Premium Members Brant S. Fagan SOC Posted October 29, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 29, 2009 Having spent the entire summer shooting with the RED on two different features, I have found the following configuration to be the most efficient for me: 1. Rods on top that can hold motors and/or drives; I prefer CF cards but that's not always bullet-proof. Be ready for anything. 2. No baseplate! Get a set of rods in either aluminum (ET) or carbon to mount stuff from above! Get a set of PAM brackets (15mm or 19mm) to hang your motors. 3. Buy the RedByte Decimator and power it off your rig down at the bottom. Try and keep your HD cable runs short if using small gauge coax. 4. Buy or build a power cable to suit your rig and power the RED; the onboard batteries are garbage and unreliable. Anton/Bauer makes a great handle/battery/drive mount system that is very adaptable. 5. Buy or build a power cable system such as from your rig to P-Tap for powering on-camera accessories. 6. Buy or build a run-stop cable that uses the 4-pin Lemo (EGG.0B) on the rear of the RED body. Keep in mind that those ports are user-defined! 7. Get the ET Top Cheeseplate ($350) for low mode work. Don't assume production rented or has one. Don't rely on a handle for low mode attachment. You can see how this was all configured below. I can not stress enough the concept if asking as many questions as possible BEFORE arriving on set. There are countless permutations of the RED and unless you have some basic components of your own, you may be strung up by your "centerpost." Once configured for your project's workflow, the RED is not the worst piece of hardware to be saddled with. Remember, it's a computer with a lens port. Start from there and the rest can progress smoothly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jess Haas SOC Posted October 30, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 Just did yet another red job but this time the camera had the SIM handle. I usually use a top rod and no baseplate but with the sim handle you can't use top rods as it replaces the entire red top. With a few washers and a 1/4" screw I was able to attach a square to round rod to the handle but with the distance and the angle my Heden motor wasn't able to turn some of the super stiff super speeds that we had. A dogbone probably would have helped. In the end I ran with the ET sliding baseplate which wasn't too bad and allowed for quick switches to tripod but I would have liked to keep it a little lighter and the weight a little closer to the gimble when using antlers. Mounting from the baseplate had slightly better results with the stiff lenses but it was still not ideal. Had to really get everything set perfect and couldn't use an eyebrow with many of the lenses or they would get even stiffer. ~Jess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Rogerhaugen Posted October 30, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 Super fast low mode. We were in a hurry and I asked the DIT and he said it was ok.... Have done it with video camera a lot, but was a bit worried about this "computer", but it went fine. Anyone had different experiences? Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members JobScholtze Posted October 30, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 Anyone had different experiences? Roger Nope. Worked like a charm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jess Haas SOC Posted October 30, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 I have done upside down low mode many many times with the RED and never had a complaint. ~Jess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Brad Grimmett Posted October 30, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 I have done upside down low mode many many times with the RED and never had a complaint. ~Jess It's so much easier now than it was a few years ago with F900's or Varicams since everyone has an LCD monitor now in video village as opposed to a CRT. It's hard to flip a 27 inch CRT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Matteo Quagliano Posted October 31, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 (edited) Top plate and rods on top for me work great! Edited October 31, 2009 by Matteo Quagliano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Matteo Quagliano Posted October 31, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 rock and roll Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted October 31, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 Poor man's low mode is a great time saver and has no downside in this day and age from an image quality standpoint (there used to be something about interlaced shooting that made it questionable, or so I was told, but progressive--no sweat). It can be a pain in the ass if you have to adjust anything on the camera, especially menus--real brain-tweaker when everything is upside down. At this stage many directors and DP's are in on the concept so you don't have to pitch them like you used to. And who doesn't love a switch to low mode in under a minute? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Sydney Seeber Posted November 6, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Poor man's low mode is a great time saver and has no downside in this day and age from an image quality standpoint (there used to be something about interlaced shooting that made it questionable, or so I was told, but progressive--no sweat). It can be a pain in the ass if you have to adjust anything on the camera, especially menus--real brain-tweaker when everything is upside down. At this stage many directors and DP's are in on the concept so you don't have to pitch them like you used to. And who doesn't love a switch to low mode in under a minute? Just wanna add something here from someone with mostly a post production background... As far as whether flipping an image in post has an effect on either the image quality or added time in the post process, it depends on the post house. As an effect itself, the orientation of a Red file is all metadata. In other words, it has no effect on the file itself, as metadata is in essence a separate file that tells a computer how to look at the image. Flipping an image can be as simple as a couple of keystrokes, which can be simplified even more by applying the same keystrokes to multiple files at once. The Redcode Raw color correction is dealt with the same way. You delete a separate file, you delete your color correction, and the file reverts back to how the camera viewed it. Adobe Photoshop works in essence the same way with RAW files. Thing is, not every post house has the ability to deal with the Redcode Raw camera files in this way, in fact a couple companies I know of actually put the image to tape. Flipping the image in post can add time to an editor's day, and can also slightly degrade the image in some cases... So in essence, there's no across the board standard... It's determined in a case by case basis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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