red one

[Andy Chapman]

I have recently read about the red one camera, it sounds great. I haven't purchased a steadicam yet although i was considering a pilot, because i have a dvx100, were a customer want me to fly a red one, I would need a flyer, right?

[Charles Papert]

At the very least.

 

The Flyer will squeak through a light RED setup but it is entirely possible to have enough stuff onboard to overload a Flyer. A lot of it depends on whether the camera comes configured with, say, 4 steel 19mm rods (patently absurd for nearly all applications). If you look through the posts here about the Red One you will see that very often the operator is asked to fly all sorts of nonsense with that camera.

[Mike Germond SOC]

I'm on a job right now where we are using the RED One with Master Primes and this rig is weighing in easly above 35lbs right now. There's not a chance in hell I could fly this on my Flyer LE. That's kinda unfortunate because I knew I'd run into the problem, just not this early in my career. I already want a bigger rig!! Charles, you're gonna have to teach me a few tricks on how to beef up my Flyer like you did!

 

An Archer would be a better match, but at that point, why not just cough up for the Clipper. If you can deal with customs, international shipping, and overseas tech support, check out the ActionCam Zero-G or RED Edition. An user here by the name of Nils was selling a pretty full kit for a very reasonable price. I couldn't get funding for overseas used equipment so I had to pass..

Edited September 29, 2008 by Mike Germond

[Charles Papert]

Not too much you can do about beefing up the Flyer to that extent, Mike...once your springs are cranked all the way up, you are left having to hold the balance of the weight up with your arms, not a great situation. At a certain point you will be risking overloading the gimbal and components in the arm as well.

 

Master Primes are definitely beefcakes, but if you stripped the RED down completely, losing all of the brackets and rods, record to the CF card and power the rig from your sled, you may have a chance at it. Remote focus will be a bit dicey but a light system like the BFD may still keep within limits.

 

As I said, one of the sillier aspects of the RED bracketry is the adherence to 19mm steel rods in all corners. At some point try taking all four rods off and hefting them. I would definitely recommend the Element Technica plated aluminum rods, not just for Steadicam but for conventional work as well except for the heavier zooms.

[Dave Gish]

Assuming that some RED1 configurations will overload the Flyer, what rig would be best?

 

Is the Clipper 312 a good option? Will the 35 pounds limit be enough for all reasonable RED1 configurations?

 

What about other manufacturers? Is the ActionCam any good? How does that back-mount work in real life?

 

What about mixing components (e.g. G50 arm with somebody else's sled)? Are there compatibility issues? Do a lot of operators do this?

 

I'm trying to figure out what my next step might be. Any advice appreciated.

Edited September 30, 2008 by Dave Gish

[Felix Forrest]

Assuming that some RED1 configurations will overload the Flyer, what rig would be best?

 

Is the Clipper 312 a good option? Will the 35 pounds limit be enough for all reasonable RED1 configurations?

 

What about other manufacturers? Is the ActionCam any good? How does that back-mount work in real life?

 

What about mixing components (e.g. G50 arm with somebody else's sled)? Are there compatibility issues? Do a lot of operators do this?

 

I'm trying to figure out what my next step might be. Any advice appreciated.

 

PM'd you some info on a new red specific sled - I've flown it and its rock solid and modular like the red!

[Charles Papert]

I'm sure other people would like to hear about that also, Paul.

 

Actually, I can take a guess who is making it based on your signature.

[Felix Forrest]

I'm sure other people would like to hear about that also, Paul.

 

Actually, I can take a guess who is making it based on your signature.

 

;)

[Felix Forrest]

I'm sure other people would like to hear about that also, Paul.

 

Actually, I can take a guess who is making it based on your signature.

 

http://www.mk-v.com/?cat=170

[Charles Papert]

Interesting. Thanks for posting, Paul.

[Peter Hoare]

Hi,

 

I flew a stripped down red on my flyer and it struggled. The only reason it was abit tight was because I had to use the redbrick which made the rig 2-3kg heavier (with the battery plate and battery). The new Flyer LE comes in a special Red package that includes a red power cable so you can use the red without its own battery.

 

Also dont forget the Red only ouputs HDSDI so a normal flyer monitor will not display anything from it. When i flew red, I had to stick the 5inch red screen on the camera with a Noga arm which worked fine.

 

Got very nice footage from it though, did some overcranked to 120fps and it looked great, nice camera to fly. We were using a Zeiss 28mm lens.

[Brandon Thompson]

I just shot a music video with the Red and my Flyer. Like Charles said it was Stripped Down! But I will say I still had some wiggle room with my arm. Camera consisted of the master primes, camera body, red handle with one rod on the compact flash card side of the camera (this is where I mounted my m-one motor), Bartech was attached with velcro on the same side, the aja converter was velcro/wedged under the handle along with the wireless mic receiver. I have a lemo power spliter that powered the bartech and the camera from the top stage. The aja power cable was run outside of the post down to the p-tap on my anton bauer battery. I also used a ab to vmount adapter plate so I could use the red batteries on my rig. Oh, was able to fly a clip on matte box as well. Oh and we shot with the compact flash cards. Wish I would have snapped off a few pics. Maybe I'll go back to the rental house and prep it again if anyone would like to see it.

[Dave Gish]

As I said, one of the sillier aspects of the RED bracketry is the adherence to 19mm steel rods in all corners. At some point try taking all four rods off and hefting them. I would definitely recommend the Element Technica plated aluminum rods, not just for Steadicam but for conventional work as well except for the heavier zooms.

It looks like I might be flying a Red on a Glidecam V-20 in 2 weeks. The V-20 Manual says the max weight is 26 pounds, so I'm assuming I'll need some light rods. Where can I get some?

 

I guess I'll also need to use the Red LCD and Red Brick. Maybe I can gaff tape those to the bottom? Is running cables down the side of the post a bad idea? What about cables?

 

Any advice appreciated.

[Charles Papert]

Hi Dave:

 

First thing would be to find out how the camera you are getting is equipped (what flavors of bracketry) and how they plan to record--can you just work with the internal CF cards or are they insisting on the RED drive? If internal, the only piece of gear that you will need to wrangle will be the battery, unless the owner of the V-20 has had a power cable made up (unlikely but possible)! As far as mounting the battery to the bottom of the sled, they will also have to have a long power cable for the battery as opposed to the short one that expects the batt to be close to the back of the camera. More likely you will be stuck flying the top rods with the battery cradle. This would allow you to mount the dovetail right to the bottom of the camera and eliminate the bottom rods--unless the mattebox they have requires them (no clip-on) and of course you will need some sort of remote focus which will require iris rods for mounting the motor, either top or bottom mounted. And then there's the monitor cable; most people don't have an extension which means the monitor is barely able to position just below the front of the stage.

 

I'm in the process of assembling a complete Steadicam accessory package for RED that will be available for rent shortly, maybe I can get you the partial package for your shoot if you need it Dave.

[Jon Beattie]

Dave,

 

If they get the 7ft monitor cable for the RED you should be able to just mount the monitor to the regular monitor mount. The Red Monitor has a 1/4 20 or 3/8 threading. I had to do that on a job that came with the wrong lpug for the AJA. It worked great. Run the cable from the front of the camera straight across to the back of the monitor.

 

Get a power cable for the red and power it off the sleb. If you only have 26lbs to play with flying batteries at the top and bottom will push you over ther edge.