If you have to take two additional part time jobs to pay for this cam, I really don't think this is the cam for you. If $20K is pocket change to you, this could be the cam for you. I could buy this cam, but just looking at media such as a Red Mag 128GB SSD at $1,800 should tell you something about the road you want to embark on. At least with the C300, the expenses are controlled to stay reasonable at around $20K, and it will be rock solid reliable.
Red Scarlet Announcement Info
- Thread starter Noel Evans
- Start date
If you have to take two additional part time jobs to pay for this cam, I really don't think this is the cam for you. If $20K is pocket change to you, this could be the cam for you. I could buy this cam, but just looking at media such as a Red Mag 128GB SSD at $1,800 should tell you something about the road you want to embark on. At least with the C300, the expenses are controlled to stay reasonable at around $20K, and it will be rock solid reliable.
The cost of the media is giving me pause for sure. Is the Red Rocket card a necessity?
I've heard it's not required, but others with Red experience should speak to this.
Depends on your needs and workflow. If you absolutely must transcode before editing, then a Red Rocket would make your life a lot easier. On the other hand, Adobe Premiere handles Red files natively, and you can drop the preview resolution down until it plays in real-time. Granted, it's really blurry then, but it's enough to edit with. And your exports will be full quality without changing any settings or swapping files. I'm currently editing a Red project in Premiere without a Rocket right now and it's working fine for me.
Not for editing with Premiere Pro, but your export time is going to be a pain in the butt.
If you have to have a quick turn around though, there are people who can do it for a reasonable rate.
Before Adobe CS5.5 it was, but now it's waste of money I would say. You can directly edit native 5K R3D files with few years old gaming PC if you have Adobe CS5.5: http://vimeo.com/31104360
Funniest thing about EPIC is that _the_ selling quote for EPIC on red.com main page was from the owner of the company:
"I have to say that when I held EPIC, fired it up and saw the images… I died and went to heaven" -Jim Jannard
Dude died and went to heaven when he saw inferior quality footage compared to film and even Alexa. Haven't been able to take anything RED team says seriously since that.
"I have to say that when I held EPIC, fired it up and saw the images… I died and went to heaven" -Jim Jannard
Dude died and went to heaven when he saw inferior quality footage compared to film and even Alexa. Haven't been able to take anything RED team says seriously since that.
Fair enough. Just remember that one of the factors in play here is that NEITHER of those (Alexa or 35mm film) are as compact and portable as EPIC/Scarlet. That alone puts it in another category. Not a better one, but a different one. Watch the Peter Jackson blog for "The Hobbit", and you'll see that he couldn't do what he is doing on "The Hobbit" with EITHER Alexa or 35mm film. So just know that for some of us, those same factors loom large. So even if it isn't ***BETTER*** than Alexa or 35mm film, it's more compact, and "close enough" to Alexa and 35mm film, that the overall solution (for some of us) is superior. Something else to consider.
Yes of course. Right tool for the job is always the key and EPIC is better on many aspects than Alexa (size and weight being the most important). Though Peter Jackson could have shot The Hobbit with Alexa M's. They just didn't exists when they started filming.
Btw, James Cameron bought 50 EPIC's and then decided to shoot Avatar 2 with Alexa M's. Has anyone heard what was the reason he switched to Alexa and where he dumbed his EPIC's?
Disregarding Jim's understandable enthusiasm for his new baby, EPIC is not inferior to any top line camera, film or digital. Alexa has maybe a 1 stop advantage in native DR, but HDRx trumps that by several stops.It also exceeds the DR of current film stocks. For resolution and MTF of high frequency detail as well as freedom from aliasing artifacts, Epic is way ahead of Alexa or any other 1080p camera. It is even superior in resolution to the best 4k 35mm film scans. Red MX has been preferred quite often in side by side tests with other top line digital cameras as a B cam/ pick up cam to intercut with film originals on major features. Epic is different from other alternatives and requires learning new skills to make the most of its capabilities. Alexa's biggest advantage is an easy familiar video workflow.
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Zacatac
Well-known member
Where is the source for this? He advertised for the longest time saying he was partnering with Arri and shooting Avatar 2 on Alexa M's... then 2 weeks later he bought 50 epics. So we don't know which he chose to shoot on.
The quality of the pixels is what matters, not the ammount of them and Alexa beats EPIC on that hands down. Have you seen EPIC 2K footage? Looks like crap. HDRx can't even be used on many cases and EPIC has noise problems too. There are many things that makes the image and all things put together ARRI has done better job on that department. Alexa looks more like a real film and EPIC looks more like high resolution digital video.
MadMonkFish
Well-known member
Cameron partnered with Arri and they announced the AlexaM at NAB 2011. It looks like Arri and Cameron's company are 'strategically' positioning themselves in the market.
As far as I am aware, he bought his 50 Epics after NAB ... Alexa M's aren't due until next year, so maybe Epic was a safer bet?
I don't think there's been any official camera system linked to Avatar sequels (but I may be wrong!).
Does it even really matter considering upwards of 90% of that movie will likely be animated?
MadMonkFish
Well-known member
Nope - I haven't seen Avatar (nor Titanic), personally not really a fan of his movies - but have respect for what he does.
Simply answering a previous post
In a business sense, the partnership with Arri (that produced the half size Alexa M) is interesting to see how that progresses, especially if he uses Epics for live action elements... sort of conflict of interest there.
Zacatac
Well-known member
Actually, they're using Alexa-M'a on the new Bond flick.
2k is a 16mm sized crop and not a valid comparison. 5k or 4k Epic can be filtered, scaled and graded in post to match pretty much anything out there indistinguishably, including an Alexa, IF it is exposed at its own sweet spot. You wouldn't shoot two film stocks with different optimum ISO ratings at the same rating then call one superior based on the result.
Your post just proved my point. It's the quality of the pixels that matters not the ammount of them. EPIC should look a lot better at 2K than comsumer 1080p cameras but it doesn't. It's even worse than some of them.
And EPIC can't never be graded to look exactly like Alexa.
seejay1031
Well-known member
Don't feed the troll.