FEATURE REDRAVEN
THE REALITY OF RED Is the legendary cinema camera a sensible buy for your business?
A RAWDEAL
It’s shooting Raw that RED became famous for and it means you are actually recording what the sensor sees rather than using the camera to compress it and bake in lots of settings that are then hard to change effectively. You make all your decisions about the footage afterwards, in post. But it does add an extra layer in post-production with those very large Raw files. Just as when many serious stills photographers made the leap from shooting JPEGs to shooting Raw a decade ago, there is a small learning curve but the increase in quality is immense. With a Raw file, you can set things like white-balance and tint precisely after recording, rather than trying to guess and struggling to change things afterwards as in normal footage. You can change colour balance, use a colour picker to set white-balance, change sharpness, use curves and really push the highlight and shadow details. Other cameras can now shoot Raw, like the BlackMagic Ursa Mini Pro, Canon C200, and Sony FS7 or FS5 – although both of these need extra expense on firmware or hardware to unlock the capability, plus the added complication of an external recorder. Processing these files can be a pain, too, especially for Sony as there is no dedicated Raw conversion software. RED has this nailed. There are two free downloads, one is Redcine-X Pro Raw converter and the other is a plug-in for Final Cut Pro X. You open your files in Redcine-X Pro, and make all the changes you want. It’s intuitive and easy to use, a total joy and a game changer if you’ve never experienced the control it gives you. If you have already used these files in FCPX, when you go to your Alternatively, you can open the files in FCPX, then change the most-used Raw settings like white-balance via a pop-up window. It adds hardly any extra time to normal editing but increases the quality of files hugely. For use inAdobe Premier or other NLE, you open the files in Redcine-X Pro, make changes then export them for use. It’s not quite as streamlined, but hardly a chore. And the difference it can make is huge. project they are automatically updated with the new settings
And to be fair, if you were going to take a camera into a war zone, chances are you’d choose a RED. The camera looks and feels like it’s hewn from a solid block of aluminium, with an all-metal construction that is designed to take the knocks and last for years. Even the RED-branded memory cards, the Mini-Mags, are all-metal. No flimsy plastic here. Where RED does get closer to Apple again is in its blatantly premiumpricing. Just as many Apple haters say there are much better-spec phones than the iPhone and laptops than the MacBook Pro at significantly lower price points, many people are prepared to pay the premium for the superior design and useablilty. In the case of RED, it’s more than just looks, a cool interface and brand kudos as the cameras deliver in certain ways that no others can. And that’s why they can justify the very high prices.
While RED and Apple now seem like relatively well-matched bedfellows in terms of high brand profile, the closest synergy between two companies is actually RED and sunglasses giant Oakley. Both are masters of pioneering the latest technology, thenmarketing it hard with lots of cool adverts, product placement with influencers andmade-up branding like the trademarked Unobtanium, Plutonite, Virgin Serilium, Polaris Ellipsoid and Thermonuclear Protection. These are all components of Oakley sunglasses or motorcycle handlebar grips, Oakley’s first product. It may, therefore, come as no surprise that RED’s similarly strangely-namedMysterium X, Redray Redcode, Redsight, Redgun, Epic, Dragon andMonstro trademarks all come from the man who was the driving force and genius at Oakley, its founder Jim Jannard. After selling Oakley to Italian fashion giant Luxottica, California- based Jannard used his mega payday to create the ultimate digital moviemaking cameras. His mission was to use the Raw output from the new crop of large-sensor digital SLR cameras and invent a way of using them to record video – along with all the high quality and ultimate flexibility that 4K Raw recording allows. Right from the start back in 2005, there was lots of hype about this amazing new sort of camera, and when the first units hit the shelves in 2007, the filmmaking world was turned on its head overnight. Some say RED invented large- sensor modern digital filmmaking, and there is a certain truth to that. They certainly mastered the art of creating a desirable product that was totally different to its rivals, in terms of its modular build, military-style rugged construction and nomenclature that all creates a mystique around the brand. The memory cards are called Mini-Mags, a connector unit is the Jetpack and there are also products called the Switchblade, Redvolt and Bomb. The logo on the side is a stylised skull. And if there was any doubt as to RED’s military obsession, refurbished products are sold with the official label ‘Battle Tested’.
BELOWAND BOTTOM A Canon lens and a huge battery pack means you're ready for a long shoot. The buttons are simple and obvious.
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PRO MOVIEMAKER SPRING 2018
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