The big RED announcement from two weeks ago made quite a rumble, and it was only a few days afterwards that Jim Jannard announced things were changing yet again. Well, the revision has arrived. Jim says they’ve taken over “all aspects of electronic design and sensor fabrication,” apparently allowing them to do some stuff to upgrade the specs on a lot of the sensors. They’ve also announced a “reward” for their original customers with RED ONE units, saying they’ll get a really nice deal on a special setup if they want it, including a special sensor and bundled stuff at no extra charge. Of note is the disclosure of 2K speeds up to 350fps on the larger sensors, 250fps on the smaller, and the pricing of the “complete” Scarlet with a fixed lens at $3750, which is pretty reasonable. It’s another one of those “huge images stacked on top of each other” announcements so click on through to see everything. → Read More
I know, I’m really taking the bait here, but they followed through big time on the last one. My insider says they’ve had “a little breakthrough” today. My guess: they’re moving the dates up. Jim says: “New announcement on Dec. 3rd. Everything has changed… just as we promised. “ Give me a break! → Read More
Although I’m a big fan of the Casio EX-F1 and wrote at length last week on how major the RED announcement was, I can’t disagree with this list. The D90 hasn’t lived up to its hype, the 1D Mk III does have serious problems, the Scarlet is simply not viable as a DSLR, and the EX-F1 is a one-trick pony. This isn’t to say that these cameras are weak — on the contrary, they’re all perfectly good cameras, they’re just not the second coming of sliced bread, as their makers wanted us to believe. → Read More
Down at the very bottom of RED’s enormous Epic/Scarlet page there is this little item you may have overlooked. We told you they were trademarking “RED 3D” back in October, and sure enough here is the dedicated 3D setup we thought would come to pass. In light of the rest of the announcement, it’s clear it’s essentially just a special baseplate and lateral fasteners to stick a couple RED brains together, but that doesn’t stop the thing from looking totally awesome. → Read More
Image credit: Benni Diez at Reduser.net forums For the last couple weeks, Jim Jannard of RED Camera has been teasing everybody on the REDuser forums with vague promises and outrageous claims of revolutionizing the industry. Skepticism would be the natural response, but after the original RED One camera turned the industry on its head in 2007, people learned that the company said what they meant and made what they said. Early adopters knew they were getting in the ground floor of something that would not only change the industry but likely completely metamorphose once things got underway. As it turns out, they were right, and RED’s announcement today represents the ideal of the RED camera system made reality. What does today’s bombshell mean for the hi-def video industry, and what does it mean for you and me? → Read More
There’s a fun and functional countdown over at Red.com that suggests, if I am not mistaken, that the new RED products will be revealed at 9AM tomorrow on the East Coast — 6AM my time, great. Check out our previous teaser posts for the mysterious renders that RED head Jim Jannard has been posting. → Read More
Another taste. You may be getting tired of these little peeks, but I think they’re just dandy. Looks like a couple XLR ports (labeled “Push” probably because they’re inset and you can’t reach the release), some video outs and some sort of proprietary connector on the right. → Read More
Oh my… I don’t know what it is at all! The big RED announcement is in two weeks and Jannard got a little too excited and posted some mysterious renders. He also says, in the same ebullient tone as last week: → Read More
Call it hype or call it confidence, but RED has lived up to the hype and they’ve got a lot to be confident about. Here’s what RED Head Jim Jannard said in a recent Reduser forum post: “We will announce the new Scarlet and Epic programs on Thursday Nov. 13th. I want to say that no one has any idea how incredible this announcement will be. Call this hype… please. I am quite sure that the announcement will be called a “scam”. Should be a lot of fun to hear the reactions. I can’t wait. Jarred is buying extra server bandwidth… we will post specs and renders for people to email around. This makes the RED ONE announcement seem small by comparison.” Oh my. Suddenly Nikon’s medium format rumors looks a lot less exciting. → Read More
Could this be part of the change that Jannard mentioned when he revealed the Epic and Scarlet were getting rebooted? A ScarletUser forum post by one Joseph says: …within the last 24 hours, Red has registered the trademark “Red 3D” with the description of: Cameras, camera lenses, projectors, eyeglasses and software, all for use in the recording and playback of 3D images. A unified, hi-def workflow for 3D cinema would be an interesting leg up for the RED brand. Although 3D cinema is still considered a gimmick, James Cameron thinks it worthwhile to drop several hundred million dollars into it for Avatar. Whatever the case, we’ll probably be learning more in early November. → Read More
You know, to be honest, I could probably get a less fluffy account of shooting on a RED ONE from my friend Mike, who has been shooting on RED for quite a long time now. But he can’t write, and I’m lazy, so in the meantime we have a pretty solid article here that describes the experience of shooting in 4K, the trouble they had, some of the strengths and limitations, and so on. Since RED is in the process of revamping the prosumer-level Scarlet, knowledge of Redcode and the workflow may actually be relevant to some of us peons soon. → Read More
What the hell?! I think Jim Jannard took some peyote at Photokina and brought his laptop. He’s posted on the forums saying everything’s going pineapples for Scarlet and RED Epic. We have changed everything about Scarlet because the market has changed and we have discovered a lot of things in the process. We have a new vision. Wipe you minds of the past announced Scarlet. Forget the design and forget the price. It is all different now. We think you will be surprised. Glad we didn’t take any deposits… Just like Scarlet, Epic has changed completely. Throw out everything you thought before. We’ll reset the deck at the same time we announce about Scarlet. All good here. No bad news at all. Only good surprises. Still early-mid 2009. RED ONE upgrade still in effect. And yes, it will still be called RED EPIC. Give me a break! Doesn’t he sound like he’s drugged, though? → Read More
It doesn’t have a catchy name yet (Crimson?) but RED is now officially taking aim at Canon, Nikon, and everyone else in the DSLR arena. In a forum post, Jim Jannard announced the Digital Still and Motion Camera, saying it is not a replacement for any RED products but a separate product aimed at doing to still camera makers what RED has done to digital cinema tech — which is to say, utterly leapfrog them. Look forward to “higher resolution, higher S/N, higher DNR, higher frame rates, smaller bodies, more system flexibility, and many more options…” but not until late 2009. [Thanks for the tip, Mike] → Read More
I have to say, the Wired I used to love would have covered the RED camera about two years ago when it was all buzz, phantom tech, and prototype sensors, and not now when it is essentially an established cinematic tool limited only by the small amount yet manufactured. At any rate, they’ve written a pretty comprehensive long-format history of the RED from birth to current success, and it’s worth reading whether you’re a RED head or not. It’s a bit gee-whiz and they gloss over many of the issues the RED has had (buggy drivers, supply problems), its limitations (e.g. framerate), and the actual cost of outfitting oneself with one of these amazing cameras. Still, it’s worth a read and it’s good to see my favorite camera getting this kind of mainstream attention. → Read More
When I heard about LG’s “Scarlet” line of HDTVs and its misleading ad campaign, the first thing I thought of was the real Scarlet and then “Is RED going to sue these mothers or what?” And so, four months later, they have. A post at the RED forums by Jim Jannard reveals that the legal gears are turning in Orange County and they’re going to be doing a little more cracking down from now on. Now in this day and age when people sue one another over spilled drinks, one might legitimately ask whether they have reason to do this. Well, I certainly think they do; if LG were putting out a “Scarlet” mp3 player or something I’d say no, but a product for viewing HD video? RED’s already in that game and they’ve already got a product announced. And as it turns out, LG asked RED for permission, and RED said “no.” And yet, here we are. The scoundrels! [thanks for the tip, REDmaster Mike] → Read More
The rumor of a (RED) iPhone 3G has been coming and going since for a while now – before the phone had even been made official, even. The rumor died for a while after launch, but alas – it’s back. According to the guys over at MacBlogz, a red-backed iPhone may be in the works as an easy/cost-effective product revamp for the holiday season. Seeing as Apple’s had a (RED) tie-in with just about every popular iPod model they’ve released thus far — save the original nano — it’s certainly not too crazy of an idea. Plus, it gives Apple another chance to involve Bono in some way – and Apple hearts Bono. → Read More
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