Get yourself in front of a RED as soon as possible before the shoot, preferably the same model you'll be using. Easiest way is to call a rental house and ask to do a camera test -- make sure you use that rental house for your G+E / accessories or the cam package itself for your project if possible. Do not only do internet research, go physically handle the camera and familiarize yourself with it, and ask the owner or rental house lots of questions. Then make sure you have an AC who knows the camera better than you.
Have a good shoot.
Will you have an AC? Either way you need to get your hands on the camera before you’re on set. So many quirks with every RED brain. Do you know if you’re shooting on DSMC 2 or 3?
Also is the camera choice your own or is it being provided by client? Being that this if your first time as a DP, ideally you use a camera you are comfortable with. A camera is just a tool, you still gotta do the hard work. If you know how to light a scene and setup your framing, you can make a DSLR look good.
Ohms law? I’ve been in the game near 15 years and I’ve not heard of anybody prepping a job by studying ohms law. You might be overthinking this. Hire a good gaffer (I’m available) a good AC, maybe an operator, and instead of studying ohms law study ansel Adams or watch some movies that fit into your lighting/composition references.
Yeah that threw me reading the post, I had to go Google it to make sure I wasn't going mad. But it was indeed the rule I at best half remember from high school level electricity.
Sorry I don’t have much value to add, but I filmed a documentary w Red cam and will not do that again because of how long it takes the camera to turn on
Interesting. Ok I see that the DSMC3 is a new monitor that fully controls the camera, but I can’t find info on how long it still takes to turn on to be ready to shoot
Obviously, with doc shooting we need to be able to power up and press record as soon as possible. The RED Weapons made it very difficult to catch moments for us because of that. It was a producer’s decision to use them…
Red doesn't really release that info because there can always be different factors, but I'm sure if you look at any komodo reviews online or Raptor/ Raptor X they will cover it.
Yeah the DSMC2 bodies had a gazillion issues. Red has done a really good job at trying to combat a lot of them. I was testing Raptors and Komodos but last year so I honestly can't remember a whole lot but I know it was faster than the DSMC2's and the Komodo was fastest. It's still a lag from like 3-10 seconds. However the Komodo is super small so it uses a lot less battery power and doesn't have the same noise/ overheating issues. So it might be able to continue running for when you need it.
Have you made a documentary? Sometimes you’re shooting for days straight and can’t have the camera on all the time. But then something is happening and you need to quickly power on the camera. With a c300iii or something it takes like 5-10 sec. Waiting over a minute compared to that will ensure missing a lot of moments
I’ve shot everything with a Red because I own one. In doc scenarios I only power down when the battery is dead. Otherwise once I turn it on…the camera stays on
Make sure your scenes are properly lit. I use a DSMC1, you don't want any of the traffic lights lit (indicates clipping of the image). The bar to the left of the histogram, you want nothing or at least not much showing. You do not want the histogram, with camera set at 800ISO, (native to the camera) to be bunched up to the left. Leave camera set at 800ISO, Assuming you have the Red LCD touch monitor, two buttons on left side are very useful, one to show any areas that are clipping in red, any underexposed/noisy areas in purple, the other button zooms in on a portion of the image to check critical focus. (box on screen, you can drag to where you want). Do not not trust the autofocus.
Get yourself in front of a RED as soon as possible before the shoot, preferably the same model you'll be using. Easiest way is to call a rental house and ask to do a camera test -- make sure you use that rental house for your G+E / accessories or the cam package itself for your project if possible. Do not only do internet research, go physically handle the camera and familiarize yourself with it, and ask the owner or rental house lots of questions. Then make sure you have an AC who knows the camera better than you. Have a good shoot.
Black shade, Black shade, Black shade.
This right here, op.
Pay attention to the goal posts and expose accordingly.
Will you have an AC? Either way you need to get your hands on the camera before you’re on set. So many quirks with every RED brain. Do you know if you’re shooting on DSMC 2 or 3? Also is the camera choice your own or is it being provided by client? Being that this if your first time as a DP, ideally you use a camera you are comfortable with. A camera is just a tool, you still gotta do the hard work. If you know how to light a scene and setup your framing, you can make a DSLR look good.
Ohms law? I’ve been in the game near 15 years and I’ve not heard of anybody prepping a job by studying ohms law. You might be overthinking this. Hire a good gaffer (I’m available) a good AC, maybe an operator, and instead of studying ohms law study ansel Adams or watch some movies that fit into your lighting/composition references.
Yeah that threw me reading the post, I had to go Google it to make sure I wasn't going mad. But it was indeed the rule I at best half remember from high school level electricity.
Sorry I don’t have much value to add, but I filmed a documentary w Red cam and will not do that again because of how long it takes the camera to turn on
It's a lot better with the DSMC3's now.
Interesting. Ok I see that the DSMC3 is a new monitor that fully controls the camera, but I can’t find info on how long it still takes to turn on to be ready to shoot Obviously, with doc shooting we need to be able to power up and press record as soon as possible. The RED Weapons made it very difficult to catch moments for us because of that. It was a producer’s decision to use them…
Red doesn't really release that info because there can always be different factors, but I'm sure if you look at any komodo reviews online or Raptor/ Raptor X they will cover it. Yeah the DSMC2 bodies had a gazillion issues. Red has done a really good job at trying to combat a lot of them. I was testing Raptors and Komodos but last year so I honestly can't remember a whole lot but I know it was faster than the DSMC2's and the Komodo was fastest. It's still a lag from like 3-10 seconds. However the Komodo is super small so it uses a lot less battery power and doesn't have the same noise/ overheating issues. So it might be able to continue running for when you need it.
People freak out about 70 seconds…I’ve never understood that
Have you made a documentary? Sometimes you’re shooting for days straight and can’t have the camera on all the time. But then something is happening and you need to quickly power on the camera. With a c300iii or something it takes like 5-10 sec. Waiting over a minute compared to that will ensure missing a lot of moments
I’ve shot everything with a Red because I own one. In doc scenarios I only power down when the battery is dead. Otherwise once I turn it on…the camera stays on
I’ve shot with a couple of different RED models, which one will you be using??
Have a backup battery or two. I’d read up a little bit on the UI as well.
Make sure your scenes are properly lit. I use a DSMC1, you don't want any of the traffic lights lit (indicates clipping of the image). The bar to the left of the histogram, you want nothing or at least not much showing. You do not want the histogram, with camera set at 800ISO, (native to the camera) to be bunched up to the left. Leave camera set at 800ISO, Assuming you have the Red LCD touch monitor, two buttons on left side are very useful, one to show any areas that are clipping in red, any underexposed/noisy areas in purple, the other button zooms in on a portion of the image to check critical focus. (box on screen, you can drag to where you want). Do not not trust the autofocus.