Yes.

It comes with a lens. The lens is fixed and not removeable. Its a constant T2.8 lens with a decent focal length range. The Scarlet will shoot to CF cards that are inexpensive. The whole point of this camera is to have these features at a relatively low cost.

gamedude420, you really need to look outside the professional cinema/video industry. Quality lenses don't cost $3000 to make. Sure, companies sell cameras, lenses, media, etc at super high prices to high budget productions but in the end, a digital cinema camera does not need to cost the prices big movie houses are paying.

"officer aiming for a non-lethal take down shot."

I'm pretty sure they don't ever do this.

You're an idiot.

Depends on your heart condition. Read the story, the guy was a meth addict which made his heart weak.

I can think of a lot of things that can kill/injure a person with a weak heart that wouldn't ordinarily be considered lethal.

I only recommend this for true entry level:

Sony A200 body and the Tamron 17-50/2.8 lens. You can get that lens with any body (Canon/Nikon/Pentax) but only the Sony and Pentax entry level bodies have built in body stabilization. The Tamron 17-50/2.8 is a super lens that goes super wide and is fast throughout the whole zoom range. I still have this setup but with a mid level camera.

You will be surprised how much better a good fixed aperture zoom is compared to a kit lens, even the newer IS kit lenses.

You could go with Canon/Nikon and get their 17-50/2.8 IS but thats at least $1000 more than the above mentioned Sony/Pentax setups.

Live view has its "professional" uses too as stated above. Don't just pass it off as a feature put in to appease newbies. You could say the same for autofocus back in the 80's.

Umm, low end DSLRs these days are ~$500-$800. Thats around the same price as a low end laptop.

Besides, absolute cost shouldn't be an issue as to how excited you should be, only relative cost.

Why is Engadget so giddy about Canon's lowest end albeit newest DSLR? They don't seem to show the same enthusiasm for low end DAPs, laptops, phones, etc.

The funny thing is that nothing about the RED is that revolutionary as far as the whole tech industry is concerned. Its just that every other camera maker has been incredibly show to implement new tech and workflow.