2k & 4k

[Shawn Bannon]

will the Red be easily switchable form 2k to 4k? to the point where I can say, lets shoot this shot in 4k and 60 seconds later we are ready to go?

[SF Geek]

Why would you be switching from 4 to 2K?

[Álex Montoya]

More fps, for instance?

[SF Geek]

Well, in that case you would be windowing the sensor to 16mm. That shouldn't take longer than navigating the menu and setting the 2k windowed format. You might need to swap lenses for the new gate size. However long that takes you should be how long it takes to do the switch.

[TimothyD]

4k scales down in-camera to 2k also, but I'm guessing it is still limited to 30 fps. The Red team would have to answer that one though...

Tim

[Brook Willard]

As of NAB, I saw the setting in a menu... maybe 15 seconds to switch. I assume that the menu I saw was the correct way to switch modes, so if I'm not mistaken, it should be easy and fast.

TimothyD, 4K does not scale to 2K in camera, unless there has been a recent announcement I've missed. They canned that scaled resolution a while ago, AFAIK.

Their format chart online lists that there will be 35mm/4K area to 1080p and 720p RGB scaling in camera. For higher frame rates, a smaller sensor area would be used. For example, the S16mm/2K area scaled to 720p should eventually be capable of 120fps, according to their website.

All of those scaling/RGB modes will probably be some of the last features to get added to the camera. Once you've gone RAW, you'll never want to go back. Putting RAW in people's hands from day one will "force" people to realize [and accordingly leverage] the benefits of the format.

That said, I realize 4K RAW and 2K RAW are not suitable for everybody or every kind of shooting. That's why there are those RGB formats that should be put in there when they're ready. :)

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

My cinematography teacher showed us what he called "a comparison between HD and film," and then we started watching it and it was nothing but propaganda about how film is so great and digital has so many limitations. One guy said, "Digital will NEVER be as good as film. Ever!" We kept watching and I said, "What the hell is going on here?" Well after it was over, and we started having it out with this teacher, he said, "Well this was made by Kodak." Yeah, great, that's just great. I really want to watch comparisons of HD and film made by a FILM company!!! That's like having a Nike vs. Addidas documentary, but it's made by Nike. Hmm I wonder which would it would say is better?

It was also comparing relatively cruddy 2K digital footage that hadn't been modified with post-production at all to the best 35mm film stock. When I said, "But that's 2K footage, the RED is capable of shooting in 4K and that's the future of digital; it's much better than film quality." My teacher said, "How is 4K better than 2K?" I was like, "Ummm, it's 4 times the quality, duh?" Jesus... I'm glad I got out of there.

[MikeHedge]

@Brook Willard and RED team. idea!

Please think about how awesome it would be to be shooting at 24fps at 4k.... then via the SD wifi or via a controller to ramp speeds, I go from the 24fps to 30fps in 4k to 35fps at 2k to 48fps at 2k to 80fps at 1080p to 120fps at 720p.

All together all at once.. one shot. Automatic. no menu switching etc.

Genius? Ya I know. think about it... So now I'm in REDcine, and the files are tagged with their resolutions... I click the "conform all to 2k" button. and now I'm in AE/Premiere/FCP working with nice 2048pixel 2k 4:4:4 ...

I talked with the DP at NAB about the shoot. He said that the shots that had the "pushed in" effect were actually upressed to be the same as the 4k.

In Photoshop. I can take my 8.2 megapixel RAW CS2 file and upsize it to an 11.1 mega pixel file. save as a Tiff or PSD or whatever....

So what I'm saying is simply... let the camera just shoot.... and "tag" the clips with what they are... so that in REDcine I can just upres the RAW files that are smaller sized than the 4k stuff...

ending up with one fluid ramped shot.

Mike

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Please think about how awesome it would be to be shooting at 24fps at 4k.... then via the SD wifi or via a controller to ramp speeds, I go from the 24fps to 30fps in 4k to 35fps at 2k to 48fps at 2k to 80fps at 1080p to 120fps at 720p.

All together all at once.. one shot. Automatic. no menu switching etc.

How would that even work? Assuming the camera is capable of shifting record modes on the fly (it can do rate ramping, we've been told), then there's still some problems. 1080p and 720p can be scaled from the 4K or 2K sensor area, depending on frame rate and other factors. If you change from 4K to 2K sensor areas within a same shop, it's like applying a 4X zoom at the point of the switch. And from what you describe, all the changing of RAW and RGB modes necessary as well as the shifts in resolution just wouldn't make any sense. Better to just shoot with either the 4K or the 2K sensor area as fits your needs and max rate requirements then alter frame rates accordingly.

[Dominique Grenier]

Even if that'd work, you'd end up with clips with all different field of view, since they would use all the same lense. So, you'd have something like a wide shot, a medium shot, a long shot and a close up... but all at different resolutions... I'm not sure I see the point...?

[Tom Lowe]

shooting 1080 RGB is the more likely option if you want to switch from 4K 24fps to 60. then you're using the same lenses.