After a morning of drip-fed images, RED just went official with its DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera) System. The system starts with your choice of the professional Scarlet or "master professional" EPIC brains which can then be bunged into about 2,251,799,813,685,248 possible camera configurations, RED only half-jokingly chides. The brains are built upon Mysterium-X and Mysterium Monstro sensors which start at 2/3-inch and end at a whopping 6x17-cm -- when a new sensor comes out you just upgrade the brain. Scarlet will launch in 4 choices ranging from $2,500 (and possibly less) to $12,000 with a variety of lens mounts (yes, Canon and Nikon) capable of shooting 3K @120fps on up to 6K @30fps. Epic will offer similar mounts with capabilities spanning 5K @100fps ($28k) to 9K @50fps ($45k) -- a 28K system hitting 25fps is expected in 2010 for $55k. Still image resolutions will range from 4.9 megapixels to a freakish 261 megapixels. The first Scarlet systems could come as early as Spring of 2009 while EPIC should arrive by summer. Of course, the brain is just the beginning of the costs. RED also introduced a 3D camera configuration today in true, "one more thing" fashion. See all the details in the gallery below, 3D camera after the break.

While the announcement isn't scheduled for another 7 hours and change, RED's Jim Jannard is whipping his fanbase into a frenzy with a steady stream of fragmented pictures. The one above looking every bit the 5D Mark II-killer we've been expecting. Jim's even dropping facts about Scarlet and EPIC being "completely modular and upgradeable in every way." What's more, he's offering hope to RED ONE owners who might feel cheated by today's introduction of Scarlet and EPIC. After all, he did promise to make "Obsolescence Obsolete" with his modular approach to camera building. So in addition to a TBD upgrade price for RED ONE owners to make the jump to a Mysterium-X sensor, owners will also have the option of trading in their cams for a $17,500 value towards the purchase of "any EPIC" (there's more than one?) or keep the RED ONE and receive a 12% credit on a Scarlet system. Nice... expensive, but nice. Check the gallery for all the images including one that looks like a telephoto lens for a RED DSLR.

P.S. Jim confirmed that, "Scarlet and RED EPIC are part of the same DSMC system." While you may not know what DSMC stands for, we're pretty sure that Canon and Nikon are well aware that DSMC means Digital Still & Motion Camera.

Update: Three-pound Scarlet and four-pound EPIC Mysterium-based "brains" capable of shooting 3K and 5K video, respectively, pictured after the break -- choose the brain then build a system around it. What look to be final (and complete!) product shots added to the gallery.

This is just mean. With 10 days to go before Red goes official with its Scarlet and Epic announcement, we get this image: a teaser for those of us already teased. Sure, it doesn't look like much now (don't bother looking at the EXIF: nothing), but it's enough to prompt RED Digital Cinema's CEO, Jim Jannard to write that "the most aggressive speculation will not come close to what we will announce Nov. 13th." Careful Jim, our expectations are already pretty high.

Ready for the tease? RED just announced an announcement. According to RED Prez, Jim Jannard, "no one has any idea how incredible this announcement will be." A stream of words, specs, and renderings, we presume, all cobbled together on November 13th with a promise to put the "RED ONE announcement to shame by comparison... the biggest, most exciting and incredible thing." So mark your calendar for November 13th -- that's the day RED DIGITAL comes clean with its Scarlet and Epic programs. We're sure Nikon and Canon will be watching to see if RED launches its DSMC (Digital Still & Motion Camera) aimed squarley at the DSLR market, or not. Even if we have to er, settle, for a 3K Scarlet or 5K Epic video cameras, those aren't bad consolation prizes, eh?

[Thanks, Brad]

You heard that Nikon busted out a DSLR with a 720p movie mode, right? Even that is going to pale in comparison to RED's alternative, or at least that's what RED would have you to believe. In a recent post over at the REDuser forums, Jannard points out that its DSLR "replacement" should be ready to rock by late 2009, and while an official name has yet to arrive, it's going by DSMC (Digital Still & Motion Camera) for the time being. Also of note, Jannard casually mentioned that this piece would be more advanced than Nikon's D90 and an undisclosed 1080p DSLR from Canon; that's the first we've heard of such a beast, but given the natural progression of technology, we suppose it fits. C'mon guys, 3K 4K 5K shooting in a DSLR, we know you can do it.

Red CEO, Jim Jannard, is stirring up trouble in the RED User forums, J. Wong-style. His latest volley discusses the new Mysterium "Monstro" sensor program, the next evolution (and future free upgrade) to the Mysterium X sensor slated for RED's 5k Epic. The most interesting revelation though is this little nugget: in addition to Epic, RED plans to place Monstro into, "another camera aimed squarely at the DSLR market." He later adds, "Future cameras will shoot ultra-high resolution stills and motion..." Now, considering that the second generation, full-frame, ~25 megapixel Mysterium X is already a serious challenge to 35mm film, we can only imagine what this DSLR with a third generation RED sensor might offer. Hear that Nikon? Your D90 is just the beginning of this story. Let's just hope that televisions and monitors, already struggling to reach 4k, Quad HD can keep pace.

[Thanks, Jundai]

Details are totally sketchy, but it looks like there's about to be another Red HD camera to lust after: a posting from CEO Jim Jannard on the Red user forums confirms that Red will be launching a "pocket professional" camera named "Scarlet" sometime this year, with prototypes to be shown off at NAB in April. Jannard says the camera won't be a competitor or replacement for the Red One, but that's all we've got for now -- but you know we'll be all over this thing as info comes in.

[Thanks, MonsterDog]

So we know a lot of you have been on the edge of your seat concerning the RED ONE modular, high-end, HD HD-clobbering camcorder system. The camera -- announced at NAB way back in the wild, sun-soaked days of 2006 -- rocks 11.4-megapixel, 60fps video, and is designed as a multi-part system, featuring a base unit that can be modded with a variety of add-ons -- allowing for all kinds of crazy configurations (just what the low-budget auteur is after). Now, according to the Reduser forums (and more specifically, Jim Jannard, Oakley founder and Red Digital Cinema company head), the RED ONE shipments will begin on August 31st, with a second batch to follow on September 7th. Sure, the $17,500 base system price-tag may seem prohibitive to some, but as we all know, fear is the mind-killer, and if you're really serious about that film you're making, you're going to need something like this. Time to break open the piggy-bank.

[Thanks, Blayne G]

NAB is one of the few times during the year that A/V geeks can pull themselves away from their editing bays, adjust their eyes to the light, and really get down with the latest equipment -- so it should be no surprise that RED Digital Cinema is using the event to leak its plans for some tantalizing new gear. We're all quite familiar with the $17,500 RED-ONE 4K base system and its ecosystem of accessories, and now it looks like the company is prepping products for post-production as well, with self-proclaimed "RED Savant" Steve Gibby reporting that a 4K projector and entire lineup of 4K displays are on the way. Even more exciting -- at least for the average consumer or prosumer -- is a promised "professional pocket camera" being described as a "mini-RED," and though we doubt you'll see these for sale at Best Buy, we're still pretty stoked to see what kind of offer they're going to make us here. And if they do already have a prototype of this one, you can bet it's under extra tight lock and key.

With a release set for "early 2007," Red Digital Cinema just took the important step of outing the price list for the range of RED gear which could hit as early as May 31st. Intent on keeping both wedding videographers and indie film makers happy, it all starts with the $17,500 RED ONE base system (center). From there you can add your choice of the $1,250 Basic or $2,750 Premium production packs (top right and left, respectively). But don't stop now, go ahead and throw down for a $1,650 RED ONE Power Pack featuring 2x RED BRICK 140Wh batteries and charger, a $1,950 RED Electronic Viewfinder, and the $1,700 5.6-inch LCD. Optics accessories include a $3,500 B4 lens adapter and both Canon and Nikkor 35mm photo mounts costing $500 each. There are also several RED branded media accessories for CF, SATA disk, and something called the "RED RAM 64GB" for $4,500 -- extortionate if that's just a RED-branded SSD in an external housing. But hey, no one said that a 4k resolution and 60p frame rate would come cheap.

[Thanks, Blayne G.]

Good news for fans of ultra high definition imaging: RED Digital Cinema (and Oakley) founder Jim Jannard is reporting that almost all of the equipment stolen a few weeks back -- including the aluminum prototype, a lens, and several computers -- has been successfully recovered by a team of private investigators. As you probably know by now, RED was founded with the intention of bringing professional-quality camcorders into the hands of the common man (well, the common man who has $17,000 to spare), and its first 4K footage became available for public consumption shortly before the break-in. Jannard writes that the stolen gear was broken up into two parts, and while the camera and related hardware are back in safe hands, computers with potentially valuable development info are still missing. He goes on to caution us against speculating about "the motives of the thieves or any connection with the industry," and doesn't delve any further into the specifics of the recovery efforts; however, with information about the project and the Mysterium sensor still in the wild, we can't help but speculate (sorry, Jim) that the IP was the most valuable aspect of this crime to whomever perpetrated it. We'll keep you updated on this case as it progresses, but if you happen to see anyone selling the plans for an 11.4 megapixel camcorder out of the back of a truck, please do the right thing and give Team RED a heads up.

[Via CrunchGear]

We first heard about RED Digital Cinema at the NAB conference last April, where the company was showing off a $17,500 behemoth of a camcorder that shoots 11.4 megapixels at up to 60 fps and comes packed in a futuristic magnesium-alloy case. Earlier today we received word that the southern California-based startup experienced a break-in on Saturday night local time, wherein documents relating to the upcoming Red Digital Camera and possibly even some hardware were stolen. Founder Jim Jannard has posted on DVXUser.com a reward of $100,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators, although if this is in fact a case of corporate espionage, the damage may have already been done.

[Thanks, Curt & Glenn]