Shawn's NAB Report: My Two Hours in the Booth

[Shawn Nelson]

I managed to sneak in through a side door half an hour early, though it didn't do me any good, as Red had two enormous bodyguards (think pop star bodybuards) standing at the front of the booth. So I stood a few feet from the red rope waiting. With T- 10 minutes they passed out the pricing brochures. Wow! Mostly what we've known, except obviously prime lenses and the new 18-50mm lens.

I was in the first batch to see the new Peter Jackson short film projected on the 4k projector. Wow!! Not wow like "oh hey, that's cool" but more of a "f*ck me!" sorta wow. It's a good short film, WWI in the trenches, in the air, explosions, etc. It's beyond gorgeous and clean. It's all outdoors and just looks fantastic!! :-) After I got out I saw this man who looked in his late fourties looking very distraught, I mean the way a 13 year old looks immediately after getting dumped. This guy looked important, nice suit, etc. Then...I glanced down at his badge...ARRI. Hahahaha. That's right buddy, it's real! He had a friend nearby, a DP, and she was just glowing about the Red footage and his lip literally was quivering with nervousness and he tried to smile. :-)

Outside I shook Jim's hand and congratulated him. He later said he was glad to meet me finally and I thanked him for coming here on Red so often. I told him I'd bring the whiskey by later :-). I then walked over to a Red unit they have set up and Jarred was gracious and gave me a walk through. (I also passed along the message from my wife that she hates RedUser and DVXUser and he howled with laughter). As for the lens, the 18-50mm is NOT a replacement for the 18-85mm. However, any zoom reserve holders can transfer their reservation over to the 18-50mm. The advantages are 1) cost, the new 18-50mm is only $6500, 2) availability: this new lens is available with your Red and the 18-85 is not available any time zoom and 3) macro!! It can focus down to 8". Jarred stuck his hand in front ofthe camera and focused down to the ridges of his thumb print!! Oh yeah :-) As for me, I'll definitely be switching to this. Now what do I do with my Nikkor primes? Oh well :-)

I asked Jarred if Cooke made the Red lens and he started giggling and smiling then said "Red made it". Sure... lol, so take that for what you will.

Then I meandered over and checked out the LCD and the EVF. Okay guys, I was a little unsure between the two but now there's no comparison. GET THE EVF!! It's beautiful, gorgeous and very, very pro looking/feeling. The LCD requires you to be dead on to see it right, the colors shift a lot if you stand to the side. So if you go with the LCD, expect only one person at a time to get a decent view. But forget that, get the EVF :-).

I was able to actually play with a live Red myself using the EVF, the new 18-50mm lens and an Arri follow focus! Guys, it really is all that. I was able to easily focus between 4 different people in the booth. The images were sexy as hell.

I then talked with Mike Curtis, great guy. He was super friendly and started walking me through work flow on the Red. You can dial in your Red settings on RedCine then transfer them via cf card to the Red! I then saw Evin give a great presenation on RedCine workflow. One disappointment is that FCP 6 will NOT ship with native Redcode support, that will come sometime later.

I'm now sporting the "Red Reservation Holder" badge they gave me. It's my badge of honor! I'll be going by the booth again tomorrow to give Jim his whiskey I brought (I didn't want to bring it first day, too crowded). Well, I'll post again tomorrow with my second adventure.
-Shawn

[Alister Robbie]

pics or it didn't happen....... :bleh:

has anyone got pics yet???

[dewman]

Excellent report Shawn and thanks for taking the time to post. If u need some good bourbon to pass along just let me know...since I'm in the heart of bourbon territory :)

[Martin Drew]

Thanks Shawn. There are a lot of people here waiting for stuff like that.

M

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Thanks for the report from ground zero! Good stuff.

[PaulClements]

Thanks Shawn

[Eirik Tyrihjel]

GREEEEEEEAT REPORT! You write well, I closed my eyes and smelt it... Thanks!

I want a badge!

[Mardi_Gras]

I managed to sneak in through a side door half an hour early, though it didn't do me any good, as Red had two enormous bodyguards (think pop star bodybuards) standing at the front of the booth. So I stood a few feet from the red rope waiting. With T- 10 minutes they passed out the pricing brochures. Wow! Mostly what we've known, except obviously prime lenses and the new 18-50mm lens.

I was in the first batch to see the new Peter Jackson short film projected on the 4k projector. Wow!! Not wow like "oh hey, that's cool" but more of a "f*ck me!" sorta wow. It's a good short film, WWI in the trenches, in the air, explosions, etc. It's beyond gorgeous and clean. It's all outdoors and just looks fantastic!! :-) After I got out I saw this man who looked in his late fourties looking very distraught, I mean the way a 13 year old looks immediately after getting dumped. This guy looked important, nice suit, etc. Then...I glanced down at his badge...ARRI. Hahahaha. That's right buddy, it's real! He had a friend nearby, a DP, and she was just glowing about the Red footage and his lip literally was quivering with nervousness and he tried to smile. :-)

Outside I shook Jim's hand and congratulated him. He later said he was glad to meet me finally and I thanked him for coming here on Red so often. I told him I'd bring the whiskey by later :-). I then walked over to a Red unit they have set up and Jarred was gracious and gave me a walk through. (I also passed along the message from my wife that she hates RedUser and DVXUser and he howled with laughter). As for the lens, the 18-50mm is NOT a replacement for the 18-85mm. However, any zoom reserve holders can transfer their reservation over to the 18-50mm. The advantages are 1) cost, the new 18-50mm is only $6500, 2) availability: this new lens is available with your Red and the 18-85 is not available any time zoom and 3) macro!! It can focus down to 8". Jarred stuck his hand in front ofthe camera and focused down to the ridges of his thumb print!! Oh yeah :-) As for me, I'll definitely be switching to this. Now what do I do with my Nikkor primes? Oh well :-)

I asked Jarred if Cooke made the Red lens and he started giggling and smiling then said "Red made it". Sure... lol, so take that for what you will.

Then I meandered over and checked out the LCD and the EVF. Okay guys, I was a little unsure between the two but now there's no comparison. GET THE EVF!! It's beautiful, gorgeous and very, very pro looking/feeling. The LCD requires you to be dead on to see it right, the colors shift a lot if you stand to the side. So if you go with the LCD, expect only one person at a time to get a decent view. But forget that, get the EVF :-).

I was able to actually play with a live Red myself using the EVF, the new 18-50mm lens and an Arri follow focus! Guys, it really is all that. I was able to easily focus between 4 different people in the booth. The images were sexy as hell.

I then talked with Mike Curtis, great guy. He was super friendly and started walking me through work flow on the Red. You can dial in your Red settings on RedCine then transfer them via cf card to the Red! I then saw Evin give a great presenation on RedCine workflow. One disappointment is that FCP 6 will NOT ship with native Redcode support, that will come sometime later.

I'm now sporting the "Red Reservation Holder" badge they gave me. It's my badge of honor! I'll be going by the booth again tomorrow to give Jim his whiskey I brought (I didn't want to bring it first day, too crowded). Well, I'll post again tomorrow with my second adventure.
-Shawn

Thanks Shawn. Awesome anecdotal update!

[Adrian T.]

Thanks Shawn. Great report!

[Jaime Vallés]

Wonderful report, Shawn! Thanks a million for that. I can't wait to see the footage in person someday.

Hmmm, EVF is that much better than LCD? I might have to rethink my purchase options... Arg!!! I want it ALL!!!!

[Hrvoje Simic]

Shawn, that's great, thank you.
Enjoy it over there.



After I got out I saw this man who looked in his late fourties looking very distraught, I mean the way a 13 year old looks immediately after getting dumped. This guy looked important, nice suit, etc. Then...I glanced down at his badge...ARRI. Hahahaha. That's right buddy, it's real! He had a friend nearby, a DP, and she was just glowing about the Red footage and his lip literally was quivering with nervousness and he tried to smile. :-)


LOL!

[jbeale]

Was the "focus assist" feature enabled on the demo unit, if so any impression of that?

[david farland]

Ditto Ditto..

You saved 1556 lives,


Shaun of the RED!!!

Cheers,

[Simon Blackledge]

Ditto Ditto..

You saved 1556 lives,


Shaun of the RED!!!

Cheers,

lol..

cheers Shawn.

I can get some sleep now ;)

s

[Emmanuel Cambier]

You sure took your time down there sonny… but thanks for this precious oxygen.

[Zk2007]

Then I meandered over and checked out the LCD and the EVF. Okay guys, I was a little unsure between the two but now there's no comparison. GET THE EVF!! It's beautiful, gorgeous and very, very pro looking/feeling. The LCD requires you to be dead on to see it right, the colors shift a lot if you stand to the side. So if you go with the LCD, expect only one person at a time to get a decent view. But forget that, get the EVF :-).

I guess it highly depends on what you are using the camera for. For filmmaking, and if you can't afford both, I would go for the LCD, because the EVF is restricted to one person and is of more limited use. The LCD could be used on a stabilizer, jib and also doubles as some sort of set monitor in case you either can't afford a full sized HD monitor in the beginning or you are shooting on a remote location without power. Besides that, you can also mount it on the side of the camera for extreme hard focus shots to help the 1AC among other many uses. For handheld work where the EVF would be most useful you can just use any normal broadcast EVF. It would be only from framing and composition anyways as I would never risk pulling my own focus on a 4k 35mm sized chip camera, especially while handholding. As long as the LCD is of decent resolution I think it's the more versatile of the two.
Are there any specs out on the LCD yet?

Nice report by the way.

[Brainstorm]

Excellent report Shawn. Thanks for taking the time to share some RED love around.

:biggrin:

[Vincent Rice]

I think RED just doubled Cooke's business overnight.

[Chris Gearhart]

Great post Shawn, and it was great to hear about the zoom news. Macro! Boy, this is going to be a hard decision with lenses. What an embarrasment of riches!

[Brian Kaz]

Then I meandered over and checked out the LCD and the EVF. Okay guys, I was a little unsure between the two but now there's no comparison. GET THE EVF!! It's beautiful, gorgeous and very, very pro looking/feeling. The LCD requires you to be dead on to see it right, the colors shift a lot if you stand to the side. So if you go with the LCD, expect only one person at a time to get a decent view. But forget that, get the EVF :-).


Thanks, Shawn. Thanks for making me pony up another f#ing $3000.










:)

[M Olsen]

Hey Shawn, great effort on the "stealth mission" and getting a very early "hands on".
Thanks

[Júlio Taubkin]

Good work Shawn, great post! Thank you for your effort!

[laguun]

I think RED just doubled Cooke's business overnight.

angenieux 35mm zooms are also sold out until early 2008...

[Andrew Benz]

No doubt, thank YOU Shawn! All hail SHAWN! ...ok too much coffee. Thanks dude!

[Petr Dvorak]

...After I got out I saw this man who looked in his late fourties looking very distraught, I mean the way a 13 year old looks immediately after getting dumped. This guy looked important, nice suit, etc. Then...I glanced down at his badge...ARRI. Hahahaha. That's right buddy, it's real! He had a friend nearby, a DP, and she was just glowing about the Red footage and his lip literally was quivering with nervousness and he tried to smile. :-)....


Great report Shawn, thanx!!! Keep on!

Now all I want to see are fotos of faces of this "distraughted" pro buddies. :clown2:
Plz plz, make our day, hunt them. All tech spec can wait, but to see reaction of others buddies in business is just worth of it :D:bleh:

[Shawn Nelson]

I'm glad everyone enjoyed my report! I've racked up another list of questions and I'll be hitting the booth first thing tomorrow to deliver the whiskey, get my new round of questions answered and hopefully play with the Red again.

On a side note, I also stopped by the Redrock micro booth and their FF felt great, nearly as good as the Arri in Red's booth. So I'll be rocking that for my Red 1.


Was the "focus assist" feature enabled on the demo unit, if so any impression of that?

Yes and no. The only thing they had was a Red with a static image somehow displayed in the EVF (It was a screen cap of the milk girls) with Graeme's focus assist displayed along the bottom statically. So I was unable to actually pull focus and watch it work. Stuart and Graeme both tried to explain it to me and I'm still confused. Hopefully it will make sense once I can test it live. It is NOT an edge detect. It displays a histogram along the bottom of the screen that's supposed to indicated which areas of the screen are in focus. But given the clarity of the EVF, I am actually hopefull that I could get some good focus just eyeballing it with the that. Because I did get to pull live focus without the use of the focus assist and it looked great to me (though perhaps not at full 4k).

[RED-Tank]

lol..

cheers Shawn.

I can get some sleep now ;)

s

Oh.. I don't need to sleep now, dream or reality makes no different to us now ha haa haaa...

Thank you Shawn +++

[Shawn Nelson]

I spent another hour at the booth this morning. Yikes! The lines are bigger today! It wraps around the booth for a 2 hour wait to see it :-). I saw Mitch from Abelcine come by to 'eat his hat' (it was a cake in the shape of a hat), funny stuff. I paid more attention to the lens, and it appears that you'd need a 6x6 matte box for it to fit. I saw the footage again, this time from the front row. Damn! I'm so excited I haven't eaten or drank anything all day. I better go get something before I collapse :-)

[Manfred Lopez]

I saw Mitch from Abelcine come by to 'eat his hat' (it was a cake in the shape of a hat), funny stuff.

Was he one of the doubters? Is there a side drama we didn't know about?

[Laco Zamba]

Thank you Shawn. It must be funny to see Mitch eating his hat. It's historical moment too.

[Brandon Rice]

Very nice report Shawn! Gosh, I wish I could get out to NAB this year!

[Alex Boothby]

I paid more attention to the lens, and it appears that you'd need a 6x6 matte box for it to fit. :-)

Which Lens? Not the 18-50? C'mon... 6x6????

[Bruce Allen]

I've been waiting for someone to identify the clip-on matte box used in some of the photos online. I though I also saw an MB-20 swing-away in the photos?

Yes, there is a hat-eating side drama. As far as I know, Mitch he'd eat his hat if Jim delivered a working camera or working footage or something by NAB this year ;)

Anyone more intimately familiar with the story care to recount a definitive version, now with hat-eating photos? CML has seemed a little quiet lately.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[Laco Zamba]

"Oh, and congrats to RED for 11+ stops of dynamic range. Can't wait to eat my hat at NAB."

[Sanjin Jukic]

Thanks Shawn. The best report I read. Full of details and sense that is close to me. Like it very much. Waiting for the second day report.

[Martin Drew]

I've been waiting for someone to identify the clip-on matte box used in some of the photos online. I though I also saw an MB-20 swing-away in the photos?

There are MB-20s in swing away config but there is also is a MB-20 with clamp on adapter here (http://www.engadget.com/gallery/red-one-hands-on-red-nab-booth-tour/215355/) if that is the box you are talking about.

M

[Martin Drew]

I paid more attention to the lens, and it appears that you'd need a 6x6 matte box for it to fit.

The 18-50 appears to have 114mm OD so you should be fine with a 4"x5.65" or 5.65"x5.65" box.

M

[Shawn Nelson]

The 18-50 appears to have 114mm OD so you should be fine with a 4"x5.65" or 5.65"x5.65" box.

M

Oh good! I was using my hand as a rough estimate then I stopped by the Cavision booth and compared it to their 4x5.65 and it didnt seem big enough. But Jarred did say he thought the 4x5.65 would work.

[Martin Drew]

Yup. The Cavision MB4512H-2 is 120mm back mount opening.

M

[Bruce Allen]

This forum rocks. Thank you!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com