NAB07: Presets, LCD, Rail, Power

[Ralph Oshiro]

1. CAMERA PRESETS:

I thought the "five presets" function was a very interesting feature. I probably have this a bit screwed up, but I think this enables you to develop predetermined "looks" and then send that look back to the camera as a preset. Now, I forget how you set that look. Was this just a LUT that you define in REDCINE? Anywho, that sure was cool.

2. EVF VS. LCD:

I thought the LCD was quite good. I had Jarred face the LCD right into the Chimera'd Joker 400, and I could still see the image pretty clearly. As far as I know, the only things you don't get on the LCD that you get with the EVF are:

A. Custom color matrices (for viewfinder color rendition only).
B. Greater contrast ratio.
C. Greater resolution.
D. Way more hard buttons to navigate menus and such.

I played with the LCD on its little RED arm, and positioned it as I would an EVF, and, at least, ergonomically, it seemed like it would work fine. Although I wasn't able to give the EVF a fair evaluation, since the only RED cameras with functioning EVFs could not be pointed at a "lit" set. The only area in the booth you could view with the EVF was perhaps under 5 footcandles.

Now what I'm unclear about, is, if there are no custom color matrices for setting up the LCD, how will you "white balance" the image for viewing on the LCD? Also, I forgot to find out if the LCD did an image inversion. If it does, then I don't need to waste precious time switching to a low mode cage on my Steadicam--I can just flip the whole sled upsidedown (camera inverted) on its gimbal, and shoot "upsidedown" low-mode.

3. RAIL

It's good to know that the LCD can be attached to any number of 1/4"-20 receivers on the RED body itself. Since I'm going to have to use a third-party, quick-release mounting system anyway, I was seeing if there was a way to delete the baseplate and rail for Steadicam use. I really only need something to hold the HDD, since the camera will be sled-powered. Note that going with a third-party, quick-release mounting system, allows me the quickest way to change camera supports (e.g., going from the Steadicam to sticks). Messing around with a flathead screwdriver on-set to change camera supports, wastes far too much time, IMO.

4. POWER

Good thing RED makes those 140Wh batteries, since RED is gonna need 'em. My paltry ProPak14's 65Wh will run RED for only about an hour each! So although I thought I had power covered already with my existing Anton Bauer set-up, it looks like I'm going to pop for the RED bricks as well. But those RED bricks are pretty darned slick anyway, and those ugly Anton Bauer batteries would totally ruin the RED aesthetic. Good thing I already own a Sony dual-position V-mount charger (it'll work, right?).

[Kevin Halverson]

Hey Ralph,

I wasn't able to attend NAB as I was in San Diego for a shoot, so I didn't get a first hand look at the RED nor the accessories. Do you happen to know if the LCD has access to the same display area as the EVF (outside of the 4k window)? What about focus aid, is that supported on the LCD?

[Ralph Oshiro]

Didn't want to clutter up the forum with posts "all about me" so I'll just do it here.

DAY 1:

Duh. Went to RED booth. Because of a delay at the press room, got into the hall 10 minutes after 9:00AM. Stood in line. Watched the demo. Clapped. Then stayed in the booth . . . until 4:00PM. At 4:00PM I went to Apple to look at the ProRes 4:2:2 demo. They had the Peter Jackson footage playing in all its 2K ProRes glory--no waiting! Damn, that ProRes looked good. I was impressed. I then lied down on the Apple booth floor and watched the rest of the Final Cut Pro Suite 2 demo.

DAY 2:

Had to do some real "work." Went to Grass to see their Infinity. Talked to the Viper guys a little bit. Asked them if they had seen the RED demo yet. They said no, but they really were hoping to see it by Thursday. Went to Sony. Played with their gearhead-mounted F23 for about 15 minutes (gearheads are fun!). I asked a Sony guy, "Are you planning on developing a product with a larger sensor?" He replied, "We're studying it." Went to my meeting at Panasonic. Talked to some chick at reception and cast her for my current short film. Wow! LOTS of 24p HD cameras! The 3000, 2000, 900, and 500! Very nice line-up! Then went back to South Hall to go . . . guess where? RED.

[Jim Arthurs]

It was a pleasure to meet you at the booth, Ralph!

To add to your questions, I'm also curious about how you compensate for under/over exposure in the LCD/EVF? Say you "rate" the sensor at 1200 ASA, can you apply a LUT on both monitoring devices that will crank that back into viewing range? Or what if you pretend it's ASA 50 for tons of highlight protection? Without something going on, the bulk of the image would be overly dark on the LCD/EVF...

I didn't realize until your post that there was a difference in what was viewable between the two devices. Other than their physical differences, I thought what they displayed was exactly the same...

Regards,

[Ralph Oshiro]

I wasn't able to attend NAB as I was in San Diego for a shoot, so I didn't get a first hand look at the RED nor the accessories. Do you happen to know if the LCD has access to the same display area as the EVF (outside of the 4k window)? What about focus aid, is that supported on the LCD?
Forgot to ask about lookaround feature, but I seem to recall someone saying that the LCD didn't have it, but I could be mistaken. Apparently, "magic focus" was not enabled on any show viewfinders. At one point, another attendee, said, "Go look now, they have Magic Focus working on that camera." But he may have mistaken it for the false color thing. At least I never witnessed it working. But I was assured, that both the "false color" feature ("Accuscene" exposure aid) and the focus assist would be implemented on both the EVF and the LCD.

[Nick Shaw]

My understanding is that the EVF and LCD are both fed from exactly the same output on the camera, so anything that can be shown in one can also be seen in the other.

There was no working 'live' magic focus, but Stuart did show me a still of the magic focus display on a milk girl image in the EVF. Looks very interesting, although of course it is to be seen how helpful/easy to use it is in a real world shooting situation. I am intrigued.

[Ralph Oshiro]

It was a pleasure to meet you at the booth, Ralph!
Hey Jim! It was a great pleasure to meet you too! Not sure about any answers to your questions. Need to get some sleep--talk later.

[Martin Drew]

Ralph. As the LCD is on an arm, surely you could just flip that round when you mount the camera upside down. No need to have a signal flip.

M

[Stuart English]

The RED-LCD and RED-EVF are very close cousins. They are fed from the same "Viewfinder" framestore via two independent digital video ports. Their functionality can be considered identical except that the EVF has a false color exposure mode, not available on the LCD.

Because the LCD has a different native pixel count there is a crop / scale circuit that is placed in-line for that 2nd output. This can scale the entire EVF output onto the LCD, or crop out just the Surround View portion, depending on camera setup mode.

So as to LCD questions such as Surround View, Frame Guides, Gamma, White Balance, custom looks using REDCINE or RED-ONE created Paint files etc etc - yes, yes, yes.....

[Martin Drew]

Stuart. Is there a pixel for pixel zoom mode on the viewfinders for checking focus?

M

[Ralph Oshiro]

Their functionality can be considered identical except that the EVF has a false color exposure mode, not available on the LCD.
Well, you outta know, Stuart. But I asked the other EVF-savvy RED guy repeatedly if the false color thing was also available in the LCD, and he said yes.

[Clint Johnson]

I read, and hope it is true, that the LCD does not have the false colour exposure mode working right now but that it is a specification for the release product.

[Justin O'Neill]

At one point, another attendee, said, "Go look now, they have Magic Focus working on that camera." But he may have mistaken it for the false color thing. At least I never witnessed it working.

I saw the 'magic focus' demo with the Milk Girls still as well. Well, it wasn't a working demo, just a glimpse at how it would work. Looks like it has lots of potential to me.

It was great to meet you at the booth Ralph! (I was the one with the ponytail).