Fred,
No, Cooter is in Dallas though today in Santa Monica and the other half of Cooter is in Europe on pre production.
Anyway, I like my RED's so I have to admit I have some bias. Not that I get anything free from RED, heck I don't think anyone gets anything free from RED.
But with our RED ones (our Scarlet will be shipping in few days) I don't find them more intuitive than unintuitive. Like someone mentioned, after about a day, you have a pretty good handle on how the camera works and how to work the sensor and menu settings.
Compared to most video cams I've worked in the past the Red One's are easy and stable, because cameras like the Canon and Sony High Def's were just a wrong hand grab or button push to a problem, so with the RED ones at least you set it with one basic metal knob and then it's set.
It's not hard, you can fine tune it with iso, flut, color, tone, saturation, white balance, iso sensitivity, shutter, shutter angle, etc. etc. etc.
I'll let you know in a few days how the Scarlet works.
The beauty is since it's a raw file most of the settings can be changed in grading, so what you do to give a client an idea of how the imagery will look can be changed when it comes to post production.
Now a lot of people want the perfect file out of camera and if you calibrate your camera to your computer and software you can do it where you just place it in cinex and process out.
The beauty of Cinex is you can set multiple formats of files and process them at once. The second benefit of cinex is with the RED rocket it's virtually real time or faster, depending on your video card, etc. etc.
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Matching stills to cinema footage. Everybody has their way, but I personally make those decisions based on the project. If the project is weighted more to the still imagery, then it takes precedent, or vice versa.
Now, just like shooting a Nikon next to a Canon, or a medium format back, not every camera renders the same look so a RED won't exactly match a still camera, though since it's raw I've found it easier to match color with the stills, than I do the 5d2 or the Sony FS100.
Especially the Sony, I find that the most complicated camera to hit color on, but I use it the less of any camera so maybe I'm not that familiar with it.
I think color and tone of footage is one of the most difficult things to learn, because you can do to motion anything you can do with stills, but as you know you have to do it with different software suites that usually don't have the same interface as still processor suites.
Cinex is more like C-1 or Lightroom, but Cinex is not as full featured as Apple Color or Di-Vinci.
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Quicktime.
The gamma issue is a mess, the fact that 75% of the market still cuts in FCP 5,6, or 7 makes quicktime a viable format. I don't have a single client that doesn't assume a 422 prorezz file to be a master, so whether I think it's the best format or not, until the editorial world settles down I think QT will continue.
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Costs
I probably know but don't want to add it up. I guess it depends on what your shooting.
On the cheap a RED One or a Scarlet is not as expensive as a medium format back and camera and RED's lenses are a good price compared to a lot of PL mount lenses.
The best deal is the Zeiss Nikon Mount still lenses. They're amazingly sharp and have a shorter throw (though accurate) and if you practice you can carry focus yourself, even on moving subjects.
I understand about the Economy. Spain has been hit hard, but in the creative industries world wide, they've all been hit hard and I would imagine more than most other segments of the economy.
I also know it's a difficult decision to invest in a new area with no guarantees, but the way the industry is going I just didn't think we had much choice. Either go forward or scramble for a segment of the industry that continues to be marginalized. As a friend of mine says . . . this is the life we chose.
So, though we've shot video/motion in parallel to still production, to really go forward I wanted cameras the I could own, shot a raw file, we're in rental world wide and we're within a price range that wasn't insane. I also wanted real military grade build quality, not plastic, so . . .the only cameras that fit we're the RED's and honestly I'm still pretty amazed that nobody has really met RED head on in competition.
I compare my RED one's to a Phase One back. They may not be the prettiest, they may drop in price in a year or less, but I think they'll last forever (my phase backs have) and I'll probably use them for a lot of years.
IMO
BC