The Reel Show has an excellent video segment up featuring Rodney Charters ASC, cinematographer for the hit-series “24.” Rodney recently spent some time traveling the world with a Red One camera, and he takes some time to talk about his experiences with the camera and the specific lightweight setup that he used. It’s a great practical look at his use of the camera, and in particular it’s cool to see the hardware and mounting options he used on the camera, from a Clairmont Camera custom-machined handle setup, to the rock-solid EVF mount, to the Canon electronic lens mount.

One thing that struck me as odd is when Rodney suggested the Red should be rated at 250 ASA, not the 320 that the community at large seems to have agreed upon. Here’s the quote; “The restraint on this camera right now is that noise does creep in above 250 ASA.” He mentioned that when testing the Red on the set of “24,”, one concern was lighting…the crew normally shoots on film stock rated at 500 ASA and they light at extremely low levels, nearly available light. He felt that the Red needed to be shot at f/2.0, but their cine zoom lenses bottom out at f/2.8. He suggested that without faster lenses, they need either a more light sensitive chip, or new software improvements that enable shooting at higher ASA ratings without excessive grain.

It was refreshing to hear Rodney also talk about the post-production side of things, he mentioned using the Monkey Extract tool, and ProRes as an acceptable master format. One theme that Rodney really seems to have grabbed onto is the price point and savings of the Red…he mentioned a feature film that someone showed him that had been shot on Red and posted complete with special effects for just $125K. It’s a fascinating video segment, and great to see how an experienced DP approaches the camera system. Check it out.

(Thanks to Tyler Ginter for the link)