Posted by: Colin Sheldon
on Jun 18, 2009
So as you can see, we've done another major update to the site. We've completely switched video systems, so now we'll have more flexibility with organizing and displaying videos. We are still in the process of converting all of the older videos, but don't worry - they'll all be there soon! We also have new gear coming in from all over that we will be reviewing in the coming weeks!
UPDATE: All of the videos are now online! Enjoy!
Cheers,
Colin
Posted by: Colin Sheldon
on Jun 9, 2009
I have to say, I'm glad about the new 8GB memory limit on the new MBPs, but losing the express card slot is surprising.
Now if Apple had replaced it with an esata port, I could understand - but a SD slot? Come on guys. Great option for stills photographers, but for those of us who want speedy access to drives, it's devastating. I know it still has a FW-800 port, but despite Apple's best attempts, finding FW400 enclosures (much less 800) can be a royal pain. Esata is the new hard drive connection of choice - and it's time Apple got with the program.
I also feel bad for people who purchased products that are Express Card reliant - like the MX02. Now if you want to use one you have to haul around a 17" or a Mac Pro.
Posted by:
on May 16, 2009
1. Red Prime Demo. ( only 35mm )
Ted ( from Red ) started out with a discussion about some of Red's lens program's history and talked about how they thought the Red prime was in league with the best cine lenses, yet at a fraction of the cost.
There was a short demo comparing the Red 18-50 and the Red 35mm lens visually on a camera. Both lenses looked fine on the monitor, as one would expect - both being able to make a nice 720p image.
Then we were allowed a little bit of hands on with the Red Prime - build quality looked to be very good. The size and weight of this lens are not fully apparent when you see the pictures - It's a bit bigger and heavier than Ultraprimes or Cooke S4's. Size and weight wise made me think of the Cooke 15-40 T2. The 35mm was made with an internal floating focus element, a design which I believe should bring really good close focus performance.
Then there was a few minutes of unguided playtime with the lens. It looked to be very high resolution, mechanically excellent very good flare resistance, low distortion, moderate breathing, basically everything looked really good. If the 35mm is a good indication of the rest of the lenses and you are looking to buy a PL prime set: it's a no-brainer.
2. Jacek from Optitek had his Pro Nikon mount on display. It uses a locking ring driven system to pull the lens snug to the mount. The Iris on G series lenses can be adjusted with a simple external ring. He had a Nikon 14-24 on it and it worked well. It's a vast improvement on the stock camera mount - highly recommended if you are shooting with Nikons.
3. Jacek also had the prototype of the Optimator a flange focal depth checking device for the Red and other PL mount cameras. It works by projecting a focus pattern onto the cameras cmos sensor. You rack the mount's adjustment ring back and forth until you can see the highest number on the scale. It's a bit better in theory than the IBE Null Lens because you can use it anywhere - you don't need an infinity target, it gives a readable numeric scale to judge your accuracy, and the Optimator has a provision to see the sides of the frame also which lets you know that your mount / sensor are not askew in some other way. It's self powered with an internal battery or by a cable.
I want to have a look at Uniq optics Diascope and see what's up with that. Probably next week.
Posted by: Colin Sheldon
on May 5, 2009
Aside from the lenses, there were a couple of other interesting things from RED at NAB.
I must admit, being able to see RED RAY in action was pretty amazing. Especially after seeing it side by side with uncompressed 4k.
Now it's true that I was a little ways away from the screen, but it was amazing. The detail, the color... With a bit rate of 10 (vs 25 for miniDV), this has the potential to be revolutionary. As more details come out it will be interesting to see where the technolgy leads.
Red Rocket was also annouced just before NAB, and this sub-$5k box will decode, debayer and play high quality real time 4k at 3fps (5k 25fps). Works with PR, AE, FCP, and all red products. Red workflow will now be quick and easy.
Of course we also looked at the new Scarlet and Epic mock-ups, and things are looking pretty good. At first I was concerned because there were mini-xlr outpus on one of the modules, but I was assured that the "pro" version would be full size. My advice to potential buyers - get the full sized XLR. It might add a couple of millimeters to the length of the camera, but that's worth it IMO to be in line with a universal standard.
Posted by: Finner
on May 2, 2009
NAB 2009 seemed to be hot with 2 main things. 1- PL lenses. 2- 3D everything.
As far as lenses go I was very impressed.
PRIMES
Red’s new primes WOW! Okay these things are SHARP! These could very well be the sharpest cine lenses available. Also the RPP have very nicely built housings and from what I found the overall mechanics were
solid and well built. The coatings looked good and it was very hard to flare them. At T-1.8 they are fast enough for most any shoot. To be picky the issues I found with the RPP were that the focus was a little stiff and could use a lighter grease (In cold weather lenses get stiffer and the current RPP’s I played with would cause problems for remote follow focus motors when it gets cold), T-stop was light and would be better if it was stiffer (After you set the stop you don’t want it to change from being bumped and I found it to spin a little to freely for my liking), the lenses themselves were a little bit heavy (Although not really any different then Master or Ultra primes so they are in really good company), on the projector I could see that the 25mm rounded (fish eyed) a tiny little amount (not anything of consequence but more then MP’s or S4’s hopefully the RPP 18mm does not round more), an 18mm lens is needed ASAP, it would me nice if both feet/meter markings were put on the RPP lenses like other high end lenses rather then having to choose one or the other. All this said the RPP look very promising and may just be the set that puts Red up in the same echelon with other highly priced/respected lens companies. After looking closely at the lens coatings I wonder if Jim has built a cozy relationship with Nikon (for our sakes lets hope that is the case). The 5 lens set (25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm) sells for$19,000 US.
Posted by: Colin Sheldon
on Apr 29, 2009
Hopefully you were able to follow Dan on twitter to get a brief look at what NAB 2009 and now had to offer. Now that we've had some time to analyse things a bit better (and catch up on all the work that was waiting when we got home), we will be posting our reflections on what interested us the most, and what is the most important to the Red community.
The first thing I would like to comment on was the new recording device from AJA- the Ki Pro.
From a non-Red perspective, the advantage is obvious. Up until now Sony and Panasonic have protected their high end camera systems from being canabalized by crippling their low end system.
Posted by: Colin Sheldon
on Apr 23, 2009
So we're back from NAB and beginning to compile all of the information we have gathered. Thanks for your patience!
Posted by: Colin Sheldon
on Apr 20, 2009
Hey! For those of you who have not been getting the twitter updates from Dan (twitter.com/dandumouchel) we've stopped in at the Redrockmicro booth to hijack their computer and internet so that we could give you a quick update. (Booth C09544)
