Red one and wildlife cinematography thread?

[Steve Gibby]

Originally Posted by Mizael

Hi Isaac,
I am very interested to hear you have a good setup with the red and an 800 or 150-600mm. Ive been thinking about my options a lot, should i go for a canon/sigma 150-600/300-800 for my red or use a 40x with the b4 (but then its only 2k right?) Ive always thought that yes its great you can get the wide and the mammoth close up with the 40x but in a lot of cases you dont need to go THAT wide as your subject will be so far away you wouldnt see it in the wide, i recently saw this situation in BBC's Wild China. The cut from extreme wide in beautiful landscape where you didnt really see the animal, to the extreme closeup on the long end. What the 40x are nice for are the zooms from that extreme close up to super wide - but for regular sequence work you dont really need it?

So my question is (as i never used this lens) is the 150mm on the 150-600mm wide enough to get a wide in most cases? or just a mid.
Im all for using and investing in stills lenses for my red and hiring hd zooms as and when necessary - silly prices anyway - little me cant afford a 40x whaha

Here's some input on your questions:

We have the Funinon 42x9.7 and 22x7.3 HD EFP zooms. They're both great lenses. If the shooting we're doing can be limited to 2k and we need a very high frame rate, then yes we use them and yes, the footage is excellent. I've owned a RED B4 adaptor since last September.

The above said, a large portion of the wildlife and adventure travel footage we've been shooting has called for 4k and 3k resolutions, so the B4 lenses can't be used. My solutions for long lens 4k and 3k footage have been my Canon FD 150-600 f5.5L zoom and my RED 300mm tele, with a Century 2x extender at times.

My 150-600 is stock, except for a Century PL mount conversion (mount only). It was made in 1989 and the glass is excellent. My lens is well-maintained and free from the wear and tear you may find in lenses that old. It weighs 9 pounds, as opposed to the much heavier Sigma 300-800 (16 pounds).

With the 150-600 installed on RED, and the rest of the camera all set up, the rig weight is around 30 pounds. I regularly hike into remote areas with the rigged camera body in one hand, the 150-600 in my Tamrac 5258 backpack, and my tripod in my other hand.

150mm isn't that wide, so I usually also take along my RED 18-50 zoom for the wider scenic shots. BTW, the RED 300 is a very crisp lens and holds up very well to use with a 2x extender. Its is an excellent wildlife lens if you don't need zoom capability. When I need long lens zoom capability and need to cover 4k and 3k, my choice is the 150-600. If zooming isn't needed I quite often use the RED 300.

If you're not planning on renting your RED kit out, then by all means you can go the still lens route.

I've shot extensive amounts of wildlife with RED ONE since last August, in places like the Rocky Mountains, Hawaii, the U.S. West Coast, and Alaska. The first photo below is me in an extremely remote area of Alaska a few weeks ago shooting with my 150-600. The rest of the setup includes: RED EVF, ET EVF mount with sliding adjustment, RED Drive, ET ARRI plate (15mm), 15mm rods, ET ARRI V plate, Miller Arrow 55 tripod. The other photo is a closer look at the same rig in action on one of my California coast shoots.

I highly recommend the ET accessories. They're strong and well designed.

The 150-600 is hard to find and getting more expensive by the week. It is good glass and covers 4k and naturally 3k on RED ONE.

Hope this info helps you...