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At times the menu of the R1 can be a bit counter-intuitive, for example that phantom power is under System>Sound, while the recording level is placed at Video>Audio. Helpfully, Octamas from Switzerland has been publishing a visual guide of the Red 1 menu system, and they’ve just released their guide for still-warm Build 20.

Bits, pieces and links

And for inspiration, hop over to As the Dust settles, a documentary in progress about the amazing Burning Man Festival – all shot on RED. They have a lovely photo gallery.

If you ever need a manual for an old camera, check out IscanManuals. They charge a small fee.

Trying to hide in the open with your camera? LensCoats makes, well, lens coatings, for pretty much any make, including the Canon 1200mm beast:

A quick fix around the gamma problem in QT and OSX.

Changing from DV to Red RAW has many advantages. One of them is that of a vastly improved possiblity to change things in post production. White balance is not baked in, and certain changes to exposure can be done without much penalty.

And thus an idea for a movie poster was born…

I am one of the alpha testers for the new RED build, that promises improved performance under low lights and tungsten. What better place to test than a low-lit death metal concert. All tungsten lights.

Am very impressed. ISO 640 @ f1.4 on Contax Zeiss 50mm and 85mm.

Interesting short interview with director/DP Steven Sonderberg on his approach to lighting on his newest film, Girlfriend Experience. He added light on only 2 shots, the rest is done with available/natural light. Shot on RED one.

So RED just had their first public showing of their REDRay magic box. Some compression wizzardry made it possible to compress 4k video by the factor of 750 – resulting in 4k footage at a datarate that is half of standard definition miniDV. Basically you get a picture way, way, way better than HD at a fraction of BluRay’s data rate. This might just turn the whole delivery upside down, as it will enable distribution of high quality films via standard broadband. Also, digital cinema will not need proprietary distribution technology, because a feature film will fit on a standard DVD-R.

At the REDuser party in Las Vegas RED showed both uncompressed footage side-to-side with the same footage compressed with their technology. Uncompressed size was roughly 320GBs, while the REDRay version shrank down to 450MBs. Many reported as to not being able to tell the difference.

Some video footage from the REDuser party has been put online by Justin.tv.

I hope that it will only be a matter of time before 4k projectors come at an affordable price. Community cinemas could spring to life again, and small filmmakers could organize regionally to open up their own cinemas. Distribution of independent film will no longer be limited by cost.

What an exciting times we live in, my friends.

Yesterday the Andy Lesniak Canon mount for our RED One camera arrived. After struggling a bit with the back-focus adjustment, the mount is now installed, and I ran a quick lens breathing test. These were not lit or framed at all, just a speedy test on how the lenses perform under focussing. No follow focus yet either, thus not the cleanest pulls ever. No CC either.

All tests were done with the lenses set at their widest, also to test the focus at infinity.

Carl Zeiss Distagon 25mm/2.8 (Click to see the test at 1024×512)

Focus at infinity is not quite there. This might be because of the Contax/Canon adapter used. A new one is on order. If the lens is stepped down to 5.6, infinity is fine. Stepping down on the 25/2.8

Carl Zeiss Distagon 35mm/2.8 (Click to see the test at 1024×512)

Carl Zeiss Tessar 45mm/2.8 (Click to see the test at 1024×512) This lens is small, not thicker than a thumb.

Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm/1.4 (Click to see the test at 1024×512) The flickering comes from the office fixtures.

Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm/1.4 (Click to see the test at 1024×512) This is one beauty of a lens.

Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135mm/2.8 (Click to see the test at 1024×512)

Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar 200mm/3.5 (Click to see the test at 1024×512)

Tamron 500mm/8 (Click to see the test at 1024×512) This is just a lens I happend to have, and it was fun trying it as well. It has a fixed aperture of 8, and includes a macro function. Mirror lens, meaning it is relatively compact.

Generally I am happy with the performance of these lenses, their breathing is acceptable to me. The built quality of the Zeiss lenses is phenomenal, they have a very long focus throw.

Suddenly I find myself enjoying making mock-up posters for RED. Here is the newest creation (click for full size):

RED’s boss, Jim Jannard, has pretty much revolutionized the camera business. Here’s a little thank-you-poster I made (after The Last Legion):

Jim Jannard, the ONE legion

This is huge!
RED has just posted the first specs for their new line of cameras. Very, very exciting. See yourself or click here for the full resolution version:

Looks like our Birger mount is on its way home.

Soon I’ll be able to give our Contax Zeiss lenses a proper try.

And my new laptop from Apple (MBP 2.8ghz Intel Duo, 4gig – my first Intel Mac) is also on its way, enabling me to work R3D files on the road.

Exciting times. All puzzle pieces are coming together.