RED MONSTRO

MONSTRO records more pixels than a scene usually contains, so texture survives that other sensors smooth away. Fabric, skin and stone all hold their surface.

That resolution also buys room after the shoot. An 8K frame can be reframed, stabilised or tracked for effects and still deliver a finished 4K picture.

The sensor is 8K and full frame, about 41 millimetres wide, which is larger than Super 35 and thinner in depth of field at the same stop and framing.

The camera records its own raw format, so colour and exposure decisions are made afterwards rather than baked in.

The rendering is harder than ARRI's. Micro contrast is high and colour is strong, which flatters landscape and product work and can be unkind to skin.

Use it for effects heavy work, for product and for anything where texture is the subject.

Skip it for a soft, forgiving portrait. The detail it gives is not always the detail a face wants.

An ALEXA 35 resolves less and renders gentler, with a kinder highlight and softer skin.

A Sony Venice 2 is also full frame, and it separates itself with internal filters and a second base sensitivity rather than with resolution.

RED bodies carry work that needs headroom in post: effects plates that will be tracked and reframed, commercials finished at 4K from an 8K master, and anything projected large.

The model returns a sharpened frame with halos around the edges. Ask for crisp micro contrast and fine texture, never for sharpening.

The other failure is nothing worth resolving. Name a surface the detail can land on, such as fabric, skin or stone.