Ok, so here's my setup, what do you think Gibby?

[TimothyD]

I have no guess on the price of the RED Motor or SuperGrip. Based on the very reasonable price of the rest of the RED products, I would assume that the price of the RM and SG will also be priced very reasonably.

Yeah, I assume they will be a definite bargain, I just have to have a price in order to be able to get buy them:(

If you have to go to a straight ENG camera instead of RED One, there is a wide selection of cameras to fit those needs. You mentioned a few of them - F330 and HPX500. Each has their pluses and minuses. If you have to go that way, research them closely and make sure you'll be happy with your choice.

Yeah, I have been doing research on other cameras all along, but most of them seemed weak in terms of the (often interframe) codecs they use, 4:2:0 color in some cases, the fact that they are not full raster 1080 and that at 1080@60 fps they are all interlaced (everything I can find in this price range at least). I have renewed my search for alternate cameras that meet these criteria, but I can't find anything that doesn't have at least some major compromise in one or more of the areas.

If RED One doesn't fit your fiscal acquisition schedule, you may be able to buy one personally at a later date, or, as you mentioned, buy a RED PPC if it's features would service your needs.

I certainly will be buying a PPC at some point at the very least, and maybe a Red One. Who knows when, but when I buy a decent personal camera I will very likely get a Red...

I think you should consider zooming less with RED One, if you are able to get one, or zooming less when you shoot with any EFP/ENG camera.

I try to just use zooming to follow action, but admittedly, it is very easy to over use a zoom. I tend to have to use it while running and gunning to frame shots on the fly in a manner that still allows me to use the shot in the edit. I tend to have pity on the editor since the editor is me:) And since I always am a one man band I have to make sure as much footage as possible is usable, because I have no second camera to go to in the edit.

A two lens approach, with maybe a RED 18-50 zoom and a RED 300mm prime is workable. Remember, when using the 300mm prime you'll need to walk forward and backward to get the framings you're looking for. If that is workable, you have time to change between lenses, and your movement won't distract the students you are shooting, it is a viable solution.

Working with the 300mm would be smooth I think because I could be far enough away to get candid shots without them noticing. As for the 18-50, the short DOF scares me in terms of run and gun, but I do have to imagine that Graeme's magic focus assist will help a lot. I'm just a little apprehensive since I've never worked with 35mm DOF before.

Thanks so much for all the insights Gibby, outstanding advice as usual.

I'll let you know what I end up deciding be it Red or something else. But so far the magic "meets most of my requirements" camera hasn't reared its head...

Let me ask you this one additional question, do you think that the Red with the cheap Canon HD 2/3" lens I pointed out at the beginning of this thread would be preferable to the HPX500 (with the best lens they sell it with) for run and gun? (The reason I am leaning toward the HPX500 over XDCAM as an alternate to Red is because I don't want interframe compression)

Thanks,

Tim