Steve Conry
Well-known member
First let me apologize for how long this post became. Have a lot of thoughts and in the midst of a hard decision. Hoping to get all my thoughts out there and get some solid feedback based on wisdom and experience. I know this topic has been explored a fair amount and I am sure we are all a little sick of it, but I haven't seen much talk about it in the past couple months since Weapon and Alexa Mini's have become more available. As more and more information comes out about how each are fairing in the wild I wanted to see where things lie...
I am currently letting go of my Epic MX, which has served me very well over the past 4 years. It was the perfect camera for me when i got it and has been a workhorse for tons of projects. I am so grateful for the camera and how much of a game changer it was for our company, and of course to RED for coming into the market when they did and setting a new standard in terms of quality and price point. All this considered, I'm hitting a point where i'm becoming more and more away of what I need from a camera and have recently started to want something thats a little different. I'll start by mentioning some of the main factors that I am considering and how my experience with Epic has been.
COLOR - With the MX (and often Dragon), I find that i spend so much time in post trying to get color where i want it. Its usually the relationship between whites that look white, skys that look blue and skin tones that look natural that can be hard to balance. I've found that to get it right, it often means doing secondaries and other tricks, and even then i am not always completely happy with the results. That said, much of the past 4 years, we have been using ND's that have a fair amount of color shift on our shoots and that has likely been a big part of the equation. We often have 2-6 Epics going, and between the several different sensor, color settings, filters and IRND combos that can show up to a set, it can be a struggle to match cameras, let alone maintain a clean, natural look throughout a 3-7 minute piece. Recently, on the advice of some of the people on Reduser, I purchased some Formatt Hitech Firecrest ND's and noticed a clear difference between the cameras that were using them on the shoot vs those that werent, both for MX and Dragon. I do think this is a big step. However, I have always kind of had a problem with certain elements of the RED look. I have routinely been left unimpressed, even frustrated with the way the camera looks in shade or on overcast days (very muted and dull) and have often had trouble with the varying color casts that I find in less exposed areas of a shot. For instance, we will do multi-cams of live music performances, and all of the cameras will have different color shifts present in the blacks, and none of them usually look neutral. This can take a lot of time to balance out and before anyone asks, yes we blackshade religiously for all the cameras and do it properly.
RELIABILITY- Another issue i have found with REDs that is a little less common with other cameras, is that they have a funny way of acting up when you are on a shoot. On the whole, they have been solid for us, but almost every shoot, something unexpected happens and is at least momentarily cause for concern. Whether its the monitors not popping up when you power on and needing to be unplugged or replugged in (sometimes go into playback or shut the camera off entirely), the odd split screen effect that happens, Nikon mounts deciding they are either not going to change the aperture (or even sporadically racking the aperture from wide open to completely closed), random audio input hum, random corrupt fames, record buttons that roll for a frame and then cut (causing you to miss a take and get into a cycle of thinking you are rolling when you arent), random purple lines in the image, or the camera's refusal to switch to the redvolt when a Anton Bauer dies mid-take, there seems to be a host of things that make me nervous going into a shoot without a backup Epic body. I know many people will say they find the platform rock solid, but I have used dozens of Epics, and while they are amazing cameras that have been instrumental to my work, this has been a part of my experience with them as well. I dont mean this to become a debate about reliability, just to underline one of the considerations that is going into this decision for me.
ERGONOMICS - The Epic's form factor has really been such a god send to me. I love how I can choose to have as much or as little camera/rig as i need for a shoot. Coming up during the SLR craze, designing the camera to work essentially like a big SLR with redvolts, or a cinema camera when rigged up made the transition much easier and also really allowed me to work in ways that arent possible on other systems. The fact that when a production allows for it I can throw the camera on a glidecam and pull of shots that shouldnt be possible on such a low cost rig, and also rig it up with an Optimo and all the peripherals is amazing. This is something i am not ready to lose anytime soon. On the other hand, not having built in ND filters is a really frustrating thing at this point. Dealing with screw ons or adding matteboxes for ND's slows things down, adds weight and is generally a PITA. And then there is blackshading, which sounds like it has gotten easier but has always been tough with the Epics.
FORMAT - With everything i mentioned above about color considered, R3D's are awesome. I have gotten really accustomed to being able to fix white balance or ISO in post in documentary and music settings where you dont always have time to dial it in during the shoot.
RESOLUTION - Having 5k is often a little more than necessary, but being able to reframe, punch in, add post zooms and stabilize without taking a big quality hit has become a big part of my workflow. I think I could get used to relying on it less (it might actually make me a better shooter haha) but it is a consideration going forward for sure and i'd like to have some ability to do it...
All this said, I have been leaning heavily toward Alexa Mini because i think it checks a lot of these boxes.
It has really amazing color right out of the box... I've found that between the commercial LUTs (and others) and just simply shooting LOG you pretty much instantly have a natural looking image in just about any shooting environment. If you want to keep the LUT, do nothing and it looks great. If you want to go another route, toggle it off in premiere and do some simple primary adjustments. Amazing...
Reliability, not sure with the mini yet (maybe users can chime in?) but obviously Arri has a great rep here. I personally have never experienced anything weird when shooting an Alexa or Amira, so thats a big win.
Ergonomics, the mini is obviously not great in many ways... pretty limited options right now for controls (nothing as good as the Red touch) but soon when the standalone control panel comes out that should get better. And audio seems like its still a little ways away before its properly controllable, but does have a cleaner signal than epic from my experience. On the other hand, built in ND's and no worries about blackshading are huge. Just need to find a good battery solution for my needs, as they dont have anything quite like the Side Handle...
Format, I find the 4444 to be plenty for me, but do wish it was flexible enough to do WB and ISO in post--but i guess thats what RAW is for. Data rate just seems to make that less appealing.
Resolution clearly goes to RED, but by how much? The 3.2K is actually pretty sharp to my eye... It seems plenty for my needs, though will limit the post zooms, stabilization, etc. This is one of my biggest concerns...
I am currently letting go of my Epic MX, which has served me very well over the past 4 years. It was the perfect camera for me when i got it and has been a workhorse for tons of projects. I am so grateful for the camera and how much of a game changer it was for our company, and of course to RED for coming into the market when they did and setting a new standard in terms of quality and price point. All this considered, I'm hitting a point where i'm becoming more and more away of what I need from a camera and have recently started to want something thats a little different. I'll start by mentioning some of the main factors that I am considering and how my experience with Epic has been.
COLOR - With the MX (and often Dragon), I find that i spend so much time in post trying to get color where i want it. Its usually the relationship between whites that look white, skys that look blue and skin tones that look natural that can be hard to balance. I've found that to get it right, it often means doing secondaries and other tricks, and even then i am not always completely happy with the results. That said, much of the past 4 years, we have been using ND's that have a fair amount of color shift on our shoots and that has likely been a big part of the equation. We often have 2-6 Epics going, and between the several different sensor, color settings, filters and IRND combos that can show up to a set, it can be a struggle to match cameras, let alone maintain a clean, natural look throughout a 3-7 minute piece. Recently, on the advice of some of the people on Reduser, I purchased some Formatt Hitech Firecrest ND's and noticed a clear difference between the cameras that were using them on the shoot vs those that werent, both for MX and Dragon. I do think this is a big step. However, I have always kind of had a problem with certain elements of the RED look. I have routinely been left unimpressed, even frustrated with the way the camera looks in shade or on overcast days (very muted and dull) and have often had trouble with the varying color casts that I find in less exposed areas of a shot. For instance, we will do multi-cams of live music performances, and all of the cameras will have different color shifts present in the blacks, and none of them usually look neutral. This can take a lot of time to balance out and before anyone asks, yes we blackshade religiously for all the cameras and do it properly.
RELIABILITY- Another issue i have found with REDs that is a little less common with other cameras, is that they have a funny way of acting up when you are on a shoot. On the whole, they have been solid for us, but almost every shoot, something unexpected happens and is at least momentarily cause for concern. Whether its the monitors not popping up when you power on and needing to be unplugged or replugged in (sometimes go into playback or shut the camera off entirely), the odd split screen effect that happens, Nikon mounts deciding they are either not going to change the aperture (or even sporadically racking the aperture from wide open to completely closed), random audio input hum, random corrupt fames, record buttons that roll for a frame and then cut (causing you to miss a take and get into a cycle of thinking you are rolling when you arent), random purple lines in the image, or the camera's refusal to switch to the redvolt when a Anton Bauer dies mid-take, there seems to be a host of things that make me nervous going into a shoot without a backup Epic body. I know many people will say they find the platform rock solid, but I have used dozens of Epics, and while they are amazing cameras that have been instrumental to my work, this has been a part of my experience with them as well. I dont mean this to become a debate about reliability, just to underline one of the considerations that is going into this decision for me.
ERGONOMICS - The Epic's form factor has really been such a god send to me. I love how I can choose to have as much or as little camera/rig as i need for a shoot. Coming up during the SLR craze, designing the camera to work essentially like a big SLR with redvolts, or a cinema camera when rigged up made the transition much easier and also really allowed me to work in ways that arent possible on other systems. The fact that when a production allows for it I can throw the camera on a glidecam and pull of shots that shouldnt be possible on such a low cost rig, and also rig it up with an Optimo and all the peripherals is amazing. This is something i am not ready to lose anytime soon. On the other hand, not having built in ND filters is a really frustrating thing at this point. Dealing with screw ons or adding matteboxes for ND's slows things down, adds weight and is generally a PITA. And then there is blackshading, which sounds like it has gotten easier but has always been tough with the Epics.
FORMAT - With everything i mentioned above about color considered, R3D's are awesome. I have gotten really accustomed to being able to fix white balance or ISO in post in documentary and music settings where you dont always have time to dial it in during the shoot.
RESOLUTION - Having 5k is often a little more than necessary, but being able to reframe, punch in, add post zooms and stabilize without taking a big quality hit has become a big part of my workflow. I think I could get used to relying on it less (it might actually make me a better shooter haha) but it is a consideration going forward for sure and i'd like to have some ability to do it...
All this said, I have been leaning heavily toward Alexa Mini because i think it checks a lot of these boxes.
It has really amazing color right out of the box... I've found that between the commercial LUTs (and others) and just simply shooting LOG you pretty much instantly have a natural looking image in just about any shooting environment. If you want to keep the LUT, do nothing and it looks great. If you want to go another route, toggle it off in premiere and do some simple primary adjustments. Amazing...
Reliability, not sure with the mini yet (maybe users can chime in?) but obviously Arri has a great rep here. I personally have never experienced anything weird when shooting an Alexa or Amira, so thats a big win.
Ergonomics, the mini is obviously not great in many ways... pretty limited options right now for controls (nothing as good as the Red touch) but soon when the standalone control panel comes out that should get better. And audio seems like its still a little ways away before its properly controllable, but does have a cleaner signal than epic from my experience. On the other hand, built in ND's and no worries about blackshading are huge. Just need to find a good battery solution for my needs, as they dont have anything quite like the Side Handle...
Format, I find the 4444 to be plenty for me, but do wish it was flexible enough to do WB and ISO in post--but i guess thats what RAW is for. Data rate just seems to make that less appealing.
Resolution clearly goes to RED, but by how much? The 3.2K is actually pretty sharp to my eye... It seems plenty for my needs, though will limit the post zooms, stabilization, etc. This is one of my biggest concerns...
Curious if you have had a chance to work with Alexa Mini and what your thoughts are? 
