RED Hydrogen One: 3D Smartphone Films?

We got excited by the idea of having a RED camera to wield when smartphone filmmaking. So we’ve been anticipating the release of the much-talked about RED Hydrogen One smartphone.

I don’t have one and I don’t intentend to spend $1300 on one, unless it’s absolutely mind-blowingly incredible. And RED haven’t sent me a free one to test, so…

So, I’ve been hunting around to see what the reviews are like.

First question: what’s the camera like?

Evan Rogers says:

“Around back you’ve got two 12.3 megapixel sensors. Two things matter when it comes comes to light-gathering ability: pixel and aperture size. The Hydrogen’s cameras have 1.55μm pixels, which is 0.15μm larger than what you’ll find on the Galaxy S9 or the Pixel 2 at 1.40μm. However, the aperture, which is the size of hole that lets light in, is f1.8, which lets in less light than the f1.5 aperture you’ll find on the S9.”

The cameras on this phone also lack optical image stabilization. Whereas, both the iPhone XS and the Galaxy Note 9 have dual camera systems where both lenses are stabilized.

Rogers’ overall impression is that the cameras are nothing special. We’re looking at 2017 tech here, for 2020 prices.

It’s all about the modules… coming soon (2019)

But RED isn’t targeting the typical consumer. The Hydrogen One was never intended to compete with consumer favourites such as Samsung Galaxy or iPhone.

RED are aiming this product at their existing market: committed content creators. That’s where the modular approach comes in.

That’s why RED founder Jim Jannard says, “this really isn’t a cellphone, it’s a media machine that happens to have a cellphone included”.

RED’s cameras are known for being modular. Which means you build the camera that’s suits you, using different lens mounts, monitors and battery packs, for example.

The Hydrogen One is intended to work the same way. You can use it as it is. But there’s also going to be a range of add-ons available (from next year).

The modules are to include a better-than-5K 2D sensor with a near-universal interchangeable lens mount (“damn near every lens ever made” says Hydrogen team lead Phil Holland).

Shoot 3D Video on your Smartphone

With the camera performance turning out to be underwhelming, and the modules not yet available, for filmmakers we’re left with nothing more than the 3D video to get excited about. 3D video is called 4V, by RED.

Rogers says:

“4V video uses a proprietary .h4v container, and you can import these files into Adobe Premiere, but they need to be renamed to .mp4. …you’re limited to 1080p. This is understandable, to a certain extent, because the Snapdragon 835 wasn’t designed to handle the bandwidth of dual 4K streams. Still, this will probably feel like kind of a downer for someone who really wanted to create a low-budget film in 3D, which is ostensibly the point of this device.”

He’s upset you can’t get higher quality. Personally, I’m not too upset about having to shoot in 1080p, or the large amount of compression used. We’re not using smartphones for their image quality, we’re using them for their versatility and fluency.

Having said that, I have no great desire to shoot in 3D, either. But I would say there’s an open challenge right there – who will be the first to shoot a 3D feature film on their smartphone.

Android Central says the 4V video hurts their eyes when viewed on the RED screen. But can these 3D movies be viewed on a cinema screen, or a TV? Do you need glasses, a special screen, or how does it work?

Overall – it’s a work in progress

The general consensus appears to be this phone isn’t ready. As a stand alone, it does not compete with current Samsung, Google or iPhone models in the same price range.

The 3D camera (for stills and video) (with holographic display), is something of a gimmick, which in itself also isn’t as good as other cheap 3D cameras already out there.

But I guess, like the rest, we’ll be back in 2019 to see how it looks with lenses mounted…

Read Next: Best Smartphone Filmmaking Kit 2019.

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