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Wallander shoots 2 * Red in Sweden

geoffboyle

geoffboyle

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I just thought that I'd let you know that I'm shooting the Swedish TV detective series Wallander on 2 Red's.

I start actual shooting tomorrow after a couple of weeks of tests.

The cameras are equipped with Optimo 15-40 & 27-76 zooms as well as an assortment of primes from 16mm to 300mm.

Everything is being shot handheld, even the 300mm is just balanced on a sandbag.

The biggest hassle so far is the lack of 16Gb cards.

We would use the Red drives in the Element Technica shock mountings but it's all getting a bit heavy :-)

The cameras have wireless follow focus and are also equipped with Cinetape, any more and my chiro will need a call.

I'll keep you updated as we go.
 
You could test the new Lexar 16GB 300x cards. They are in stock now. I have not heard of anybody writing them off as a no-no. I have my camera within a couple of weeks and would like that to work. Magical thinking:)
Good luck!

Martin
 
I’ve now completed my first week of shooting in Sweden with two Reds and I thought I’d make a few comments 

I’m making the first of a series of TV Films based on the books about a detective called Wallander. A film or two and a TV series have been made previously, they were on film.

A BBC one off was also made here on a RED a couple of months ago.

We have a 20 day schedule of 9hour days to shoot 90 minutes.

Using 2 Reds we are sometimes able to shoot wide and close or have the second camera grab cutaways, we never cross shoot.

Lenses are still being delivered! We should have the 2 Optimo’s that are good for handheld and a kit of superspeeds with a few lenses either end of the range. So far we have the 14-50 but the 27-76 will not be with us until tomorrow, we have been using an Arri 15.5-45 instead whilst we wait.

Shooting solely on 8Gb CF cards we have a man from the edit house who takes them from our crew and empties them and gives them back. I don’t know how he is storing them or transferring them, I don’t ask the lab what kind of film processor they use and I don’t see any reason to start. As with film I get reports that the data is OK and comments on my exposure.

I know that they have successfully used the process we are using in the past and that I will have a full grade in a few months, what more do I need to know 

I will also have online dailies very soon.

After shooting tests I decided that the best approach for me was to shoot at 320 and meter as I would for film, I wanted consistency between the 2 cameras in rushes and this seems to be the best way.

We use Blenders and Tru-Pols to control skies which otherwise might have a tendency to blow out a bit.

For interiors I’m just altering the White balance to 3200 and doing nothing else, I occasionally will set the ISO to 640 to help monitoring for the production.

Both cameras have wireless follow focus and mine also has Cinetape. We looked at adding downconverters to the cameras and transmitters but I carry too much extra weight already and have stuck with cables back to 17” Panasonics and then to AJA converters and SD hard disk video assist recorders, we almost never watch replays, we don’t have time.

Lighting is a very basic package 6Kw HMI Par down to LightPads.

So, what problems have we had?

The CF cards aren’t big enough; 16Gb would be fine if we could get them. We have tried Transend 16Gb CF cards but they wouldn't work even though they are rated at 300*+ however, does the released version of build 16 actually support 16Gb or is it only the beta version?

I have a lot of problems starting and stopping the camera, on my shoulder the camera sits pretty far back for balance and the on/off switch is blocked by my head. We have on/off switches on our handles as well but I quite often seem to cut or start the camera by bumping my chin on the on camera button. This button needs to be harder to use!!

Why can’t the Red logo on the front be a on/off button?

When I’ve got the camera under slung in handheld it’s a total bitch to find the button.

I’ve set the 2 function buttons to Redspace or RAW as that way when I bump them and they switch it won’t cause any damage.

I really like the pictures from this camera but the ergonomics are not good, unfortunately Epic looks as if it’s going to be even more top heavy 

Oh yes, one more problem, a weird colour response in one situation. We have some copy LitePads to play with, they’re much bigger than normal LP’s and have great potential. In day light they’re a bit green but OK and can be filtered. When I tried to use them in a tungsten situation everything went tits up! I use full CTO, they looked bright green, I added magenta they looked bright almost fluorescent yellow! I think that they’re hitting an overlap spot on the pixels but what would I know about that  I have charts of the Red’s spectral sensitivity. I promised not to say where they came from, and I’m getting the pads tested, let’s see what the results are but don’t hold your breath.

Other than that colour is gorgeous.
 
I would love to see Angenieux Optimo on the RED ONE.
 
Sounds like things are going pretty great...aside form needing larger cards which seems to be addressed. Thanks for keeping us informed of your work with the camera.
 
Just a quick update.

The rushes look fine.

My problem with the on/off switches continue but I'm learning to get around it.

When the camera is under my arm I keep the shoulder mount on and then just swing the hand grip with the on/off button on it at any flat surface to start/stop.

It caused a few surprised looks the first time I did it but it really works well :-)

We've got the second Optimo at last so we're now shooting as intended, one camera with 15-40 covering wide shots and one with 27-76 picking off close ups on the same axis, we never cross shoot.

I'm wishing for a SD output from the camera now so that my video assist could be wireless. I realise that I could put the AJA on the camera and then use the Transvideo transmitter but it gets heavier and heavier and chews more and more power.

I should have got the Element Technica shock mounts for the hard drives by now but the Stockholm facility company seems to think that a week is a quick response. They need some serious competition because they really are poor.

I gte my new shoulder mount from ET this week and I'm looking forward to that, my present one assumes that my shoulders are perfectly square and judging from the weight of it they made it from depleted uranium!
 
That would be absolutely ideal.

Unfortunately we have neither the budget nor the availability :-(

Of course over 14 months, as this series of films will be eventually the cost would be tiny and the time saving enormous.

I've files the details away for future reference, thanks for giving me the link!
 
Geoff Boyle wrote;
"The CF cards aren’t big enough; 16Gb would be fine if we could get them. We have tried Transend 16Gb CF cards but they wouldn't work even though they are rated at 300*+ however, does the released version of build 16 actually support 16Gb or is it only the beta version?"


Hi Geoff

I believe that CF reader in the camera needs to be upgraded in order to use the new 16GB cards.

Red are doing this upgrade for free - when the cards ship.

Hope you are having fun on your shoot!
 
Jens Jakob Thorsen said:
Has anyone tested the IDX?

Best JJ
Click to expand...

We have had the Camwave HD for a few weeks now. Works great at short range and outdoors
Range is limited indoors with concrete walls etc. compared to our avalon/canatrans analog true diversity analog system, but the quality is incredible and rock solid within the range limits.
We have it available now for rental at +45 70 205 305

Perfect for handheld and steadicam where you can place the reciever tactically, and still be flexible.
But for long shots you might experience the sharp drop off, first a short period of macroblocking and then complete signal loss.

Still the value is incredible compared to a cheap drop out prone Titan link. (Sorry Transvideo)

It also adds 15W to your camera power consumption.

The Boxx will be a better solution once they finish their HD link, especially with the large spread antenna. But I believe we wont see the finished version until some time early next year.
 
I havent tested this, but as the chipset is basically consumer based, not transmitting all the ancillary data (besides 2 audio channels) would seem plausible.

Will test when I can...

You can always do LTC on one of the audio channels I guess :-)
 
Hi Geoff I test the lexar 16Gb and you can record up to 4k HD 24FPS RC28 without problems and for only 200$ cards...4k HD 25FPSRC28 is not supported, but 4k 2:1 25FPS RC36 aparently work fine.

salu2
 
OK, we have had the Element Technica shock mounts for the Red Drives for a few days now and have used them for everything without losing a frame.

The systems have been bounced around a lot and subject to considerable shocks at times without any problems.

As we're shooting totally handheld I have managed to run in to wall, doors and assistants, I've banged the camera, and drives, into all the above as well as car roofs!

The only problem is weight, the cameras are seriously bloody heavy now, fine on the shoulder but when used in the hand low they are killing me, Ibuprofen sales have gone up.

We swapped out one body this week, it had collimation problems with the 18mm superspeed wide open.

I'm really looking forward to the ET shoulder mount when it gets here, it's probably been in Stockholm at our rental company for a week now......
 
OK, I've had the Element Technica shoulder mount for 2 days now, I'm using it with a RED, which it was designed for, but it could be used with any camera.

So far I've used a RED and an Arri shoulder mount and have been having great difficulty, they were unstable and uncomfortable.

The ET has, as I said on set today, made me as happy as a pig in shit.

It can be adjusted for curve and tilt of shoulder, hey! We're not all members of the master race and perfectly square, some of us have shoulders that droop down and curve inwards. I can compensate for my deformities with the ET mount!

I finished today and realised that my back didn't ache, I know, I've insisted that all low angle hand-held is done with CF cards and primes but even so, I've been hand-held on my shoulder for most of the day with the usual array of trash attached to the camera and I don't hurt!

This is the first day I've been able to say this in five weeks.

Run don't walk to ET and get one!

Oh and I've found out how to screw up their hard drive shock mounts, just cover the camera in a plastic bag whilst it's on a car mount and then drive at over 100Kph. The plastic then wraps around the drive and stops the shocks from working. Lost frames are us :-)

Of course if the RED didn't have so many ways for water to get in to it I wouldn't have to wrap it in a plastic bag!!

Oh and I've broken my second ET breakout box, people standing on cables as I run down the street has a great effect on the cables, sockets and my shoulder and temper!
 
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