Author: North Coast Videographer

Tim is a Cameraman based on North coast of NSW Australia with the latest Sony FX6, F5 a7rIII cameras and as well as Live Streaming gear.

Alexa, RED MX, 35mm, F3, Canon D1 and 16mm side by side

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Alexa, Arri, Canon, Epic, Red, XDcam

Check out this video. Its a camera test of six cameras, Alexa, RED MX, 35, F3, Canon D1 and 16 side by side. Its a great test because they have shot the same short film with each of the six cameras  under varied lighting conditions.

See if you can pick which camera shot which version. At the end it lets you know which short was shot on which camera.

The Cameras used –
Aaton 35-3
Arri Alexa
Red MX
EOS 1DmkIV
Sony PMW F3 (was an engineering sample)
Aaton XTR PROD (Super 16)

Cooke S4’s were used except for the 1D, which had CP’s

This test was done by John Brawley. John has racked up an impressive and diverse range of credits working extensively in the United States, Europe and Asia. You can go to John’s web site and find out more about him.

Alexa Vs Epic

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Alexa, Arri, Epic, Red

Alexa Specs verus Epic Specs

Now I think this may get a few people talking. The specifications are from the Arri and Red.

I must admit the DTE, Direct-to-Edit, i.e. the Alexa’s number one feature is not mentioned. It’s still the one area Epic can’t touch (though 3rd party solutions are coming soon that will close the gap a lot, and of course RED will have a module of their own some day).

Oh, and the Alexa is also available today to anyone with the $$$, with all options and full kit. The Epic-M is still unavailable to most. The Epic-M also regularly ships without all of the parts — missing EVFs, REDMotes, etc.. This is not RED’s fault (Japan crisis, etc.) but it’s still a point of comparison today.

When Epic finally gets widely available with full firmware, it’s definitely going to be the camera to beat. I’m certainly waiting for mine. If I can’t wait any longer, I’d consider buying an F3/S-Log/Cinedeck over an Alexa at this point.

The Power of shooting RAW with Red

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Epic, Red, Red One, Scarlet, Uncategorized

Here is a video from a Red camera user Mark Toia.

Mark said “We did a shot yesterday that everyone on set said couldn’t be saved. A super hi contrast shot with a 8 stop difference between ends.
The monitor image looked terrible, the quicktime proxies looked just as bad, But all of my previous testing has proven that the shot was not a concern and no lights were needed to fill the scene to lesson the contrast. I was hoping for a cloudy day.

Worried clients, concerned crew… all non believers all said I was mad, that I should light and flood the whole scene with soft light to lesson the contrast…. blah blah blah..
So it was time to convert them to the real world of RED RAW.
Here is the result.

This is a great example of how grade-able the Red’s R3D files are.

Sony releases new version of XD Browser V1.21

by North Coast Videographer, posted in XDcam

Sony releases new version of XD Browser V1.21

XDB – the new Xdcam Browser software will be the same for both Mac and Windows. This still is early versions of the software so does not offer all the functionatity that the other Mac and PC version offer at this time.

It is great though to see Sony slowly releasing new version with improvements.

To download    XD Browser V1.21 go to Sony

UPDATE : XD Browser V1.3 has been released

Red releases the Epic camera

by North Coast Videographer, posted in Epic, Red, Red One, Scarlet

Red has released its Epic camera. This camera has higher resolution then any other camera out there today. It also offers higher record rates @ 5k.

I have ordered the Epic and am hoping for delivery soon !

The Epic camera is currently being used to shoot many big budget films. If fact James Cameron just bought 50 Epic cameras.

At last count there were well over 480 Epic (M) cameras released.