The biggest question on everyone’s mind right now is when Scarlet and Epic will be released. We will keep this page updated with the latest from RED.
Scarlet Release Tracker
Apparently RED was using Foxconn China to manufacture the Scarlet camera and now that Foxconn is restructuring and may be pulling out of China RED has to look for a new hardware manufacturer for Scarlet. Epic will not be effected as it is being manufactured in the United States.
Jannard also announced that they have run up against a tough bug in the DSMC “Tattoo” firmware that may delay all of the cameras until it has been worked out. RED has hired 20 new “SWAT” coders to find the bug and solidify the firmware. It is notoriously difficult to predict how long it will take to squash a firmware bug so RED has not posted an updated release schedule. more…
Jarred Land has just posted a list of Scarlet details over at reduser. You can read the whole thread here: www.reduser.net/45431
- Scarlet fixed zoom focal length: about 7.5mm-58mm or FF35 Equivalent of 28mm-224mm.
- Mysterious item #21: It is still far enough out that you need not worry about it right now. It is however worth the recognition that it mysteriously has received
- RED ONE owner priority: RED ONE owners who have not executed their cameras for Stages 1-3 of the EPIC program will have a short window of priority on Scarlet packages.
- Scarlet brain weight: Current weight of Fixed Scarlet is just over 4.5 pounds.
- First Scarlet to ship: Scarlet 8x is first to be brought up in the lab. It is still in engineering form, not “run around and take pictures form”. Think of a mini-Franky. There is alot of effort is going into the autofocus algorithms and lens optimization, and alot of waiting for bits of code to come down from it’s big brother. ASIC, Sensor and Lens work have been complete ( the hard parts ), but there is still alot of firmware work to be done and some minor mechanical changes waiting on tooling.
- 2/3″ image quality: The images coming off of it are incredible…remember, the 2/3rds sensor is part of the Mysterium-X family, and you all know what that looks like.
- 120fps is working on the CF-Module with 64GB cards at a reduced REDCODE rate. The highest REDCODE number you can use with the CF cards are still being determined as optimization work is progressing.
- Scarlet sensor read/reset: The read/reset will be on par to the read/reset times of EPIC S35.
- Dynamic range: Compared to the EPIC S35 they will be close. The actual delta changes every day, as both systems continue to independently improve.
- Delivery dates: Scarlet Fixed 2/3″ is currently behind EPIC and likely will be for the forseable future. Some things are caught up, but as a whole it is a step or two behind it as it inherits a good portion of EPIC’s development efforts.
- Biggest change: The autofocus is actually the most impressive work going on right now… Nobody has seen autofocus on a video camera work like this before, and it is pretty impressive to actually see it work. Of course #21 is pretty incredible. And the (optional) Titanium Lens mount is pretty cool.
- Custom colors: Kind of… the side”cosmetic” pieces on Scarlet are removable.. and you can get different finishes. I can’t remember if we officially mentioned that before for the 2/3″…… but you can. But please… No pink.
Here are a couple other details Jarred mentions in the thread:
- The motors are in the lens, both autofocus, iris and zoom. That 8x lens all by itself is a technical achievement all by itself. This is a cinema lens: with custom actuators and lens group movements designed for both motion and still.
Jim Jannard just announced that the Epic prototypes are working great and the stage 1 “Tattoo” program will start this May. Beta testing will last 2 – 3 months and stage 2 Epic cameras will start shipping July – August 2010.
Early EPIC prototypes are working and taking incredible pictures…
We expect the Tattoo EPICs to be out in May.
Given our commitment to debug and enable most features before shipping production models, we expect a 2-3 month shakedown of Tattoo which puts Stage 2 delivery somewhere in the neighborhood of July-August. A lot depends on what happens throughout the Tattoo period.
The program is real… you will see in a few days. more…
Jannard went on to say that “Scarlet is only trailing slightly“.
Now that we are getting images from and pictures of working Epic/Scarlet prototypes, RED has cleared a major hurdle and we are one step closer to shipping Scarlets. ”Tattoos” will not be shipping tomorrow, however. Jarred just posted:
Tattoos still are a bit away.. Remember, we are taking the time to get things right.
Read the full thread here: www.reduser.net/566724
Jannard has just confirmed that RED now has 3 working Scarlet/Epic prototypes. They are named “Blackie”, “Lucy” and “Desi”, an ode to Ren Mar studios that RED has just purchased.
The names are references to movies/shows shot at RED Studios Hollywood which was previously Ren-Mar Studios and before that Metro Pictures Back Lot #13. “Blackie” refers to the “Boston Blackie” films that were produced by Metro Pictures at the beginning of the 20th century and Lucy and Desi refer to “I Love Lucy” which was shot on the location while under the Ren-Mar name. More…
Deanan DaSilva and Graeme Nattress have also been twittering about the image coming off the prototypes:
From Deanan:
- 9:05 PM Mar 7th Almost 7 HD frames in one Epic frame
- 2:27 PM Mar 7th 5k, 14 megapixel 24p blows away 4k. Pretty exciting to see how beautiful MX sensor looks at it’s full resolution.
From Graeme:
- 6:27 PM Mar 7th 5120 pixels across. Can you say effortless detail? Even half rez spills over onto my 2nd monitor.
RED now estimates that we will see the first 2/3″ Scarlets shipping right after NAB ’10 in May or June. Here are the latest estimates:
- Tattoo- early 2010
- EPIC S35 Stage 2- NAB 2010 (or shortly after)
- EPIC S35 Stage 3 & 4- pre-summer 2010
- Scarlet 2/3″ (both models)- May-June 2010
- Scarlet S35- Summer 2010
Jim Jannard has just posted that due to an issue with the ASICs Scarlet and Epic will be delayed 30 days. Since we were expecting the Epic-X “Tattoo” cameras to start going out in Dec. ’09 that would mean they will now be going out in Jan. ’10. The Scarlet announcement on November 30th is still happening.
Since we are transparent… we have an ASIC issue. We have to do a “metal spin”, as apposed to a full re-spin, and it will set our program back about 30 days. I hate delays more than anyone, but we need to be open about the good news and the bad news.
This is not a major setback… but it is newsworthy. More…
Details about pricing for the Scarlet brains and a solidified release schedule will be announced on November 30th. All we got out of the Oct. 30th announcement for Scarlet is that the 2/3″ models will probably be coming out sometime in the first half of 2010 after the first S35 Epics ship. Here is what we can expect at the announcement:
- Scarlet brain pricing
- Scarlet release dates
- Details of new features in the 2/3″ Scarlets
- More details on RED Ray
For those that were hoping Scarlet would be available within the next couple months the Oct. 30th announcement was a disappointment. The release dates were not solidified and the final prices for the Scarlet brains and fixed lens kit will have to wait until Nov. 30th when RED plans to announce all of the Scarlet details.
For those who want a thoroughly tested and feature rich Scarlet the announcement was good news. New features were announced, including touch focus tracking and 1080p scaled at 60fps and a solid beta testing period for the DSMC system will begin before the year is out.
So when can we expect Scarlet to ship? Unfortunately that question is still up in the air. The DSMC release order was announced which does give us something to go by. It looks to us like Scarlet could begin shipping as soon as all of the RED One owners who are buying an Epic-X have been taken care of and they get the first regular Epic S35s out. Jannard said they hope to begin shipping production model Epic-Xs in early 2010 so it will really depend on how fast they can manufacture those cameras and get them out the door.
One interesting development is that it has been confirmed that the 2/3″ 3k fixed and cinema Scarlets will be the first to go out right after the Epic S35. The S35 Scarlet comes right after those.
Now for a bit of good news: Jarred just posted that [EDIT: thanks Zach] the lens for the Scarlet 2/3″ fixed lens is finished and being tested at RED.
Jim Jannard posted today that the Scarlet and Epic release schedule will be announced on Friday, Oct. 30th. The only bad news we can expect is a slight delay from the original announcement because they will not be doing a public beta test this time. Jim stated they will still have the community beta test the cameras, it just won’t be open to all early serial holders like last time. We can’t wait to see who gets picked to test these first DSMCs.
This isn’t really a surprise as we already knew there was a delay because the first cameras were scheduled to ship at the end of Summer ’09 which has already passed. Everything else in the Oct. 30th announcement will be good news and Jim specifically said people expecting large price increases can relax. Read the full post here: www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=36238
Jim Jannard has narrowed down the release announcement date to the end of October 2009.
End of the month. We need as much time as possible to understand what obstacles are left.
Jim
Original post: www.reduser.net/forum/showpost.php?p=488986&postcount=573
Jim has just posted that we will be getting the Scarlet and Epic release schedule sometime in October ’09:
Details of the release schedule for EPIC and Scarlet coming sometime in October. We are taking our time so you won’t be disappointed.
Jim
Original post with new module renders: www.reduser.net/forum/
Mark Pederson from Offhollywood has been hanging out with Jim Jannard and Jarred at IBC ’09 and got some inside information about the ASIC schedule. It looks like the first batch will arrive for testing next week:
EPIC is just waiting for ASIC. First spin due in about a week. Fingers crossed. Jim did a great Q&A – really expressed how much FUN he (and the RED team) are having on this wild ride. more…
Ted Shilowitz was a guest on the FX Guide podcast today and said if there aren’t any hiccups in engineering we will be getting the first look at the 3k Scarlet and Epic X around thanksgiving ’09 (late November). Go to 42:45 to hear Ted’s interview:
www.fxguide.com/redcentre-043.mp3
Jim Jannard just made a post on www.reduser.net saying the Scarlet and Epic release announcement is a “couple months away”.
We have said that much of the delivery dates rely on a successful ASIC spin. We have also indicated that we are not going to rush to release given market conditions and the overwhelming opinion of our customers to put out a finished product and not a prototype. I wouldn’t expect any type of update for a couple of months. The schedule should be more clear by then…
