Red Komodo in 2025 - Tiny Camera, Fantastic Image Sometimes
I mostly shoot with my Sony FX3 and FX6, but the OG Red Komodo for $3,000 brand new is an unbelievably good deal. I recently tried out the Pyxis 6k. It was nice, but not what I was looking for. But kept thinking about giving the OG Red Komodo another chance. For the last few weeks I’ve used this camera and wrote down what I think about it while I was using it. This is my opinion of the OG Komodo from someone who shoots mostly on Sony cameras.
Komodo Quirks
Starting off with a few quirks and strange things about the OG Komodo. This camera has a great image but it also has an attitude. I’ve never experienced that in a camera before. If something is slightly off, it just doesn’t work right.
You have to eject the cards. I deleted footage from the CFast card on my computer, deleted the footage after I transfered, put the card in the camera and got an error. I should just format the card in the camera, thats on me, but I’ve done that with all other cameras I’ve used in the past and never had a problem.
Next time I safely ejected the card, transfered the footage to my computer, safely ejected it, back in the camera to format the card and I still got the same error.
Formating cards in the camera takes about a minute.
Black Shade
I didn’t black shade the camera when I first got it and my test footage was really noisey when I looked at it on the computer. So I calibrated the camera inside, where it was around 70 degrees, went outside to film in 40 degree weather, had to black shade it again.
SDI Protocol
If you don’t properly follow the SDI protocol, you’ll possibly lose your only way to use an external monitor. This camera only has one external output and you need to use a monitor - so thats concerning. If I blow the SDI port, I’m going to have to use the app to monitor, which could work but it not idea all the time.
This camera takes forever to start up, and the R3D and ProRes files are huge.
I wish there were more custom buttons. I find myself toggling on focus and exposure tools if I’m just using the tiny on camera monitor, and using the touch screen to toggle these on and off is like a 5 second change, but when you’re filming doing something for 5 seconds to enable a tool, using the tool, then 5 more seconds to turn it off is a little annoying. I’m used to having a ton of custom buttons on my Sony cameras.
The touch screen works, mostly. There are some times when I have to press on a small menu option on the screen and it takes a few tries to register what I’m pressing on screen. If I’m going to keep this camera, I’m definitely going to invest in the smallhd camera control.
I swear a few times the physical menu button on the side of the camera also didn’t register the button press.
Even with all of those weird quirks, I absolutely love this little camera.
First Impressions - Ergonomics & Screen
Before I even turn this on, I love the size and ergonomics of this camera. It’s tiny and doesn’t have cables flying all over the place. I know this doesnt effect image quality at all, but it still kind of does matter to me. The aesthetics of Red cameras are the best in my opinion.
I love that you can use the screen on top of the camera to shoot something quickly if you have to, and having the screen on top is one less cable and monitor to manage, coming from the FX6. I love the FX6 because it just works, but no matter how I build that camera out it just never is as clean and easy to handle as a Red camera.
Love that the screen is on top, I even used it a few times without a monitor. This is annoying if the camera is up high and you have to change a setting, but while you’re using it handheld, I love it.
Thinking of the Pyxis, I love that the fans are on the sides of the Komodo. The Pyxis’ fans are on top of the camera and not only blow hot air on your hand if you’re using the handle, but if water, dirt or dust gets on top of the camera, it’s likely to go straight into the fans and heat sink. Debris can still get into the Komodo, but I feel like its much less likely to happen.
Not that this is a competition, but for ergonomics and aesthetics between these three cameras, the Komodo wins by a long shot.
Red Komodo App
The App is great for controlling the camera. You’re able to easily control all of your settings and the connection is very fast and reliable while I’ve been using it. I found myself using my phone as a monitor if I wanted a quick shot and needed more than the on-camera monitor, but didn’t want to rig up a 5 or 7 inch monitor on the camera.
Sensor Size
For sensor size, I’m used to the larger sensors of the fx6 and pyxis, but I also use an FX30 as a C camera if I need one, so I’m used to working with a super 35 sensor now more than I was when I first picked up the FX30. I used a 12mm on the Komodo and missed how wide it looked on my FX6, and really love how it looks on the pyxis shooting open gate.
With some lenses it was actually a good thing, in my last video going over if gear was worth it or now, I mentioned how the Remus lenses were a little soft on my full frame cameras. I tried out my Remus lenses on the Komodo and was impressed at how much cleaner the looked.
Still get some distortion towards the edges, but the felt a lot sharper. So pros and cons to different sensor sizes. One isn’t better than the other, they are just different. I like the wide open full frame look though.
Low Light
When it comes to low light with this camera though, it did feel a little crunchy to me. I do film in low light or lighting that is out of my control, so this was a sticking point for me.
I did some informal tests and the Komodo struggled in low light situations, where I would typically just shoot with these other cameras and it was tough to get a properly exposed image, or one that wasn’t really noisey. That being said, I do love how the noise looks on the Komodo more than any of these other cameras. A little noise is nice, too much is a pain to work with though.
Not really fair to compare to all of these other cameras, as these have dual base isos. You can pretty much shoot in the dark with the FX6.
The Pyxis has a high base, but gets really noisy and the noise pattern makes the image look mushy. Recovering with noise reduction fixes the noise, but the details are lost.
The FX30 has a dual base that helps a little bit, but not as much as the FX3.
The Komodo struggles in low light, and how it distributes it’s dynamic range using ISO hurts it’s low light capabilities even more. This camera really shines with proper lighting.
No native ISO
A strange thing about the Red Komodo is there is no native ISO. In Sony world, I live an die by ISO values, so this was a big workflow shift for me.
Using ISO to adjust the gray point, then using ND, aperture or lighting to adjust exposure has been a big shift for me. I’ve actually found myself cheating a bit and adjusting the shutter angle to help compensate for exposure if I’m not using ND and my iris is where I want it.
To make matters even more complicated, the Komodo has better shadow dynamic range at lower ISOs. Even shadow and highlight dynamic range at 800, and higher ISOs have better highlight dynamic range, but you sacrifice stops in the shadows.
This only compounds the low light issue, so just like I ran into the Pyxis, these two cameras are exposing my poor run and gun lighting habits.
The Best ISO’s for Low light, High light and Normal Lighting
I did a lot of testing exposing at different ISO values, I tried up to 3200 during the day, and down to 100 at night. Those extremes are probably good in certain situations, but I have not been able to get great results with them. You can recover highlights at 3200, but the shadows are really mushy. I’m not an red code expert by any means, but here are the ISOs that I’ve got the best results with.
Low light situations, ISO 400 to 800
Normal lighting conditions: ISO 800
High lighting conditions: 800 to 1280
When you’re in dynamic lighting that changes a lot, ISO 800 and exposing how you want the image to look has given me the best results.
On Sony, I’ve been over exposing by a stop, but this camera is better to expose for what you see on your screen, then you can fine tune the results in post by adjusting the settings R3d gives you access to.
Global shutter
Next up, Global shutter on the Komodo was a very nice plus.
I didn’t shoot sports or shoot rollers with the Komodo, but I did shoot handheld. A lot. And this camera is light, so at the end of the day my handheld footage needed some stabilization.
Global shutter is awesome when stabilizing in post. If I know I have to stabilize a clip, I’ll shoot at a lower shutter angle, and stabilize using davinci resolves camera lock. As long as you don’t have a lot of movement in the frame, you’ll be able to fake tripod shots all day.
If you do have movement, normal stabilization does a great job as long as your shutter isn’t too low.
Overall, I loved that the global shutter helped eliminate some stabilization warping on microjitters in post.
Resolutions and Frame Rates
Lumping resolutions and frames rates together, between all of theses cameras, it’s just a mess if you want to shoot anything other that 16 or 17:9.
The komodo has pretty limited formats, with 16:9, 17:9, 2:1 and 2.4:1. It has more options for anamorphics, which is different from these other cameras. You can select the resolution, aspect ratio and squeeze factor from a menu. I like that way of doing things from a menu perspective, but still, a bit limited for 1.3 and 1.5 Anamorphics but I understand.
I’m used to this as my Sony cameras pretty much stay locked at 16:9, I really wish I had more options. Shooting on the Pyxis was so fun shooting open gate with wide lenses. And it makes it easier to shoot horizontal and vertical content at the same time. Something that I’m finding more clients want these days.
Image Quality
One of my favorite parts of this camera is the image that comes off the sensor of this camera. It feels a little soft and mushy but still has some sharpness and detail as well. It’s tough to put into words, but this camera feels less digital than other cameras. Also a little mushier than the pyxis 6k, but not in a bad way. I can’t explain it, but the sensor feels better when filming more creative things or people.
If I had to say something bad about the image quality, I can see this being a bit of an issue shooting something that you want to be really sharp, like products that need to be shown as natural as possible. However, I don’t really know how to show this. This is like a feeling I have watching the footage while in resolve, and after internet delivery, I don’t think any of my clients would actually notice.
Great image quality when in proper lighting, wish there were more recording options and frame rates available though.
R3D and ProRes
When it comes to recording formats, I like that you can choose between R3d RAW and ProRes. I would shoot in R3D for the flexibility in post, but if you need to bake in everything, ProRes is nice to have.
Both files sizes are large though, I mentioned this in my Pyxis video, and only being able to shoot in BRAW was a pain. Sometimes I shoot very long talking head interviews in controlled lighting, so I don’t need red code raw for that. I don’t need a 700 GB raw file for an hour long talking head that was shot in controlled lighting that didn’t change.
I love how my Sony cameras have different flavors of XAVC internally, but can also record external prores if you need it. Internal RAW is nice, but more options would be nicer.
Misc Rapid Fire Things
Rigging
Investing in camera parts that you can use on multiple cameras really lowers the barrier to jumping to other systems when that time comes. Using nato rails, handles, quality monitors and batteries allows you to take those parts and put them on almost any cinema camera. The red parts are aesthetically really nice, but they’ll only fit on certain red cameras and are super expensive. So I’d use good universal parts, and only upgrade to like the red monitor or out rigger handle if you find yourself really wanting those.
Lenses
Going off of the common rig parts, investing in lenses with a common mount also helps mitigate the shock of switching systems. I’ve started to invest in PL mount lenses, an I’ve been able to use them on the RED, Sony and Blackmagic cameras with their native mounts or use adapters.
Sony E mount lenses are great for autofocus, but I’ll only ever use those on my sony camera. Thats partially why I find myself claiming to be a Sony shooter, they’ve made it so easy to be entrenched in that system.
Storage
I hate Cfast cards. They are expensive, none of my other cameras use them and they suck to store when not in use.
Video out
One SDI and no HDMI was a bold choice
Timecode
Can use the external port on the back. Love that the mutiny plate has the record button that uses the external port, but also has a pass through. I have not tested if timecode works on this because I don’t have a 9-pin to 3.5mm adapter, but I’m assuming this works.
Conclusion
All that being said, the OG Komodo is now $3000 and after using it for a few weeks, I’m blown away at that price tag. There are some extras you have to buy for this camera, like expensive Cfast cards, a handle, monitor, cables, batteries, and a v or g mount plate, but I love the image that this camera produces.
And it’s in a tiny, ergonomic package that I want to pick up and go shoot with. My gripes about the low light and v-mount plate being fiddeley are improved on the Komodo-X, but the komodo x is $7,000 USD. I’d rather buy a komodo and put $4000 into lenses and lights before I bought a Komodo-X.