Mark Toia is something of a legend amongst the RED community and he was one of the first people to get their hands on a Helium-powered Weapon (well, the first according to Jarred Land). This 6:06 is what he’s shot with it and, we have to say, it’s rather mind-blowing.
RED President, Jarred Land, reckons that Toia ended up cutting this footage together on a laptop somewhere between India and Vietnam en route to (he thinks) Abu Dhabi. Wherever and however it was put together, though, it’s stunning.
Toia’s narration is good too.
“What I can see straight up is richer, cleaner, smoother blacks,” he says. “Deep rich colours, and far more premier tones and way less noise when pushing into the higher ISOs. I pushed into the blacks like never before and that was the real standout for me.
“When the Helium 8K turned up I thought I’d instantly throw it in the helicopter: chase some cars fly through some cities, mountains, blow up some shit…Then I thought: ‘Hang on, we've been here before’. We’ve been there, we’ve done that. What is this camera’s point of difference when compared to the others, so I decided to shoot things that have always tripped me up.”
The result is a reel that includes filming in the dark with little to no lighting, mixed lighting, over-exposing, and a whole lot more.
“I decided to push hard, push past its limits, and see where we ended up,” he says.
As you can see, he ended up in some very interesting places indeed.