally the most crucial thing is your freaking media. That cable is not a production standard even with clamps.

I'm certain I'll test to do some sort of external SSD via the drive bay, but I'm telling you one of the big pros about this camera is you don't need to do "not exactly ideal" stuff like that.

Sure, this wouldn't be a proper and reliable solution for professionals. Still, I wonder if the cfast card cover/lid is easily detachable, like the battery/memory card cover on DSLRs...or not?
Thanks for checking!

 

[Brian Pascale]

Thanks for the updates. Can't think of a more useful person to get the first camera and glad to hear you dad is home.

 

[Phil Holland]

Quick answers as I just devoured lunch.

Sure, this wouldn't be a proper and reliable solution for professionals. Still, I wonder if the cfast card cover/lid is easily detachable, like the battery/memory card cover on DSLRs...or not?
Thanks for checking!

I can confirm that the media bay door is removable. So if you want to do weird things, there you go.

Sounds like RED is releasing the official CFast card list soon. I'd use that as your baseline for contemplating compatibility. It's good news, but you won't be using the cheapest/lowest capacity/slowest CFast stuff. This is still a digital cinema camera at the end of the day.

Would be great if Komodo was dual ISO like Gemini is. Would be a nice surprise.

Would be better still if it was DGO (dual gain output) like the C300 MkIII.

Both of those perspectives are fine, but also overlooking that Komodo has a Global Shutter as well as PDAF. That is it's sensor superpowers. As well as some of the optical image quality related stuff going down. Not to mention the C300 MKIII is 2X the price of Komodo, but I'll let y'all mull that over.

And personal take on Dual ISO in particular. I do think that is a technology of the now and works great on Gemini for instance. Future sensors, well, I have thoughts. Dual Gain, sure. That still works. But there's so much sci-fi tech coming that those things don't allude to.

Jim famously said the future of digital cinema cameras is going to be largely dependent on pixel design and I tend to concur with that POV. As tech has evolving you're going to see some radical sensors. Some that leave some concepts behind and others that will still exploit the best of what the technology offers. We've seen the tip of the spear here with RED's most recent offerings IMO. Komodo is no different.

I think the hard thing for most people is discerning what makes certain cameras more attractive to digital cinema folks versus "other markets". You can see this most often when people do low light tests on camera reviews and not understanding fully what the camera is doing or what they are seeing. All good though, if you need clean crazy high ISO out of camera and willing to take that hit in pixel quality and color, neato. There's a reason RED, Arri, and more recently Sony have options that land squarely in a specific range because there's this language each has found to get something appealing out of a sensor that not only inspires cinematographers but checks off "lots of boxes" that are often not discussed.

It took a hell of a lot of work for RED to scratch the pain early on in the world of theatrical films because they are/were a new company and as everybody has seen and knows it's a tight knit net up there and hard for fish to swim through sometimes. But once they hit that image quality mark, they can only improve upon that direction from there in various categories.

 

[Jiri Vrozina]

Let's not overuse the 'beta' label for woulda-shoulda-coulda.

The camera is shipped and will be sold more or less 'as-is', right? Or are buyers outside of the inner circle now waiting for another two months before shipping (I'm not up to speed on this)?

It's great that RED says it will actively work on the software and things like AF, but I wouldn't personally buy this camera EXPECTING things to change, if they aren't good enough already.

Sounds like Komodo 4K working camera is 6 months away. No decent video footage so far makes me wonder. Buying time while competition is around the corner. All we see is Colour designs, like little kids. Fancy names for Camera, whats next. ENGRAVING the name on camera for sure.

 

[Jiri Vrozina]

“””””Both of those perspectives are fine, but also overlooking that Komodo has a Global Shutter as well as PDAF. That is it's sensor superpowers. As well as some of the optical image quality related stuff going down. Not to mention the C300 MKIII is 2X the price of Komodo, but I'll let y'all mull that over.

And personal take on Dual ISO in particular. I do think that is a technology of the now and works great on Gemini for instance. Future sensors, well, I have thoughts. Dual Gain, sure. That still works. But there's so much sci-fi tech coming that those things don't allude to.””””

C300 mk3 is a real workhorse camera.
Does have other very useful codecs, not just RAW. Can use it even with B4 lenses for broadcast, sports.
Can shoot low budget films, corporates, commercials, video clips.
Does have also amazing Continuous Auto Focus. Camera is working, see the footage. It is not really double, more like 50% more expansive. And so it should, it can do more then KOMODO.
Image quality? For sure is great, i have seen the footage, far better what i have seen from Komodo so far. And there's is a
Low light performance. Yes more money , more camera.

How about new Canon R5?.