New Epic owner

[simon williamson]

Hi folks,

I've taken the jump to a red camera as a friend of mine did me a great price on his Epic Dragon 6k. Nearly went for an Arri Classic but the thought of carting that around i couldn't justify that. I've used various Blackmagic camera's for the past 4 years, thought i'd try out a RED and see how i got on with it. One thing it didn't come with was an EF mount, i cine modded all my contax zeiss primes so i'm in the market for one.

Has anyone tried this brand of adapters?

https://c7adapters.com/en/product/ef_mount_-_red/138

Also, having never shot on a RED any handy hints greatly appreciated!

Cheers

[Gregory Dillard]

I've haven't heard of them, but if you can just get the RED Canon Mount adapter. I own three mounts (Canon, Nikon & PL) from RED.

[simon williamson]

I’m looking for an EF Mount at the moment, waiting to hear back about a couple but stumbled over that company as I was looking.

Cheers

[Mike P.]

Just a heads up, that is a dummy mount, which means no electronics. So it'll pair well with your manual Contax, but any contemporary glass that only has electronic iris control (like Sigma ARTs, Canon Ls, new Zeiss, etc etc), will be locked wide-open with no way to stop down. Also won't have metadata (focal length and distance) and no way to power IS on lenses that have it.

That said, I haven't had any problems with the C7 dummy PL mount I have, and I wouldn't think their dummy EF would be any different (dummy mounts are fairly straightforward). However, you should definitely be able to find a used RED AL EF mount for $400~$500, which seems like a better/smarter choice for the money. On the flip side, if you're trying to save pennies and don't want to buy used, pretty sure Wooden Camera's dummy EF mount is only $400.

Also, as you're new to the ecosystem, it's worth noting that the DSMC1 and DSMC2 mounts should be cross compatible (with the exception of the VV mounts, which *should* still work, but has never been confirmed).

[simon williamson]

Just a heads up, that is a dummy mount, which means no electronics. So it'll pair well with your manual Contax, but any contemporary glass that only has electronic iris control (like Sigma ARTs, Canon Ls, new Zeiss, etc etc), will be locked wide-open with no way to stop down. Also won't have metadata (focal length and distance) and no way to power IS on lenses that have it.

That said, I haven't had any problems with the C7 dummy PL mount I have, and I wouldn't think their dummy EF would be any different (dummy mounts are fairly straightforward). However, you should definitely be able to find a used RED AL EF mount for $400~$500, which seems like a better/smarter choice for the money. On the flip side, if you're trying to save pennies and don't want to buy used, pretty sure Wooden Camera's dummy EF mount is only $400.

Also, as you're new to the ecosystem, it's worth noting that the DSMC1 and DSMC2 mounts should be cross compatible (with the exception of the VV mounts, which *should* still work, but has never been confirmed).

Great info, appreciate the comment, cheers.

[Mike P.]

Great info, appreciate the comment, cheers.

Np. I forgot a couple tips/hints:

With REDs (especially DSMC1 Dragon) depending on which OLPF is installed, your noise/ISO performance will vary significantly -- safe bets are STH = ISO400, STND = ISO800, LLO = ISO1600.

Furthermore, ISO setting (which will dictate physical exposure) has an inverse relationship with highlight retention, since you'll inadvertently protect your highlights at a higher ISO. E.g. T4.0 at ISO1600 will have a stop more highlight detail than T2.8 at ISO800, even though the image brightness will look the same on the monitor. Bare in mind, cranking the ISO to maximize highlight retention is not for free, since it means you'll be noisier in the lows/low-mids.

Unfortunately, no RED comes close to even over/under DR (they're heavily weighted below mid-grey... noticeably more than BMD, Arri, Canon, Sony), so you'll want to find your personal tolerance for noise vs highlights by testing. The hint/tip is to do yourself a favour and go all the way through your post on tests; ISO1600 on STND might look too noisy at 6k, but when downscaled to 4k/rendered to h265 for net delivery, it may be acceptably clean by comparison.

[simon williamson]

Cheers, i'd read about the highlights so i'll definitely run some tests on that to see whats good. Having worked on the original pocket that thing was noisy as hell, i'm sure the Epic won't be anywhere near as bad as that.
Most of my deliveries are still HD although more 4k last year than the previous year. The DOP i learnt from has been talking me through his cameras, he had 2 x Epics (has Gemini's now) and loved them. I don't mind another steep learning curve. Having worked a lot on grading over the years i'm looking forward to getting my own Red image to work on.

[Eric Santiago]

I am sure you can find a used one for the same price if you search.