I don't care about brands as whatever works the best is my personal go-to system but after more and more exposure to some depressed "fans", as well as pro productions and the DP's on them complaining, it seems like the red brand is really bleeding. It seems to be do to the post issues more than anything. Add lack of practical audio, battery issues and now we have internal ND's on the competition and no more rolling shutter on the 55, with better low light across the board.
I think it also has to do with the pretty basic abilities the producers/clients have in perceiving quality, which is unfortunate, but a growing reality. They see 5D footage and think its great, even when most of us see the huge problems, so trying to sell them on something much better visually but with several headaches looks like a lost cause 90% of the time. Show footage from the F's or C300, etc. and they seem that much more unlikely to want to mess with the one camera trying to "look like film" the hardest but with major drawbacks. Paying $13,000 for some huge add-on seems like an unlikely solution too.
Another concern, if you want to call it that, is the upcoming generation of content consumers/producers possibly no longer caring about that "film look", that those of us over maybe 30 relate to the best of quality. Maybe to them super low-light capable cameras with ultra-clean images is what "the best" is now.
All this came to mind because of a very short conversation I had with a very experienced producer with major, major clients, who I have done some work for. I asked him about supplying 4K original material for the next projects he takes on and before I could get technical, he stopped me and said "They just don't care... sure something may look slightly better in a side by side to them but no one has time for that and they simply want what is asked for, without having to wait around." The last thing I did for them was on an AF100, which has some big problems and is not a professional camera in my opinion, but they loved the final cut regardless. There are lots of variables of course, but that is a common example.
Of course when it comes to crafted indie narrative material, much of this won't apply... or is that changing now too? Since that stuff never makes anyone money, other than a few lucky DP's with cameras already paid off, I don't think it should be part of legitimate discussion anyway.
I think it also has to do with the pretty basic abilities the producers/clients have in perceiving quality, which is unfortunate, but a growing reality. They see 5D footage and think its great, even when most of us see the huge problems, so trying to sell them on something much better visually but with several headaches looks like a lost cause 90% of the time. Show footage from the F's or C300, etc. and they seem that much more unlikely to want to mess with the one camera trying to "look like film" the hardest but with major drawbacks. Paying $13,000 for some huge add-on seems like an unlikely solution too.
Another concern, if you want to call it that, is the upcoming generation of content consumers/producers possibly no longer caring about that "film look", that those of us over maybe 30 relate to the best of quality. Maybe to them super low-light capable cameras with ultra-clean images is what "the best" is now.
All this came to mind because of a very short conversation I had with a very experienced producer with major, major clients, who I have done some work for. I asked him about supplying 4K original material for the next projects he takes on and before I could get technical, he stopped me and said "They just don't care... sure something may look slightly better in a side by side to them but no one has time for that and they simply want what is asked for, without having to wait around." The last thing I did for them was on an AF100, which has some big problems and is not a professional camera in my opinion, but they loved the final cut regardless. There are lots of variables of course, but that is a common example.
Of course when it comes to crafted indie narrative material, much of this won't apply... or is that changing now too? Since that stuff never makes anyone money, other than a few lucky DP's with cameras already paid off, I don't think it should be part of legitimate discussion anyway.
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) but there is a reason why so many big features do shoot with RED, its clarity is amazing, its workflow is easy, and can be done on a small macBook pro. Is a box with a sensor, sure, but within that box it was well thought out to produce the image you want so long as you KNOW how to use it correctly. Treat it like a film camera with ISO 400 stock film and you'll be blown away at what it can do. 
