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View Full Version : Is the Red One ready for live events?



Charles Stewart Jr
07-20-2009, 11:50 AM
I recently completed a low budget feature where we used the Red One. I have to say I LOVE the camera. The menus were definitely designed for camera operators and not engineers, which made easy to develop the looks I wanted. Plus, the image it puts out is insane. But, I'm sure we all know that or we wouldn't be on this thread. So my question is....

Would you recommend the RED ONE for live event recording?

I do DP alot of plays that are shot like sitcoms for DVD distribution. The plays are only done in one night so it is crucial to make sure you get it all in one shot. We have been using HVX200's, which have been doing fine, but the producer asked me after shooting with the RED if I thought we could use it for something live.

I was using build 17 on the film. We shot for 15 days and I would get an "Audio Fault" which locked up the camera and required a reboot. Some days it would only happen once and other days it would happen 10 times. This was not during playback either. It was while we were recording!

Since then I've used the red again on another project and it didn't happen at all (with build 20!). Both times they were rentals and they were both different cameras.

I would really love to use the RED ONE on the next play I do, but I can't have multiple cameras locking up and rebooting through out the play and losing coverage. Granted I've talked to alot of other Red users and they said that usually only happened to them during playback.

So I guess what I'm asking is, would you feel comfortable using it?

Kenneth Elkington
07-20-2009, 01:03 PM
Steve Gibby recently shot a Journey concert on 10 RED ones with no apparent problems.

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32201

James Press
07-20-2009, 02:59 PM
Jim Hare has done quite a number of live shoots (stage shows) with up to 7 reds: http://www.fxguide.com/modules/redcentre/files/redcentre-035.mp3 (highly recommend you listen to this podcast :-))

We shoot live events exclusively--conference/discussions in a studio (2 Reds plus an HDV, for around 2 hours, but have gone up to 5 hrs) with great results.

Charles Stewart Jr
07-20-2009, 10:49 PM
Wow, great to know!!! I'll definitely try it out then!

Also, thanks for the link to the podcast, I'll check it out.

Paul Leeming
07-21-2009, 11:06 AM
Not a problem:

http://www.visceralpsyche.com/misc/web_images/Kyosuke_Himuro2.jpg

This was at a 24 camera shoot (one Red, the rest were HDCAM Sony's and Panny's) for Kyosuke Himuro, one of Japan's biggest rock stars.

2m away from massive subwoofers, not a single dropped frame with our little custom shock mount, and to make things even more challenging I had to constantly swap between 4K normal speed and 2K high speed between songs.... at a live concert! Fun times, but we pulled it off no problem!

HTH

Paul

Charles Stewart Jr
07-22-2009, 09:28 PM
Nice! Thanks for the pic too! I guess the problem I was having was specific to that camera. Hopefully my producer says yes so I can try one out!

Jason Wingrove
07-23-2009, 03:53 AM
Charles, apart from the excellent comments above, I spoke at length in an interview on Episode #35 of our podcast with the always available and very experienced in live work, Jim Hare, often found loitering the forums. Perhaps search for his details and comments around here and also have a listen to the Episode?

http://www.fxguide.com/redcentre

Cheers
jason