We received our Second Epic-X camera yesterday Friday, January 6th. We are happy to now have a backup camera for client projects. The second camera will be also used as a B unit camera. All three cameras are now available for rentals in South Florida. contact: andrae (at) facetmedia dot com for info.
I was just reading the Philip Bloom blog about “To buy a Scarlet or not to buy, that is the question…”. http://philipbloom.net/2011/11/20/scarlet/
He has some great points especially that it will cost you more than you think but also there are some alarming misinformation in there. For example he reports that it takes 90 minutes to offload a 128GB SSD card. I did it on a old HP Pavillion laptop through eSATA to some 2TB WD Caviar Green drives and it took 28 minutes. These are the slower intellipower (5400RPM) drives that I would not recommend. The producer bought them in advance and we had to roll with it. FireWire 800 takes around the same time. This was on set of a short movie we are filming called “Deadly Flower” so I have lots of people to verify that. I can also show anyone that is interested. Offloading to a RAID this time could be knocked down to 8 minutes.
Also he reports that it took 3.5 days to convert four 128Gb cards to Apple ProRes. Philip no doubt was trying to do this at full resolution debayer. At full resolution debayer one hours worth of footage can take 24 hours to convert. With half resolution debayer there is hardly any noticeable difference in quality when converting for HD. This is a debayer test we did on reduser and many people could not tell the difference: http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?55559-debayer-test
Full resolution debayer is a must for 4K output but not for HD output, especially when you just need offline proxy files to edit with. In any case he is partially right, you will need a workstation class computer. If using a laptop then get the latest model preferable quad core i7 or i5. Working with a RED is not working with video, it’s working with RAW and debayering takes lots of processing power. The workflow is very similar to film (albeit not as expensive) and one that is very technical.
In my opinion you can get by with two 128GB SSD cards and that is the minimum that I would recomend. You will need someone offloading the footage for you and knowing what they are doing. Attend some workshops or ask around on reduser what settings others are using. This workflow requires education and research… it’s not a video camera. There are some professional DIT’s on reduser that can give you great information.
His opinion on 4k future proofing is also limited to only his work… for example he says it’s good for movies. In my opinion it’s also great for documentaries and music videos. Well anything really that you would like to see in the future on higher resolution displays. Heck even home movies would be good for 4k or higher. Every camera and soon TV will have it in the near future, so why not have it now if you can afford it and make some money back? So in my opinion this is like saying all we need is a 2 megapixel still camera. Soon there will be no difference between stills and motion devices in regards to resolution.
In my opinion Philip Bloom is a good shooter for the type of work that he does. This does not mean that he’s a technical expert in post production. His experiences should tell you something though… if you are less technical that he is and don’t have the time to be researching on reduser… chances are you will have the same problems. Also everyone uses a camera in different ways… his opinions and experiences are his. We are all human beings coming from different perspectives with different wants and needs. In my case we mostly do music videos, shorts and feature film investment trailers and pursue a workflow in that regard. His experiences does not speak for mine. I’ve never had any reliability issues with my Epic, I think 4K is a good equivalent to film resolution and has the same future proofing aspect as film.
The only issues that I have with RED right now is that they are swamped from the Scarlet orders and some products are seriously back ordered. I hope they fix the back order situation soon and get their customer service back to where it should be.
RSVP here: http://www.meetup.com/Digital-Cinema/events/42852622/
Location: FACETMEDIA Studio, 722 North Andrews Avenue, Unit B. Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33311
At this meetup we’ll be testing The HDRx feature on the Epic camera which is also a feature on the Scarlet camera. This feature is meant to protect highlights by shooting two frames… One normally exposed and the other at higher shutter speeds for highlight protection. HDRx on the Epic can save indie productions lots of money on lighting by drastically reducing the number of lighting required for certain scenes. We’ll also go over the post workflow in REDCine-X and Adobe Premiere Pro Creative Suite 5.5 for processing HDRx footage. The meetup is scheduled from 2PM to 5PM. Yes we are aware that the date is New Years Eve… but traditions must be kept. Our monthly meetups are ALWAYS on the last Saturday of every month. This will be our ninth monthly meetup. Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to participate in these meetups.
This is the finished music video for “Smiling” by Hi-Rez. It was directed by Carlos Nuñez, and some of the scenes were filmed with our Epic camera and RED 18-50mm lens.
This is the trailer for “Smiling” by Hi-Rez. It was directed by Carlos Nuñez, and some of the scenes were filmed with our Epic camera and RED 18-50mm lens.
Samuel Hoffman from COMFILMS and Andrae Palmer from FACETMEDIA filmed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 17th and 18th a corporate holiday video for Govberg jewelers. FACETMEDIA provided the Epic camera package, lenses and came along as Assistant Camera operator.
Epic camera available for rentals in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. Special discounts to indie filmmakers, teachers and students. Call 954.593.0411 or email info (at) facetmedia dot com for more info.
Equipment list:
(1) Epic-X with PL Mount (1) RED 5" LCD Touch Screen (2) REDMag 1.8" SSD 128GB (1) RED Station REDMag 1.8" (2) Red Bricks, charger and cables (1) Battery Belt Clip (1) 2B-1B Cables (1) Top Handle and 100mm SWAT rail (1) EPIC A/C Power Adapter (1) DSMC Quick Release Platform Pack:
a. RED Quick Release Platform Dovetail
b. Two DSMC Universal Mounts 19mm
c. Dovetail Mounting Plate [long]
(1) Mounting Plate DSMC (1) Epic Pelican Case 1510 (1) Female XLR to Male 3.5mm jack Audio adapter.
RED Camera Rentals: http://facetmedia.com/red-rental/index.htm
Shot at 2k which is 2048 x 854 pixels.
Capture 14 megapixels in each frame at 120fps. With a maximum resolution of 5120 (h) x 2700 (v) and dynamic range of up to 18 stops. All in RAW. At 2K resolution the camera allows for 300fps capture. Comfortable shoot at high ISOs without worrying about noisy images. All of this in a lightweight package that’s comfortable to carry hand held or operate with small tripods. The future is here and it’s Epic. Call 954.593.0411 or email andrae (at) facet media dot com for rental enquiries. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Hollywood, RED One and Epic camera rentals.
follow: RSS
