EPIC

[Christopher T. Paul- SOC]

Got a chance to fly with Jared's, (from RED), personal EPIC camera this week, dubbed the "Storm Trooper" due to it's white body. We also had one with a black body as a B cam in Studio mode.

 

Flies great, a nice solid little camera with phenomenal picture quality. It's a bit on the light side for a full up rig and Master Series arm. I had to fully dial out my arm, and add three batteries just to get within the arm's weight range. Big fat lens helped too. We also put on a Zeiss t 2.1 prime, (for flares), and I had to put on a couple of weights to the top stage just to get it heavy enough to fly!

 

CP

[Afton Grant]

The very first RED setups were very light too. Didn't take long for people to figure out how to slap 15 pounds of extra crap on there. Juuuust wait.

[Thomas English]

Yeah, I remember when RED came out and there were photos of it on a flyer... Soon did that change.

 

But the Epic really does look like people will be trying to keep it light. 

[RonBaldwin]

I always add 7 to 9 lbs to whatever the "body" weighs for a more realistic number (lens, mattebox, filters, cinetape, focus/iris motors, cables, plates...). Then there's the transmitter or drive...

 

rb

[Brian Freesh]

The Red One can easily be built to be a 20lb camera set-up. It very rarely is. Whether by design or limitations of the owner's package, it can easily get above 30lbs or even 35lbs for steadi and often does. I assume the Epic will only ever be as much lighter as the difference between body weights. Which means the common builds may well be 30lbs or more.

[Thomas English]

I'm quite interested in the concept of flying the Arri dovetail plate with this camera. That was the camera can have its 19mm bars and bridge plate just as it pleases. When we go onto Steadicam all we do is slide off the head and slide it onto Steadicam.

 

The faster I can have these swaps (Head to Steadicam) the less I am used as a human tripod.

[Brad Grimmett]

I'm quite interested in the concept of flying the Arri dovetail plate with this camera. That was the camera can have its 19mm bars and bridge plate just as it pleases. When we go onto Steadicam all we do is slide off the head and slide it onto Steadicam.

 

The faster I can have these swaps (Head to Steadicam) the less I am used as a human tripod.

We had it for testing on a show the other day, and I was thinking the exact same thing about the Arri base plate. Also, in the picture above the camera seems to be completely stripped. There can very easily be 3 or four more pieces added to the body even before you add the assistants accessories. I'm not too worried about having to add weight to it. The body itself is shockingly heavy as well.

[Mike McGowan SOC]

I'm quite interested in the concept of flying the Arri dovetail plate with this camera. That was the camera can have its 19mm bars and bridge plate just as it pleases. When we go onto Steadicam all we do is slide off the head and slide it onto Steadicam.

 

The faster I can have these swaps (Head to Steadicam) the less I am used as a human tripod.

 

I started doing that on an SR3 years ago and now I use a dovetail on almost every camera and configuration. Just easier to get balance when you switch from a short zoom to a smaller prime or add a ring light or whatever... And yes, super fast to switch from steadicam to studio. The light Arri dovetail weighs almost nothing and if you attach it to a PRO plate instead of the XCS plate it doesn't raise the camera much at all.

 

Back before HD was the thing and we would properly flip the film cameras over for low mode, I would put a small iris rod support bracket on top of the SR3 when I went to low mode and just flop the camera over on the dovetail.

[Thomas English]

The Arri light dovetail? That sir is worth checking out. Do you have a part number or anything?

 

In Panavision UK they have a few of these 6 inch dovetails. I was always thinking with a bit of delicate swiss cheese work they could be perfect. Ostensibly you could always get a normal ET one and cut the front 6 inchs off and put in a new stop.

 

Its funny how many times your asked if your rigs dovetail plate is compatible with the O'Connor quick release system. Funny enough to be a good idea for a manufacturer someday. Count me out.. I have a selection of over 8 rig camera plates to choose from.. I don't want to start again.