A great crew and proper pre-production made for another successful RED Camera shoot in nearby Irvine, CA. We had five executive interviews scheduled in two locations, and wanted to achieve four looks in 4 hours so pre-pro was essential.

This shoot was a great example of using the right resources to be economical, efficient and professional. A proper scout, load in and pre-light on Friday helped to make the Monday shoot go extra smooth and reminded us all about the benefits of being prepared.

Most of the shoot was directed interview style (our preference with non-professional talent), however, we used a prompter for a one scene. As an aside, our new prompter worked well and we were able to divert the usual expense of hiring an outside tech and gear towards acquiring the additional assets we needed to add another prompter to our arsenal. Also, the budget didn’t allow for makeup, but since we had high profile executive talent, Jamie stepped in an did a brilliant job with the “powder kit”.

The proof is in the pudding as they say. Here is a frame grab from our shoot.

Frame grab R3D camera media

Click to see larger JPEG version

Tip: To add production value, we added background elements to add interest. The painting in the background was suspended with fishing line off a c-stand. Gotta love good depth of field control!

What we used for the shoot: RED ONE Camera, SN#15 RIPLEY, Red Drive, Red 18-85 zoom, Kinoflo & Arri lights. Project stat: No filters, 24FPS, 4K, ISO 320

 

We have the Duclos wide angle zoom in stock and for rent at Video Resources.

Based on a Tokina still photography lens, the Duclos 11-16mm 2.8 wide angle zoom is an ideal compliment to any cinema style shooting package. This lets compliments our prime lens package and is great for location work. We often find ourselves in small offices and physician exam rooms where every millimeter helps.

To make it cinema friendly the rework includes a complete overall of the lens to change the focus and zoom ratio and give it a cinema style touch. It is a solid retrofit and the optics are very good. Manual aperture control with cinema style markings for pulling focus. Small, lightweight lens is perfect when handholding the RED or any PL mount camera. We have it for rental, but if you want to buy one visit Duclos Lenses.

To see a overview of the lens check out this great overview by Finner

Tip: We send our lens out with a 77mm clear filter to protect the front lens element. Much better to replace a $ 150 filter then sending the lens into for polishing.

 

Our RED ONE camera systems have been busy!

All of our RED systems have been busy and so have we. Since taking delivery in August, our cameras and crews have contributed to features, national and regional commercials, indie features, and corporate productions.The camera packages can be built to your specific needs and all rentals include our personal, professional service.

The list below is a portion of our current inventory.

RED ONE camera body
RED EVF – electronic viewfinder
Shoulder dovetail support and cheese plate
Deluxe production and rail pack
Focus hooks and lens light
19 mm rods – various lengths
15 mm rod adapter and rods
VRi custom breakout box
Custom shipping cases for batteries
Custom shipping cases for camera and accessories
RED A/C power supply
140 Watt Lithium Ion RED V-Lock bricks
RED 18 to 50 mm zoom lens, T2.8
RED 300 mm, T3 prime
Vocas MB-4XX matte boxes and focus whips
Chrozeil matte boxes and dual side follow focus
Formatt, Harris, Tiffen and Schneider filters
Panasonic HD field and studio monitors
O’Connor and Sachtler camera support
…and more

We didn’t want to play favorites so both of our named cameras Ripley and Connor, have been equipped the same. No jealously around here.

If you want to rent a RED ONE, call us at 800-261-7266.

 

When Western Digital wanted to introduce their convenient “Studio Edition II” drives to the video community they choose to feature a RED ONE Camera. Well, not just any RED camera but our very own Ripley, also known as Serial No. 15. Holding our super handsome camera is our beloved Jeff Killian, shooter and editor extraordinaire. I guess everyone deserves their 15 minutes.

 

The Red camera technology and REDCODE raw have put the power of traditional cinematography in our hands. As you have seen, the depth of field control and image quality is as good as anything we have worked with in our career. The images below demonstrate the literal flexibility of the raw image format that the Red One camera creates.

Let me explain. A high resolution frame from a sequence shot the first week we had our camera (August 2007!) has been made available to the RED user community. Various users downloaded the image and subsequently posted various efforts at color correction and image looks.

Our gallery of images shows the power of the R3D image format. Like RAW images that are now common with many still cameras, the Red native image format allows for broad color and gamma correction after the image is recorded by the camera.

This is a JPEG of the original file:

Reference image in JPEG format of the non-corrected image

To see how others have interpreted and manipulated the image visit our interactive gallery. To try your hand at color correcting this file download the TIF original file (41MB) here. Please post your comments about the experience and upload directly to our webgallery. To receive credit on any images you post, include your reduser names as a title for each image. If anyone wants their image removed please send a request my way.

Update: Read more about the power of the RED image format in this post by Oliver Peters

Authors note: At the time of the original post, software to read the R3D files was not readily available so I made a TIF file available to allow others to try their hand at color correction. If there is enough interest, I can upload an R3D version of the clip.

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