GEAR
REDKOMODO
files give means you can push and pull them around to tweak them as you like. The skin tones are very smooth and natural, and the Raw capture means you can pull back a huge amount of highlight and shadow detail. There is an optical low-pass filter to prevent moiré, and we didn’t encounter any at all. The images are what made Red famous and the Komodo continues that tradition of excellence. When recording, you have a choice of different resolutions, but as the camera records from the whole size of its Super 35 sensor in 6K, then going down to 5K, 4K or 2K is simply a crop of the sensor, so the angle of view changes as well as the maximum frame rate. Compared to a full-frame 35mm sensor, shooting the Red Komodo in 6K gives an equivalent 1.34x crop and a maximum frame rate of 40fps. In 5K, it’s a 1.61x crop and 50fps, while 4K is 2.01x and 60fps. Shoot in 2K and it’s a 4.02x crop compared to full-frame, but this does allow you to record up to 120fps. This is slower than many of Red’s DSMC2 range of cinema cameras, but that’s why they are more than double the price. It’s not the king of high-speed frame rates, and it’s also not the prince of darkness! At low ISO settings, up to around 800, it’s noise free, although you do need to give the sensor lots of light where possible. It’s a decent performer at up to ISO 3200, but after that it becomes a bit too noisy. And of course, there is no built-in noise reduction in-camera. Getting the exposure right is key, helped by what is a first for Red: a built-in touchscreen colour display. This is only small at 73.7x73.7mm/ 2.9x2.9in in size, but allows you to access the menus, as well as seeing a small live preview. And it shows a cool skull logo when you boot the camera up, which does take almost half a minute. At least it’s something to look at. The screen has a histogram display, false colours and a traffic light system to show whether your exposure is right. The screen is fixed on top of the camera, so it’s hard
to see if the camera is at eye level. Many users will rely on an external monitor with a range of exposure and focusing tools to get everything right, but you still need to input camera settings on the small touchscreen anyway. This uses a totally new Red UI, which is easy to understand and use once you get yourself into a position to see and use the screen, but the camera does come with built-in Wi-Fi, so if the camera is in an awkward position, then it’s best to link up your smart device and control it from the dedicated app. It is in terms of everyday usability that Red cameras differ from the vast majority of cinema cameras, which typically come with useful features like built- in ND filters, XLR audio inputs and lots of buttons on the side of the camera to tweak most-used settings. The Red has none of those. What you are buying is a small but potent box camera that weighs just 960g/2.1lb for the body only and is a cube measuring 102x102x102mm/4x4x4in. You then bolt on accessories to transform it into the precise camera you need it to be. Our camera was fully rigged up by UK Red distributor CVP, which knows a lot about customising the cameras for individual users. At the rear of the camera is a battery-mounting plate for a pair of Canon BP-955 or BP-975 batteries that can be hot-swapped. But
ABOVE Kitted up with lot of accessories as recommended by CVP, the Komodo is turned in to a potent cinema camera, but still in a compact package
“It is in terms of everyday usability that Red cameras differ fromthe vastmajority of cinema cams, which typically come with built-inNDfilters and XLR inputs”
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