48 hours with the Epic

[cgbier]

Tom Guilmette gives shows some of the Epic's features and menus, and shows some outdoor footage.

Interesting video... somehow.


http://vimeo.com/26570279

[1]

Grrrr.....rule #6......grrrrrrrrr.....mumble......grumble.....

[cgbier]

Sorry... better now?

[Dr. Benway]

Yeah, that's cool. Looks like a breeze to set-up. A learning curve for sure but pretty clear. I like the touchscreen LCD and the info. display a lot, too. Thing's very heavy - a pro tool for sure.

[cgbier]

I hate touchscreen - my Sony A1 is f*cked up because the touch screen is screwed up. I can only use it for video now - no chance to set audio anymore.

[1]

Sorry... better now?

Sweet, and thanks!

[1]

Looks like all of us here in this thread all geographically and hence timezone connected!

[cgbier]

The doc is 3 or 4 hours away from me, you 1 or 2...

[cgbier]

... but some specific gentleman from Finland should be awake also already...

[Ian-T]

Suprised he hasn't already chimed in.

...wait for it....wait for it....

[KingDucky]

I'm 5 minutes away from all of you.:hv20-smilie77:

[Gillvane]

Wow. 35 pounds.

They are using, what, 30 or 40 of these to film the Hobbit. Why would you need 30 or more cameras? They say one day Scarlet will come out, and shoot 3k on a 2/3" sensor and be under 10K for a total set up you can actually shoot something with (can't do much with just a brain and nothing else).

Chances of me putting hands on an Epic are pretty much none. That's a seriously expensive camera, and I'm not a pro shooter.

[HueyNRolf]

Pretty good stuff and he only said 'awesome' twice.

[cgbier]

he only said 'awesome' twice
Does that mean the cam ain't good?

[HueyNRolf]

Does that mean the cam ain't good?
:hv20-smilie81:

No but it puts the video within my tolerance zone.

[Duke]

Did any one notice that you need to pull the drive out to view the footage?

Or that the Epic-X (the cheaper cast aluminum one) is going up in price to $36,500 (with the PL mount) as of 1/1/12?
The cost of the Redmote, I/O module and several other things is going up too. With the new prices you're looking at $44k without lenses.

[Dr. Benway]

Did any one notice that you need to pull the drive out to view the footage?

Yep, weird. Been thinking about that. So you need a computer/reader to view... and yeah, massively expensive. A bit of a fetish camera - or just one for the wealthy.

[Braceface]

Wow, thats great! But I bet Canon, Nikon, and everybody else will have consumer cams that do this stuff within the next few years, and Red will be doing entirely different things with cams by then. So I'll pretty much never be able to afford to use one, or need to, even.

[cgbier]

...at least they keep the others on their toes.

For my filming budget of $27.50 (three tapes and a case of beer), this is not the right cam.

[Gillvane]

Yep, weird. Been thinking about that. So you need a computer/reader to view... and yeah, massively expensive. A bit of a fetish camera - or just one for the wealthy.

It's a pro camera. It competes with Alexa, a quarter million dollar camera. I don't think "fetish" is the appropriate description.

[paperkut12]

I'm not sure if it's just me but I thought the footage at the end would look more impressive.

[cgbier]

Well, on YouTube or Vimeo, even an HV can look impressive. It is the raw footage that blows you away.

[Braceface]

The yellow sky looks aweful!!! It says nothing about the camera, but I don't like his shooting style or grading.

[Dr. Benway]

"fetish" is the appropriate description.

A sought-after, niche market camera? One with a certain cachet?

[Gillvane]

A sought-after, niche market camera? One with a certain cachet?

Peter Jackson ordered 40 of them to shoot the Hobbit. The upcoming new Spiderman reboot movie is shot with Epics. Ridley Scott's feature "Prometheus" will be shot on EPICs.I believe the soon to be released Contagion, which you might have seen trailers for at the movies recently, was shot on an Epic.

I think it's out of the niche market, and into the professional film making market. If you're going to make a film with a substantial budget, Red Epic is one of your choices. You could go with a Panavision and shoot film, you could go with an Arri Alexa, you could do like the director of Black Swan and shoot super 16 with a Canon 5d for b roll.

http://blog.onthebox.com/2011/07/25/ridley-scott-talks-prometheus/

[Halsu]

Suprised he hasn't already chimed in.

...wait for it....wait for it....

I was out in the countryside for a week, but here i am again ;-)

Re: Touchscreen - you can, but do not have to use the touch screen. The settings can be accessed with traditional buttons too if one prefers those.
Re: Playback - the on-camera playback feature isn't enabled yet, but will be on a later firmware version. The cameras out there now are still using beta firmware.
Re: Using 30-40 cameras - multiple crews shooting multi-camera stereo scenes simultaneously + backup cameras for those... it all adds up quickly.
Re: Scarlet pricing - the latest estimated price announced by Red for ready to shoot Scarlet is still around 6000 bucks, not 10 000, thought it too might change for the worse of course.

[Randy Malone]

Peter Jackson ordered 40 of them to shoot the Hobbit. The upcoming new Spiderman reboot movie is shot with Epics. Ridley Scott's feature "Prometheus" will be shot on EPICs.I believe the soon to be released Contagion, which you might have seen trailers for at the movies recently, was shot on an Epic.

I think it's out of the niche market, and into the professional film making market. If you're going to make a film with a substantial budget, Red Epic is one of your choices. You could go with a Panavision and shoot film, you could go with an Arri Alexa, you could do like the director of Black Swan and shoot super 16 with a Canon 5d for b roll.

http://blog.onthebox.com/2011/07/25/ridley-scott-talks-prometheus/

40!! Can you link me to the article that says that? Wow I wonder if they are planning on destroying some in stunts.

[Gillvane]

40!! Can you link me to the article that says that? Wow I wonder if they are planning on destroying some in stunts.

My bad. It's 30 not 40.

http://www.bgr.com/2010/11/28/peter-jackson-purchases-thirty-red-epic-cameras-to-film-the-hobbit-in-3d/