Something New Is Brewing In RED Digital Cinema Land. Could Be A More Affordable 4K Camera
Jarred Land the head honcho of Red Digital Cinema today on Facebook posted this image with #4K4ALL. What does this mean? we will have wait until he decides to tell us but if it’s a 4K camera that RED wants to get into the hands of people looking at the URSA Mini or FS7, FS5 then it has to be in that price range. Interesting days ahead with IBC Show going on. If I learn anything i’ll update this post.
A second picture has surfaced that shows the name of this new mystery RED camera. Could be called RAVEN but no specifications available yet. As we can see it uses RED media. A RED 120GB RED Mini-Mag is in the media slot. That card cost $1,400.00 by the way. It’s not going to be inexpensive to run. I also think it’s going to be a fixed Canon EF lens mount. An entry level SCARLET-X W/ SIDE SSD AND LENS MOUNT cost $10,150 Again this doesn’t include media or batteries so if RED wants to give 4K to all it has to be much less expensive and include everything you need out of the box. Most companies don’t include media with the camera so that is always an added cost but to get the Raven in the wheel house it needs to be around $4K to $5K for the package minus media.
What do you think this is? I see a lens release button but other than that and a couple of presets it’s hard to tell what it could be.
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Filed in: 4K • Featured Post • New Release
Perhaps they’ll finally deliver 3K for $3K? 🙂
Now that both Blackmagic and JVC have given us 4K Super 35 interchangeable lens camcorders for $3K, it will be interesting to see what RED comes up with.
Sadly, it will be a challenge for them to recover their credibility in this market segment after their founder’s famous 2008 post, e.g.: “Wipe you [sic] minds of the past announced Scarlet. Forget the design and forget the price. It is all different now. We think you will be surprised. Glad we didn’t take any deposits… :-)”
It would be great to have another entrant in this price class, but RED will have to overcome its history of broken promises – in addition to the standard technical challenges of bringing a competitive product to market.
How Red is still a company getting business is beyond me. These cameras break down easily and can be used 15-20 mins TOPS at a time before it either crashes, reboots, or runs out of battery. I’ve shot on the Scarlet, Epic and the Weapon. ALL THREE broke down in a span of 4 days. That is a joke and my client had to wait an additional 2 weeks before we got reassembled in our shoot schedule. Decided to go with an Arri Amira and a Blackmagic Cinema Camera that did the job done. NO problem on set whatsoever with those two cameras.
Will never go near Red cams ever again. They’re probably being used by student film students or Vimeo content only enthusiasts. Worst company ever.