HD For Indies

If you'd like to download the full 4K 16 bit 48MB uncompressed source of the above image, right click and Save As to download

Click on above image to see a 2K resolution 100% quality JPEG open in its own window..

Day 1, Brooklyn in the park, skyline and two women walking hand in hand. Handheld or steadicam, not sure which.



OK, now all the shots below were shot later in the week, when we had a better handle on how to expose.

This lens sensitivity is exemplified by some of these shots, taken outdoors at the south side piers in New York City. This was in the shade of an elevated train/ highway/something, no focal tape used, handheld focus down with the Red LCD, non-professional operators, shot ENG style, etc. etc. etc. This was also before backfocus got fine tuned and the lens was tweaked by a camera house, etc. No bounce cards, just start shootin'. Consider it duly disclaimed. So while focus is soft, and non-optimal, DO check out the dynamic range in the shot, and if you download the 4K TIFFs, start playing with how far you can bend it in post. Going into Curves in CS3, where you have a histogram, setting black/white point and messing around can generate some striking looks. Pump about 20-25 points of Saturation in the Hue/Sat controls as well (Cmd-U on Mac) after giving a little film style S-curve, and it is quite a look (many, MANY possibilities, of course).


Southside Piers shoot, Brooklyn Bridge shot. This looks flat to the eye, but grade it and see how much room it has to play. This is a sort of steady frame from a VERY dynamic handheld shot.

If you'd like to download the full 4K 16 bit 48MB uncompressed source of the above image, right click and Save As to download



Click on above image to see a 2K resolution 100% quality JPEG open in its own window..

South Side Piers shoot again, Nicole leans against a railing with a white ship behind her in the afternoon. Was it overcast or hazy or what? Not blue skies, but clearly some light coming through, as you can see on the side of the ship.

If you'd like to download the full 4K 16 bit 48MB uncompressed source of the above image, right click and Save As to download



Click on above image to see a 2K resolution 100% quality JPEG open in its own window..

South Side Piers shoot - this is in the shadow of an overpass, with light on the water behind. Nicole looks wistfully into the distance....

If you'd like to download the full 4K 16 bit 48MB uncompressed source of the above image, right click and Save As to download



Click on above image to see a 2K resolution 100% quality JPEG open in its own window..

Southside Piers shoot - Nicole and Avram are subjected to Mike expounding on why Red rocks for a camera sync test. Yes, that is a USB gooseneck light around my neck. Long story.

If you'd like to download the full 4K 16 bit 48MB uncompressed source of the above image, right click and Save As to download



Click on above image to see a 2K resolution 100% quality JPEG open in its own window..

South Side Piers shoot - a helicopter takes off from the landing strip on the pier into the late afternoon haze. Hastily set up and shot as the helicopter was spinning up and getting ready to take off.

If you'd like to download the full 4K 16 bit 48MB uncompressed source of the above image, right click and Save As to download 

OK, that ought to give you something to play with for a bit. The softness of the images? Don't write off Red based on that. I'd say it is somewhere between not perfectly tweaked backfocus, not perfectly tweaked lens, and imperfectly shot focus, since we were shooting EFP style with no focus tape (except for one shot). Was all handheld or Steadicam as well, except for the darker skyline shots were on sticks up on a roof. But this was our "learner" footage for the most part.

To me, the interesting thing is to look at the range, how does the compression do (and I think a firmware update has tweaked it since then), and see how far you can push it in post.

If you compare histograms from these images to some of the very first ones I posted, you'll see a difference in how we were exposing - learning how to better optimally get stuff to work.

If you want to grade a shot and post the results, I've set up a thread on Reduser.net to post them. How about 2K res (2048x1024), JPEG please?

-mike