RED’

March 30th, 2011 5 Comments » Mainstay Pro News

Ever wonder what cameras we use? Well…if it shoots film or video, we shoot with it. Our preferred camera right now is the RED One (mostly because our good friends at Rivetal own one…and we do a lot of work with them). The RED One has been around for a while now…it’s definitely NOT the new kid on the block anymore. That title goes to Arri’s Alexa…or maybe it goes to the really hard to get RED Epic? Or maybe even the Sony F3? Anywho…what does matter is that every camera has its uses. I have a buddy who has been shooting with the T2i…and churning out amazing footage with it. If you’re on a budget or need a lot of punch in a really small package…the T2i does wonders. Load it up with the pseudo-firmware Magic Lantern…and you have an awesome little tool. But I digress…

As I mentioned, we LOVE shooting with the RED…wait, did I mention that? Well…it’s out there now. We also rely heavily on the Sony EX-1 and love the shots we get with our GoPros. We are anxious to get our hands on the EPIC-X (which our previously mentioned good friends at Rivetal have purchased). We are told it will be available around the time of NAB…which means we are at least two weeks away. I highly doubt we’ll see it before May. As soon as it’s in custody…we’ll shoot something fun on it and get it posted for your viewing pleasure.

Another camera I’ve had my eye on is VisionResearch’s Phantom Flex. High speed cameras are awesome. You go anywhere and shoot some footage in super slo-mo and it’s sure to catch someone’s eye. Check out this cool video from a guy who claims he was bored in his hotel room one night…and decided to play with the Phantom flex he just happen tohave. It’s awesome. If you want to see it on his vimeo page…go here: http://vimeo.com/19819283

Super slow-mo can also be achieved in post-production. Sure, you could use Final Cut or Avid to time-remap the footage and slow it way down…but it never looks that great. However, if you use After Effects to slow it down, you get great results…check out one other video from our friend Devin Graham…he shot this on the Canon 7D and slowed it down to about 1,000 fps (that’s “frames per second” in super-high-end video lingo).