Steady progress...

[Jannard]

We are making steady progress getting the camera ready for production. As we stated previously, some features will not be enabled with the 1st cameras shipping. All updates will be done as features are enabled through a download and USB or Compact Flash to the camera. It is really easy. Slip in the card, turn the camera on, and say "yes" when it asks you if you want to upgrade to the new software.

We are very, very happy with image quality at this point and still think we can improve some as time goes on.

This has been (and still is) a huge undertaking. It is a project worthy of our best effort. We appreciate everyone's patience. We do not expect another schedule slip at this time (things can change).

Jim

[Häakon]

Thanks for the update, Jim. It really makes a difference that you're able to convey the progress and keep taking suggestions until the last moment. It's great to hear that things are looking good in the final stretch.

I must say that even with all of the drama over the last year and a half, RED has lived up to the hype every time and I have no doubts they will continue to do so after the camera ships. Just having regular software updates from the company to keep our investments current and relevant is a huge deal. Seems to me we have a company who finally "gets it."

[Jannard]

We have a loyal customer base that we do not want to let down.

Jim

[Kevin Halverson]

Very encouraging news indeed!

[Poi Boy]

Great Jim ! I know I've been bugging you about moving images of late but in the end I would prefer to do my own. Red being on schedule is the best possible news for me. Keep up the incredible effort !
Aloha
-A

[Jannard]

Steven Soderbergh starts shooting in Spain in 8 hours. He is flying without a net (no backup plan). Just RED ONE's. He will be recording 4k REDCODE RAW to Compact Flash. Wish him (and all of us) luck.

Jim

[Poi Boy]

That is great news, he is the perfect lab rat for all of us. How many cameras ? Why would he need a net ?
Aloha
-A

[JVB]

That's great Jim!

[Gavin Greenwalt]

For a moment my slightly-multilingual brain spun into an overdrive of confusion.

No Net... no Red (red means net in spanish)... ? Why is he going without a RED?!

This is why I will never be able to speak two languages fluently. I don't have room for more than one--anything else just starts creating chaos.

[Sam Druckerman]

Good News.

How many beta cameras does Steven S. have to work with?

I think it's two.... is that right?

[Poi Boy]

Que bueno ! Sodenberg esta usando unas Reds sin una red !
-A

[Shawn Nelson]

Steven Soderbergh starts shooting in Spain in 8 hours. He is flying without a net (no backup plan). Just RED ONE's. He will be recording 4k REDCODE RAW to Compact Flash. Wish him (and all of us) luck.

Jim

Oh wow!! So how do you feel? :-)

[Jochen Schmidt-Hambrock]

Getting nerveous at every incoming call with a spanish caller id?

[Alexander Nikishin]

Can't wait to show the world what RED can do two eyeballs at a time come September.

[Brook Willard]

Tomorrow's the big day! Good luck, guys... can't wait to hear about it.

[Rocket]

Jim,

Am I allowed to post this as news on my website?

Although I guess one sentence doesn't make much of a news item. Maybe I could write something about him recording Redcode to CF, that's pretty amazing in itself. Who would have thought anyone would be shooting a feature onto compact flash?

Rich

[Darwin]

Steven Soderbergh starts shooting in Spain in 8 hours. He is flying without a net (no backup plan). Just RED ONE's. He will be recording 4k REDCODE RAW to Compact Flash. Wish him (and all of us) luck.

Jim

I bet Compact Flash will end up being the media of choice for alot of RED shooters. When will we hear more on the RED brand CF cards and price?

[Corrado Silveri]

Great News, Jim!
Hoping to see some sample footage at IBC...

Ciao, Corrado.

[Daniel Reichenbach]

What else we need as confirmation: Jim sounds very happy and open minded these days and Soderbergh plays with some REDs down in spain. To have some CFs in your pocket will be the perfect choise for the near future. One of the best reason beside that they get cheaper every day: you have to change card after 4 Minutes (later on after 8?) for backup, that give you a lot of securety not loosing any data.

[Rocket]

One of the best reason beside that they get cheaper every day: you have to change card after 4 Minutes (later on after 8?) for backup, that give you a lot of securety not loosing any data.

Doesn't a 32GB CF card give you 20 mins of 4K Redcode at 27MB/sec? a 128GB CF card would give 80mins recording time?

Would someone confirm if this is right?

Rich

[Casey Green]

Steven Soderbergh starts shooting in Spain in 8 hours. He is flying without a net (no backup plan). Just RED ONE's. He will be recording 4k REDCODE RAW to Compact Flash. Wish him (and all of us) luck.

Jim

Just curious, Have you sent any Engineers out on this project to help Soderbergh?

[Jeff Coatney]

My Best Wishes for Steven and Co. and Red Team as they break new ground towards the digital future (and the last few hurdles getting to a production camera)! Can't wait to see the results.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

4K your numbers are right, but the problem is we don't have any 32GB 300x cards yet. So if we had a 32GB card... we would be set. But 16GB is the best we can hope for in the immediate future.

[Rocket]

4K your numbers are right, but the problem is we don't have any 32GB 300x cards yet. So if we had a 32GB card... we would be set. But 16GB is the best we can hope for in the immediate future.

Ahh, I'm with you now. Ok, I had heard talk of 128GB CF cards in various threads recently, and on the Red site it mentions 32GB and 128GB, maybe they are planned for future release.

[Unwounded]

I hope they got some good people in the camera department. Vaya con rojo brother.

[Alexander Nikishin]

As of right now, the only CF card with the 300x speed writing capability is the 8 gb Sandisk ultra 2, so we're currently limited to 4 minutes on a single CF card.

I'm sure Steven and his crew are packing a good 10 or so cards which keeps things rolling quite smoothly.

[Keith Nealy]

Congratulations Jim, these are very exciting times.

It's like pushing the fledgling out of the nest trusting - hoping - praying it will fly with no problems.

My gut says this is the start of something big - bigger than any of us can even imagine.

And I just want to thank you for taking all of us along for the ride. It's one thing to witness history... but to be a part of it is very special.

Aloha,

Keith

[Rocket]

As of right now, the only CF card with the 300x speed writing capability is the 8 gb Sandisk ultra 2, so we're currently limited to 4 minutes on a single CF card.

I'm sure Steven and his crew are packing a good 10 or so cards which keeps things rolling quite smoothly.

I wonder why they don't shoot to hard disk then? Extra weight?

[Alexander Nikishin]

I wonder why they don't shoot to hard disk then? Extra weight?

Reliability maybe?

Much better shock protection?

At about $120 a pop, why not own 10 and only pay about $1,400 for a reusable 40 minute film mag, you know what I mean.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171091

[Emanuel A.]

No plan B?...ouch! :)

Thanks for the update and
Good luck to all of us!


Steven Soderbergh starts shooting in Spain in 8 hours. He is flying without a net (no backup plan). Just RED ONE's. He will be recording 4k REDCODE RAW to Compact Flash. Wish him (and all of us) luck.

Jim

[Gregory Karydis]

Thanks for the update Jim.
Way to go Steven, good luck!

Plan B? Who needs a Plan B when you are shooting with RED Ones?

[I Bloom]

This really is exciting! People in NYC are talking alot about RED. Keep the filmmaker quotes coming Jim!

IBloom

[jaadgy akanni]

Que bueno ! Sodenberg esta usando unas Reds sin una red !
-A

For those who don't hablan Español, what Poi Boy is saying is a play on words 'cause the word RED in Spanish means Net, so, Soderbergh, according to Jim, is "flying without a net(red, in Sp.)" therefore he's shooting with REDs and flying without a RED(red=net in Sp)...oh whateva..see if you get the joke...lol

But seriously, though, the fact that Soderbergh is putting all his trust on this camera, making use of no other "contingency" camera...yo, that's a huge testament that he's got total confidence in what he will get from this camera. I mean, we're not talking about average Joe Indie here. Friggin' exciting!!!

[Matthew Rogers]

Reliability maybe?

Much better shock protection?

At about $120 a pop, why not own 10 and only pay about $1,400 for a reusable 40 minute film mag, you know what I mean.


If I were him, I'd say screw it and buy enough cards to shoot the entire movie without ever erasing one. If he bought 250 card, that'd be 1,000 minutes of shooting time at $120 a piece which equals 30,000 in "media" costs. That's still cheaper than shooting film. Plus, he's not spending any money on camera body rental!

Matthew

[Steve Gibby]

Thanks for the update Jim...very positive indeed.

Looking forward to some more news about Soderbergh in Spain. I think Soderbergh on location/set will be a real good test for the beta REDs. His feedback from that will be way valuable...

[Jim Arthurs]

If I were him, I'd say screw it and buy enough cards to shoot the entire movie without ever erasing one.
Matthew

The per minute cost of using CF as write-once media is very in-line for any motion picture budget that would normally be shooting film.

[S. Um]

The per minute cost of using CF as write-once media is very in-line for any motion picture budget that would normally be shooting film.

Still, working with a new system, and with all that's at stake with a Hollywood film, I'd be downloading every card as it's shot and checking to make sure everything came out okay.

[REDHKSC]

Thanks for the very very update Jim... and I have posted in my networks already, There will be 1.3 billion people in CHINA will see the RED Film soon from Steven. WOW !!!

Stewart

[Rick Darge]

Anyone know when the release date for Steve S.'s film is? It will be nice to see a trailer..

thank you jim and crew - i am very excited

[Sanjin Jukic]

Thanks Jim.

Regards from Formentera, Spain.

Also, Steven Soderbergh is welcome to Spain.

http://www.pregenzer.com/formentera_web/images/IMG_8586.jpg

Formentera sunset.

[Ray Flynn]

so it is now past 6 pm in Spain.
i wonder will there be a report back tonight on whether all went well.
it would be too much to expect stills or footage, but does RED have someone on the ground would could send word?
ray.

[Jannard]

Doesn't a 32GB CF card give you 20 mins of 4K Redcode at 27MB/sec? a 128GB CF card would give 80mins recording time?

Would someone confirm if this is right?

Rich

Approximately... when they become available. And the write speed is critical.

Jim

[Keith Alan Morris]

Wow, no backup. Gulp!

Right there says it all.

[Steve Freebairn]

I can't wait to see what more he has to say about the Red after using it as the sole camera on his production.

[Pol Turrents]

I know where is SS shooting the movie...
Let's make a visit! :detective2:

greetings from spain!

[Jochen Schmidt-Hambrock]

If I were him, I'd say screw it and buy enough cards to shoot the entire movie without ever erasing one.Matthew

Why would you do that? Of course you back up as soon as possible. When you multi-copy / backup you have direct confirmation that what´s on the card is at least readable. Then - having multiple clones - the card just becomes the most expensive one. I see no point in keeping them.

Jochen

[Rocco Schult]

We have a loyal customer base that we do not want to let down.

Thanks for the flowers :love:


Steven Soderbergh starts shooting in Spain in 8 hours. He is flying without a net (no backup plan)...Wish him (and all of us) luck.

He doesn't need luck. He made a brave decision and will get an appropriate result. I have no doubts in that.
But nonetheless, why are you writing here and are not watching your babies in Spain ? (Or are you ? :shiftyph34r: )

I know where is SS shooting the movie...
Let's make a visit! :detective2:

I'm on it. Who else ? Let's see where Jim really is.

[Daniel Reichenbach]

In digital RED sky, where else :usd:

[Rocco Schult]

I wonder why they don't shoot to hard disk then? Extra weight?

..I'd say screw it and buy enough cards to shoot the entire movie without ever erasing one. If he bought 250 card, that'd be 1,000 minutes of shooting time at $120 a piece which equals 30,000 in "media" costs. That's still cheaper than shooting film.
Well said. And respect the extra piece of security. No matter how unlikely, just imagine one drive stop working and a day costing >100k is gone.
If you backup every shot anyway, then you can go CF and be more flexible.

Then - having multiple clones - the card just becomes the most expensive one. I see no point in keeping them.
Only additionally of course :pinch: for security or the insurance company..

[Scott Webster]

Must of been an interesting discussion with the insurers and guarantors.

[Pol Turrents]

come on Jim, if you are in spain, you're invited to drink and eat tapas! just let me know...

[Greg Voevodsky]

Must of been an interesting discussion with the insurers and guarantors.

Maybe, Jim had to underwrite this one. Nothing like a good RED Warantee or should it be guaranteed to work or your film production cost back....

Just kidding, but it would explain how they got through legal so fast.

[Jannard]

We did not underwrite the movie.

Jim

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

Good information to hear.

[Antoine Fabi]

We have a loyal customer base that we do not want to let down.

Jim

Easy for us Jim, not exactly easy for you.

Future belongs to those who take risks. You did.

The loyal customer base… and now the well known cinematographers…This shows clearly that you were not alone to dream about a lighweight super high res cine camera…

Good news. Thanks a lot !
Incredible inventive team work.

[Matthew Lochman]

"You only need one plan, If it's a RED ONE."
Welcome to use the copy... :)

[David Battistella]

We did not underwrite the movie.

Jim

Isn't it a drag to have to even answer these kinds of posts sometimes?

I know there is a lot to answer to but you really have a ton of patience.

I'd be taking up that offer in Barcelona. Great city of the world!

:)

David

[Michael Schrengohst]

So hopefully, this will be the first RED feature that will be
on the Apple Movie Trailer page?

[Scott Webster]

Isn't it a drag to have to even answer these kinds of posts sometimes?

I know there is a lot to answer to but you really have a ton of patience.

I'd be taking up that offer in Barcelona. Great city of the world!

:)

David

That statement by Jim with regard to underwriting the feature is worth noting and celebrating. An independent insurance company has signed off on using Red for a feature, knowing that the production is using 2 of only 10(?) working cameras. Not only that, they are doing it in Spain, on a 9 week shoot and on Compact Flash. Who knows what was in the small print, but they signed off on it.

Oh for a production blog!

[Jason Murphy]

So hopefully, this will be the first RED feature that will be on the Apple Movie Trailer page?

Soderbergh tends to work really fast, and bring things in on time or early and under budget, so I'd be willing to bet on this. He often edits during the shoot when he's not on set (for example, he edited Ocean's 12 during the shoot and had a more or less final cut a week after after principal photography had ended). Wouldn't be surprised to see a trailer out before year's end, but hey, what do I know?

[explosive]

Easy for us Jim, not exactly easy for you.

Future belongs to those who take risks. You did.

The loyal customer base… and now the well known cinematographers…This shows clearly that you were not alone to dream about a lighweight super high res cine camera…

Good news. Thanks a lot !
Incredible inventive team work.


U mean to say that you did not take any risks in buying your RED?

[Jannard]

U mean to say that you did not take any risks in buying your RED?

Only if you think we might run off with your deposit...

Jim

[Shawn Nelson]

Only if you think we might run off with your deposit...

Jim

Sheesh! Jim, if you need some money, just ask us...I'm sure we could put up a collection to get you by... ;-)

[Brook Willard]

I just found 18¢ in my couch... how far'll that get me? ;)

[Jannard]

I just found 18¢ in my couch... how far'll that get me? ;)

Half of a Butterfinger?

Jim

[Alexander Nikishin]

lol, poor Brook, so close yet soo far from RED.

[Nook Kim]

So, you guys now make Butterfingers, too?

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Only if you think we might run off with your deposit...

Jim

Or never shoot any billable projects...

[pat@hpnc.com]

Its good (if things turn out well) that features are being made with Red this early. With one or two full features done using Red with good results I would think that would really start the ball rolling for the bigger budget movies.

Cant wait for the first HD trailer from one of these movies.

[Shawn Nelson]

So, you guys now make Butterfingers, too?

mmmm....4kalicious...

[Brook Willard]

Half of a Butterfinger?

Jim

Score!:)

[Gavin Greenwalt]

So, you guys now make Butterfingers, too?

Legend has it that Jim went to Nestle and asked them how many butterfingers he would need to buy in order to get them at 18c for brook and later just changed tactics and asked how much it would cost to buy the factory.

[Paris Remillard]

>As of right now, the only CF card with the 300x speed writing capability is the 8 gb Sandisk ultra 2<

Actually no sandisk is currently rated at 300x. Only 266x. And it's the Extreme IV series NOT the Ultra II series. The Ultra IIs are only rated at 10MB/s. I just want to save people money and heartache before they start buying up ultra IIs that they won't be able to use with the Red.

[Christian Berg]

The SanDisk Extreme 8GB CF Card Ducati Edition should work since it can do 45 mb/sec.

[Nook Kim]

The SanDisk Extreme 8GB CF Card Ducati Edition should work since it can do 45 mb/sec.

Just so no one gets confused, it should read 45MB/sec. That is what the
card is rated for. I know you just didn't capitalize it, but a lot of people
could get it wrong and pick something up that says 10MB/sec thinking it's
a lot faster than 48Mb/sec.

One question for Red guys, are you guys planning on making a card reader
as well? I like how Lexar made theirs Firewire 800 and daisy-chain capable,
but I'd really like to see one with multiple slots.

EDIT: Speaking of multiple slots, I remember someone suggesting one more
CF card slot on Red One with hot swapping capability. Are you guys looking
into it or not really?

[Antoine Fabi]

U mean to say that you did not take any risks in buying your RED?

Yes you're right, exactly what i mean, i did not take any risk other than a small deposit. Compared to what i get, this is not a risk.

RED took the risk, from the beginning, financial, credibility etc...

I will take "risk" when i'll pay the camera and accessories.
I think t is not any more risky than any new product.

Plus, i think the fact that many people in the RED team are film addicts is a "garantee" for the future. Right or wrong, i sleep very well.

[Craig Schober]

>As of right now, the only CF card with the 300x speed writing capability is the 8 gb Sandisk ultra 2<

Actually no sandisk is currently rated at 300x. Only 266x. And it's the Extreme IV series NOT the Ultra II series. The Ultra IIs are only rated at 10MB/s. I just want to save people money and heartache before they start buying up ultra IIs that they won't be able to use with the Red.

i'm assuming that everyone looking at the cf cards are just doing the math in their heads and not buying anything yet. i hope. i think we should all wait, not just for red recommendations but for red's own cf solution. and don't forget it's the write speed that matters more than the read. a lot of these speed numbers are based on reading times which are generally faster but misleading.

[Steve Tammi]

I just found 18¢ in my couch... how far'll that get me? ;)

If your pennies are 1982 or older you could melt them down and sell them for scrap and increase your 18¢ to 22.4079718¢. :)