Tag Archives: RED

DJI Ronin 4D Delivers Cinematic Stabilized Slow Motion!

In what could be called a new paradigm or class of camera, DJI the drone maker has launched a couple of cinema full-frame cameras geared to professional productions that merge their Ronin gimbal products with their Drone pro Zenmuse cameras to create a massively appealing system for pros and enthusiasts that want no compromise stabilization with enough image quality to be able to use them in professional productions for TV and film.  The pricing at just over 11.5k for the 8k version and 7.2k for the 6k version is small potatoes for movie and TV studios but might put off some buyers. 

It is of note that a fully working system bundle is assembled at that price which is much better than other options. It includes the Gimbal, camera and body, 1TB SSD M.2 card, battery, touch screen and cabling. In cinema systems like RED and ARRI this is just the brain or camera body with everything else being added on top as ancillary costs. The frame rates on these cameras are limited to 120fps as the highest at 4k and 75fps at 8k.  They might not be huge but the quality and stabilization should make them quite useful.  → Continue Reading Full Post ←

Nissan GT-R High Speed Camera Car Reigns Supreme!

Nissan GT-R High Speed Camera Car

The Nissan GT-R continues to be unmatched in the high-end sports car world by offering a performance way above its price range.  For the new NISMO GT-R 2020 they needed to film the car at full performance. After looking for solutions in the market it was immediately apparent that they needed a car with a rig system that could keep up with the new supercar.

As it turns out the only solution would be to build a custom GT-R with expert and Drifting world champion Mauro Calo, with camera rigs normally used in big Hollywood productions as you have seen in the Fast and the Furious series. Nissan decided to paint the car Matte black so it would not reflect on the other car’s paint and or create unwanted flares on camera lenses.  The result is the best performing camera rig car ever made. It is capable of carrying a fully rigged camera system including but not limited to ARRI Alexa,  RED Dragon, Sony Venice, Panasonic Varicam or high-speed solutions like the Vision Research Phantom Flex 4k.

Nissan GT-R High Speed Camera Car Specs:

  • Twin-turbo 3.8 V6
  • All-wheel drive (Ideal for motion camera mounted systems)
  • Matte Black Anti-reflective paint
  • Flight Head Mini Stabilized Gimbal
  • Carbon-fiber mounting system
  • Ability to mount 360º Action camera systems
  • Reversible Mounting for Front or back camera placement
  • Wireless Follow focus system
  • Up to four crew passengers including the driver
  •  Configurable with any modern camera system under 12kg
  • Cost not shared…“one of a kind”

The car uses the Flight Head Mini from Filmotechnic with the following specs:

 3-Axis Gyro-Stabilized
• RF Wireless capability
• Pan Axis travels through 360º
• Roll Axis travels through 270º
• Tilt Axis travels through 200º
• Payload Capacity: 26lbs.(11.8kg)
• Light Weight: 20.9lbs.(9.5kg)
• Temperature Range: -40ºF to 104ºF (-4.5ºC to 40ºC)

The following video shows the system in use, expect to see this rig being used in dozens of high-speed movies, commercials and TV shows. We are excited to see how it will be used with super slow motion footage, imagine a controlled crash scene at full speed at over 1000fps, things just got way more interesting in the mobile rig camera world and a lot more fun too. -HSC

Nissan GT-R: the ultimate high-speed camera car by Nissan:

Learn more at the official Nissan website here!

Nissan Official Press Release below:

→ Continue Reading Full Post ←

Red Hydrogen One Might Be Best Slow Motion Phone Ever!

Red Hydrogen One

The RED Hydrogen One phone has a lot to live up to but contrary to many doubters it may be just that good when it comes to video and photo quality. How good? By some accounts, it may be unrivaled by any phone currently and possibly for the foreseeable future thanks to the special software that is running on that last year’s Snapdragon 835 chip which is now outdated but still usable to create what RED touts as an imaging phone for the connoisseur.

We expect 4k quality in better codecs than the competition, with the ability to surpass 4k 60p which is the current phone upper limit for frame rates and resolution. As far as higher frame rates go we simply cannot find a lot of information when it comes to the way video is captured but read along to see something that may get a little closer to unraveling the mystery. New phone final body images have been released here in the forums.

Red Hydrogen One Is this the phone we have been waiting for?

As you can see in the image above which was found on the RED Hydrogen forum here there seems to be an ability to move frame rates on the phone to 120 and 240fps even in UHD and 2k cinema resolutions, but it could also mean that only the green portions are available for each resolution and the greyed out ones are not selectable as indicated by a commenter below. As to the validity of this, we will have to wait and see but it is quite encouraging to see an interface devoted to professional video options which take care to establish frame rates as a prime feature.

The Youtuber Marques Brownlee has also posted a Hydrogen One Prototype unboxing which you may find interesting and will give you a sense of what the phone is like physically.

RED Hydrogen One Unboxing! (Houdini Edition) by Marques Brownlee:

We do not venture on speculation much here at HSC but we will keep a close eye on the Hydrogen One and how it develops.  You may also like to see some of the posted image samples from the still camera module on the Houdini prototype phone in this pretty cool thread here: https://h4vuser.net/t/houdini-camera-quality/2027

RED has pushed back the Hydrogen One release date to 2nd of November 2018, with pre-orders beginning October 9th.

The Hydrogen One aluminum version will be available on these carriers: AT&T, Verizon, and Telcel for $1,295.00 USD. The Titanium variant will be out in 2019 and should be $200 USD More. More to come as the release date nears. -HSC

Fran 8k Camera by Cinemartin First Manufacturing Sample!

Fran 8k Camera

The people at Cinemartin have publicly released new specs and images of the first industrial prototype of the cinema camera.  There are some killer features like 8k RAW video at 24p and up to 96fps RAW recording in both 4k DCI and1080p HD. Some other frame rates include 48p and 60p in a variety of resolutions which are needed for cinema production in either higher fps or just as a shooting necessity like 48p to get the Hobbit look.

One of the most impressive features listed is the ability to shoot in true Vista Vision format at 7920 x 6024 pixels for 8k at 24p that turns out to be 47.7MP; also the Dual ISO recording feature which will be available by August 2019 which allows dual recording capability for an extreme Dynamic Range improvement.  Other features include: Global Shutter, Internal full sensor downsampling, and in-camera electronic image stabilization.

Fran 8k Frame Rate Table:

As you can see from the above table, frame rates will cap on the high end at 96fps for both 4k and Full HD 1080p.  These will be activated in the Spring 2019 update after the camera launches.   The camera will probably be shown at IBC 2018 in Amsterdam this 13-17 of September. By that time pricing and pre-orders should be available.

Fran 8k More Specs List:

  • SENSOR – FRAN GS 47.7 MEGAPIXEL CMOS SENSOR
  • EFFECTIVE PIXELS – 7920 x 6024
  • SENSOR SIZE- 37 mm x 27 mm (Diagonal 46.2 mm)
  • LENS MOUNT: EF and PL by (2019)
  • DYNAMIC RANGE -15+ stops
  • MAX DATA RATE -2500 MB/s using FRAN (media) M.2 1TB -2300 MB/s using FRAN (media) M.2 2TB
  • PLAYBACK FPS 24, 25, 30, 48 frames per second
  • REC. FORMATS: RAW BAYERED / DE-BAYERED
  • POST FORMATS: LOSSLESS PNG, DNG
  • POST ENCODER: TO PRORES / TO AVID DnxHD DNxHRTO H.264TO HEVC H.265
  • HDMI Clean 4K 60p output
  • Thunderbolt 3 To connect high-speed external drives
  • mini Jack
  • Audio mic. input (mono) and output (st)
  • USB 3 To connect high-speed external drives
  • SD card
  • Load and Store LUT’s and camera settings
  • Power: Idle 25W   Max 60W

The camera will also be programmable which makes it possible to allow object recognition and automation of recording and archiving tasks.

“Fran can be reprogrammed to suit many needs. Stabilization is a featured provided by OpenCv architecture. Third parties or c++ developers can develop plugins for Fran. The programmable architecture option allows users to use their own software, or write a new one based on Fran default software.
The programmable architecture option includes the stabilization and a few examples of object detection, as well as documentation in order on how to program the camera.”

While the Fran 8k camera is overkill for many uses it may become a compelling option for production houses looking for RED and ARRI alternatives that deliver extreme image quality at a more affordable price to competitors.  We have seen this trend with the advent of cameras like the Kinefinity cameras which offer a lot of value for money while delivering superb image quality however teh Fran Camera will offer 8k images. We have high hopes for the Fran camera to go head to head with the best of them and deliver a true 8k RAW image for cinema production. 

The body is similar to modular cinema cameras and offers enough control and expansion for production users.  Large Standard battery modules ensure continuous operation and easy on-set continuous power solutions.  The LCD should provide most shooting information at a glance.

We will continue to cover the evolution of the Fran 8k camera and will share video samples of higher frame rates when available.  Expect the quality to be excellent at all frame rates.

For more information and updates on the camera visit the official site at:

Fran 8k Official Site  http://www.fran8k.com

GH5s Red Ring Gate Rumor Explained by Jon Houldsworth!

Jonathan Houldsworth has posted a video detailing this week’s rumor of the expected Panasonic GH5s camera.  The video includes the detailed 4k footage zoom in that started all of it.  As far as we can tell the footage has not been doctored and this is a new camera with a red ring.  4/3 Rumors is also pushing back the date of the GH5s announcement from December 15th to January 8th 2018 due to a mixup between the press event and the public release.  Enjoy!

RED Hydrogen Phone for High Speed?

RED Hydrogen Phone

So we have gotten a lot of speculative emails regarding the RED Hydrogen phone teaser announcement.  There are no real specs listed, only pricing which for Aluminum  $1195 and Titanium $1595 USD is no bargain.  It will be an Android phone with a revolutionary Holographic display capable of doing 2D-3D and holographic multiview which will be a mixture of the two.

The phone will also be a possible monitoring device for RED camera owners which will be able to control the cameras from the device.  If you are a RED owner it makes sense to have this as your phone and we expect most RED camera owners to own the device or pre-order. After all the phone will be the same cost as a breakout module for the RED camera which costs up to 70k ready to shoot in the highest spec configurations.

RED Hydrogen Frame Rates?

While no detailed information is presented we expect the phone to have a really good camera sensor and processing pipeline. What does that mean for slow motion? Well, we expect it will at least match the iPhone 7 and or Google Pixel at 240fps 720p and 120fps 1080p.

Knowing RED however we expect the phone to be able to trounce other phones by possibly recording video in a REDCODE RAW codec that is dumbed down but still plenty useful. After all RED invented the modern compressed RAW video revolution. If the phone is capable of recording in RAW mode even while compressed it will eclipse the output of all other smartphones when it comes to production worthy footage.

The biggest clue comes from this snippet on the press release:

“The HYDROGEN SYSTEM incorporates a new high-speed data bus to enable a comprehensive and ever-expanding modular component system, which will include future attachments for shooting higher quality motion and still images as well as HYDROGEN format holographic images.”

So it will have probably dual cameras to be able to do 3D video separation. The higher data bus which will allow for recording attachments means that the phone will be able to output RAW data for recording media and will be unencumbered by the phone’s limitations. This, of course, will mean a higher cost for your pocket which as RED users know is a common occurrence. Even some RED interface cables cost upwards of $200 USD. See the funny video below of a RED Weapon 8k camera being unboxed by Linus Tech Tips:

This Camera Costs HOW MUCH?! – 8K RED Weapon Unboxing, HOLY $H!T Ep. 17 by Linus Tech Tips:

We also expect higher frame rates to be possible in 4k with the Phone, maybe even 120fps at 4k with possible RAW output to a secondary module. All is up in the air but the modularity promised by the phone could do for phones what the original RED Camera did for professional-quality cinema capture for digital producers.   It pushed an entire industry forward to get us DSLRs, cameras like the Sony F5 and F7 and basically improve the way video is recorded around the globe with aesthetic qualities that up until recently were only in the realm of big TV and Hollywood productions.

So in the end what the RED Hydrogen could do is to push high end smartphone makers to offer increased features, modularity and capture higher quality footage among other things. We are all for RED pushing them forward and make them sweat a little.

RED love it or hate it continues to push the envelope with 8k recording and now a modular smartphone that could one day be your B camera.  What is not to love?

We will follow the Hydrogen information closely to see if slow motion is in the cards for the device slated to ship in January 2018, cross your fingers. -HSC

RED Hydrogen Phone PDF Info:

  • The HYDROGEN ONE is a standalone, full-featured, unlocked multi-band smartphone operating on Android OS that just happens to add a few additional features that shatter the mold of conventional thinking.
  • GLASSES OBSOLETE Wearable displays not spoken here. It is no longer necessary to carry (or charge) another device to enjoy multi-dimen­sional content. Experience “look around depth” in the palm of your hand, no glasses or headsets in sight.

5.7″ PROFESSIONAL HYDROGEN HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAY

This incredible retina-riveting display advancement features nanotechnology that seamlessly switches traditional 2D content, holographic multi-viev,1 content, 3D content, and interactive games … both landscape and portrait modes sup­ported.

• View all traditional 2D content normally at full-screen resolution• View all traditional 2D content normally at

• View all traditional 2D content normally at full-screen resolution• View holographic RED Hydrogen 4-View content (H4V)• View stereo 3D content• View 2D/3D VR, AR and MR

• View holographic RED Hydrogen 4-View content (H4V)• View stereo 3D content• View 2D/3D VR, AR and MR

• View stereo 3D content• View 2D/3D VR, AR and MR

-ASSAULT YOUR SENSES
Embedded in the OS is a proprietary H30 algorithm that converts stereo sound into expansive multi-dimensional audio. Think 5.1 on your headphones. The perfect match for holographic H4V or just listening to your favorite tunes. The differ­
ence this makes would be enough to justify the entire system.
-MODULARITY
HYDROGEN ONE is the foundation of a future multi-dimensional media system. The HYDROGEN SYSTEM incorporates a new high-speed data bus to enable a comprehensive and ever-expanding modular component system, which will include future attachments for shooting higher quality motion and still images as well as HYDROGEN format holographic images.
-COMMAND CENTRAL
The HYDROGEN ONE will not only be the control center for the HYDROGEN system, it will also integrate into the profes­sional RED camera program, working together with Scarlet, EPIC and Weapon as a user interface and monitor.
-RED CHANNEL
One channel to find all 4-View holographic content. Create .h4v (or convert 3D to .h4v) content and upload. Download or stream to view. Movies, documentaries, games, shopping and other apps all found with one click.
PRICE. $1195 Aluminum. $1595 Titanium.
Orders placed today will ship from my own personal first production batch. I can also assure you that after this initial release we will NOT be able to fill all orders on time due to display production limitations. We will NOT guarantee these prices at the time of release. Taxes and shipping not included in the price.
WHAT DO YOU GET?
The HYDROGEN ONE Media Machine with a USB-C cable and charger, an expandable Micro SD card slot plus a “special small token” for ordering early. All other accessories available at launch will be available at an additional price. Additional modules will NOT be immediately available at the time of this first production launch.
WHEN DO YOU GET IT?
The HYDROGEN ONE is targeted to ship 01 2018.