If you've been waiting for RED to release a product within reach of the prosumer class of shooters then this is it: the Scarlet 2/3. While the price is up from the original
$3,750 lens and brain kit announced back in December 2008, an additional ASIC and four additional boards bring plenty of new features to help justify the price bump on this professional-grade camera. Scarlet starts with a 2/3-inch sensor in the $4,750 Scarlet 8X Fixed package (including "brain" and fixed 8x zoom lens, side CF module, REDmote, 2.8-inch touchscreen with "touch focus tracking," REDVOLT battery, and travel charger) or $2,750 for the Scarlet Interchangeable which includes the brain-only with adapters available for electronic RED, Canon, and Nikon glass. The resulting cam shoots 3k REDCODE RAW video at 120fps (150fps burst mode) and scaled 720p or 1080p recording at 60fps. Expect both models to ship in May or June assuming nothing goes wrong with the ASIC or firmware. Until then you can check the gallery for plenty of shots includes a glimpse of RED's mini primes and the 8x side-by-side with the 2/3 interchangeable.
posted December 1st 2009 2:15AM
@Ethan Price.
I'm confused.. does this thing actually shoot photos or is it video only? It sure looks like it would be impossible to hold in either situation
@(Unverified)
It does shoot photo's too - there is a swich to select video or stills - but I am not sure what the Photo res would be... cos surely 3K is well a phone camera? ;)
@(Unverified)
Surely you didn't buy into the megapixel hype that digital camera manufacturers have been selling for the last decade. If you're not printing posters, you probably have too many megapixels. There are more important specs that factor into image quality.
Hey i will be happy as long as it can at least do 10mp photos..
Is there a $2000 attachment to make this thing more ergonomic? That would be money well spent. Don't get me wrong... I actually like the Red designs but they really look like someone slapped a lens and LCD on an old PS2.
@(Unverified)
It depends what your idea of ergonomics is. You can get a side handle attachment to create an SLR form factor. You can mount to a tripod. You can shoulder mount. There are plenty of options. That's the idea behind modularity.
It looks like an ergonomic nightmare.
Anyone know about the sound capabilities (if any?) on this? Any XLR inputs? I didn't see any...
@Goose42
"Two independent microphone level channels, balanced input circuits, 48V Phantom Power, digitized at 24 bit 48 KHz."
I love the willful ignorance in many of these comments. Most of those images are photographs, for example. Just go to the press release thread on RedUser.net and the photos are clearly labeled differently from the renders.
Also (to Goose42)-- there are 2 balanced XLR inputs with full phantom power.
@(Unverified)
I do remember that Scarlet Fixed will have phantom power, but I can't recall them saying it will have two built in XLR ports. Can you direct me to the link?
Thanks
@(Unverified)
They're not XLR.
Yay for bringing the RED shooting platform and codec downmarket!
BOOOO for a sensor that's no better (or at least no bigger) than the average, cheaper prosumer camcorders. Crappy low light image quality and limited options of depth of field likely await adopters of this system.
But, until DSLRs (and MicroFourThirds) have better handling/control and codecs, I guess I can't trash talk RED too much...
@petor
Actually its considerably bigger then any consumer camera sensor. 2/3 is a large sensor and only used in professional camcorders. consumer senors are like 1/4in or smaller. prosumer is typically 1/3in.
Sounds interesting, but I'll believe it when I see it.
In the past RED has made an awful lot of promises that they haven't kept.
The Red One is still a bit of a nightmare, although it is infinitely better now then when it was released.
The sensor is this camera is very small for taking stills, although if the lenses are very free from distortion, in theory it could work.
I'm not going to be the guinea pig to try this out, but I'm sure many of the existing fan boys will step up, assuming this thing is ever released.