RED OLED EVF settings poll

[James Sielaff]

What settings do you all use?

Brightness level # ?
Color profile? (RWG/Rec709 etc....)

[DC Chavez]

I have no issues with it. I have gotten used to what I am seeing and how that relates to what I'll see in post. I have never even adjusted the brightness on my main monitor. As long as the goalposts are visible, I'm good...

[James Sielaff]

I have no issues with it. I have gotten used to what I am seeing and how that relates to what I'll see in post. I have never even adjusted the brightness on my main monitor. As long as the goalposts are visible, I'm good...

So you are actively opposed to having any options added? Or you have gotten used to it? Seems you voted against adding features, rather than poll response #1, of not being bothered by it. So, if the feature was added, you would dislike that?

You are best not to adjust the brightness, as lowering the brightness messes up the way things look, and raising the brightness makes the blacks even more gray.

To be honest, in order for brightness adjustments to work best, there needs to be contrast and or black level adjustment as well. However, the black levels on the RED OLED are already quite high, and that cannot be undone as of this time.

Thanks for your response to the poll.

[Brendan H. Banks]

Options added would be nice. I need to set it very low to get even rough highlight levels and that ends up muddying the shadows so much.

[Mark A. Jaeger]

I have been using an Ultra-Bright monitor up to this point. However, sometimes focus is difficult in extreme bright and low light conditions. As such, I have considered an EVF. I'd like to know, from experienced EVF users, whether this is a real solution or just a similarly problematic tool. The comparison above of RED OLED to the Arri EVF2 made the Arri look promising. Can the Arri be used on the DSMC2?
Make me smart about the pros and cons of EVF. Thanks.

[James Sielaff]

I have been using an Ultra-Bright monitor up to this point. However, sometimes focus is difficult in extreme bright and low light conditions. As such, I have considered an EVF. I'd like to know, from experienced EVF users, whether this is a real solution or just a similarly problematic tool. The comparison above of RED OLED to the Arri EVF2 made the Arri look promising. Can the Arri be used on the DSMC2?
Make me smart about the pros and cons of EVF. Thanks.

Of course being able to add more contrast would make shooting in lower contrast scenes easier. But overall, for anyone with good eyesight, the RED OLED EVF is pretty good with judging focus, mainly due to the 1080p resolution. In low contrast situations, I find my eyes fatigue faster when pulling my own focus. Not sure if the cause is the diopter or the raised black levels. Raised black levels make my eyes work harder to detect focus. YMMV

There are a few things you can do, which might help with focus, whether using the EVF or LCD:
- shoot with the image settings set to medium or high contrast. This will not change the black levels in the EVF, and it might not look aesthetically pleasing, but can be undone in post if you are shooting in RAW, or ProRes RedLog.
- Turn up the "output sharpness" to the monitor/evf under moniotring>advanced>video>output sharpness, very useful. 0-100%
- turn on peaking - although, I shy away from this feature on most displays, because it gives false positives sometimes
- turn on motion judder reduction if you are at 24fps or lower and have no more than a 1/48th shutter (180degrees)
- for static shots, use the "magnify" function before rolling
- Another very interesting tool, is the "EDGE" feature under overlay>tools>false color>EDGE which looks weird, but provides pin point accurate visual focus confirmation
- change the output tone map to "high contrast", although this doesn't help with the black levels, and may burn in on the ProRes proxies depending on your settings
- use full screen mode, however you lose any indicators that you are recording and have to check the LED status light on the mini mag recording module. not ideal for long takes or documentary settings, etc. That has been the single most requested feature for the EVF, but I have not found a work around yet.

Other Redusers have recommended the Zacuto Gratical, if you want a more pretty "OLED" look, but I haven't used it. One of the typical advantages of buying the manufacturer EVF for most brands is getting integrated features between the EVF and camera. Although, with RED it is perhaps possible to get most or all of those functions to a third party EVF. As the RED EVF is rather simple, and only has two buttons. One of the nice things about not using a third party EVF on the RED is freeing up an SDI port and getting seperate display UI settings from the SDI1 and 2 outs. Just keep in mind that the Side port and the MON-1 (or HDMI) share the same channel and only one of them can be used at a time.


The Arri will not work with any RED camera, as far as I know, and likely never will. Even if it could, not sure it would be necessary, if the RED OLED EVF. just had better black levels and more natural contrast, as that is one of the main draws of OLED over LCD. With the level that RED set the black levels on their OLED EVF, they might as well used an LCD screen and relieved any worries of screen burn in, and might have perhaps been a more affordable EVF. Also, for some, the smaller size of the RED EVF is a plus. The right angle connecting port allows for the EVF to be pretty unobtrusive and always available on the camera's side. The Wooden Camera AIR EVF mount also pairs really well with the RED EVF, for more traditional ENG style mounting. Highly recommended.

So, the RED EVF has some advantages that make it worth a purchase, but it lacks any of that "OLED" look. Looks like an LCD. Except for right at the start, when booting up the camera, the RED logo appears, and that is the only time you get those pure OLED black levels.

[Mark A. Jaeger]

James,
I already use Edge and Magnify but these are marginally useful in Astrophotography-type low light situations. The "edges" in low contrast-low light don't give you the same indications you get with reasonable light (wherein EDGE and Magnify are my go-to. I'm an R3D guy and don't shoot ProRes at all. I will experiment with the contrast and sharpness adjustments. Any improvement will be good.
It is also no fun that at long shutter speeds and low frames per second the monitor image lags behind the focus ring rotations. Not so painful at 1 fps but it really gets ugly when frame processing is used and the monitor updates only every 2 to 16 seconds. As such I try to focus before dropping the speed.
Thanks for your suggestions.

[James Sielaff]

James,
I already use Edge and Magnify but these are marginally useful in Astrophotography-type low light situations. The "edges" in low contrast-low light don't give you the same indications you get with reasonable light (wherein EDGE and Magnify are my go-to. I'm an R3D guy and don't shoot ProRes at all. I will experiment with the contrast and sharpness adjustments. Any improvement will be good.
It is also no fun that at long shutter speeds and low frames per second the monitor image lags behind the focus ring rotations. Not so painful at 1 fps but it really gets ugly when frame processing is used and the monitor updates only every 2 to 16 seconds. As such I try to focus before dropping the speed.
Thanks for your suggestions.

Oh awesome. I must admit, my point of view is from a narrative perspective, as I have never shot Astrophotography. Do you double up with Magnify and EDGE? After going into EDGE mode, toggling the 1:1 magnify is pretty exacting of accurate focus at the smallest level.

The EVF can at least help with night vision in one eye, I suppose. haha. But not sure the RED EVF is necessary for that, as you can get EDGE overlay and magnify in MON-1 (on a Ranger) or HDMI (on DSMC2 standard back). Though, I still like prefer the idea of the RED EVF, using one or no cables, getting two extra hot keys, and freeing up an SDI port. Just wishing it were able to adjust some of the look. Not to mention, the RED OLED EVF is appreciably smaller than many other EVF's on the market.

Astrophotography seems very cool. You must notice things most of us never think about.

[Mark A. Jaeger]

A lot of things are tough when you get to the edge of the envelope. Astro with the DSMC2 is one of those places. It is easier with DSLR as the sensor sensitivity can be adjusted and long exposures are simply accomplished.
With 'reasonable light' I use Edge and often Magnify together. Sometimes Edge alone or magnify alone. The combo does an excellent job for stationary objects in reasonable light.
I will have a loaner RED OLED EVF in a couple of days. I will then experiment in a variety of conditions to see if it provides any advantage over the Ultra-Bright monitor I now use for all shoots. As I am a one-man show, the advantage of enabling HDMI or SDI ports doesn't help me much. Maybe then I can comment on what settings I use so as to bring this thread back to where it started.
I do a lot of time-lapse and astro. The combination is interesting to me when Mother Nature provides a good show.

[James Sielaff]

A lot of things are tough when you get to the edge of the envelope. Astro with the DSMC2 is one of those places. It is easier with DSLR as the sensor sensitivity can be adjusted and long exposures are simply accomplished.
With 'reasonable light' I use Edge and often Magnify together. Sometimes Edge alone or magnify alone. The combo does an excellent job for stationary objects in reasonable light.
I will have a loaner RED OLED EVF in a couple of days. I will then experiment in a variety of conditions to see if it provides any advantage over the Ultra-Bright monitor I now use for all shoots. As I am a one-man show, the advantage of enabling HDMI or SDI ports doesn't help me much. Maybe then I can comment on what settings I use so as to bring this thread back to where it started.
I do a lot of time-lapse and astro. The combination is interesting to me when Mother Nature provides a good show.

Time lapse and Astrophotography bring an interesting perspective to the display debate. Looking forward to your thoughts.