Explore this behind-the-lens mitigation, defined by RED as “Glare Guard”. It looks like a flat matte surface installed in front of the V-Raptor Vista Vision sensor.
RED V-Raptor’s Flare-Guard
The ‘Flare-Guard’ seems like a flat matte surface installed in front of the large sensor of the RED V-Raptor. This device is supposed to mitigate the optical phenomenon that exposes the stitched line of the Vista Vision sensor. Just a reminder — A subtle image artifact along the center of the frame, sometimes referred to as a “stitch line,” may be visible during rare combinations of scene lighting and lens selection. In order to minimize this side effect, RED recommends following best practices by reducing sources of stray light that pass into your camera. This includes using standard tools such as a lens hood or matte box, and when necessary, an RF to PL lens adapter that has proper flocking and unreflective internal surfaces. Furthermore, although this has not been observed by most customers, RED has created behind-the-lens mitigation.
Installed inside the sensor cavity
Since this image artifact may occur with certain types of stray light within the camera’s sensor cavity, a flare guard can be professionally installed inside the sensor cavity in order to control stray light from the lens. A few V-Raptor shooters from the FB groups RED V-RAPTOR / DSMC3 Users and REDUSER (Official) have received their camera from RED with the Flare-Guard installed. Basically, it looks like a flat surface that is barely noticeable. Explore the slides in the article that shows these flare guards (X= without a flare guard).
Side effects
The flare-guard can cause some other unwanted phenomenon. As stated by RED: “With highly off-axis light, there is the possibility that a small shadow may appear at the edge of the frame. This shadow is caused by the newly installed guard stopping the light that would have otherwise reflected within the cavity”. However, intentional lens flares from within the lens itself remain unaffected, so don’t worry about eliminating anamorphic streaks.
How to get it?
This flare-guard can be installed only by RED. As stated: “If your specific shooting conditions are susceptible. If you would like this installed on your camera or would like to discuss this topic further, please contact RED support. To see if the behind-the-lens mitigation is the right solution for a specific shooter, RED would need to understand the user’s specific shooting conditions and use case. If you have specific examples where you have seen this phenomenon, please provide R3D samples and a log file for review”. It’ll be interesting to see if this guard reduces, or eliminates the appearance of the stitched line.
Free extended warranty
On another topic, RED is now offering a free extended warranty with any new V-Raptor purchase. This extended warranty provides a total of 4 years of warranty coverage, priority repairs, expedited shipping, and access to the rapid replacement program. This is a pretty decent offering. However, it’s limited until the end of July.
Product List
Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- Red Digital Cinema V-RAPTOR 8K VV DSMC3 Camera
- Y.M.CINEMA 65 – A Gift for Filmmakers
