EPIC ready for production

Emanuel A Guedes · November 6, 2010

«EPIC was officially declared ready for production today. We have prototypes that pass all the requirements we set out the past few months. That means we will finish the Tattoo program and put Tattoos on special jobs and begin ordering all the parts and pieces (over 18,000) to begin production. It will take a bit of time to set up the line and gather all we need, but the end is in sight.

Just to be clear, not every feature is currently enabled, but the most important ones are and the build seems very stable as a foundation. We expect 95% of the features to be ready by the time production EPICs are released.

This is a pretty big day.

Jim»

http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=51563

Edgar Dubrovskiy · November 6, 2010

Hype sells.

Tim Tyler · November 7, 2010

Hype sells.

Please explain.

David Mullen ASC · November 7, 2010

God forbid a manufacturer engage in promotion to sell their camera... they should be above such things.

John Sprung · November 7, 2010

OK, this is an important milestone in their internal development process. Other companies such as Arri, Panavision, Sony, etc. tend not to make public announcements of such events. But why not? It's a different style, really nothing wrong with that.

-- J.S.

Francesco Bonomo · November 7, 2010

OK, this is an important milestone in their internal development process. Other companies such as Arri, Panavision, Sony, etc. tend not to make public announcements of such events. But why not? It's a different style, really nothing wrong with that.

I agree with David and John, there's nothing wrong with it, and from their internal point of view it surely is a milestone. However, if you follow the link that Emanuel posted, you end up on RedUser, and if you have the time to read the hundreds of comments following the announcement, the reactions from the users there vary from pure (justified) enthusiasm to comments that are quite frankly embarassing, from the hopes for Red world domination (in the camera world and beyond) to Arri bashing, to the thought that after Epic everything will change, or to the fact that this camera will be the best camera for the next 100 years, etc., and I'm afraid this kind of comments are the majority.

I know it's their "style", and I know they've decided long ago that supoorting such a hardcore fan base was the best approach for them, but I cannot help thinking that it's somehow bad for their reputation or at least the perception that a lot of people have of Red as a company. I was talking to a cinematographer friend of mine a while ago, a guy with 30 years of experience in tv series here in Italy, I mentioned Red and Epic, and he told me that he's going to use those camera only if he's truly forced to do so, since they are "toys for kids". I'm sure he's going to test Epic as soon as it comes out, and I'm sure in the right hands the camera will be used to make beautiful pictures, but it's not the first time I hear something like that, and unfortunately for Red, perception plays a big role sometimes.

As for me, well, I'm no cinematographer or operator, and frankly I don't care about manufacturers' claims or hype. If a camera produces good images, is reliable and allows me to do my job without going (too) crazy, I'm absolutely fine with it. I'm curious about Epic, I hope the folks at Red have learned from their mistakes and have looked for feedback from cinematographers, operators and assistants in the design process (though I'm quite skeptical about its design), but in the end it's going to be just another tool available to storytellers and will push other manufacturers to come up with better cameras, and I can't see how that would be a bad thing.

Keith Walters · November 7, 2010

... but the end is in sight.

Thank God.

Do you mind? There's people trying to sleep down here.... :rolleyes:

Keith Walters · November 7, 2010

If a camera produces good images, is reliable and allows me to do my job without going (too) crazy, I'm absolutely fine with it. I'm curious about Epic, I hope the folks at Red have learned from their mistakes and have looked for feedback from cinematographers, operators and assistants in the design process (though I'm quite skeptical about its design), but in the end it's going to be just another tool available to storytellers and will push other manufacturers to come up with better cameras, and I can't see how that would be a bad thing.

I think their main problem is going to be that they simply aren't smart enough.

As an example, last week I took delivery of a Samsung "Wave" mobile phone, which is a sort of Android-based iPhone clone with a 3.3" AMOLED screen.

I didn't particularly want a new phone, it was just that my service provider was offering me a lower monthly rate, with more call time and a useful bit of Internet access, and with the first month free AND the Samsung Wave. And I couldn't get a better deal without the phone!

Well I presume the Wave makes calls; I haven't actually gotten round to putting in the SIM card, since the 3 year old Nokia phone I already have works just fine, and it's much smaller and lighter!

The Wave boasts a 5MP stills camera with a focussing lens (but no zoom) and also shoots 1250 x 720p 30fps video. No (0) Jello-Cam!!!

I'm not sure what the actual resolution is, but I'm going to measure that when I get a chance. All I can tell you is that for such a tiny lens, the quality is incredible.

Definitely not yer average "nasty, clippy Cellphone Camera".

I can record 70 minutes of damned fine HD video (well, it's definitely more than SD resolution) on an 8GB micro SD card, and the OLED screen is incredibly sharp and unbelievably bright. You can actually see the picture in broad daylight.

So the all-up cost of this phone with a memory card is about 100th the cost of a RED One, (complete with lenses, batteries, charger, viewfinder etc).

Is it 100th the performance? Absolutely NOT!

If Samsung brought out a version with four separate sensors, with four different focal length lenses, (ie instead of a zoom) this thing would absolutely slaughter the ENG market. I'll post some screen grabs shortly.

So, what are we going to see in another five years...?