RED Shocks with SCARLET and EPIC Features and Price
"Time is not exactly on the side of potential RED SCARLET buyers, of which I count myself as one. Finding out details on Jim Jannard's new pocket cam turned out to be an unbearably long wait, and now that NAB 2008 has opened its doors and the news is out, we're subjected to a new and unplanned pause in our unusual quest for details: red.com servers can't handle the influx of traffic.
After a handful of refreshes, I found out that that the three new products are the 3K RED SCARLET, a new 5K camera called the RED EPIC and the RED RAY, an optical disk drive that supports a maximum resolution of 4K. They're all due in early 2009, but we're told to count on their specifications, design and delivery dates being subject to change.
SCARLET's sensor is going to be a 2/3" version of the Mysterium sensor, and will resolve a maximum resolution of 3k. That is more than most people expected, but there are no details on whether or not it's upgradeable.
On the other hand, the RED EPIC's sensor, body, boards and mount are mentioned to be 'fully upgradeable'. Is this a hint of the SCARLET breaking the RED tradition of 'future proofing' their camera? Then why go for a beautiful, all metal body?
Frame rates from 1 to 120 are supposed to be possible, but with no mention of the resolution at which the higher frame rates are attainable. A 180 fps burst mode is in the works, but no details of how many seconds it will be able to run for, and if it will degrade resolution even further. No matter what the specs, 180 fps is huge at this price point, but with REDCORE RAW and RGB recording at transfer rates of 100 Mbps, don't expect anything over 5 or 7 seconds, if that.
Recording, by the way, will be done to dual compact flash, but with HDMI and HD-SDI ports in the specs (as well as Firewire 800 and USB2) hard-drives are an obvious second option. However, there is no mention of audio ports or interchangeable lenses, and that is already worrying prospective buyers. A timecode connector would fix the lack of audio ports (and make economic sense) and provide input for more complex sound devices.
The SCARLET will be delivered with a very large (by consumer camcorder standards) 4.8" LCD, a 8X RED zoom lens that opens up to f2.8, and will be compatible with 'many RED one accessories". Lenses are not likely to be among those accessories. Giving SCARLET focus, zoom and iris rings (which do not appear in the photos) or a faster lens, say – a f/1.8 or f/1.5 would give it significantly more professional value for digital cinema and therefore make it more competitive with the RED ONE itself. This is not likely to be within the company’s plans.
Suggesting (even if just subtly) that RED really wants to take on a broader market is the still photo mode. Taking photos with the SCARLET? It wasn't the first item on most people's wish-lists, but after all, why not? And given that it's meant to compete with the sub-$10k camcorder crowd, it will have both full manual and full auto shooting modes, as well as WI-FI control. Imagine remote controlling an all-metal military-looking gadget. I do appreciate the cool factor here. And the price?
It seems like Jim Jannard voted in a poll on the reduser.net forums. He picked the SCARLET to cost around $5,000. Other reports have it priced under $3,000. This is better than most expected, even if the sensor is ‘just’ 2/3".
The EPIC spearheads the RED evolution in a similarly daring, but very different direction. With 5K resolution in the same full frame S35mm (24mm x 14mm ) Mysterium sensor as the RED, this might be the camera that truly competes with film. It’s not going to happen without controversy though, because many like to both edit and output RED footage in 2K resolution. The reasons have to do with reduced hardware costs and processing times, better apparent resolution and detail at 2K, and very importantly – the lack of projection options for 4K files.
The other problem the EPIC might face is smaller pixels. Same 'sensor/higher resolution' has been one of the problems plaguing the photo and video industries for ages. I'm sure the RED team has this solved on the firmware side... at least partially. With the EPIC rumored to cost between $30,000 and $40,000 for the body only, some extreme programming has to have gone into this camera to justify the price. So perhaps the real upgrade here will be in the sensor’s processing – the way it handles highlights (notoriously problematic in digital cinema) and color and motion.
RED's big brother will go up to 100 FPS, will record REDCORE RAW and RGB to REDFLASH, have a fullsize dual-link HD-SDI, HDMI, Firewire 800 and 2 XLR audio inputs. As already mentioned, it will be fully upgradeable, compatible with RED ONE accessories, and will weigh all of 6 pounds of fully machined aluminum (a lot less than the RED), PL mount included."
By Luca Oprea, Softpedia
