RED Camera Rental - Experienced Ops/Techs Available» Oct. 30th Announcement – Royal Galactic Cinema

Epic-X “Tattoo”, RED Mattebox Photos

Justin O'Neill — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:03:00 +0000

RED has posted some photos of the Epic-X “Tattoo” beta cameras that will be available for testing before the end of the year.

Scarlet and Epic Release Order

Justin O'Neill — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:12:41 +0000

Jannard has stated that RED does not feel comfortable promising exact shipping dates at this point (see below) but he has posted the release ORDER for all of the DSMC cameras. The interesting news is that both 3k Scarlets come right after the Epic-X and S35 are released. The release order is as follows:

EPIC-X (beta program starts before end of year)
EPIC S35
Scarlet 3k 2/3″ fixed and interchangeable
Scarlet S35
EPIC FF35
Scarlet FF35
EPIC 645
EPIC 617

3k Scarlet Gets Touch Focus Tracking

Justin O'Neill — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:03:35 +0000

Amongst all of the Epic-X news Jannard has given us a bit of info about the 3k 2/3″ Scarlets. It looks like they are getting new features to compete with the Canon 7d and 5D Mark II. The interchangeable lens 3k Scarlet will now allow touchscreen focusing using electronic RED, Canon and Nikon lenses. Jannard states that this will not effect the delivery schedule.

Scarlet 2/3″ Program. Given the recent new VDSLR releases, we have decided to up the capability of the Scarlet 2/3″ Fixed 8x and interchangeable models. Several new features are being added that will NOT impact the release schedule (anymore than it would have been otherwise) but it will mildly impact the pricing. We should have all the details ready by the end of this month.

Some of the new Scarlet 2/3″ capabilities include:

1. Increased REDCODE data rates

2. New FLUT Color, Gamma and Sensitivity Science. Now same as EPIC.

3. More extensive modular system integration.

4. Interchangeable Lens mounts including focus and iris control of electronic RED, Canon and Nikon lenses, along with Zoom data (Scarlet 2/3″ Interchangeable)

5. “Touch Focus Tracking” with electronic lens mounts and RED touchscreen LCD’s (Scarlet 2/3″ Interchangeable and 8x Fixed)

5. Two independent microphone level channels, balanced input circuits, 48V Phantom Power, digitized at 24-bit 48KHz.

6. GigaBit Ethernet port

7. Scaled 1080P at 60fps

To accomplish all of these, we have added one additional ASIC and four new boards to each model Scarlet 2/3″.

Still No Solid Dates, But Beta Program Starting at End of Year

Justin O'Neill — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:43:57 +0000

Basically RED does not feel they can 100% reliably hit a release date yet so they are saying the “Tattoo” beta Epic-Xs should be shipping before the end of 2009, with production models following shortly after (if the beta period goes well). Epic-X will be released in four stages:

Stage 1 (Beta): RED One owners can purchase a beta “Tattoo” Epic-X for $28k and keep their RED One camera. Shipping before the end of 2009.

Stage 2 (Production): RED One owners can pay $19,500 for an Epic-X and keep their RED One camera. Shipping early 2010.

Stage 3: RED One owners can trade in their RED One bodies and purchase the Epic-X for $10,500.

Stage 4: Anyone can purchase an Epic S35 for $28,000.

Major New Features Announced

Justin O'Neill — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:10:27 +0000

There are a couple new features that we think are a big deal. RED is adding the ability to pull focus with electronic RED, Canon and Nikon lenses using RED touchscreen LCDs. The sensor position will be adjustable on 5 different axis. The brains have a 3 Axis internal motion sensor and built in GPS receiver

RED DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera)

New MYSTERIUM-X 5K sensor
5K (2:1) at 1-100fps
4K (2:1) at 1-125fps
Quad HD at 1-120fps
3K (2:1) at 1-160fps
2K (2:1) at 1-250fps
1080P (scaled from full frame) at 1-60fps
Increased Dynamic Range, reduced noise
Time Lapse, Frame Ramping
REDCODE 250
ISO 200-8000
New FLUT Color Science

Completely Modular System, each Module individually upgradeable
Independent Stills and Motion Modes (both record full resolution REDCODE RAW)
5 Axis Adjustable Sensor Plate Adjustment will be all manual.
Multiple Recording Media Options (Compact Flash, 1.8” SSD, RED Drives, RED RAM)
Wireless REDMOTE control
Touchscreen LCD control option
Bomb-EVF, RED-EVF and RED-LCD compatible
Multiple User Control Buttons
Interchangeable Lens mounts including focus and iris control of electronic RED, Canon and Nikon lenses (along with Zoom data). These are double locking…the traditional lock ring with an added PL-Style lock-ring to lock everything down nice and tight. Focus can be controlled via the REDmote.
“Touch Focus Tracking” with electronic lens mounts and RED Touchscreen LCDs Electronic focus and iris will not be limited to the RED touchscreen.
LDS and /i Data enabled PL Mount
Rollover Battery Power
Independent LUTs on Monitor Outputs
Independent Frame Guides and Menu overlays on Monitor Outputs
Monitor Ports support both LCD and EVF
True Shutter Sync In/Out and Strobe Sync Out
720P, 1080P and 2K monitoring support. HD-SDI on Epic will be 10 bit up to 2K.. There is support for 10bit HDMI as well.
Gigagbit Network interface and 802.11 Wireless interface
3 Axis internal motion sensor, built in GPS receiver
Enhanced Metadata
Full size connectors on Pro I/O Module. AES Digital Audio input, single and dual link HD-SDI
Support for RED, most Arri 19mm, Studio 15mm, 15mm Lite, Panavision and NATO accessories

Dimensions- Approx. 4”x4”x5.5”
Weight (Brain only)- Approx. 6 lbs (2.72kg)

DSMC Module Prices Have Been Announced

Justin O'Neill — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:04:02 +0000

2.8″ LCD – touchscreen – $900
5″ LCD – touchscreen – $1,600
7″ LCD – current model – $2,500
9″ LCD – touchscreen (2010) – TBD

BOMB EVF – $3,200
REDMOTE – $550
SIDE CF MODULE – $500

RED MATTEBOX – $1,200 (flags not included)
SIDE HANDLE – $950
BOTTOM HANDLE – $350
EPIC/Scarlet BASE PLATE – $500
NATO BOTTOM RIG BASE PLATE – TBD
TOP MOUNT – $200

EPIC REAR MODULE ADAPTER – $300
SCARLET MODULE ADAPTER – $300
BASE I/O MODULE – $1,750
PRO I/O MODULE – $2,950
BATTERY MODULE – (with two standard batteries) – $1,250
DUAL CF REAR MODULE – $950
1.8″ SSD MODULE – $1,500
128GB 1.8″ REDMAG $1,500

ELECTRONIC RED MOUNT – $500
ELECTRONIC NIKON MOUNT – $500
ELECTRONIC CANON MOUNT – $500

No Solid Release Dates

Justin O'Neill — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:12:02 +0000

From Jim Jannard:

1. We don’t have a good track record of making deadlines. So why frustrate our customers any more than we already have?
2. This is an EXTREMELY complicated project with a ton of difficult tricks. We are in uncharted territory.
3. Engineers are optimistic. Question- “So how long will it take to get this done?”… Answer- “6 months, no problem.” On top of them usually being overly optimistic, we are always changing things mid-stream… which is an engineer’s worst nightmare. These are the primary reasons we are behind a bit in the originally posted target schedule.
4. Several of our suppliers have gone out of business in the bad economy. It takes time to find replacements.
5. Customer feedback. It seems in vogue for companies to “listen to their customers”. We actually do. Anyway, listening means paying attention and adjusting the program based on feedback. Adjustments take time.
6. We also changed our release strategy. We had originally planned on releasing EPIC and Scarlet as we did the RED ONE. Bad idea. Instead of “beta” version released to everyone, we will release production versions to everyone after a tight beta program. This change takes longer to accommodate testing, fixes, bug patrol and more testing, upgrades, etc.
7. The market has changed. When we announced EPIC and Scarlet, the world was hot. Now it is cold. No reason to rush to an empty market.
8. “Yesterday we knew nothing.” How could we possibly make accurate predictions on delivery when we had no clue what we were doing? “Today we know something.” That makes our estimates better than before but still not perfect. “Tomorrow we just might be dangerous.” We should be getting better with our estimates as time moves on. If not, we aren’t very good learners.
9. We have ALWAYS said (beginning at NAB 2006) that “everything is subject to change, including specs and delivery dates.” Yet, it seems to be human nature to forget this caveat. So we will just not give absolute, drop-dead delivery dates anymore. Things will be released when we are finished, and finished properly. We’ll continue to give regular updates (every week or so) on specific milestones so you have some idea what’s going on.

The good news is that the EPIC/Scarlet project is better than ever expected. The images coming out of the new Mysterium-X sensor have exceeded expectations. The flexibility of the modular system has surprised all of us. The system is significantly better now than when it was 1st announced. Now let’s get to it.

Oct. 30th Announcement 20 Hours Away

Justin O'Neill — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:05:03 +0000

Jim Jannard will be announcing the final release schedule and prices for the Epic and Scarlet cameras at 3pm tomorrow (Oct. 30th).

This is a live post so you can subscribe to the RSS feed and receive instant updates as they come in.

People around the world refreshing www.reduser.net every couple seconds. Here are a couple threads to keep you occupied during the wait: www.reduser.net/36238, www.reduser.net/36909,
www.reduser.net/35656.