RED a Different Orientation

I've been asked by many still photographers what is the option of shooting RED vertically. Up to now there have been few solutions and fewer tests. Today while at Images Mechanic in Santa Monica California, Michael Britt and his team tested one possible solution. While there are a few companies making products to shoot vertically with the RED, there is little product availablility when you may need it. Which leaves you with doing it yourself.

After a hardware store run, a little surgery, a bit of trial and error, some RED spare parts, the Image Mechanics team, built a beautiful vertical shooting solution with minimum gear.

Next came the fun of reconfiguring the RED EVF, LCD, and RED cradle to make it possible to monitor the image vertically and easily manipulate the RED's camera menus and buttons.

A model was being prepped in makeup while the RED was set up, and once the MU was complete we began our test. I have to say the only thing that was truly needed was a start/stop control for the RED. Due to the new config the camera's record buttons are in tight not so easy to get to places. Other than that it was as easy as shooting in the horizontal position.

As you can see in the photos above, we shoot this green screen, and I'll keep you informed with regards to shooting and keying out for green screen in post.

Thanks to the team at Image Mechanics, Michael, Greg, Pip and Jimmy for a great job and a important test for those wanting to shoot vertical.

Von