During the RED Tech LIVE Q&A session, CEO Jarred Land shed some very interesting light on topics like AF (AutoFocus), an IR (InfraRed) version of the V-Raptor XL, and the sensor size of the S35 model. Highlights are below.
RED Tech LIVE on the V-RAPTOR XL
The most recent RED Tech LIVE episode was focused on the newly announced V-Raptor XL, which is RED’s new flagship. Besides the technical stuff and features of the XL, RED Digital Cinema CEO – Jarred Land, has shed some light and hints about the upcoming products and features. We’ve decided to write about three intriguing topics: AF, the IR model of the XL, and the upcoming S35. Read on.
There’s something about the intelligence that the engineering team has put into the camera, and it’s not just about the accuracy of AF and tracking.
Jarred Land – CEO of RED Digital Cinema
RED is working hard to improve AF capabilities
According to RED, the AF feature is getting special attention from the R&D teams. In fact, the AF capabilities are well mentioned on the V-Raptor XL page: “V-Raptor XL features in-camera ai processing and on-sensor enhanced phase detect autofocus, offering the versatility and confidence for users to bring its unparalleled cinematic image performance into new worlds. Upcoming enhancements also include face detection and object tracking”. Furthermore, this is what Land said about the upcoming improvements and enhancements of the AF: “There’s something about the intelligence that the engineering team has put into the camera, and it’s not just about the accuracy of AF, and tracking, but there’s the capability in the camera actually to do…everybody uses AI to understand what’s tracking…and you know Canon and Sony do a little bit of this, but for me, it’s that stuff is incredible… Apart from just the improvements in the phase detection and contrast detection that are new, that’s coming, there’s a lot of deeper intelligence that we have with the camera that is a little bit more practical than just making sure it’s focused and in focus. You can actually use it as a trigger, or you can use it for…There’s a lot of things that I shouldn’t really talk about, but that I’m the most excited about because it saves just adding a bunch of stuff to your camera to get it to work”. According to RED, there are a ton of people that are going to be using this object tracking in a vast array of ways, and it will open up the autofocus to a different level of people. Hence, expect to see major improvements regarding AF in the forthcoming firmware updates.
We were in the middle of making a couple of monochromes, but we got a special request from a special customer for IR (Infra-Red) XL. So we’re making those first.
Jarred Land – CEO of RED Digital Cinema
RED V-Raptor Monochrome and IR
Land also elaborated on developing a monochrome version of the Raptor XL: “We were in the middle of making a couple of monochromes, but we got a special request from a special customer for IR (Infra-Red) XL. So we’re making those first…we’re making a few of them. You can do some really cool stuff with those cameras. So we’ll make a few of those and hopefully get to monochrome”. It seems that the hot jargon is IR cinema cameras. The most relevant implementation for that capability is NOPE movie, as ARRI ALEXA 65 IR was paired with Panavision 65mm System in order to shoot the day-to-night scenes. The V-Raptor IR will be most probably used for the same implementation. Fascinating!
V-Raptor XL S35
Moreover, here’s a piece of news about the upcoming V-Raptor XL S35. As stated by land: “It’s probably will be ready in a couple of months. It’s already out shooing. It’s got the same specs as the normal Raptor and the XL Raptor so same frame rates and everything. But the big difference between S35 is the sensor size which is a bit smaller than our traditional S35 sensors, specifically it’s just to make sure that it fits into those lenses. The biggest request for S35 now comes from the wildlife and sports shooters. The S35 will be full 8K, 120 frames per second”.
Here’s the full RED-Tech session:
Product List
Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- RED DIGITAL CINEMA V-RAPTOR XL 8K VV Cinema Camera V-Mount
- Buy the Y.M.CINEMA 65 – A gift for cinephiles
