Red camera requirements?

The RED camera requires you to know as much as a camera loaded with film stock. Expose it as you would using 320 ISO stock. That's the native ISO of the camera. Use the zone system or what have you. I feel I should clarify: shooting at higher or lower ISOs does NOT, and I repeat NOT, grant you the freedom that a higher or lower ISO 35 stock would allow. The ISO's are purely metadata; a curve is applied and presented on the monitor. Changing ISOs can effect the exposure range in your highlights, as well as your shadows. This is a natural concequence of applying gamma curves to "change" the cameras relative sensitivity. I know of DP's who metered the camera at 640 ASA only to find out that they were losing latitude in their highlights.

The RED camera cannot be compared to an ENG camera like the 500 or 200. Beyond their common, standard aspects like lens, NDs, silicone sensor, white balance, ect, the cameras are two COMPLETELY different animals. It's apples to grapefruits.

As Kholi notibly said, DITs used to come on set and use a paint box or the in-camera menus to literally paint an image IN CAMERA. One that was forever burned in. Now, many, many things can be simply changed and adjusted in post.

But you still have to learn the capabilities and limitation of the Red, i.e. native 5000k color balance, tungsten blue channel noise, partial exposure, some skew, ISOs effecting lattitude, ect.

It's a great camera that rewards research and hard work. It's the real deal. These Panasonic cameras are great too. Easier workflow, less confusion, ect, but ultimately the Red gives you more control, I think. But you need to earn that control by knowing the camera and the workflow back to front before using it.

Hope I was of some help.


Daniel
 
Kholi said:
www.reduser.net

#1 requirement = Knowledge. If you don't know anything about it, please spend the money on someone who knows it in and out or your experience will probably be negative, from production to post to finish.

It is THE one thing that WILL destroy a RED shoot, the lack of knowing how the camera works so that it can be used properly for each individual application.
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I completely agree. I know many who have seen this first hand. Perhaps these ENG style cameras have made us lazy. Who knows. I was never comfortable painting my image in-camera with the 500, regardless.
 
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