I just shot a feature - The Loneliest Road In America - for Director, Mardana Mayginnes on the Red One. The camera was just purchased for the film by Randal Kirk. We shot it in 17 days, across 4 States - Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. We wrapped principle photography 2 days ago.
I loved the camera. We actually couldn't have done it without it. But we put it through its paces. Hood mounts, hostess trays, steadicam, handheld, etc. I loved it all round. We shot 4k. The images look amazing. But after half a lifetime of shooting film, here are my issues right now...
Boot up is too slow.
The Viewfinder should be optical so the camera doesn't need to be on to see an image. Ditto for the operator's eye. EVFs are horrible!
The Red on-board monitor is pretty average. At best. Monitor outputs are buggy too, requiring multiple reboots. And where is the standard def output? Video Assist anyone? I wont even start on those mini-connectors...
The Hard Drive skips frames with any significant jolt, especially on camera moves. After several great shots we're compromised, we managed to mount the Drive inside the car in a padded case. Then it overheated...
The Hard Drive, Camera and Batteries all overheat at temperatures approaching 100 degrees F.
Likewise the Camera shuts down below 15 degrees F. We heated it up in a car till it booted back up again.
Shooting directly into the sun - at least with Cooke S4s sometimes meant seeing the chip itself reflected back into the lens. Nasty red dots!
The camera, hard drive, peripherals right now are too heavy, esp for handhled and steadicam.
The Red peripherals tend to be brittle. I broke a top handle lifting the camera - and dropped it on rocks. The plastic components are garbage. The whole package needs to be a lot tougher - and lighter!
The camera is natively rated at 320ASA. Rating it above that in available light at night is problematic. Low light in general is problematic, even with fast lenses. I generally rated at 200, which is fine in daylight. At night, you need a lot of light.
In hard daylight you need NDs. i was using an ND9 and a ploar just to get it to the T stop I wanted. You can't burn out your highlights on this camera.
To ease pain in post, set your WB at Auto. Rate at 200, 250 or 320. Use your Zebras and your lightmeter.
I'm sure most of these issues are being addressed. despite the teething problems, this is the camera we've all been waiting for!
Tony McGrath
