RED OLED EVF settings poll

[Philipp Roth]

Hi James,

thanks for the Poll!
I recently bought the DSMC2 EVF and was super confused.

On Daylight scenes, it works pretty fine, but as soon as you go into lowlight shooting the black levels just feel weird.
All the tools mentioned above does work in a nice environment I use them all the time, but shooting a scene in low light - Blue Hour - on the backseat of a car with no space - a helium on your shoulder and the EVF pressed onto your Eye, you dont want to spend time to meter the scene or look on an external monitor or checking the goalposts ect.

I just want a reliable OLED EVF working fine in the RED ecosystem with the "what you see is what you get" experience. Just like I experienced with other brands.
We are nearly there...It would take just a Firmware update to get from a shitty EVF to a nice OLED EVF with good contrast and great blacks worth 4000$.

I just leave this here:
"Featuring the latest OLED technology, this EVF provides an unmatched personal viewing experience with a high contrast 1080p OLED micro-display and improved color accuracy with 30-bit RGB color representation. View and monitor your RED footage as it is intended with truer colors and deeper blacks in a larger field of view."

cheers

[Björn Benckert]

A DIY upgrade kit for the 7" to a high nits 7" touch screen would be great.

[James Sielaff]

Hi James,

thanks for the Poll!
I recently bought the DSMC2 EVF and was super confused.

On Daylight scenes, it works pretty fine, but as soon as you go into lowlight shooting the black levels just feel weird.
All the tools mentioned above does work in a nice environment I use them all the time, but shooting a scene in low light - Blue Hour - on the backseat of a car with no space - a helium on your shoulder and the EVF pressed onto your Eye, you dont want to spend time to meter the scene or look on an external monitor or checking the goalposts ect.

I just want a reliable OLED EVF working fine in the RED ecosystem with the "what you see is what you get" experience. Just like I experienced with other brands.
We are nearly there...It would take just a Firmware update to get from a shitty EVF to a nice OLED EVF with good contrast and great blacks worth 4000$.

I just leave this here:
"Featuring the latest OLED technology, this EVF provides an unmatched personal viewing experience with a high contrast 1080p OLED micro-display and improved color accuracy with 30-bit RGB color representation. View and monitor your RED footage as it is intended with truer colors and deeper blacks in a larger field of view."

cheers

That product description on red.com is... oof. 30bit representation? Yet posterization in the deep shadows. Less noticeable in a well lit frame, but in lower light ones it stands out.

I rent, so, any updates on the EVF image quality would bring added value, as customers would begin to like the EVF. As it is now, most renters try it, and just aren't into it. Cam ops don't mind, but for DP's it is important. They get a little disoriented, because the image looks different or weird, and the value of working with an EVF gets a little lost. Instead of it being a very focused sort of viewing environment, it is just distracting. So, I'd love to see the colors and contrast in a more OLED look. Would be great for renters that are used to trusting the monitor, if they can customize the EVF output. Not everyone is an owner op. Especially with the Ranger body, would be great if RED could help out the renters market by making the EVF image more adjustable.

[Mark A. Jaeger]

Today I received a loaner EVF which (with my existing Ultra-bright monitor) I tested in 2 conditions: 1) normal daylight; 2) low light = 2 hours after sunset in a dark neighborhood. My emphasis was on focusing. In daylight, the EVF worked fine for focusing but was not superior to using the Ultra-bright monitor. Use of Edge and Magnify made focusing easy in both cases but the Ultra-bright Monitor gives an image that is larger and easier for me to see.
In the night shoot there is little contrast except for the stars against the night sky. Edge with Magnify offers a little help but it is not as effective as "reasonable" light conditions. When I put on my reading glasses, the Ultra-bright was just as effective for focusing as the EVF. I thought the EDGE with Magnify display was a little easier to see on the Ultra-bright Monitor.
My bottom line: I'll return the loaner EVF and continue my landscape and wildlife work with the Ultra-bright monitor.

[James Sielaff]

Today I received a loaner EVF which (with my existing Ultra-bright monitor) I tested in 2 conditions: 1) normal daylight; 2) low light = 2 hours after sunset in a dark neighborhood. My emphasis was on focusing. In daylight, the EVF worked fine for focusing but was not superior to using the Ultra-bright monitor. Use of Edge and Magnify made focusing easy in both cases but the Ultra-bright Monitor gives an image that is larger and easier for me to see.
In the night shoot there is little contrast except for the stars against the night sky. Edge with Magnify offers a little help but it is not as effective as "reasonable" light conditions. When I put on my reading glasses, the Ultra-bright was just as effective for focusing as the EVF. I thought the EDGE with Magnify display was a little easier to see on the Ultra-bright Monitor.
My bottom line: I'll return the loaner EVF and continue my landscape and wildlife work with the Ultra-bright monitor.

The idea that an OLED has no advantage over a High Bright lcd monitor for night shooting, is not what anyone might expect.


In color grading, I've found that OLED, Plasma, and some special high contrast LCD's do show the details in the shadows better. And with all other OLED Evf's I've used, there is a bit more distinguishable detail in the very darkest shadows near black. This also helps with the shadows to mids looking more natural overall. Unfortunately, the current firmware totally negates any advantages an OLED might have, by lifting the black point and shadows.

Thank you for sharing!

[James Sielaff]

Request for a fix or added features was submitted.

Tech support says that the request itself will take a few weeks to get reviewed, before it is even just show up on the list of requests here:
https://support.red.com/hc/en-us/com...t?page=1#posts

[James Sielaff]

Thanks for everyone involved.

Seeing red cameras around LA, I know there are few redusers that own or use an EVF, so every opinion is important since EVF users are definitely going to be overlooked when it comes to updates or fixes.

The idea of a fix has been shot down by RED staff. Reason stated was the Komodo is taking all engineering resources. They also warn that a fix for the EVF would take months of testing before a release. No mention whether they would be willing to release a beta firmware in the same way they released beta Komodo's and many other beta versions.

[James Sielaff]

*this thread took a few dips and turns, going to go through and edit my posts and clean up some of the information. Make it more simple and not jumping around so much.