Fixed Scarlet and 4K Projection.

[Norman B. Miller]

In light of the discussion going on in the Recon section.... How well would the Scarlet fixed blow up for 4K? Will it look good enough for theatrical distribution in 4K projection? It would be nice to have some RED input on this.... Also does anyone know what Avatar was shot in? I heard that the new 3D standard was 2K...Avatar looked quite good to me and I was pretty close to the screen in a stadium theater....

[M Most]

Also does anyone know what Avatar was shot in? I heard that the new 3D standard was 2K...Avatar looked quite good to me and I was pretty close to the screen in a stadium theater....

The vast majority of Avatar wasn't shot on anything because it was pure CG. The live action - whatever parts of it were live action - was shot on two Sony 950 variants, which are 3 chip, 2/3 inch 444 cameras.

[Norman B. Miller]

Thanks M...This is what I thought for the live action. It seems to me that the Scarlet could achieve a better picture than the live action sequences of Avatar, given the same lighting and environment. After all, the Mysterium X is a least one generation above the Sony chips... Is there something that I'm missing in this conclusion?

[Bastien Tribalat]

It seems that 1080p is allready good for the big scren as seen on movies like Public Enemies. I Agree that it's not êrfect or as good as a good 35mm film, but considering that Scarlet, EPIC and Red One can record "beyond HD.... Between 6 and 10 times HD" (Ted) I think it will be no big deal to do so with your Scarlet. (even if, in that case, it would be better to have an interchangeable Scarlet to be able to have the benefits of prime lenses)

[Gary Paul Walker]

In light of the discussion going on in the Recon section.... How well would the Scarlet fixed blow up for 4K? Will it look good enough for theatrical distribution in 4K projection? It would be nice to have some RED input on this.... Also does anyone know what Avatar was shot in? I heard that the new 3D standard was 2K...Avatar looked quite good to me and I was pretty close to the screen in a stadium theater....

I was reading the same discussion, and thought much the same as you. Also it got me thinking about how 'future-proof' you'd need to be for Televisions... how high can a resolution on a 42" television (given that I can only get a 42" in my house) go? 1080p looks great... 3K would probably look really great- but beyond that what will my eye ever be able to register?

[Paul Whittington]

I recall reading somewhere (either at RED or some other site) that the Scarlet will have a 2.35:1 anamorphic setting. If so, then even a 3K, you should be able to achieve roughly 4K from left to right.

Can someone confirm if Scarlet will in fact have an anamorphic setting? This would be a great feature to have.

[David Mullen ASC]

I recall reading somewhere (either at RED or some other site) that the Scarlet will have a 2.35:1 anamorphic setting. If so, then even a 3K, you should be able to achieve roughly 4K from left to right.

That doesn't make any sense -- if the sensor is 3K wide, you can't get more than 3K out of it.

The ANA setting on the 4.5K RED, after all, reduces the recorded width to around 2.8K because you don't need more width than that if shooting with a 2X anamorphic lens.

So if the 3K 2/3" sensor is 3072 x 1728 (a guess) and there is an ANA setting on the 3K Scarlet for using anamorphic lenses, it would probably be in the range of 2074 x 1728 (1.20 : 1 aspect ratio with a 2X optical squeeze gets you 2.40 : 1.)

The other method would be to use spherical lenses and crop the sensor to 3072 x 1280 to get 2.40 : 1. But there is no way to increase the recorded resolution beyond what the sensor can allow.

[Tom Lowe]

3K RAW is not a 4K finish camera. Period.

If someone tries to say that 3K Bayer RAW can be blown up to 4K finish, then they have to say that 2K RGB can be blown up to 4K finish, and that just isn't true.

[Norman B. Miller]

Tom would it be your opinion then the imagery from the 3k fixed could not be played on a 4K projector? Production at this level is new to me so just trying to get my bearings of what can and can't be done with the Scarlet when it comes out...

[Tom Lowe]

Maybe some argument could be made that 3K Red RAW footage is like 2.1K or something or 2.2K or whatever, but generally, you have to think of it as 2K or 1080p footage. Would you try to uprez 2K or 1080p to 4K? No, it just doesn't make any sense.

Sadly, I'm dealing with this exact situation right now myself. I held off as long as I could so that I could shoot my first film on Epic X and finish at 4K, but I cannot wait any longer, so I am going to start shooting on Red One at 4K and 3K overcranked. I wish I could talk myself into thinking that 3K RAW could be uprezzed to 4K finish, but that would be deluding myself.

But really, there will always be a huge market for 1080p finishes. Films like Star Wars, LOTR, Avatar, etc, are not going to disappear just because they are locked at 1080p or 2K. Would I much rather finish my film at 4K? Yes. But reality is reality.

Deakins once said something along the lines of, "Every single shot I've ever done has been a compromise in some way."