New iMac and 4k

cdevarona

cdevarona

Active member
Hey guys so I'm thinking about temporarily upgrading to a 2012 iMac 27 " max stats etc, and I am wondering if you guys think this will handle 4k well.

I do not currently own and operate a 4k capable cam although plan to invest in a scarlet or possibly/hopefully a Sony f5 whenever available.

I do understand that to properly use my red cam I would need a red rocket and that the iMac would not house that card, but then again the 2013 Mac pros should be around te corner.

thoughts?
 
Planning in doing the same here. We work with Red One and the proxy files most of the time. This already works quite ok with older cpu's but I think the new iMac and thunderbolt could make a big difference. It also largely depends on what compression your 4k files will be and how many layers you are used to stack in a timeline. I can't make any guarantees of course, but at least you are not the only one going this route :)
 
I wouldn't count on those supposed "Mac Pros". There's no information about them outside of a single Tim Cook e-mail. We know what we have now, the 2010/2012-spec-bump Mac Pros and the iMacs, with a new model coming in December.

I do not personally have any experience with this product, but Sonnet makes a solution that lists a Red Rocket card as capable of running in its Thunderbolt chassis, so going iMac doesn't necessarily mean you have to do without.
 
Yep Gary is right, the external solution seems to be a good option for many. I've seen a few folks around the internet who use them and seem to do OK. Red Rocket is pricey but if you're already working with 4k I assume that's not a problem. ;)

Otherwise proxy's will work fine but the time to process R3D's into proxies without a Red Rocket is exhausting.
 
I was able to edit .R3D files in Premiere (using a laptop from two generations ago) just fine...but once you get ready to export a version, it takes, literally, days (for a film at least). I would not want to do any extensive work with Red footage without access to a Red Rocket card.
 
Gary Huff said:
I was able to edit .R3D files in Premiere (using a laptop from two generations ago) just fine...but once you get ready to export a version, it takes, literally, days (for a film at least). I would not want to do any extensive work with Red footage without access to a Red Rocket card.
Click to expand...

Ditto. As well as Premiere handles R3D's to edit, it's that export button that'll kill you lol. That goes for almost any machine out there really iMac or not.
 
Your biggest problem is going to be fast storage.

With a modern machine R3D exports are not that bad. I've always viewed exporting as needing to be budgeted into your time table, just like load-in load-out on a production day would be...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top