What with the Alexa release and the plethora of stills camera manufacturers retooling DSLR’s into film camera bodies, the pressure has been on RED to up their game. We always chat to directors and producers to find out their experience with the technology and what they prefer using. Most of them will roll their eyes when you talk about RED systems. It seems that the Alexa is the date that everyone wants to take to the prom. It’s ruggedness, ease of use and ability to generate 4:2:2 ProRes footage straight to card and subsequently straight into MacBook Pro to be duplicated and to work on the offline makes it the clear winner in the race to be the commercial industry’s workhorse camera.
RED have just released the Epic system, which has a HDR algorithm as part of the package. This allows you a jaw-dropping 18 stops of latitude for your footage. Set your aperture on the lens and watch as the sensor allows you either apply HDR in camera or record RAW and apply 3 different ISO settings to the same footage.
In real terms have a look at this shot set up in Sydney, Australia that goes from the dark of a tunnel to mid-morning bright sun, without any adjustments made to a RED Epic strapped to the front of the car.
one pass, one shot, this could swing the pendulum back towards RED systems…
