First pics of RED "Spike" camcorder prototype surface

It's been quite awhile since a single camcorder, of all things, got as much hype as the elusive RED machine from Oakley founder Jim Jannard, but this mysterious beast is escaping the treacherous realm of vaporware and emerging into reality according to the man himself over at DVXuser. Aside from shooting HD footage at 60fps with those fine 11.4-megapixels, the all-aluminum cam is finally making its debut, and a few glamour shots of the first prototype, dubbed "Spike," have now been released. It's noted that actual production units will not sport a shiny finish (sorry, blingsters), and the official forums will open up tomorrow at RedUser.net. Ole Jim also mentioned that the machined prototype "should be operational" within days, and hopes to garner a good bit of attention at the next NAB expo. While the initial batch of $17,000 pre-orders are long gone, the firm just might take more orders for a small window of time in "early 2007," but it's shakily committing to a "May 31st" or earlier ship date for those lucky (and loaded) individuals already on that coveted list. Be sure to tag the links below for more very-not-fuzzy sneak peeks.

[Via DVGuru]

[Jonathan Zencovich @ Dec 28th 2006 5:08PM]

This camcorder looks like it's battle-ready! Talk about overdoing some things....

Looking at the pic and glancing at the title ("First pics of RED ... surface"), I figured it was a render shot of a gun model of some upcoming game.

That thing looks heavy and massive!

--Jon Z

[Cardbored @ Dec 28th 2006 5:14PM]

"While the initial batch of $17,000 pre-orders are long gone"

who would honestly pay $17,000 for a camcorder?

[Lonnie McClure @ Dec 28th 2006 5:27PM]

This is for professional production, at a higher resolution than HD. At that level, $17K is considered a bargain, which is why the camera has been getting so much press.

[Colin @ Dec 28th 2006 6:02PM]

Cameras of this quality generally cost into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are not meant for consumers.

I may be mistaken, but I think they already released some video from it. Although that could have just been in private, or maybe I'm just wrong. If someone else could clarify that would be great.

[Michael @ Dec 28th 2006 8:46PM]

What Jim is doing is building a professional cinema camera out of passion, and selling it at a price more affordable to mortal men. There is nothing to laugh at or mock here.

[Mathew @ Dec 28th 2006 5:24PM]

Looks fake with a photochopped logo. The camera is total vaporware until we actually see footage shot from it. No doubt I'll be blasted by the delusional fanboys of this camera.

[Joe V @ Dec 28th 2006 5:58PM]

Mathew,

I'll try not to be a "delusional fanboy," but you should try at least to get a basic grasp on a product's development history and current status before throwing around the word "vaporware."

Footage from the camera has been shot and shown at several venues (the biggest obstacle has been to find the super-HD projectors), receiving rave reviews by all accounts. Torrents of some down-scaled clips are available here (though the newest one doesn't have any seeders at the moment):
http://red.com/gallery-video.htm

[Kyle Doris @ Dec 30th 2006 3:42PM]

... there is footage off it on www.red.com, it's far from "vaporware"

[Gil @ Dec 28th 2006 5:37PM]

So did they ever catch the thief that stole the first cam?

[Porkchop Flavored Cupcake @ Dec 29th 2006 12:48PM]

Actually, they recovered some parts, but not all.
One of the critical parts; the sensor or processor was not recovered.
What makes it even more funny is how a short time after the robbery, Sony announced their plans to make a 4K camera.
Yeah, and Sony was refusing to even let RED use their 4K projectors for displaying footage.
Yet, people get all antsy when one suggests that Sony was somehow behind it.
Why not? Clearly they've got the most to lose, and their behavior has indicated every step of the way that they would not like to see RED become real.
Eh, for all I know it's an elaborately staged marketing thing to make it look like Sony was never the one supplying RED with the sensor technology in the first place.

[zer0her0 @ Dec 28th 2006 5:59PM]

Gil, they stated they only stole the body prototype not the one with the mysterium chip in it, they also stated next to no info about the mysterium info was taken.

Mathew, red.com->gallery. If you don't want to believe that info, not sure what to tell you.

[H�kan @ Dec 28th 2006 6:15PM]

At the moment the camera can not be considered waporware since preproduction samples have already been demonstrated.

[Balzac2m @ Dec 28th 2006 6:20PM]

I investigated on this camera today for the first time and my major concern is storage, I can't find any satisfying information about how one can save a whopping 323MB/s (taken from http://red.com/workflow.htm).

Well, we'll see. But well, unless I'd be filthy rich I never would put money in such a company.

[Lawry Goldstein @ Dec 28th 2006 6:54PM]

If you look around for about 30 seconds you would find that is a well known problem. In the past they were using cables to connect directly to RAID arrays for harddrives. The post where they showed the first machined body also said they have found a new method thats better, I can't wait to see what it is. (Maybe a 4 high speed flash cards in a portable RAID?)

[John Doe @ Dec 28th 2006 8:11PM]

If it's called the RED camera, shouldn't it be RED?
They should also add some exclamation marks and donate some of the money to AIDS research.

Presenting...

RED! Spike Camcorder!

[John Doe @ Dec 28th 2006 8:12PM]

I'm also waiting for an aluminum Handycam, Sony

[BrandonLehman @ Dec 28th 2006 10:37PM]

This camera is really a revolution. From what I understand this camera does true 4K res video which puts it at standard super35 motion picture quality.

We're talking far above HD. Consider that The Corpse Bride was shot with 8 megapixel Canon SLR cameras, this RED camera shoots 60fps at nearly 12 megapixels.

Feature film quality that used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars could very well be within reach of indie film makers.

[JeffDM @ Dec 28th 2006 10:55PM]

Footage has been shown at IBC2006, which is the EU's big pro video / broadcasting show. I did not go to IBC but I hear the footage was fantastic.

If you couldn't tell from the price, it's not a consumer camera, as such, there's no reason to show it to consumers.

The concept is modular. It does not come with lenses (IIRC, they are PL mount), encoders or recording media. To record raw, you are definitely going to need a cart to haul the RAID around.

[tekdroid @ Dec 30th 2006 5:19AM]

I'm more than a bit surprised a virtual upstart can do this, so I'm eagerly awaiting results

[tekdroid @ Dec 30th 2006 4:07PM]

not suggesting it is by any means.

Just the whole testing, selling of complete production units, warranty / sales thing. It seems like lots of disciplines for a new company, especially one that should be making more than few companies worry, by the looks of things. If it all goes smoothly and changes the market, I'll be impressed.

[Gavin Greenwalt @ Dec 31st 2006 5:08PM]

The massive (~320MBs) datarate is solved using a wavelett based compression algorithm which they've almost finished called REDCode. It's virtually visually lossless at 27 MBs. RED will also be releasing a small 2-HD RAID recorder for $1000, it wlil be around 300GB.

[Dave @ Jan 1st 2007 8:45AM]

I know what RED could mean: Ridiculously Expensive Device. :P

[LastOne @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:39AM]

Ugh, Dave, you do realize this camera is around 10 times CHEAPER than anything else on the market right? This is not intended to be a consumer, or prosumer, camcorder. This is designed for the professional movie makers of the world who can't quite afford to purchase a hundred thousand dollar camcorder. It means much higher quality indie films produced at a lower cost.