1st Epic - need advice

[Michael Ou]

Hello Joseph,

Renting that lens to get a feel for it is a great idea! It does require some bits to work with standard rod setups and what better way to test than to rent? (Well, unless you have a local pal that owns one). The Allstar lens support certainly gets the job done, I have that one on mine.

Back in the good ole Red One days (Only last year), there was just slightly less dire need to get tons of storage and optimizing our machines for ultimate speed and superfast throughput, but of course, now with 5K a reality and 6K just a few months away, we are again past the threshold of the cutting edge, YES!. I have been trying my best to get away with not getting a Rocket, but after a 30 hour transcode of 2 hours of 2K footage to 1080P, I have rethought that strategy. Mind you, I was only using an i7 laptop with 8GB of ram. That little experience was an eye opener, and the job did go a long way to help pay for a "Battle-tested" Rocket. Now all I need is to build a computer around that card.

There are more ways to get from R3D to deliverables than ever and everyone has a different workflow, these are great times! CS6 and the mercury playback engine is just immense! But with all the different hardware configurations and workflows, the single universal practice shared here, is to test, test and test.

Best of luck, and have a great time!

Mike

[PatrickFaith]

RED's timecode work's great ... I'd go dual system record (with something like the 744t) and get the other RED connectors for timecode (or the "b" box from x or ) ... at least if your doing a feature. Is really nice on interviews btw, since if anything happens to the camera, is no worries. For interviews ... the 64 gig cards could be problematic. Is obvious ... but as a reminder do the order so it is over 50k so u get the free upgrade.

[Domenic Barbero]

Joseph, I live in bellingham, although i have a scarlet, i have most of the things on your list. if you want you can always make a trip up and we can play with the camera set ups and i can run you through a few things that still would help me a lot and stuff to add to your list.

Keep me posted and congrats

[Joseph Seuferling]

I soooo appreciate you guys taking time to give a newbie advice!

Patrick - how right you are about the card sizes & interview times - I'm not used to thinking in terms of 4 and 5k sizes! And yes - I will make sure to spend enough to get the Dragon upgrade. As far as going dual system recording for a feature, I had thought about using my Samurai and H4n, but I now see how the 744t would be very valuable! Great heads up!

Michael - you got me thinking about the Rocket. Ouch! I would be gritting my teeth all the way through a transcode like that.

Other bits I am also looking into are the PortaJib Traveller, Flanders LM-2140W and the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5X Macro Lens

After all is said and done, my wallet may become temporarily raisin-like but my creativity will be super-charged!

Hope to see you this weekend, Domenic.

[Sami Sinervä]

I too am a pretty new RED shooter, so a few recommendations:
* I'd say you need way more RedMags. I have 4x64GB and I will probably invest in two 128GB now with the pricedrop.
* Also, more batteries! Get maybe 4 regular redvolts on top of your XLs. You can't have enough, especially if you shoot outdoors.

I built a completely new PC this spring (been using Mac for the past few years) specifically for editing R3D RAW, with SSDs, 32GB memory, one of the faster Quad Core CPUs and I think I manage okay doing post in Adobe Premiere/AE. No issues with playback at 1/4 resolution. The problem comes when you need to render things and you start to scale and add effects, especially if you have a 2K timeline and add 5K/4K R3D clips on it (so as often as possible, of course depending on project, I these days try to edit everything I do at the native resolution I shot something).

[Matt Gerard]

Congrats on making the dive, its a big one, but well worth it. I'm the tech for our EPIC rig, and we do own the 18-85 RP. Its a bitchin' lens, but its nickname is "The Potato Cannon". Its big and heavy, but pristine if you need a great PL mount zoom. We originally bought it for our AF100 with LW 15mm rod setups, I eventually landed with the RED Dovetail Quickplate and 19mm rods with the ARRi ls-7 lens support. Simple, clean and solid. Also wth the dovetail, its easy to center balance the rig on the tripod depending on what other access I have mounted.

So, my thoughts on your rig would be-

1) More Mags. Unless you are shooting 2k 18:1, you're going to run out of space faster than you'd like
2) More Redvolts- You can burn through those pretty fast, especially during lon setups where the camera is just sitting there on while you setup the scene. 20 min goes by fast.
3) Think about the belt mount for RedBricks. Ties you to the camera, but still mobile with 90 minutes of run time.
4) As much as I love the 18-85, rent/borrow one before you buy. Everyone I've show that lens to is amazed (and stunned) at how big/heavy it is. The pics on teh website really don't do it justice.
5) Look for used Quad battery mods and the mod adapter. There are a ton out there brand new that people are getting rid of.
6) As for post production, you dont' know how much you need the red rocket card until you try to encode a batch of footage. It can be done, but you might as well wak away overnight and let it do its thing.
7) Leave room in your budget for other bits of kit that you dont' know you need until you need it. Arms, cables, etc.
8) The 1510 case that we got with our kit is great, its small (heavy) but, when i went out for a camera test at a local flower garden, I found that I had 4 cases with me. My biggest beef is that every time I wanted to move to a different location, I had to take the camera rig completely apart to get it back in the case. I HATE that. I need to find a bigger padded case that allows me to keep the basic rig together with the touchscreen or evf, and bottom plate/rails on while still offering great protection. I have the 1510 case for the EPIC, 1 1500 for the mattbox and filters, another 1500 for hardware bits, PIX240 and Audio mixer, another 1510 for redbricks and charger. That's not counting the tripod case.

So, unless you are in a hurry, I'd get a basic setup going, put it together with what you have, and figure out what you need then. Just know that you won't be doing andy run-n-gun handheld with the 18-85

[Sergio Perez]

Great decision on going with the Epic. You won't regret it. A couple of suggestions to add to the ones already here:

1 - get the dual module instead of the quad. A lot more handheldable .

2- Get at least 5 64GB redmags

3- get a Red Rocket. You won't regret it.

The red 5 LCD comes with the necessary cables, no need for an additional one!

Get in touch with your Bomb Squad. They are absolutely Excelent - I have only good things to say about the Bomb Squad reps I've been given so far- thanks Kris, Nick and Kelsey!

[Victor MOREIRA]

Hi Joseph,

After burning your 70K, save to buy a Clutch, a Leica mount and the 0.95 lens AKA night vision. You'll never regret it.