Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Zacuto Jeep
So in my efforts to bridge the gap between the 19mm and the 15mm world, I needed something so I can use my 15mm gear that I have for use with my Red Rock M2 gear with the Red One gear I also use. The two pieces of gear that I wanted to go between these two worlds are my Red Rock Follow Focus and my Red Rock Mattebox. So what options are out there for this sort of adaptation? Well not many, but Zacuto recently released the Jeep ($265) , which does exactly what I needed.
So how does the Jeep perform? Well it had its ups and downs for me. The build of the Jeep is solid and metal, but the tension adjustments for the rods seemed like they could be problematic. Also, if you don't know which way you need to tighten, it can take you a while to get the equipment read for use (thats just me though). Over all it did the job it was supposed to do, which is allow me to mount my 15mm Red Rock Follow Focus onto the standard 19mm rods that come with the Red Standard package. I used it in correlation with the Element Technica 15mm 6" rods, which I don't know if it was the Jeep or the rods, but sliding the Follow Focus from the front of the rods to the back, closest to the Jeep was next to impossible. So getting the gear under the lens was a challenge, but I don't know if that was due to the new rods or how the Jeep was holding the rods.
One last gripe about the Jeep was after using it for a matter of an hour or so, the black finish was already showing lots of scratches and dings, which might be just cosmetic, or if its losing its finish in the rod ports, might pose some issues. Only long term use will tell.
Over all for the money and the speed of availability, the Zacuto Jeep does what its advertised to do, and is easy to use. Next test will be to mount the Red Rock Mattebox and see if the jeep can handle the weight.
So how does the Jeep perform? Well it had its ups and downs for me. The build of the Jeep is solid and metal, but the tension adjustments for the rods seemed like they could be problematic. Also, if you don't know which way you need to tighten, it can take you a while to get the equipment read for use (thats just me though). Over all it did the job it was supposed to do, which is allow me to mount my 15mm Red Rock Follow Focus onto the standard 19mm rods that come with the Red Standard package. I used it in correlation with the Element Technica 15mm 6" rods, which I don't know if it was the Jeep or the rods, but sliding the Follow Focus from the front of the rods to the back, closest to the Jeep was next to impossible. So getting the gear under the lens was a challenge, but I don't know if that was due to the new rods or how the Jeep was holding the rods.
One last gripe about the Jeep was after using it for a matter of an hour or so, the black finish was already showing lots of scratches and dings, which might be just cosmetic, or if its losing its finish in the rod ports, might pose some issues. Only long term use will tell.
Over all for the money and the speed of availability, the Zacuto Jeep does what its advertised to do, and is easy to use. Next test will be to mount the Red Rock Mattebox and see if the jeep can handle the weight.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Zacuto, Element Technica and Red Rock Micro
Well this week we should be taking shipments of the Jeep from Zacuto, light weight 15mm rods from Element Technica and the Red Rock Micro Mattebox, which I'm dying to get my hands on. I'll be doing a video review of all of these items hopefully in the next few days after I get all of them in house. So far we've received the Micro Filters, the Zacuto Jeep, which I'll be using to bridge the 19mm Red One setup to my 15mm Mattebox, and we'll receive the rods tomorrow.
Look out for that video review coming in the next few days!
Look out for that video review coming in the next few days!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Red One...Audio?
This weekend I meet up with the owner of BD Pictures to help test out some issues that he is having with his Red Ones, most of which are audio problems. I was aware of some issues with the audio on the Red One, but I had figured that with the newer versions of the firmware that those issues had been resolved. Turns out that they haven't and that the audio issues with the Red One are one of the major issues. I had meet up with Ajay in Alameda with his two Red Ones and we set them up and swapped mics, enabled and disabled audio channels, and tried out phantom power all to find out that the Reds that he has do not do audio. There would be times where the audio level meters would come alive, but they would not sustain a signal. I guess with the Red you should always record your audio to an external DAT recorder in addition to the in camera audio recording just to make sure that you've got your audio. Yet another needed accessory to the Red One!
Another thing that we are going to try out is checking if the line level input on the XLRs works and that there might be issue with the Mic input and the pre-amps of the XLRs. Any ideas?
Another thing that we are going to try out is checking if the line level input on the XLRs works and that there might be issue with the Mic input and the pre-amps of the XLRs. Any ideas?
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Red Rock Micro = Frustration
I got an email yesterday stating that the Red Rock Micro Mattebox was almost ready to ship and my heart started to dance, till I read the rest of the email. According to Red Rock Micro, the Mattebox is delayed again for another couple of weeks. There is a lot of talk online about the practice of vendors taking %100 payment on pre-order items which may or may not ship when they are said they will ship. This is another slip in a continuing trend with the Red Rock Micro Mattebox. Now I have to say that Red Rock has always been good at getting product out to me and responding to support and sales inquires.
So now we are all left to question, is the manufacturing and shipping delay what makes up the thousands of dollars in comparable product price difference and is it worth it? After spending $700 or so dollars on this product and not having it for two or so months after I paid for it is aggravating to say the least and the only thing Red Rock offered to offset the expense of time for their customers is an additional set of blue knobs.
The real question is will this cause customers to abandon the small companies like Red Rock that are trying to revolutionize the digital cinema market place? There are also delays with companies like Birger and View Factor that are also experiencing similar manufacturing issues. Seems like cheap parts and manufacturing comes at the expense of customers and time.
So now we are all left to question, is the manufacturing and shipping delay what makes up the thousands of dollars in comparable product price difference and is it worth it? After spending $700 or so dollars on this product and not having it for two or so months after I paid for it is aggravating to say the least and the only thing Red Rock offered to offset the expense of time for their customers is an additional set of blue knobs.
The real question is will this cause customers to abandon the small companies like Red Rock that are trying to revolutionize the digital cinema market place? There are also delays with companies like Birger and View Factor that are also experiencing similar manufacturing issues. Seems like cheap parts and manufacturing comes at the expense of customers and time.
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