I’ve had my RED Scarlet since mid January now – Well, at least I’ve had the brain. It wasn’t usable for a few weeks until the 5.0 Touch LCD arrived. Then I had to wait another 2 weeks til parts arrived to make a DIY V-Mount plate  since all the commercial solutions were backordered. Anyway, I’ve now got 2 solid weeks of 16+ hour days shooting the Scarlet under truthfully the worst camera conditions possible – Rallying.

The frame grabs below are from a documentary I am working on called Easier Said Than Done – The first feature length doc on Rallying. I’ve re sized them for the web and applied curves and a little USM. They haven’t gone through any extensive color work.

Easier Said is on Facebook here: facebook.com/EasierSaidThanDoneFilm If you like it, you should like it. That way when I run out of money this summer and have to do a Kickstarter campaign I can harass you.

A couple of weeks ago I shot the 100 Acre Wood Rally and got to pull the Scarlet out a few times. But it wasn’t my primary. It went well, so a week later I brought it down to Mexico for Rally Guanajuato Mexico intending to use it full time as primary camera. I did bring a 7D also, but since I was “flying solo” and had little support for things like customs issues I really only brought the Scarlet and 7D – Not much else unlike usual. Scarlet Kit contained 3 v-mount batteries (1 AXRTEC ebay brand, and 2 Switronix XP’s. 2 64GB mags, Zeiss 80-200 and 28, Tokina 11-16 and Zuiko 28mm. Super lightweight kit as far as cinema cameras go. Also before I headed out I picked up a Zacuto Target Shooter. My side handle has not arrived from RED yet (Actually, it did while I was gone) and I needed some other way to balance the camera as I anticipated some handheld. Really the Target Shooter kinda stinks. It is top notch Zacuto quality. But the Scarlet weighs too much for just a shoulder brace. I ended up using 3-4 times but my arms are still hurting.

Like lots of Rallies, Rally Mexico is dusty. Big time dusty. Not your little dust blowing around the Nevada desert kind of dusty, but the kind that literally jams buttons in 15 minutes, causes contact lenses to stop working in 30 and all sorts of other nastiness. With rally you can either shoot LONG lens (and still get some dust as it blows your way) or get into the serious dust. Let me illustrate with this frame grab. From 4kHD on Scarlet-X.

4kHD on RED Scarlet X

Immediately after Mikko goes past you, a billowing serious dust cloud envelopes all within 600ft or so. Rallies KILL cameras. Literally. I lost two Panasonic TM700’s last year, and an assortment of filters and lenses. My 7d has some crunchy buttons, but it isn’t too bad being weather sealed and all. However….. The Scarlet is NOT weather sealed. In fact, it has a big dust and junk sucking fan right on the front. Check this out:

That’s the dust from one stage, or about 5 cars. I’m pretty good about dust prevention, and pretty serious about removal. I carry two rocket blowers, and a rag. But you can’t stop it all and some certainly is being sucked up by the fan. I swear I’ve even seen it being blown back out the exhaust side. RED states that the heatsink portion of the cameras (Epic and Scarlet) is separate from the electronics. So technically, dust, and moisture and stuff shouldn’t be an issue. But it still stresses me out.. What if the fan jams? I’m done for. Which brings up another observation. In a especially dusty stage I covered the scarlet with my shirt, covering the air intake with one layer of thin American Apparel 50/50 blend. Within a few minutes (Keep in mind I was in the 90 degree Mexican desert) I had my temp indicator well into the red, the fan at 126% and so I had to shut er down.. The camera never shut itself down, but I decided to stop rolling instead of removing my dust filter, since it was so thick I didn’t want to risk it. So, the fan cannot be blocked at all – which could be an issue if you are using a raincover or something for dust or rain in a hot environment. So – You either suck up dust, or risk overheating.

4kHD RED on Zeiss 80-200 at 180mm F8 (I think)

Anyway. Dust aside. All is well. REDCODE Raw has so much detail. It is nice to be able to feel comfortable shooting wide landscapes, and other “codec destroyer” shots without worry. Big landscape shots like above on Canon H.264 for example would be mush city. The dynamic range is also rad, but if your reading this, you already know that. So resolution = great, DR = great.

RED 2k Zeiss 80-200

I also use a lot of 2k. On close analysis the 2k is certainly “less good” than 4k. But it is still REALLY good under most circumstances. I feel completely conformable shooting any daytime shot at 2k. Certainly a step above 7d/5d etc.. In most circumstances. I usually use 8:1 compression and all is well there, beyond that I’m not too stoked on it. Even if 2k cuts your resolution, I still feel it is a superior choice than most camera options for the raw flexibility. REDCODE RAW gives me such a large gamut of data to work with, it is honestly incredible. I keep getting “wow” moments, even from shots that contain average content.

Giving my arms a break

Scarlet is heavy. If your from Cinema world it is certainly not, it is lightweight to you. But if you are from DSLR, Camcorder world, it is a fricken brick. A brick with zero ergonomics whatsoever. I often pick it up by looping my finders under the bridge of the touchscreen. I could use a top handle, but it doesn’t fit with my V mount plate. I could add all sorts of other mumbo jumbo but then it would be even bigger and not be even close to fitting in my back (it doesn’t really now, I have to remove the touch LCD to get it in, which is fine for longer hikes). Plus, adding handles and shoulder pads and that  stuff adds another 3k or so. Which is kinda lame. I want it as minimal as possible, but still like to be able to feel comfortable. I haven’t found anything that looks like it allows both. The Target Shooter doesn’t. I need a shoulder pad I guess – Which means re-locating my LCD down in front of me, which means another NOGA style arm, and various doo-dads and crap to come loose and fill with dust. My shoulder is pretty hurtin’ after 5 days of hiking with the Scarlet over my shoulder on my Gitzo sticks. And both arms are wicked sore from carrying and handholding. Sometimes I walk 2-3 miles into a rally stage. For the Scarlet that means an extra 20 minutes on each end to disassemble and re-assemble so it fits in my pack. OR hike with it over my shoulder alternating sides every 15 steps. Bunk. But, it is still light years ahead of say….. An Alexa in that regard.

RED Scarlet X on Gitzo sticks.

So, ergonomics are not that cool. But we knew that, and we can fix that easily. I just haven’t found the perfect solution yet. The boot up time of Scarlet is about 12 seconds. Which is JUST fast enough to let me power down between rally cars at 2 minute intervals. So I can use 1 v-mount brick for 2 stages of shooting essentially, or 50-60 shots. That’s pretty cool.  But, on the flipside, I also missed a few awesome b-roll shots for sure due to the boot time. Sometimes I wish I had my 7D in my hand so I could be shooting in 2-3 seconds. If you just leave it on, you will need like 20 bricks. Which weigh 60lbs or so. Not cool.

My Switronix XP packs are kinda lame. They are 89WH so I can fly with them, but I think their max load is less than Scarlet draws. Just by looking at the power indicator when Scarlet is powered up and with my knowledge of building and using helicopter batteries, I think they don’t like the load. My AXRTEC e-bay knockoff China v-mount pack which is the same size seems to fair much better – seemingly holding the load.

Ken Block. RED 4kHD. Easier Said Than Done Film.

Grabbing stills is cool. But you gotta watch your shutter speeds. This Ken Block shot above was your usual 1/60th or 180 degree shutter. Lots of motion blur. But obviously high shutter = whacked people movement. So gotta find a compromise in there for your uses. But is cool. I’ve gotten some great stills just pulled from the stream. I’ve even started shooting things as stills. Just letting it roll for a second or so. Which is fun.

I hate to say it. But RED lowlight stinks. It stinks real bad. Exposing for RED is different is your from the DSLR world. You have to watch your noise indicators. Anything underexposed is going to be noisy. On RED I expose far more to the “right” than I would on a DSLR, an then correct in post. If your shooting at night/ low light/ shadow areas, etc.. There will be noise. I think it is kinda lame actually.

I filled 2 64gb cards a day, so about a terabye of data for the rally. Not too bad, but it’s a lot, and something to think about.

So in synopsis, RED Scarlet X as doco tool.

Images = Great

DR = Great

Noise = Stinks

Ergonomics = Stink at first

Overall = Totally worth it. Don’t be a giant wuss – Sell your FS100.